以同一原始母语演化而来的不同语言称为一个语系，它可能包括很多分支和子系。

A group of all languages related in this way is called a language family, which can contain many branches and sub-families.

《TED教育》《TED-Ed》

系谱学家、现代语言学家等试图重现这个过程，他们尽力追溯不同语言的共同的起源，也称为原始母语。

Like genealogists, modern linguists try to map this process by tracing multiple languages back as far as they can to their common ancestor, or protolanguage.

《TED教育》《TED-Ed》

我们也许永远不会知道语言从何而来，也不知道人类语言是否真有共同的原始母语并通过移民们散落于各处。

We may never be able to determine how language came about, or whether all human languages did in fact have a common ancestor scattered through the babel of migration.

《TED教育》《TED-Ed》