Baltic languages - Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Baltic | |
---|---|
Ethnicity: | Balts |
Geographic distribution: | Northern Europe |
Linguistic classification: | Indo-European
|
Subdivisions: | Western Baltic † Eastern Baltic Dnieper Baltic † |
ISO 639-5: | bat |
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.
Branches
[change | change source]There are three branches of Baltic languages. Two are extinct.
Western Baltic languages †
[change | change source]- (Western) Galindian †
- Old Prussian †
- Sudovian (Yotvingian) †
- ? Skalvian † (unattested)
Eastern Baltic languages
[change | change source]- 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 †
[change | change source]- (Eastern) Galindian (the language of the Eastern Galindians, also known by its name in Ukrainian: Голядь, romanized: Golyad') †[1]
(† – extinct language)
References
[change | change source]- ↑ Dini, P.U. (2000). Baltų kalbos. Lyginamoji istorija. Vilnius: Mokslo ir enciklopedijų leidybos institutas. p. 61. ISBN 5-420-01444-0.