The Indo-Aryan language family is a branch of the larger Indo-European language family. It primarily includes languages spoken in the Indian subcontinent, such as Hindi, Bengali, Punjabi, and Urdu. These languages share common linguistic features and have evolved from ancient languages like Sanskrit and Prakrit. Indo-Aryan languages are characterized by their use of a subject-object-verb (SOV) sentence structure and a rich system of inflections. They are written in various scripts, including Devanagari for Hindi and Sanskrit, and Gurmukhi for Punjabi. The family plays a significant role in the cultural and literary heritage of South Asia.