This Amazing Linguistic Tree Reveals How Most Languages Are Connected

Did you know that most of the different languages we speak today can actually be placed in only a couple of groups by their origin? This is what illustrator Minna Sundberg has captured in an elegant infographic of a linguistic tree which reveals some fascinating links between different tongues.

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Here’s a high-resolution image.

The left side of the tree maps out the Indo-Iranian languages. It shows the connections between Hindi and Urdu as well as some regional Indian languages such as Rajasthani and Gujarati

The European arm of the tree splits off into Slavic, Romance and Germanic branches. Here you can see the relationship between different Slavic languages. You can also spot some of Britain’s oldest languages clustered together

The size of the leaves on the trees is intended to indicate – roughly – how many people speak each language. It shows the relative size of English as well as its Germanic roots

Despite being close geographically, the tree highlights the distinct linguistic origins of Finnish from other languages in Scandinavia. Finnish belongs to the Uralic language family and shares roots with some indigenous tongues in Scandinavia such as Sami