Daughter language

In historical linguistics, a daughter language is a language descended from another language through a process of genetic descent. Strictly speaking, the metaphor of the mother-daughter relationship can lead to misconceptualization of language history, as daughter languages are normally direct continuations of earlier stages, not separate entities in any way "born" to a parent who eventually dies.

Examples

• English is a daughter language of Proto-Germanic, which is a daughter language of Proto-Indo-European.

• Italian is a daughter language of (Vulgar) Latin, which is a daughter language of Proto-Indo-European.

• Afrikaans is a daughter language of Dutch, which is a daughter language of Proto-Germanic, which is a daughter language of Proto-Indo-European.

• Chavacano is a daughter language of Spanish, which is a daughter language of (Vulgar) Latin, which is a daughter language of Proto-Indo-European.

• Hindi is a daughter language of Sanskrit (Prakrit), which is a daughter language of Proto-Indo-European.

• Modern Hebrew is a daughter language of Biblical Hebrew, which is a daughter language of Canaanite, which is a daughter language of Proto-Semitic.

• Norwegian Bokmål is a daughter language of Danish, which is a daughter language of Old Norse, which is a daughter language of Proto-Germanic, which is a daughter language of Proto-Indo-European.

• Tajik is a daughter language of Persian, which is a daughter language of Proto-Indo-European.

See also

• Protolanguage
• Comparative method
• Language families