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Balto-Slavic

Eurasian Language Families

The Balto-Slavic languages form a branch of the Indo-European language family, traditionally comprising the Baltic and the Slavic languages. These languages share several linguistic traits not found in any other Indo-European branch, which points to a period of common development and shared origin before the two groups diverged.

Facts
Region
Northern Europe, Eastern Europe, Central Europe, Southeast Europe and Northern Asia 1
Speaker Count
322,000,000 1
Proto-Language Status
A Proto-Balto-Slavic language is reconstructed by the comparative method as a stage between Proto-Indo-European and the separate Baltic and Slavic branches. A minority of scholars still attribute the shared features to language contact rather than common descent, but a genetic Balto-Slavic branch is now the consensus view. 1
Balto-Slavic
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Connections

Ancestor Of

Baltic (Lithuanian, Latvian and their extinct relatives) is one of the two branches of Balto-Slavic alongside Slavic.

Descends From

Balto-Slavic, grouping the Baltic and Slavic languages, is a primary branch of Indo-European under the mainstream Balto-Slavic hypothesis.

Sources
1. Wikipedia: Balto-Slavic languages
Wikimedia Foundation
  • Infobox region field, English Wikipedia article Balto-Slavic languages
    Northern Europe, Eastern Europe, Central Europe, Southeast Europe and Northern Asia
  • Lead section, English Wikipedia article Balto-Slavic languages
    A Proto-Balto-Slavic language is reconstructable by the comparative method, descending from Proto-Indo-European by means of well-defined sound laws, and from which modern Slavic and Baltic languages descended.
  • Infobox speakers field, citing Lietuvos statistikos departamentas Lietuviai Pasaulyje, English Wikipedia article Balto-Slavic languages
    c. 322 million
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