Indo-European cladistic nomenclature

Abstract

Abstract The study examines the terminology currently in use for the higher-level subgroups of the Indo-European family tree. Based on the observation that the terminology is heterogeneous and confusing, the study discusses the central terms, suggesting that the whole language family and its ancestor should be referred to as “Indo-European” and “Proto-Indo-European” respectively. Under the hypothesis that the three first subgroups to branch off were Anatolian, Tocharian and Italo- Celtic, “Indo-Tocharian” is recommended as a suitable name for the non-Anatolian subgroup, and “Indo-Celtic” for the non-Anatolian and non-Tocharian subgroup.