These concepts are linked to the tree model of language evolution, in which the relationships between languages are compared with those between members of a family tree.
This model captures the diversification of languages from a common source.
[2] Strictly speaking, the metaphor of the mother-daughter relationship can lead to a misunderstanding of language history, as daughter languages are direct continuations of the mother language, which have become distinct, principally by a process of gradual change; the languages are not separate entities "born" to a parent who eventually dies.
This need not necessarily be the case, as is evidenced by the coexistence of Afrikaans and Dutch.
This article about historical linguistics is a stub.