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The Language Families

When these happened

28 dated records from 3005 BCE to 2032. Each is drawn as wide as its date is certain — a band is a band because nobody knows the year, not because the drawing is imprecise.

3000 BCE2500 BCE2000 BCE1500 BCE1000 BCE500 BCE0500100015002000Austronesian speakers move out of Taiwan — ~3000 BCEThe Bantu expansion begins in the Nigeria–Cameroon borderland — ~3000 BCEProto-Indo-European is spoken — ~3000 BCELapita voyagers enter Remote Oceania — c. 1350–800 BCEJones states the Indo-European hypothesis in Calcutta — 1786-02-02Rask publishes the Germanic consonant correspondences — 1818Grimm formulates the first sound shift as a system — 1822Verner explains the exceptions to Grimm's Law — 1877The Neogrammarian doctrine: sound laws admit no exception — 1878Saussure posits consonants no language attests — 1879The Boğazköy tablet archives are excavated — 1906Hrozný identifies Hittite as an Indo-European language — 1915Kuryłowicz matches Hittite h to Saussure's coefficients — 1927Dahl links Malagasy to Ma'anyan of southeastern Borneo — 1951The first edition of Ethnologue — 1951Glottochronology proposes to date language splits arithmetically — 1952Greenberg reduces Africa to four families — 1963Language in the Americas, and its rejection — 1987Blust's Austronesian subgrouping places the deepest divisions in Taiwan — 1999A language tree is tested against a settlement chronology — 2000A Bayesian phylogeny dates Indo-European to the Anatolian Neolithic — 2003UNESCO's Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger, third edition — 2010Phylogeography puts the Indo-European homeland in Anatolia — 2012Ancient DNA finds a mass movement from the steppe into Europe — 2015A dated phylogeny puts Sino-Tibetan at roughly seven thousand years — 2019A second phylogeny puts the same family at roughly six thousand years — 2019The International Decade of Indigenous Languages — 2022–2032A hybrid model is proposed for the Indo-European origin — 2023
28 shown · 28 dated · 2 cannot be placed on an axis · Approximate or contested. Draw a band and do not sharpen its edges.
In order28
  1. ~3000 BCEAustronesian speakers move out of Taiwan

    Sources disagree, or the dating is contested. Stated, not resolved.

  2. ~3000 BCEThe Bantu expansion begins in the Nigeria–Cameroon borderland

    Sources disagree, or the dating is contested. Stated, not resolved.

  3. ~3000 BCEProto-Indo-European is spoken

    Sources disagree, or the dating is contested. Stated, not resolved.

  4. c. 1350–800 BCELapita voyagers enter Remote Oceania

    Sources disagree, or the dating is contested. Stated, not resolved.

  5. 1786-02-02Jones states the Indo-European hypothesis in Calcutta

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  6. 1818Rask publishes the Germanic consonant correspondences

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  7. 1822Grimm formulates the first sound shift as a system

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  8. 1877Verner explains the exceptions to Grimm's Law

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  9. 1878The Neogrammarian doctrine: sound laws admit no exception

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  10. 1879Saussure posits consonants no language attests

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  11. 1906The Boğazköy tablet archives are excavated

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  12. 1915Hrozný identifies Hittite as an Indo-European language

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  13. 1927Kuryłowicz matches Hittite h to Saussure's coefficients

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  14. 1951Dahl links Malagasy to Ma'anyan of southeastern Borneo

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  15. 1951The first edition of Ethnologue

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  16. 1952Glottochronology proposes to date language splits arithmetically

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  17. 1963Greenberg reduces Africa to four families

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  18. 1987Language in the Americas, and its rejection

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  19. 1999Blust's Austronesian subgrouping places the deepest divisions in Taiwan

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  20. 2000A language tree is tested against a settlement chronology

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  21. 2003A Bayesian phylogeny dates Indo-European to the Anatolian Neolithic

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  22. 2010UNESCO's Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger, third edition

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  23. 2012Phylogeography puts the Indo-European homeland in Anatolia

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  24. 2015Ancient DNA finds a mass movement from the steppe into Europe

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  25. 2019A dated phylogeny puts Sino-Tibetan at roughly seven thousand years

    It happened, and the record is settled.

  26. 2019A second phylogeny puts the same family at roughly six thousand years

    Sources disagree, or the dating is contested. Stated, not resolved.

  27. 2022–2032The International Decade of Indigenous Languages

    A programme target or declared plan. NEVER a prediction.

  28. 2023A hybrid model is proposed for the Indo-European origin

    It happened, and the record is settled.

Not on the axis2
  • mid-first millennium CE — No year could be read from this date without guessing at one.
  • early second millennium BCE — No year could be read from this date without guessing at one.