Language Family

Group of languages with a common ancestor.

language stock

A language family is a group of languages related through a common ancestor, known as a proto-language. Linguists reconstruct proto-languages by comparing related languages and identifying shared features.

/ˈlæŋɡwɪdʒ ˈfæməli/

The term 'family' is used metaphorically in linguistics to describe the relationship between languages, drawing an analogy to biological families.

language stock

linguistics classification

Indo-European languages Sino-Tibetan languages Afro-Asiatic languages

proto-language daughter language

linguistics

classification linguistic