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Indo-Iranian

Eurasian Language Families

The Indo-Iranian languages, also known as Indo-Iranic languages or Aryan languages, constitute the largest branch of the Indo-European language family. They include over 300 languages, spoken by around 1.7 billion people worldwide, predominantly in South Asia, West Asia and parts of Central Asia.

Facts
Region
South Asia, West Asia and parts of Central Asia, with large diaspora communities in Northwestern Europe, North America and elsewhere. 1
Speaker Count
1,700,000,000 1
Proto-Language Status
All Indo-Iranian languages trace back to a single hypothetical ancestral language, Proto-Indo-Iranian, reconstructed to represent the latest point at which the branch was still unified; Proto-Indo-Iranian in turn descends from Proto-Indo-European. 1
Indo-Iranian
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Ancestor Of

Indo-Aryan, grouping Hindi-Urdu, Bengali, Punjabi and their relatives, is one of the two main branches of Indo-Iranian alongside Iranian.

Iranian, grouping Persian, Pashto, Kurdish and their relatives, is one of the two main branches of Indo-Iranian alongside Indo-Aryan.

Descends From

Indo-Iranian, grouping the Indic and Iranian languages, is a primary branch of Indo-European.

Sources
1. Wikipedia: Indo-Iranian Languages
Wikipedia
  • Wikipedia, lead section: Indo-Iranian languages
    They include over 300 languages, spoken by around 1.7 billion speakers worldwide, predominantly in South Asia, West Asia and parts of Central Asia.
  • Wikipedia, Origin section: Indo-Iranian languages
    All Indo-Iranian languages can be traced back to a single hypothetical ancestral language: Proto-Indo-Iranian, which is the reconstructed proto-language to represent the latest point at which all modern-day Indo-Iranian languages were still unified.
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