Languages of Europe

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Image:Europa-Lingvoj--RS2006030842.jpg
Map showing approximate current distribution of languages in Europe, but with emphasis on locations of minority languages

Most of the many languages of Europe belong to the Indo-European language family. Another major family is the Finno-Ugric. The Turkic family also has several European members. The North and South Caucasian families are important in the southeastern extremity of geographical Europe. Basque is a language isolate.

As yet this list does not include languages spoken by relatively recently-arrived migrant communities.

Contents

[edit] Altaic languages

[edit] Mongolic languages

[edit] Turkic languages

[edit] Bolgar languages

[edit] Oghuz languages

[edit] Kypchak languages

[edit] Basque

The Basque language of the northern Iberian Peninsula is a language isolate, and as such is not related to any other language. This language may date back 5,000 years, before waves of Indo-European speaking peoples settled in Europe, but haven't penetrated the area of northern Spain and southwest France until the first millennia AD. The language is also spoken by immigrants in Australia, Costa Rica, Mexico, the Philippines, and the USA [1].

[edit] Finno-Ugric languages

Image:Finno-Ugric languages.png
Approximate geographical distribution of areas where indigenous Finno-Ugric languages are spoken. Diagonal patterns indicate sparsely populated areas. Dotted lines mark boundaries of corresponding subnational administrative units.

The Finno-Ugric languages are a subfamily of the Uralic language family.

[edit] North Caucasian languages

[edit] Northwest Caucasian languages

[edit] Northeast Caucasian languages

[edit] Maltese

A Semitic language spoken in Malta and related to Arabic but written with the Latin script. It is the smallest official language of the EU in terms of speakers.

[edit] South Caucasian languages

[edit] Indo-European languages

Most European languages are Indo-European languages. This large language-family is descended from a common language that was spoken thousands of years ago, which is referred to as Proto-Indo-European.

[edit] Albanian

The language, also known as Shiptar is made up of two major dialects, Geg and Tosk spoken in the country of Albania, but Albanian speaking minorities in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia; as one of two major languages in Kosovo, Serbia; and some Albanian speakers living in parts of Montenegro.

[edit] Armenian

The Armenian language is widely spoken as the majority language in Armenia which was under the Soviet Union until 1991. There are Armenian speakers in globally scattered communities of the Armenian diaspora in Europe, the Middle East, and the Americas (in North and South America).

[edit] Baltic languages

[edit] Celtic languages

[edit] Brythonic

[edit] Goidelic (Gaelic)

[edit] Germanic languages

Image:Europe germanic languages.PNG
The Germanic languages in Europe      Low Franconian and Low German (West Germanic)      High German (West Germanic)      Insular Anglo-Frisian (West Germanic)      Continental Anglo-Frisian (West Germanic)      East North Germanic      West North Germanic      Line dividing the North and West Germanic languages.

[edit] North Germanic

(descending from Old Norse)

[edit] West Germanic

[edit] East Germanic

[edit] Greek

The official language of Greece has a history as part of the legacy of ancient Greece. Greek and Latin, the language of the Roman Empire are used in professional fields such as science and literature. Greek speakers live in nearby countries, also an official language of Cyprus and small Greek enclaves in Albania, Bulgaria, Italy, FYROM, Romania and Turkey, and in Greek communities around the world in all six continents.

[edit] Italic languages

  • Latin (extinct except in special uses)

[edit] Romance languages

The Romance languages descended from the Vulgar Latin spoken across most of the lands of the Roman Empire.

[edit] Eastern Romance (Balkan Romance)
[edit] Southern Romance
[edit] Western Romance

[edit] Indo-Iranian languages

[edit] Indo-Aryan Languages

[edit] Iranian languages

[edit] Slavic languages

[edit] West Slavic languages

[edit] East Slavic languages

[edit] South Slavic languages

[edit] General issues

[edit] Linguas Francas—past and present

Europe’s history is characterized by three linguas francas:

Linguas francas that were less wide-spread, but still played a comparatively important role in European history are:

[edit] First dictionaries and grammars

The first type of dictionaries are glossaries, i.e. more or less structured lists of lexical pairs (in alphabetical order or according to conceptual fields). The Latin-German (Latin-Bavarian) Abrogans is among the first. A new wave of lexicography can be seen from the late 15th century onwards (after the introduction of the printing press, with the growing interest for standardizing languages).

[edit] Language and identity, standardization processes

In the Middle Ages the two most important definitory elements of Europe were Christianitas and Latinitas. Thus language—at least the supranational language—played an elementary role. This changed with the spread of the national languages in official contexts and the rise of a national feeling. Among other things, this led to projects of standardizing national language and gave birth to a number of language academies (e.g. 1582 Accademia della Crusca in Florence, 1617 Fruchtbringende Gesellschaft, 1635 Académie française, 1713 Real Academia de la Lengua in Madrid). “Language” was then (and still ist today) more connected with “nation” than with “civilization” (particularly in France). “Language” was also used to create a feeling of “religious/ethnic identity” (e.g. different Bible translations by Catholics and Protestants of the same language).

Among the first standardization discussions and processes are the ones for Italian (“questione della lingua”: Modern Tuscan/Florentine vs. Old Tuscan/Florentine vs. Venetian > Modern Florentine + archaic Tuscan + Upper Italian), French (standard is based on Parisian), English (standard is based on the London dialect) and (High) German (based on: chancellery of Meißen/Saxony + Middle German + chancellery of Prague/Bohemia [“Common German”]). But also a number of other nations have begun to look for and develop a standard variety in the 16th century.

[edit] Treatment of linguistic minorities

Despite the tremendous importance of English, Europe is always associated with its linguistic diversity, which also includes the special protection of minority languages, e.g. by the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages. This underlines that the popular view of “one nation = one language” is mostly false (despite attempts of national linguistic homogenization in France during the Revolution or in Franco's Spain or in contemporary Greece[citation needed]). A minority language can be defined as a language used by a group that defines itself as an ethnic minority group, whereby the language of this group is typologically different and not a dialect of the standard language. In Europe some languages are in quite a strong position, in the sense that they are given special status, (e.g. Basque, Irish, Welsh, Catalan, Rhaeto-Romance/Romansh), whereas others are in a rather weak position (e.g. Frisian, Scottish Gaelic, Turkish)[dubious — see talk page]—especially allochthonous minority languages are not given official status in the EU (in part because they are not part of the cultural heritage of a civilization). Some minor languages don’t even have a standard yet, i.e. they have not even reached the level of an ausbausprache yet, which could be changed, e.g., if these languages were given official status. (cf. also next section).

[edit] Issues in language politics

France is the origin of two laws, or decrees, concerning language: the Ordonnance de Villers-Cotterêts (1239), which says that every document in France should be written in French (i.e. not in Latin nor Occitan) and the French Loi Toubon, which aims to eliminate Anglicisms from official documents. But Europe’s essentially characteristic feature is linguistic diversity and tolerance. An illustrative proof of the promotion of linguistic diversity is the translation school in Toledo, founded in the 12th century (in medieval Toledo the Christian, the Jewish and the Arab civilizations lived together remarkably peacefully).

This tolerant linguistic attitude is also the reason why the EU’s general rule is that every official national language is also an official EU language. However, Flemish and Letzebuergish/Luxemburgish are not official EU languages, because there are also other (stronger) official languages with “EU status” in the respective nations.[dubious — see talk page] Several concepts for a EU language policy are being debated:

  • one official language (e.g. English)
  • several official languages (e.g. English, French, German, Spanish + another topic-dependent language)
  • all national languages as official languages, but with a number of relais languages for translations (e.g. English or Esperanto as relais languages).

New immigrants in European countries are expected to learn the host nation's language, but are still speaking and reading their native languages (i.e. Arabic, Hindustani/Urdu, Mandarin Chinese, Swahili and Tahitian) in Europe's increasingly multiethnic/multicultural profile. But, those languages aren't native or indigenous to Europe, therefore aren't considered important in the issue of allowing them printed in European countries' official documents.

[edit] See also

v • d • e
Languages of Europe

Albania · Andorra · Armenia2 · Austria · Azerbaijan4 · Belarus · Belgium · Bosnia and Herzegovina · Bulgaria · Croatia · Cyprus2 · Czech Republic · Denmark · Estonia · Finland · France · Georgia4 · Germany · Greece · Hungary · Iceland · Ireland · Italy · Kazakhstan1 · Latvia · Liechtenstein · Lithuania · Luxembourg · Republic of Macedonia · Malta · Moldova · Monaco · Montenegro · Netherlands · Norway · Poland · Portugal · Romania · Russia1 · San Marino · Serbia · Slovakia · Slovenia · Spain · Sweden · Switzerland · Turkey1 · Ukraine · United Kingdom · Vatican City

Dependencies, autonomies and other territories
Abkhazia4 · Adjara2 · Åland · Akrotiri and Dhekelia · Crimea · Faroe Islands · Gibraltar · Guernsey · Isle of Man · Jersey · Kosovo · Nagorno-Karabakh2 · Nakhichevan2 · Transnistria · Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus2, 3

1 Has significant territory in Asia. 2 Entirely in West Asia, but considered European for cultural, political and historical reasons. 3 Only recognised by Turkey. 4 Partially or entirely in Asia, depending on the definition of the border between Europe and Asia.

v • d • e
Languages by continent

Africa · Americas · Asia · Europe · Oceania

de:Europäische Sprachen

es:Lenguas_de_Europa pl:Języki w Europie sv:Språk i Europa

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