Indo-Aryan languages

High school (ages 12+)
People & Society

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Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/indo-aryan-languages

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the estimated time of proto-indo-aryan?Circa 2nd millennium BCE
2. What is the earliest attested language?Vedic Sanskrit, circa 1500 BCE
3. Where did Indo-Aryan languages begin?They started in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent around the 2nd millennium BCE, and the oldest known form is Vedic Sanskrit from about 1500 BCE.
4. How did the languages change over time?They evolved from Vedic Sanskrit to Prakrit languages, then to modern languages like Hindi and Bengali, with changes like simpler grammar and new sounds.

Proto-Indo-Aryan: A reconstructed hypothetical ancestor language from which all Indo-Aryan languages are believed to have descended.
Vedic Sanskrit: The oldest attested form of Sanskrit, the language of the Vedas, representing the earliest stage of Indo-Aryan.
Prakrits: A group of Middle Indo-Aryan languages that served as vernaculars and evolved into modern Indo-Aryan languages.
Lingua Franca: A common language used by speakers of different native languages to communicate.