Indo-European Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Indo-European - Essay Example One of the theories about Indo-European languages that help in understanding contemporary languages is their disproportional significance. The disproportional nature of their significance is that they have dominated largely than would be expected of their number. This is because the languages are merely less than 30 percent of the total number of languages in the world but they dominate over the remaining majority languages (Diamond 249). The theory of disproportionate significance explains the current trend in languages in which non Indo-European speakers are assimilating Indo-European languages. Loss of linguistic diversity is the consequence because people are forsaking their native languages into the Indo-European languages, a wave that begun towards the end of the 15th century. The theory of disproportionate significance of the Indo-European language is also significant from the fact that it withstood possible influence from other languages that existed in Europe such as Finish and Assyrian. These other languages, in spite of having existed in the region, failed to influence languages in Europe and other regions as the Indo-European languages did. The theory of disproportionate significance of Indo-European languages therefore explains the languages’ spread to become native languages for other people across the world (Diamond 252). Another theory about Indo-European languages that helps understand contemporary languages is the theory that the Indo-European languages substituted other languages that then ceased to exist. This theory explains the spread of the Indo-European theories and supports the disproportionate theory. Not only did the Indo-European theories spread to other regions but also they replaced native languages in those regions. New generations therefore grew with the knowledge that an Indo-European language that they are exposed to id their native language. This theory further explains the use of Indo-European