The Indo-Aryan languages are a branch of the larger Indo-European language family. They are primarily spoken in the Indian subcontinent, including countries like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nepal. Major languages in this group include Hindi, Bengali, Punjabi, and Urdu. These languages 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 also share many linguistic features, such as vocabulary and grammar, due to their common ancestry. The influence of Persian, Arabic, and English has also shaped their development over time.