AHC and WI: Keep Indo-European languages more similar to one another

Your challenge is to make it so that the similarities between the most distant of Indo-European languages (such as Gaelic compared to Hindi) are the same as OTL's French and Occitan, or Bulgarian and Croatian.

If you don't know how to do this, then consider the question - what would be the result of the languages being closer linked? what effect would this have on the evolution of Indo-European society and culture?
 

Delvestius

Banned
The early Indo-Europeans would have to migrate or became displaced at a very early age, and all at once to boot for this to happen.
 
You should find way that Indo-Europeans not spread from India to Western Europe. Them should live nearer each others and much smaller area. Perhaps they don't ever move outside of modern day Ukraine or they live only in Ukraine, Southern Russia, Caucasus, Anatolia and parts of Kazakhstan. But can Indo-Europeans then survive?
 
You should find way that Indo-Europeans not spread from India to Western Europe. Them should live nearer each others and much smaller area. Perhaps they don't ever move outside of modern day Ukraine or they live only in Ukraine, Southern Russia, Caucasus, Anatolia and parts of Kazakhstan. But can Indo-Europeans then survive?

Its possible, as those areas still have Indo European speakers.
 
Its possible, as those areas still have Indo European speakers.

These areas has always been target of migrations. Peoples come and go. Of course might be possible that migrating people adopt local language and so Indo-European languages can survive. And I mean that IEs would live only on this area.
 
These areas has always been target of migrations. Peoples come and go. Of course might be possible that migrating people adopt local language and so Indo-European languages can survive. And I mean that IEs would live only on this area.

Good point, those areas are still Indo European speaking because they were fed with migrations of Indo European speakers from outside (Slavs replacing Turkic speakers who replaced Iranic speakers (who replaced who?)). Without a source from outside, then this area will likely undergo a permanent language shift, and there will be a loss of any Indo European speakers. Also, the language family wouldn't be called Indo European if it is kept confined to this area.
 
One obvious possibility. Indo-Europeans never successfully expand beyond the steppes, and end up in a few valleys in the Caucasus, forming a language isolate with a handful of dialects, as each valley has a slightly different version.

Sort of like about half of the other languages in the Caucasus, OTL.

Basically, it's either that or have widespread literacy, probably with a single religion based on it that happens BEFORE the IndoEuropeans spread out. Which is surely ASB.
 
Good point, those areas are still Indo European speaking because they were fed with migrations of Indo European speakers from outside (Slavs replacing Turkic speakers who replaced Iranic speakers (who replaced who?)). Without a source from outside, then this area will likely undergo a permanent language shift, and there will be a loss of any Indo European speakers. Also, the language family wouldn't be called Indo European if it is kept confined to this area.

The Iranic speakers may have been pretty closely tied to the original Indo Euroepans there; after all, the Iranian languages are Indo European.
 
The Iranic speakers may have been pretty closely tied to the original Indo Euroepans there; after all, the Iranian languages are Indo European.

True, the area largely thought to be the homeland of the Proto Indo European speakers was eventually Iranized, then Turkified, and now Russified. The Iranic speakers probably replaced the PIE speakers.
 
The Indo-Iranic language speakers were the last group to spread form the postulated homeland, Iranian Languages kept being spoken in the Homeland until being replaced by Tukic Languages, which are currently competing with Slavic languages.
 
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