I Live for Dead Tongues: Tocharian Languages - the easternmost Indo-European language group

Language family: Indo-European

Where it was spoken: Tarim basin in what is now Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, northwestern People's Republic of China.



Origins:

There is evidence both from the mummies and Chinese writings that many [Tocharians] had blonde or red hair and blue eyes, characteristics also found in present-day Afghanistan, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Central Asia, due to the populations' high genetic diversity. This suggests the possibility that they were part of an early migration of speakers of Indo-European languages that ended in what is now the Tarim Basin in western China.

What did it in: Assimilated by Uyghur Turks in the 9th century

Living linguistic relatives: None

Tocharians [Wikipedia]

Labels: ILfDT, Indo-European, Tocharian

What's the groovy tablet say? Eurasian alphabets are the prettiest I've seen.

I'm rusty on the Tocharian but I know what the Japanese label says: "Tokarago". That's Japanese for "Tocharian". Finally the mystery is solved. Hehe.