Anthropology (ANTH) 2025 – 400 Free Practice Questions to Pass the Exam

The term that refers to languages that have evolved from a common ancestral language is "daughter languages." This concept highlights the genealogical relationship between languages, similar to how offspring emerge from a parent. In linguistic studies, when a parent language evolves over time due to geographical, social, or cultural shifts, it gives rise to new languages—these are deemed daughter languages.

For example, the Romance languages, such as Spanish, French, and Italian, all originated from Latin, the parent language. This showcases how the daughter languages maintain some characteristics of the parent but also develop unique features.

The other terms provided do not accurately represent this relationship. "Parent languages" typically refers to the ancestral language itself rather than the languages that derive from it. "Sister languages" denote languages that stem from the same parent language but have evolved separately—essentially, they are like cousins rather than direct descendants. Lastly, "dialectal languages" refers to regional or social variations of a single language rather than entirely distinct languages arising from a common ancestral source.