Approximate distribution of languages in Iron Age Italy during the sixth century BC. Albanian (sq ''Gjuha shqipe'' ˈɟuha ˈʃcipɛ is an Indo-European language spoken by nearly 6 million peoplewhile others claim that it derives from Daco - The Armenian language (hy հայերեն լեզու hajɛɹɛn lɛzu —, conventional short form) is an Indo-European language spoken by the Armenian The Baltic languages are a group of related languages belonging to the Indo-European language family and spoken mainly in areas extending east and southeast of the Baltic The Celtic languages are descended from Proto-Celtic, or "Common Celtic" a branch of the greater Indo-European Language family. The Germanic languages are a group of related languages that constitute a branch of the Indo-European (IE Language family. Greek (el ελληνική γλώσσα or simply el ελληνικά — "Hellenic" is an Indo-European language, spoken today by 15-22 million people mainly The Indo-Iranian language group constitutes the easternmost extant branch of the Indo-European family of languages The Indo-Aryan languages (within the context of Indo-European studies also Indic) are a branch of the Indo-European language family The Iranian languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family and its subfamily Indo-Iranian. The Slavic languages (also called Slavonic languages) a group of closely related Languages of the Slavic peoples and a subgroup of Indo-European languages The Anatolian languages are a group of extinct Indo-European languages which were spoken in Asia Minor, the best attested of them being the Hittite language The Paleo-Balkan languages were the Indo-European languages that were spoken in the Balkans in Ancient times. The Dacian language was spoken by the ancient inhabitants of Dacia. The Phrygian language was the Indo-European language of the Phrygians a people from Thrace who later migrated to Asia Minor. The Thracian language was the Indo-European language spoken in ancient times by the Thracians in South-Eastern Europe Tocharian or Tokharian is one of the branches of the Indo-European language family. } Albanians (Shqiptarët are an Ethnic group and a Nation, in the sense of sharing a common Albanian culture speaking the Albanian language The Armenians (Հայեր Hayer) are a Nation and Ethnic group originating in the Caucasus and in the Armenian Highlands A large The Balts or Baltic peoples (People who live by the Baltic Sea) defined as speakers of one of the Baltic languages, a branch of the Indo-European Modern Celts are those peoples who are speakers of Celtic languages, or who consider themselves or have been considered by others to participate in a Celtic culture This is a list of Germanic peoples. Classical philosophy The Greeks assigned names to populations they considered distinct based on the city-state ( The Greeks ( Greek: Έλληνες) are a Nation and Ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighbouring regions The Iranian people are a collection of Ethnic groups defined along linguistic lines as speaking Iranian languages. Latin European peoples are those who speak Romance languages, descended from Vulgar Latin, spread during the time of the Roman Empire. Anatolia (Anadolu Ανατολία Anatolía) or Asia minor, comprising most of modern Turkey, is the geographic region bounded by the Black The Hittites were an ancient Anatolian people who spoke a language of the Anatolian branch of the Indo-European language family and established Luwian (sometimes spelled Luvian) is an extinct language of the Anatolian branch of the Celts (ˈkɛlts or /ˈsɛlts/, see Names of the Celts Ancient Galatia was an area in the highlands of central Anatolia in modern Turkey. Gaul (Gallia was the Roman name for the region of Western Europe comprising present day northern Italy, France, Belgium, western The Germanic peoples are a historical group of Indo-European -speaking peoples originating in Northern Europe and identified by their use of the Germanic Illyrians has come to refer to a broad ill-defined " Indo-European " group of peoples who inhabited the western Balkans ( Illyria, roughly Ancient peoples of Italy are all those peoples that lived in Italy (including the islands of Sicily and Sardinia) before the Roman domination The Sarmatians, Sarmatae or Sauromatae ( Old Iranian Sarumatah 'archer' Σαρμάτες The Scythians or Scyths (Σκύθες Σκύθοι were an Iranian speaking people of horse-riding Nomadic pastoralists who dominated the Pontic "Thracians" also refers to modern inhabitants of Thrace, regardless of ethnicity The Tocharians were the Tocharian -speaking inhabitants of the Tarim basin, making them the easternmost speakers of an Indo-European language in antiquity Indo-Iranian peoples consist of the Indo-Aryan, Iranian, Dardic and Nuristani peoples that is speakers of Indo-Iranian languages The Indo-Aryan tribes mentioned in the Rigveda are described as semi- Nomadic pastoralists subdivided into temporary settlements ( vish, viś and headed Ancient Iranian peoples who settled Greater Iran in the 2nd millennium BC first appear in Assyrian records in the 9th century BC. The Proto-Indo-Europeans (PIE were the speakers of the Proto-Indo-European language, who likely lived around 4000 BC, during the Copper Age and the The society of the Proto-Indo-Europeans (PIE existed during the Bronze Age (roughly fifth to fourth millennium BC and has been reconstructed The existence of similarities among the deities and religious practices of the Indo-European (IE peoples allows glimpses of a common Proto-Indo-European The question of the homeland ( Urheimat) of the Proto-Indo-European peoples and their Proto-Indo-European language has been a recurring topic in Indo-European The Kurgan hypothesis (also theory or model) is a model of early Indo-European origins, which postulates that the Kurgan culture of the Pontic steppe The Anatolian hypothesis is also called Renfrew's NDT; it proposes that the dispersal ( Discontinuity) of Proto-Indo-Europeans originated in Neolithic The Armenian hypothesis of the Proto-Indo-European Urheimat, based on the Glottalic theory suggests that the Proto-Indo-European language The Out of India theory ( OIT, also called the Indian Urheimat Theory) is the proposition that the Indo-European language family originated in The Paleolithic Continuity Theory (or PCT,Italian La teoria della continuità) is a Hypothesis suggesting that the hypothetical Proto-Indo-European Indo-European studies is a field of Linguistics dealing with Indo-European languages, both current and extinct Italy (Italia officially the Italian Republic, (Repubblica Italiana is located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe, and on the two largest

The Italic subfamily is a member of the Centum branch of the Indo-European language family. It includes the Romance languages (Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, Romanian, etc. The Romance languages (sometimes referred to as Romanic languages, or Neolatin languages) are a branch of the Indo-European language family comprising all Portuguese ( or língua portuguesa) is a Romance language that originated in what is now Galicia (Spain and northern Portugal. French ( français,) is a Romance language spoken around the world by 118 million people as a native language and by about 180 to 260 million people Italian ( or lingua italiana) is a Romance language spoken by about 63 million people as a First language, primarily in Italy. Romanian or Daco-Romanian ( dated: Rumanian or Roumanian; self designation limba română, ˈlimba roˈmɨnə is a Romance ), and a number of extinct languages of the Italian Peninsula, including Latin, Umbrian, and Oscan. According to some definitions an extinct language is a Language which no longer has any speakers, whereas a dead language is a language which is no longer spoken Th Italian Peninsula or Apennine Peninsula (Penisola italiana or Penisola appenninica) is one of the three Peninsulas of Southern Europe Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Umbrian is an extinct Italic language formerly spoken by the Umbri in the ancient Italian region of Umbria. Oscan, the language of the Osci, is in the Sabellic branch of the Italic language family, which is a branch of Indo-European that also includes

Phonetic changes

A partial list of regular phonetic changes from Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Italic:

• Palatovelars merge with plain velars
  • ḱ > k
  • ǵʱ > ɡʱ
  • ǵ > ɡ
• Voiced labiovelars unround or lenite
  • ɡʱʷ > ɡʱ
  • ɡʷ > ɡ or w
• Voiced aspirates become first unvoiced, then fricativize
  • bʱ > pʰ > ɸ > f
  • dʱ > tʰ > θ
  • ɡʱ > kʰ > x
• s > θ before r; unchanged elsewhere
• Resonants and remaining stops (m n l r w b d ɡ p t k kʷ) unchanged

Further changes occurred during the evolution of the individual Italic languages, such as f > b between vowels and θ > f in Latin. Sound change includes any processes of Language change that affect pronunciation ( phonetic change) or sound system structures ( Phonological change The Italic subfamily is a member of the Indo-European language family's Centum branch

Irregular changes include p > kʷ in e. g. Latin quinque, "five", from PIE *penkʷe, and Latin coquere, "to cook", from PIE *pekʷ-.

Branches

The Italic family has two known branches:

• Sabellic, including:
  • Oscan, which was spoken in the south-central region of the Italian Peninsula
  • Umbrian group, including:
    • Umbrian (not to be confused with the modern Umbrian dialect of Italian), which was spoken in the north-central region
    • Volscian
    • Aequian
    • Marsian, the language of the Marsi
  • South Picene, in east-central Italy
• Latino-Faliscan, including:
  • Faliscan, which was spoken in the area around Falerii Veteres (modern Civita Castellana) north of the city of Rome and possibly Sardinia
  • Latin, which was spoken in west-central Italy. The Osco-Umbrian languages or Sabellic languages are a group of languages that belong to the Italic language family of the Indo-European languages. Oscan, the language of the Osci, is in the Sabellic branch of the Italic language family, which is a branch of Indo-European that also includes Th Italian Peninsula or Apennine Peninsula (Penisola italiana or Penisola appenninica) is one of the three Peninsulas of Southern Europe Umbrian is an extinct Italic language formerly spoken by the Umbri in the ancient Italian region of Umbria. Volscian was a Sabellic Italic language, which was spoken by the Volsci and closely related to Oscan and Umbrian. Aequian is an Extinct language that was part of the Italic branch of the Indo-European language family closely related to Umbrian. The Marsi were an ancient people of Italy, whose chief centre was Marruvium, on the eastern shore of Lake Fucinus. South Picene is an extinct Italic language, belonging to the Sabellic subfamily Italy (Italia officially the Italian Republic, (Repubblica Italiana is located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe, and on the two largest The Latino-Faliscan languages are a group of languages that belong to the Italic language family of the Indo-European languages. The Faliscan language, the extinct language of the ancient Falisci, forms together with Latin, the group of Latino-Faliscan languages. Falerii (now Civita Castellana) was one of the twelve chief cities of Etruria, situated about one mile west of the ancient Via Flaminia, c Civita Castellana is a town in the Province of Viterbo, 65 km north of Rome. Rome ( Roma ˈroma Roma is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city with more than 2 Sardinia (sɑrˈdɪnɪə Sardegna Sardigna or Sardinnya is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea (after Sicily) Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. The Roman conquests eventually spread it throughout the peninsula and beyond in the Roman Empire. Ancient Rome was a Civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC The Roman Empire was the post-Republican phase of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial
    • Romance languages, the descendants of Latin (see List of Romance languages)

The Italic speakers were not native to Italy, but migrated into the Italian Peninsula in the course of the 2nd millennium BC and were apparently related to the Celtic tribes that roamed over a large part of Western Europe at the time. The Romance languages (sometimes referred to as Romanic languages, or Neolatin languages) are a branch of the Indo-European language family comprising all The Romance languages include 47 ( SIL estimate Languages and Dialects spoken in Europe; this language group is a part of the Italic Italy (Italia officially the Italian Republic, (Repubblica Italiana is located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe, and on the two largest Th Italian Peninsula or Apennine Peninsula (Penisola italiana or Penisola appenninica) is one of the three Peninsulas of Southern Europe Celts (ˈkɛlts or /ˈsɛlts/, see Names of the Celts Western Europe at its most general meaning means 'all the countries in the West of Europe ' Archaeologically, the Apennine culture (inhumations) enters the Italian Peninsula from ca. 1350 BC, east to west. Before the Italic arrival, Italy was populated primarily by non-Indo-European groups (perhaps including the Etruscans). Etruscan civilization is the modern English name given to the culture and way of life of a people of ancient Italy The first settlement on the Palatine hill dates to ca. The Palatine Hill ( Latin: Collis Palatium or Mons Palatinus) is the centermost of the Seven Hills of Rome 750 BC, settlements on the Quirinal to 720 BC (see Founding of Rome). The Quirinal Hill (Latin Collis Quirinalis) is one of the Seven Hills of Rome, at the north-east of the city center The founding of Rome is reported by many legends which in recent times are beginning to be supplemented by more scientific reconstructions

The ancient Venetic language, as revealed by its inscriptions (including complete sentences), was also closely related to the Italic languages and is sometimes even classified as Italic. Venetic is an extinct Indo-European language that was spoken in ancient times in the North- Italian Veneto and modern Slovenia, between However, since it also shares similarities with other Western Indo-European branches (particularly Germanic), some linguists prefer to consider it an independent Indo-European language. The Germanic languages are a group of related languages that constitute a branch of the Indo-European (IE Language family.

The Italic languages are first attested in writing from Umbrian and Faliscan inscriptions dating to the 7th century BC. The alphabets used are based on the Old Italic alphabet, which is itself based on the Greek alphabet. Old Italic refers to several now extinct Alphabet systems used on the Italian Peninsula in ancient times for various Indo-European (predominantly Italic The Greek alphabet (Ελληνικό αλφάβητο is a set of twenty-four letters that has been used to write the Greek language since the late 9th or early The Italic languages themselves show minor influence from the Etruscan and somewhat more from the Ancient Greek languages. The Etruscan Language was spoken and written by the Etruscan civilization in the ancient region of Etruria (modern Tuscany plus western The Ancient Greek language is the historical stage in the development of the Hellenic language family spanning the Archaic (c

As Rome extended its political dominion over the whole of the Italian Peninsula, Latin became dominant over the other Italic languages, which ceased to be spoken perhaps sometime in the 1st century AD. The Roman Republic was the phase of the ancient Roman civilization characterized by a Republican form of government a period which began with the overthrow of the From so-called Vulgar Latin the Romance languages emerged. Vulgar Latin (in Latin sermo vulgaris, "folk speech" is a Blanket term covering the popular Dialects and Sociolects of the Latin The Romance languages (sometimes referred to as Romanic languages, or Neolatin languages) are a branch of the Indo-European language family comprising all

See also

• Language families and languages
• Italo-Celtic

References

• Ernst Pulgram: Tongues of Italy, Prehistory and History
• Rix, Helmut (2004). List of language familiesA language family is a group of Languages related by descent from a common ancestor called the Proto-language of that family In historical linguistics Italo-Celtic refers to the observation that the Italic languages and the Celtic languages share a number of common features unique to these Ernst Pulgram ( September 18 1915 – August 17 2005) was an American Linguist of Austrian origins whose main Helmut Rix ( July 4, 1926 – December 3, 2004) was a German linguist and professor of the Sprachwissenschaftliches Seminar of Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Ausgliederung und Aufgliederung der italischen Sprachen. Languages in Prehistoric Europe. ISBN 3-8253-1449-9