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 and Maltese is the only national language in Europe, but not the only language, that is Semitic.
This list does not include languages spoken by relatively recently-arrived migrant communities.
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Indo-European languages
Most European languages are Indo-European languages. This large language family is descended from Proto-Indo-European, spoken thousands of years ago.
Slavic languages
East Slavic languages
West Slavic languages
South Slavic languages
- Serbian
- Bulgarian
- Croatian
- Slovene
- Bosnian
- Macedonian
- Montenegrin
- Old Church Slavonic (a liturgical language)
- Romano-Serbian (a mixed language)
Germanic languages
West Germanic
German
Anglo-Frisian
- Anglo-Frisian
- Frisian
- Anglic (descending from Anglo-Saxon)
- Modern English
- Modern Scots in Scotland and Ulster
- Yola (extinct 19th century)
- Shelta (mixed with Irish)
Low Franconian
North Germanic
(descending from Old Norse)
- Continental Scandinavian
- Insular Scandinavian
East Germanic
- Gothic (extinct)
- Burgundian (extinct)
- Crimean Gothic (extinct in the 1800s)
- Lombardic (extinct)
- Vandalic (extinct)
Romance languages
The Romance languages descended from the Vulgar Latin spoken across most of the lands of the Roman Empire.
- Latin is usually classified as an Italic language of which the Romance languages are a subgroup. It is extinct as a spoken language, but it is widely used as a liturgical language by the Roman Catholic Church and studied in many educational institutions. It is also the official language of Vatican City. Latin was the main language of literature, sciences and arts for many centuries and greatly influenced all European languages.
- French is official in France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Monaco, Switzerland and the Channel Islands. It is also official in Canada, many African countries and overseas departments and territories of France.
- Italian is official in Italy, San Marino, Switzerland, Vatican and several regions of Croatia and Slovenia.
- Spanish (also termed Castilian) is official in Spain. It is also official in most Latin American countries.
- Romanian is official in Romania, Moldova (as Moldovan), Mount Athos (Greece) and Vojvodina (Serbia).
- Portuguese is official in Portugal. It is also official in Brazil and several former Portuguese colonies in Africa and Eastern Asia (see Geographic distribution of Portuguese and Community of Portuguese Language Countries).
- Catalan is official in Andorra, and co-official in in the Spanish regions of Catalonia, Valencian Community (as Valencian), Balearic Islands. It is also natively spoken in France in the Languedoc-Rousillon region (Llengadoc-Rosselló) and in Sardinia, Italy (as Alguerese).
- Galician, akin to Portuguese, is co-official in Galicia, Spain. It is also spoken by Galician diaspora (more than local population).
- Occitan is spoken principally in France, but is only officially recognized in Spain as one of the three official languages of Catalonia (termed there Aranese). Its use was severely reduced due to the once de jure and currently de facto promotion of French; since 2008 it is among the regional languages recognised in the French constitution.
- Sardinian is co-official in the Sardinia Autonomous Region, of Italy. It is also spoken by Sardinian diaspora. It is considered the most conservative of the Romance languagesin terms of phonology
- Franco-Provençal, sometimes called "Arpitan," protected by statutes in the Aosta Valley Autonomous Region of Italy, also spoken alpine valleys of the province of Turin, two communities in province of Foggia, Romandy region of western Switzerland, and in east central France (i.e., between standard French and Occitan domains). It is in serious danger of extinction.
- Norman has been debatedly referred to as a language in its own right or a dialect of standard French with its own regional character. Its use is recognized in the Channel Islands, remnants of the historical Duchy of Normandy, and since 2008 it is among the regional languages recognised in the French constitution.
- Corsican is spoken exclusively on the French island of Corsica and is much more closely related to the Italian or northern Italian regional languages. Unlike other French minority languages, it has a healthier outlook, but still suffers from a lack of promotion.
- Romansh is an official language of Switzerland.
- Mirandese is officially recognized by the Portuguese Parliament.
- Leonese is recognized in Castile and León (Spain).
Some of the above languages are official in the European Union and the Latin Union and the more prominent ones are studied in many educational institutions worldwide. This is due to the fact that just three of the Romance languages, French, Spanish, and Portuguese are spoken by close to a billion speakers.
Many other Romance languages and their local varieties are spoken throughout Europe. Some of them are recognized as regional languages.
Romance languages are divided into many subgroups and dialects. For an exhaustive list, see List of Romance languages.
Greek
- Greek: official language of Greece and Cyprus; and Greek-speaking enclaves in Albania, Bulgaria, Italy, the Republic of Macedonia, Romania, Georgia, Ukraine, Lebanon, Egypt, Israel, Jordan and Turkey, and in Greek communities around the world. Dialects of modern Greek that originate from the Ionian Koine are Cappadocian, Pontic, Cretan, Cypriot, Katharevousa, and Yevanic.
- Tsakonian language: Doric dialect of the Greek language spoken in the lower Arcadia region of the Peloponnese around the village of Leonidio.
- Griko: Debatably a Doric dialect of the Greek Language spoken in the lower Calabria region and in the Salento region of Southern Italy.
Armenian
The Armenian language is widely spoken as the majority language in Armenia. 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). It became an official language when the Armenian alphabet was created by Mesrop Mashtots during the 4th century AD. It is a diverse language including words from some surrounding nations but mainly Ancient Greek and Pahlavi (Medieval Persian).
Albanian
Albanian language is made up of two major dialects, Gheg and Tosk spoken in Albania, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo and Albanian speakers living in parts of Montenegro, Serbia, Turkey, also southern parts of Italy, northern part of Greece and many other European countries.
Baltic languages
- Lithuanian
- Latvian
- Curonian
- Latgalian
- Samogitian
- Galindian (extinct)
- Old Prussian (extinct)
- Selonian (extinct)
- Semigallian (extinct)
- Sudovian (extinct)
Indo-Iranian languages
Indo-Aryan Languages
Iranian languages
Celtic languages
Brythonic
Goidelic (Gaelic)
Semitic languages
Maltese
Maltese is a Semitic language with Romance and Germanic influences, spoken in Malta.[1][2][3][4] It is based on Sicilian Arabic, with influences from Italian (particularly Sicilian), French, and more recently, English. It is unique in being the only Semitic language written in the Latin alphabet in its standard form. It is the smallest official language of the EU in terms of speakers, and the only official Semitic language within the EU.
Cypriot Maronite Arabic
Cypriot Maronite Arabic (also known as Cypriot Arabic) is a variety of Arabic spoken by Maronites in Cyprus. Most speakers live in Nicosia, but others are in the communities of Kormakiti and Lemesos. Brought to the island by Maronites fleeing Lebanon over 700 years ago, this variety of Arabic has been influenced by Greek in both phonology and vocabulary, while retaining certain unusually archaic features in other respects.
Hebrew
Hebrew has been written and spoken by the Jewish communities of all of Europe in liturgical, educational and often conversational contexts since the entry of the Jews into Europe at some uncertainly known time in late antiquity. Its restoration as the official language of Israel has accelerated its secular use. It also has been used in educational and liturgical contexts by minor elements of the Christian populations. Hebrew has its own consonantal alphabet, in which the vowels may be marked by diacritical marks called pointing in English.
Finno-Ugric languages
The Finno-Ugric languages are a subfamily of the Uralic language family.
- Ugric (Ugrian)
- Finno-Permic
- Permic
- Finno-Volgaic
- Mari
- Mordvinic
- Extinct Finno-Volgaic languages of uncertain position
- Finno-Lappic
- Sami
- Western Sami
- Eastern Sami
- Kemi Sami (extinct)
- Inari Sami
- Akkala Sami (extinct)
- Kildin Sami
- Skolt Sami
- Ter Sami
- Baltic-Finnic
- Estonian
- South Estonian
- Võro (including Seto)
- Finnish (including Meänkieli or Tornedalian Finnish, Kven Finnish, and Ingrian Finnish)
- Ingrian
- Karelian
- Karelian proper
- Lude
- Olonets Karelian
- Livonian
- Veps
- Votic
- Estonian
- Sami
Altaic languages
Distribution of the proposed Altaic languages across Eurasia
The proposed but controversial Altaic language family is claimed to consist of three branches (Turkic, Mongolian, and Manchu-Tungus) that show similarities in vocabulary, morphological and syntactic structure, and certain phonological features. On the basis of systematic sound correspondences, they are generally considered to be genetically related. In Europe the Turkic branch prevail, though the Mongolic branch is represented also.
Turkic languages
Oghuz
Kypchak
- Western
Oghur
Mongolic languages
South Caucasian languages
- Kartvelian (Georgian)
Northeast Caucasian languages
Northwest Caucasian languages
Basque
The Basque language is a language isolate spoken at the western Pyrenees and directly related to ancient Aquitanian. The language may have been spoken in a wider area since Paleolithic times.
The language is also spoken by immigrants in Australia, Costa Rica, Mexico, the Philippines, and the USA.[5]
General issues
Lingua Francas—past and present
Europe has had a number of languages that were considered lingua francas over some ranges for some periods according to some historians. Typically in the rise of a national language the new language becomes a lingua franca to peoples in the range of the future nation until the consolidation and unification phases. If the nation becomes internationally influential, its language may become a lingua franca among nations that speak their own national languages. Europe has had no lingua franca ranging over its entire territory spoken by all or most of its populations during any historical period. Some lingua francas of past and present over some of its regions for some of its populations are:
- Classical Greek and then Koine Greek in the Mediterranean Basin from the Athenian empire to the eastern Roman Empire, being replaced by modern Greek
- Koine Greek and Modern Greek, in the Eastern Roman or Byzantine Empire and other parts of the Balkans south of the imaginary Jireček Line[6]
- Vulgar Latin and Late Latin among the uneducated and educated populations respectively of the Roman empire and the states that followed it in the same range no later than 900 AD; medieval Latin and renaissance Latin among the educated populations of western, northern, central and part of eastern Europe until the rise of the national languages in that range, beginning with the first language academy in Italy in 1582/83; new Latin written only in scholarly and scientific contexts by a small minority of the educated population at scattered locations over all of Europe; ecclesiastical Latin, in spoken and written contexts of liturgy and church administration only, over the range of the Roman Catholic Church
- Lingua Franca or Sabir, the original of the name, a Romance-based pidgin language of mixed origins used by maritime commercial interests around the Mediterranean in the Middle Ages and early Modern Age[7]
- Spanish as Castilian in Spain and New Spain from the times of the Catholic Kings and Columbus, ca. 1492; that is, after the Reconquista, until established as a national language in the times of Louis XIV, ca. 1648; subsequently multinational in all nations in or formerly in the Spanish Empire[8]
- Old French in continental western European countries and in the Crusader states[9]
- French from the golden age under Cardinal Richelieu and Louis XIV ca. 1648; i.e. after the Thirty Years' War, in France and the French colonial empire, until established as the national language during the French Revolution of 1789 and subsequently multinational in all nations in or formerly in the various French Empires[9]
- English in the British Isles and Normandy until its consolidation as a national language in the renaissance and the rise of modern English; subsequently internationally under the various states in or formerly in the British Empire; globally since the victories of the native English-speaking populations and their allies in the two world wars ending in 1918 and 1945
- Middle Low German (14th – 16th century, during the heyday of the Hanseatic League)
- German in Northern, Central, and Eastern Europe[10]
- Czech, mainly during the reign of Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV but also during other periods of Bohemian control over the HRE.
- Polish (16th-18th century, because of the political, cultural, scientific and military influence of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth)
- Russian in Eastern Europe from the Second World War to the breakup of the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact
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).
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.
Language and the Council of Europe
The most ancient historical social structure of Europe is that of politically independent tribes, each sharing a common ethnic identity based among other cultural factors on the language they spoke. For example, the Latini speaking Latina resided under a king in Latium. A number of tribes might combine into a nation still speaking the same language; for example, the Galli living in Gallia comprised many loosely confederated tribes, such as the Parisii, whose settlement became Paris, but they all spoke the Gallic language. In the course of social evolution multi-ethnic political states formed, such as Roma, in which one language (here Latina) dominated and was official or quasi-official. Over the centuries these formerly tribal states acquired different ethnic groups because the political borders were drawn through their states, splitting the former united populations, or because of immigrant populations seeking a better life or because groups were involuntarily settled there by the power of the state.
Ethnic conflict over the issues of rights and borders has been a major cause of European history. Historical attitudes towards linguistic diversity are illustrated by two French laws: the Ordonnance de Villers-Cotterêts (1539), which says that every document in France should be written in French (meaning not in Latin nor Occitan) and the Loi Toubon (1994), which aims to eliminate Anglicisms from official documents. States and populations within a state have often resorted to war to settle their differences. As these conflagrations grew more deadly assisted by modern technology in the 19th and 20th centuries, various elements of post-World War II society looked for ways to mitigate the conflict and insure peace and harmony.
One such attempt is the Council of Europe, a 1949-founded organization to which European nations may affirm voluntary membership. It offers quasi-constitutional policies and institutions designed to intervene in ethnic conflict in favor of basic human rights. Its European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages defines "regional or minority languages" as those spoken by "numerically smaller" populations of nationals and which are "different from the official language(s) of the state." Dialects of official languages and the "language of migrants" are excluded. The document affirms the right of minority-language speakers to use their language fully and freely.[11] The Council of Europe is committed to protecting linguistic diversity. Currently all European countries except France, Andorra and Turkey have signed the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, while Greece, Iceland and Luxembourg have signed it, but have not ratified it. This framework entered into force in 1998.
Language and the European Union
Official status
The European Union (EU) designates one or more languages as "official and working" with regard to any member state if they are the official languages of that state. The decision as to whether they are and their use by the EU as such is entirely up to the laws and policies of the member states. In the case of multiple official languages the member state must designate which one is to be the working language.[12]
As the EU is an entirely voluntary association established by treaty — a member state may withdraw at any time — each member retains its sovereignity in deciding what use to make of its own languages; it must agree to legislate any EU acceptance criteria before membership. The EU designation as official and working is only an agreement concerning the languages to be used in transacting official business between the member state and the EU, especially in the translation of documents passed between the EU and the member state. The EU does not attempt in any way to govern language use in a member state.
Currently the EU has designated by agreement with the member states 23 languages as "official and working:" Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Irish, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish and Swedish.[12] This designation provides member states with two "entitlements:" the member state may communicate with the EU in the designated one of those languages and view "EU regulations and other legislative documents" in that language.[13]
Proficiency
The European Union and the Council of Europe have been collaborating in a number of tasks, among which is the education of member populations in languages for "the promotion of plurilingualism" among EU member states,[14] The joint document, "Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment (CEFR)," is an educational standard defining "the competancies necessary for communication" and related knowledge for the benefit of educators in setting up educational programs. That document defines three general levels of knowledge: A Basic User, B Independent User and C Proficient User.[15] The ability to speak the language falls under competancies B and C ranging from "can keep going comprehensibly" to "can express him/herself at length with a natural, effortless, unhesitating flow."[16]
These distinctions were simplified in a 2005 independent survey requested by the Directorate General for Education and Culture of the EU of the extent to which the major languages of Europe were spoken in the member states of the EU. The results were published in a 2006 document, "Europeans and Their Languages", or "Eurobarometer 243," which is disavowed as official by the European Commission, but does supply some scientific data concerning language use in the EU. In this study statistically relevant samples of the population in each country were asked to fill out a survey form concerning the languages that they spoke with sufficient competancy "to be able to have a conversation."[17] Some of the results showing the distribution of major languages are shown in the maps below. The darkest colors report the highest proportion of speakers. Only EU members were studied. Thus data on Russian speakers were gathered, but Russia is not an EU member and so Russian does not appear in Russia on the maps. It does appear as spoken to the greatest extent in the Baltic countries, which are EU members.
 English |
 German |
 French |
 Spanish |
 Italian |
 Russian |
Notes
- ^ Marie Alexander and others (2009). "2nd International Conference of Maltese Linguistics: Saturday, September 19 – Monday, September 21, 2009". International Association of Maltese Linguistics. http://www.fb10.uni-bremen.de/maltese/abstracts.aspx. Retrieved 2 November 2009.
- ^ Aquilina, J. (1958). "Maltese as a Mixed Language". Journal of Semitic Studies 3 (1): 58-79. doi:.
- ^ Aquilina, Joseph (July - September, 1960). "The Structure of Maltese". Journal of the American Oriental Society 80 (3): 267-268.
- ^ Werner, Louis; Calleja, Alan (November/December 2004). "Europe's New Arabic Connection". Saudi Aramco World. http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/200406/europe.s.new.arabic.connection.htm.
- ^ "Basque". UCLA Language Materials Project, UCLA International Institute. http://www.lmp.ucla.edu/Profile.aspx?LangID=24&menu=004. Retrieved 2 November 2009.
- ^ Counelis, James Steve (March 1976). "Review [untitled] of Ariadna Camariano-Cioran, Les Academies Princieres de Bucarest et de Jassy et leur Professeurs". Church History 45 (1): 115-116. "...Greek, the lingua franca of commerce and religion, provided a cultural unity to the Balkans... Greek penetrated Moldavian and Wallachian territories as early as the fourteenth century.... The heavy influence of Greek culture upon the intellectual and academic life of Bucharest and Jassy was longer termed than historians once believed.".
- ^ Wansbrough, John E. (1996). "Chapter 3: Lingua Franca". Lingua Franca in the Mediterranean. Routledge.
- ^ Jones, Branwen Gruffydd (2006). Decolonizing international relations. Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield. p. 98.
- ^ a b Calvet, Louis Jean (1998). Language wars and linguistic politics. Oxford [England]; New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 175-176.
- ^ Darquennes, Jeroen; Nelde, Peter (2006). "German as a Lingua Franca". Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 26: 61-77.
- ^ "European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages: Strasbourg, 5.XI.1992". Council of Europe. 1992. http://conventions.coe.int/treaty/en/Treaties/Html/148.htm.
- ^ a b "REGULATION No 1 determining the languages to be used by the European Economic Community" (pdf). European Commission, European Union. 2009. http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/site/en/consleg/1958/R/01958R0001-20070101-en.pdf. Retrieved 5 November 2009.
- ^ "Languages of Europe: Official EU languages". European Commission, European Union. 2009. http://ec.europa.eu/education/languages/languages-of-europe/doc135_en.htm. Retrieved 5 November 2009.
- ^ "Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment (CEFR)". Council of Europe. http://www.coe.int/T/DG4/Linguistic/CADRE_EN.asp. Retrieved 5 November 2009.
- ^ Page 23.
- ^ Page 29.
- ^ "Europeans and Their Languages" (pdf). European Commission. 2006. p. 8. http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_243_en.pdf. Retrieved November 5 2009.
See also
- List of living languages in Europe
- List of endangered languages in Europe
- List of extinct languages of Europe
- Languages of the European Union
- Demography of Europe
- European ethnic groups
- Multilingual countries and regions of Europe
External links
- Reissmann, Stefan; Argador, Urion (2006). "Luingoi in Europa" (in Esperanto, English, German). Reissmann & Argador. http://www.argador.info/skope/tero/Regioi/Europa/kultur/scpraaxoi/index.html. Retrieved 2 November 2009.
- Zikin, Mutur (2005-2006). "Europako Mapa linguistikoa" (in Basque and others). muturzikin.com. http://www.muturzikin.com/carteseurope/europe.htm. Retrieved 2 November 2009.
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