II. LANGUAGE FAMILIES

  

LANGUAGE AND GROWTH: Language is what one speaks. The basis of spoken language is sound. It is this is sound which is comprehensible as meaningful and non-sensical words. Language is the primary medium of transmitting our ideas to others with ease. In some ways, language is the basis of human life and development.

 

LANGUAGE FAMILIES: Languages from across the globe have been divided into some major super-families and further divided into families. One such super-family is the Indo-European family (भारोपीय कुल) [2]. The common ancestor of the languages in this family is the Proto-Indo-European language. The Indo-Iranian (हिन्द ईराकी) or Aryan branch (आर्य शाखा) is a very important which is further subdivided into:

1.      Indo-Aryan (भारतीय आर्य), 2. Dardic (दरदी), 3. Iranian (ईरानी)

 

It is the Indo-Aryan languages of which Hindi (हिन्दी) is a part. There are three distinct periods in the historical development of these Indo-Aryan languages:

1. Ancient Period (2000 B.C. to 500 B.C.)

2. Medieval Period (500 B.C. to 1000 A.D.)

3. Modern Period (1000 A.D to today)

 

THE INDO-ARYAN LANGUAGE TREE: The modern Indo-Aryan languages can be classified into the following based on the geographical locations:

1.      Northern (उदीच्य) – Lahanda (लहँदा), Sindhi (सिंधी), Punjabi (पंजाबी)

2.      Western (प्रदीच्य) – Gujarati (गुजराती), Bhili (भीली), Khandeshi (खानदेशी)

3.     Central (मध्य) – In this group we predominantly have Hindi which can be further sub-divided into the following depending on the regional influences – Eastern Hindi (पूर्वी हिन्दी), Western Hindi (पश्चिमी हिन्दी), Bihari (बिहारी), Rajasthani (राजस्थानी), Pahadi (पहाड़ी).

4.     Southern (दाक्षिणात्य) – Marathi (मराठी)

5.     Eastern (प्राच्य) – Assamese (आसामी), Oriya (उड़िया), Bengali (बंगला)

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