Language families of Europe

Language families in brief

Geographical distributions • Baltic languages: spoken in two of the three Baltic states of

Northeastern Europe (Latvia, Lithuania)

• Celtic languages: spoken in Western Europe (Ireland, Brittany, Cornwall, Isle of Man, Scotland, Wales)

• Finno-Ugric/Uralic languages: non-Indo European languages; spoken in Hungary, Finland, and Estonia

• Germanic languages: spoken in Northern, Western, and Central Europe

• Romance languages: spoken in Western, Southern, Southwestern, Southeastern, and Eastern Europe

• Slavic languages: spoken in Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe; also North Asia

• Turkic languages: spoken in the Caucasus (Azerbaijan), the Middle East (Turkey), and Central Asia (except for Tajikistan)

• Other Indo-European: Albanian, Armenian, Greek

Color-coded language families map

Key• Baltic=light green

• Celtic=orange

• Finno-Ugric/Uralic=gray

• Germanic=red

• Romance=blue

• Slavic=dark green

• Albanian=sky blue

• Greek=yellow orange

Language Unions

Baltic Union• Latvia

• Lithuania

Celtic Union• Ireland

Language Unions (cont.)

Finno-Ugric/Uralic Union• Estonia

• Finland

• Hungary

Germanic Union• Austria

• Belgium (also part of the Latin Union)

• Denmark

• Germany

• Iceland

• Liechtenstein

• Luxembourg (also part of the Latin Union)

• Netherlands

• Norway

• Sweden

• Switzerland (also part of the Latin Union)

• United Kingdom

Language Unions (cont.)

Latin Union• Andorra

• France

• Italy

• Moldova

• Monaco

• Portugal

• Romania

• San Marino

• Spain

• Vatican City

Slavic Union• Belarus

• Bosnia and Herzegovina

• Bulgaria

• Croatia

• Czech Republic

• Macedonia

• Montenegro

• Poland

• Russia

• Serbia

• Slovakia

• Slovenia

• Ukraine

Language Unions (cont.)• Turkic Union

• Azerbaijan • Turkey

EU languages

• Bulgarian (Slavic)

• Croatian (Slavic)

• Czech (Slavic)

• Danish (Germanic)

• Dutch (Germanic)

• English (Germanic)

• Estonian (Finno-Ugric/Uralic)

• Finnish (Finno-Ugric/Uralic)

• French (Romance)

• German (Germanic)

• Greek (Hellenic)

• Hungarian (Finno-Ugric/Uralic)

• Irish/Gaelic (Celtic)

• Italian (Romance)

• Latvian (Baltic)

• Lithuanian (Baltic)

• Luxembourgish (Germanic)

• Polish (Slavic)

• Portuguese (Romance)

• Romanian (Romance)

• Slovak (Slavic)

• Slovene (Slavic)

• Spanish (Romance)

• Swedish (Germanic)

Color-coded language families map (includes Caucasus, Middle East, and North Africa)

The word for sausage in numerous European languages