Indo-Iranian languages
The Indo-Iranian languages , formerly called Aryan languages form a primary branch of the Indo-European. The Indo-Iranian language family consists of the main branches
- Iranian (sometimes: Iranoarisch ): about 130 million speakers in Central and South Asia.
- Nuristani: about 30,000 speakers in Afghanistan ( Nuristan Province ) and Pakistan ( South Asia )
- Indo-Aryan: about one billion speakers, especially in South Asia but also in Europe ( Romani ).
The dardischen languages were formerly reckoned among the Nuristani languages , according to the current majority opinion, they represent a subgroup of the Indo-Aryan language branch dar.
The Indo-Iranian languages have so many common innovations compared with the Primitive Indo-European, that they can put them together to a clearly defined own genetic unit. (There are no languages in which you have doubts as to whether they belong to this group or not. ) Is much more problematic but the internal structure of this unit, particularly the achievement of today's tripartite division was a lengthy scientific process; just the position of the dardischen languages - now expected to Northwestern branch of the Indo-Aryan languages - is still not fully understood. The Nuristani languages are a link between the Iranian and Indo-Aryan languages are linguistically but closer to Iran. On the subject of the internal structure of the three subgroups see there.
The splitting of the Iranian and Indo-Aryan languages is of course before the beginning of the colonization of North India to be set by the Indo-Aryans, ie before 1500 BC A common origin from the north ( Central Asian steppe ) is undisputed, most of the so-called Andronovo culture with the Indoiranern associated.
Interesting in this context is also the language of the Mitanni, a leadership of the Hurrians in northern Mesopotamia around 1500 BC ( the so-called Mitanni empire). Above all, the rulers name obtained have their bearer as Indo-Aryan (sic! ), it must therefore be a migrated far to the west subgroup of Indo-Aryans.
An overview of all the Indo-Iranian languages and their genetic classification provides the below web link.