image: This is a map showing the distribution of words across Europe for 'mother.' The Indo-European language family, stretching from Iceland to Sri Lanka, was first identified on the basis of systematic sound correspondences between similar words for specific meanings across the languages. Known as cognates, these similarities could not have plausibly occurred by chance and are taken to indicate that the languages have a common origin. 'Mother' shows similar forms across the whole family. By modeling the evolution of hundreds of such words through time, we can infer relationships between all the languages and trace back to the origin of the family. This image relates to a paper that appeared in the August 24, 2012, issue of Science, published by AAAS. The paper, by Remco Bouckaert at University of Auckland in Auckland, New Zealand, and colleagues was titled, “Mapping the Origins and Expansion of the Indo-European Language Family.” view more
Credit: [Image courtesy of Q.D. Atkinson]