A language considered as derived from another (parent)
In
historical linguistics, a daughter language, also known as descendant language, is a
language descended from another language, its mother language, through a process of
genetic descent.[1] If more than one language has developed from the same
proto-language, or 'mother language', those languages are said to be
sister languages, members of the same
language family. These concepts are linked to the
tree model of language evolution, in which the relationships between languages are compared with those between members of a family tree. This model captures the diversification of languages from a common source.[2]
Strictly speaking, the
metaphor of the mother-daughter relationship can lead to a misunderstanding of language history, as daughter languages are direct continuations of the mother language, which have become distinct, principally by a process of
gradual change; the languages are not separate entities "born" to a parent who eventually dies.
Mother languages do not "die", they generally become their daughter languages. This need not necessarily be the case, as is evidenced by the coexistence of
Afrikaans and
Dutch.
Bulgarian is a daughter language of
Old Bulgarian, which is a daughter language of
Proto-Slavic, which is a daughter language of Proto-Indo-European.
German and
Yiddish are both daughter languages of
Old High German, which is a daughter language of Proto-Germanic, which is a daughter language of Proto-Indo-European.
Afrikaans is a daughter language of
Dutch, which is a daughter language of
Low Franconian, which is a daughter language of Proto-Germanic, which is a daughter language of Proto-Indo-European.
^Matthews, Peter H. (2014). The concise Oxford dictionary of linguistics. Oxford University Press (Third ed.). Oxford.
ISBN9780191753060.
OCLC881847972.{{
cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
link)
^Lyle., Campbell (2004). Historical linguistics : an introduction (2nd ed.). Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.
ISBN0262532670.
OCLC54692867.
^Mallory, James P.; Adams, Douglas Q. (2006). The Oxford introduction to Proto-Indo-European and the Proto-Indo-European world. Oxford linguistics. New York: Oxford university press.
ISBN978-0-19-928791-8.