Baltic languages

The Baltic languages are part of the Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European language family. Baltic languages are mostly spoken in the Baltics, around the Baltic sea.

Baltic
Ethnicity:Balts
Geographic
distribution:
Northern Europe
Linguistic classification:Indo-European
Subdivisions:
Western Baltic †
Eastern Baltic
Dnieper Baltic †
ISO 639-5:bat

Branches

There are three branches of Baltic languages. Two are extinct.

Western Baltic languages †

  • (Western) Galindian
  • Old Prussian
  • Sudovian (Yotvingian) †
  •  ? Skalvian † (unattested)

Eastern Baltic languages

  • Latvian (~2.2 million speakers, whereof ~1.75 million native speakers, 0.5 million second language speakers)
  • Latgalian (150,000–200,000 speakers)
  • Lithuanian (~3 million native speakers)
  • Selonian
  • Semigallian
  • Old Curonian (sometimes considered Western Baltic) †

Dnieper Baltic languages †

  • (Eastern) Galindian (the language of the Eastern Galindians, also known by its name in Ukrainian: Голядь, romanized: Golyad') †[1]

(† – extinct language)

References

  1. Dini, P.U. (2000). Baltų kalbos. Lyginamoji istorija. Vilnius: Mokslo ir enciklopedijų leidybos institutas. p. 61. ISBN 5-420-01444-0.


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.