Languages Of Europe

There are over 250 languages indigenous to Europe, and most belong to the Indo-European language family.

Out of a total European population of 744 million as of 2018, some 94% are native speakers of an Indo-European language. The three largest phyla of the Indo-European language family in Europe are Romance, Germanic, and Slavic; they have more than 200 million speakers each, and together account for close to 90% of Europeans.

color-coded map of languages used throughout Europe
A color-coded map of languages used throughout Europe.

Smaller phyla of Indo-European found in Europe include Hellenic (Greek, c. 13 million), Baltic (c. 7 million), Albanian (c. 5 million), Celtic (c. 4 million), and Armenian (c. 4 million). Indo-Aryan, though a large subfamily of Indo-European, has a relatively small number of languages in Europe, and a small number of speakers (Romani, c. 1.5 million). However, a number of Indo-Aryan languages not native to Europe are spoken in Europe today.

Of the approximately 45 million Europeans speaking non-Indo-European languages, most speak languages within either the Uralic or Turkic families. Still smaller groups — such as Basque (language isolate), Semitic languages (Maltese, c. 0.5 million), and various languages of the Caucasus — account for less than 1% of the European population among them. Immigration has added sizeable communities of speakers of African and Asian languages, amounting to about 4% of the population, with Arabic being the most widely spoken of them.

Five languages have more than 50 million native speakers in Europe: Russian, English, French, Italian, and German. Russian is the most-spoken native language in Europe, and English has the largest number of speakers in total, including some 200 million speakers of English as a second or foreign language. (See English language in Europe.)

Indo-European languages

The Indo-European language family is descended from Proto-Indo-European, which is believed to have been spoken thousands of years ago. Early speakers of Indo-European daughter languages most likely expanded into Europe with the incipient Bronze Age, around 4,000 years ago (Bell-Beaker culture).

Germanic

Languages Of Europe 
The present-day distribution of the Germanic languages in Europe:
North Germanic languages
  Danish
West Germanic Languages
  Scots
  Dutch
Dots indicate areas where multilingualism is common.

The Germanic languages make up the predominant language family in Western, Northern and Central Europe. It is estimated that over 500 million Europeans are speakers of Germanic languages[citation needed], the largest groups being German (c. 95 million), English (c. 400 million)[citation needed], Dutch (c. 24 million), Swedish (c. 10 million), Danish (c. 6 million), Norwegian (c. 5 million) and Limburgish (c. 1.3 million).[citation needed]

There are two extant major sub-divisions: West Germanic and North Germanic. A third group, East Germanic, is now extinct; the only known surviving East Germanic texts are written in the Gothic language. West Germanic is divided into Anglo-Frisian (including English), Low German, Low Franconian (including Dutch) and High German (including Standard German).

Anglo-Frisian

The Anglo-Frisian language family is now mostly represented by English (Anglic), descended from the Old English language spoken by the Anglo-Saxons:

The Frisian languages are spoken by about 400,000 (as of 2015) Frisians, who live on the southern coast of the North Sea in the Netherlands and Germany. These languages include West Frisian, East Frisian (of which the only surviving dialect is Saterlandic) and North Frisian.

Dutch

Dutch is spoken throughout the Netherlands, the northern half of Belgium, as well as the Nord-Pas de Calais region of France. The traditional dialects of the Lower Rhine region of Germany are linguistically more closely related to Dutch than to modern German. In Belgian and French contexts, Dutch is sometimes referred to as Flemish. Dutch dialects are numerous and varied.

German

German is spoken throughout Germany, Austria, Liechtenstein, much of Switzerland (including the northeast areas bordering on Germany and Austria), northern Italy (South Tyrol), Luxembourg, the East Cantons of Belgium and the Alsace and Lorraine regions of France.

There are several groups of German dialects:

Low German

Low German is spoken in various regions throughout Northern Germany and the northern and eastern parts of the Netherlands. It is an official language in Germany. It may be separated into West Low German and East Low German.

North Germanic (Scandinavian)

The North Germanic languages are spoken in Nordic countries and include Swedish (Sweden and parts of Finland), Danish (Denmark), Norwegian (Norway), Icelandic (Iceland), Faroese (Faroe Islands), and Elfdalian (in a small part of central Sweden).[citation needed]

English has a long history of contact with Scandinavian languages, given the immigration of Scandinavians early in the history of Britain, and shares various features with the Scandinavian languages. Even so, especially Dutch and Swedish, but also Danish and Norwegian, have strong vocabulary connections to the German language.

Limburgish

Limburgish (also called Limburgan, Limburgian, or Limburgic) Is a West Germanic language spoken in the province of Limburg in the Netherlands, Belgium and neighboring regions of Germany. It is distinct from German and Dutch, but originates from areas near where both are spoken.

Romance

Languages Of Europe 
The Distribution of the Romance languages, 20th century.

Roughly 215 million Europeans (primarily in Southern and Western Europe) are native speakers of Romance languages, the largest groups including:[citation needed]

French (c. 72 million), Italian (c. 65 million), Spanish (c. 40 million), Romanian (c. 24 million), Portuguese (c. 10 million), Catalan (c. 7 million), Sicilian (c. 5 million, also subsumed under Italian), Venetian (c. 4 million), Galician (c. 2 million), Sardinian (c. 1 million),Occitan (c. 500,000), besides numerous smaller communities.

The Romance languages evolved from varieties of Vulgar Latin spoken in the various parts of the Roman Empire in Late Antiquity. Latin was itself part of the (otherwise extinct) Italic branch of Indo-European.[citation needed] Romance languages are divided phylogenetically into Italo-Western, Eastern Romance (including Romanian) and Sardinian. The Romance-speaking area of Europe is occasionally referred to as Latin Europe.

Italo-Western can be further broken down into the Italo-Dalmatian languages (sometimes grouped with Eastern Romance), including the Tuscan-derived Italian and numerous local Romance languages in Italy as well as Dalmatian, and the Western Romance languages. The Western Romance languages in turn separate into the Gallo-Romance languages, including Langues d'oïl such as French, the Francoprovencalic languages Arpitan and Faetar, the Rhaeto-Romance languages, and the Gallo-Italic languages; the Occitano-Romance languages, grouped with either Gallo-Romance or East Iberian, including Occitanic languages such as Occitan and Gardiol, and Catalan; Aragonese, grouped in with either Occitano-Romance or West Iberian, and finally the West Iberian languages, including the Astur-Leonese languages, the Galician-Portuguese languages, and the Castilian languages.[citation needed]

Slavic

Languages Of Europe 
Political map of Europe with countries where the national language is Slavic:
  West Slavic languages
  East Slavic languages
  South Slavic languages

Slavic languages are spoken in large areas of Southern, Central and Eastern Europe. An estimated 315 million people speak of Slavic languages, the largest groups being Russian (c. 110 million in European Russia and adjacent parts of Eastern Europe, Russian forming the largest linguistic community in Europe), Polish (c. 40.6 million), Ukrainian (c. 33 million), Serbo-Croatian (c. 21 million), Czech (c. 12 million), Bulgarian (c. 7.7 million), Slovak (c. 5 million) Belarusian (c. 3.7 million), Slovene (c. 2.3 million) and Macedonian (c. 1.3 million).

Phylogenetically, Slavic is divided into three subgroups:

Others

Languages Of Europe 
Historic distribution of the Baltic languages in the Baltic (simplified).
    Continental Celtic languages had previously been spoken across Europe from Iberia and Gaul to Asia Minor, but became extinct in the first millennium CE.

Non-Indo-European languages

Turkic

Languages Of Europe 
Distribution of Turkic languages in Eurasia

Uralic

Languages Of Europe 
Distribution of Uralic languages in Eurasia

Uralic language family is native to northern Eurasia. Finnic languages include Finnish (c. 5 million) and Estonian (c. 1 million), as well as smaller languages such as Kven (c. 8,000). Other languages of the Finno-Permic branch of the family include e.g. Mari (c. 400,000), and the Sami languages (c. 30,000).[citation needed]

The Ugric branch of the language family is represented in Europe by the Hungarian language (c. 13 million), historically introduced with the Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin of the 9th century.[citation needed] The Samoyedic Nenets language is spoken in Nenets Autonomous Okrug of Russia, located in the far northeastern corner of Europe (as delimited by the Ural Mountains).[citation needed]

Others

Sign languages

Several dozen manual languages exist across Europe, with the most widespread sign language family being the Francosign languages, with its languages found in countries from Iberia to the Balkans and the Baltics. Accurate historical information of sign and tactile languages is difficult to come by, with folk histories noting the existence signing communities across Europe hundreds of years ago. British Sign Language (BSL) and French Sign Language (LSF) are probably the oldest confirmed, continuously used sign languages. Alongside German Sign Language (DGS) according to Ethnologue, these three have the most numbers of signers, though very few institutions take appropriate statistics on contemporary signing populations, making legitimate data hard to find.[citation needed]

Notably, few European sign languages have overt connections with the local majority/oral languages, aside from standard language contact and borrowing, meaning grammatically the sign languages and the oral languages of Europe are quite distinct from one another. Due to (visual/aural) modality differences, most sign languages are named for the larger ethnic nation in which they are spoken, plus the words "sign language", rendering what is spoken across much of France, Wallonia and Romandy as French Sign Language or LSF for: langue des signes française.

Recognition of non-oral languages varies widely from region to region. Some countries afford legal recognition, even to official on a state level, whereas others continue to be actively suppressed.

Though "there is a widespread belief—among both Deaf people and sign language linguists—that there are sign language families," the actual relationship between sign languages is difficult to ascertain. Concepts and methods used in historical linguistics to describe language families for written and spoken languages are not easily mapped onto signed languages. Some of the current understandings of sign language relationships, however, provide some reasonable estimates about potential sign language families:

History of standardization

Language and identity, standardization processes

In the Middle Ages the two most important defining elements of Europe were Christianitas and Latinitas.

The earliest dictionaries were glossaries: more or less structured lists of lexical pairs (in alphabetical order or according to conceptual fields). The Latin-German (Latin-Bavarian) Abrogans was 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 in standardisation of languages).[citation needed]

The concept of the nation state began to emerge in the early modern period. Nations adopted particular dialects as their national language. This, together with improved communications, led to official efforts to standardise the national language, and a number of language academies were established: 1582 Accademia della Crusca in Florence, 1617 Fruchtbringende Gesellschaft in Weimar, 1635 Académie française in Paris, 1713 Real Academia Española in Madrid. Language became increasingly linked to nation as opposed to culture, and was also used to promote religious and ethnic identity: e.g. different Bible translations in the same language for Catholics and Protestants.[citation needed]

The first languages whose standardisation was promoted included Italian (questione della lingua: Modern Tuscan/Florentine vs. Old Tuscan/Florentine vs. Venetian → Modern Florentine + archaic Tuscan + Upper Italian), French (the standard is based on Parisian), English (the standard is based on the London dialect) and (High) German (based on the dialects of the chancellery of Meissen in Saxony, Middle German, and the chancellery of Prague in Bohemia ("Common German")). But several other nations also began to develop a standard variety in the 16th century.[citation needed]

Lingua franca

Europe has had a number of languages that were considered linguae francae 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 linguae francae of past and present over some of its regions for some of its populations are:

Linguistic minorities

Historical attitudes towards linguistic diversity are illustrated by two French laws: the Ordonnance de Villers-Cotterêts (1539), which said that every document in France should be written in French (neither in Latin nor in Occitan) and the Loi Toubon (1994), which aimed to eliminate anglicisms from official documents. States and populations within a state have often resorted to war to settle their differences. There have been attempts to prevent such hostilities: two such initiatives were promoted by the Council of Europe, founded in 1949, which affirms the right of minority language speakers to use their language fully and freely. 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. Another European treaty, the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, was adopted in 1992 under the auspices of the Council of Europe: it entered into force in 1998, and while it is legally binding for 24 countries, France, Iceland, Italy, North Macedonia, Moldova and Russia have chosen to sign without ratifying the convention.[citation needed]

Scripts

Languages Of Europe 
Alphabets used in European national languages:
  Greek
  Greek & Latin
  Latin

The main scripts used in Europe today are the Latin and Cyrillic.

The Greek alphabet was derived from the Phoenician alphabet, and Latin was derived from the Greek via the Old Italic alphabet. In the Early Middle Ages, Ogham was used in Ireland and runes (derived from Old Italic script) in Scandinavia. Both were replaced in general use by the Latin alphabet by the Late Middle Ages. The Cyrillic script was derived from the Greek with the first texts appearing around 940 AD.[citation needed]

Around 1900 there were mainly two typeface variants of the Latin alphabet used in Europe: Antiqua and Fraktur. Fraktur was used most for German, Estonian, Latvian, Norwegian and Danish whereas Antiqua was used for Italian, Spanish, French, Polish, Portuguese, English, Romanian, Swedish and Finnish. The Fraktur variant was banned by Hitler in 1941, having been described as "Schwabacher Jewish letters". Other scripts have historically been in use in Europe, including Phoenician, from which modern Latin letters descend, Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs on Egyptian artefacts traded during Antiquity, various runic systems used in Northern Europe preceding Christianisation, and Arabic during the era of the Ottoman Empire.[citation needed]

Hungarian rovás was used by the Hungarian people in the early Middle Ages, but it was gradually replaced with the Latin-based Hungarian alphabet when Hungary became a kingdom, though it was revived in the 20th century and has certain marginal, but growing area of usage since then.[citation needed]

European Union

The European Union (as of 2021) had 27 member states accounting for a population of 447 million, or about 60% of the population of Europe.[citation needed]

The European Union has designated by agreement with the member states 24 languages as "official and working": Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Irish, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish and Swedish. This designation provides member states with two "entitlements": the member state may communicate with the EU in any of the designated languages, and view "EU regulations and other legislative documents" in that language.

The European Union and the Council of Europe have been collaborating in education of member populations in languages for "the promotion of plurilingualism" among EU member states. The joint document, "Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment (CEFR)", is an educational standard defining "the competencies necessary for communication" and related knowledge for the benefit of educators in setting up educational programs. In a 2005 independent survey requested by the EU's Directorate-General for Education and Culture regarding the extent to which major European languages were spoken in member states. The results were published in a 2006 document, "Europeans and Their Languages", or "Eurobarometer 243". In this study, statistically relevant[clarification needed][Do you mean "significant"?] samples of the population in each country were asked to fill out a survey form concerning the languages that they spoke with sufficient competency "to be able to have a conversation".

List of languages

The following is a table of European languages. The number of speakers as a first or second language (L1 and L2 speakers) listed are speakers in Europe only; see list of languages by number of native speakers and list of languages by total number of speakers for global estimates on numbers of speakers.[citation needed]

The list is intended to include any language variety with an ISO 639 code. However, it omits sign languages. Because the ISO-639-2 and ISO-639-3 codes have different definitions, this means that some communities of speakers may be listed more than once. For instance, speakers of Bavarian are listed both under "Bavarian" (ISO-639-3 code bar) as well as under "German" (ISO-639-2 code de).

Name ISO-
639
Classification Speakers in Europe Official status
Native Total National Regional
Abaza abq Northwest Caucasian, Abazgi 49,800 Karachay-Cherkessia (Russia)
Adyghe ady Northwest Caucasian, Circassian 117,500 Adygea (Russia)
Aghul agx Northeast Caucasian, Lezgic 29,300 Dagestan (Russia)
Akhvakh akv Northeast Caucasian, Avar–Andic 210
Albanian (Shqip)
Arbëresh
Arvanitika
sq Indo-European 5,367,000
5,877,100 (Balkans)
Albania, Kosovo, North Macedonia Italy, Arbëresh dialect: Sicily, Calabria, Apulia, Molise, Basilicata, Abruzzo, Campania
Montenegro (Ulcinj, Tuzi)
Andi ani Northeast Caucasian, Avar–Andic 5,800
Aragonese an Indo-European, Romance, Western, West Iberian 25,000 55,000 Northern Aragon (Spain)
Archi acq Northeast Caucasian, Lezgic 970
Aromanian rup Indo-European, Romance, Eastern 114,000 North Macedonia (Kruševo)
Asturian (Astur-Leonese) ast Indo-European, Romance, Western, West Iberian 351,791 641,502 Asturias
Avar av Northeast Caucasian, Avar–Andic 760,000 Dagestan (Russia)
Azerbaijani az Turkic, Oghuz 500,000 Azerbaijan Dagestan (Russia)
Bagvalal kva Northeast Caucasian, Avar–Andic 1,500
Bashkir ba Turkic, Kipchak 1,221,000 Bashkortostan (Russia)
Basque eu Basque 750,000 Basque Country: Basque Autonomous Community, Navarre (Spain), French Basque Country (France)
Bavarian bar Indo-European, Germanic, West, High German, Upper, Bavarian 14,000,000 Austria (as German) South Tyrol
Belarusian be Indo-European, Slavic, East 3,300,000 Belarus
Bezhta kap Northeast Caucasian, Tsezic 6,800
Bosnian bs Indo-European, Slavic, South, Western, Serbo-Croatian 2,500,000 Bosnia and Herzegovina Kosovo, Montenegro
Botlikh bph Northeast Caucasian, Avar–Andic 210
Breton br Indo-European, Celtic, Brittonic 206,000 None, de facto status in Brittany (France)
Bulgarian bg Indo-European, Slavic, South, Eastern 7,800,000 Bulgaria Mount Athos (Greece)
Catalan ca Indo-European, Romance, Western, Occitano-Romance 4,000,000 10,000,000 Andorra Balearic Islands (Spain), Catalonia (Spain), Valencian Community (Spain), easternmost Aragon (Spain), Pyrénées-Orientales (France), Alghero (Italy)
Chamalal cji Northeast Caucasian, Avar–Andic 500
Chechen ce Northeast Caucasian, Nakh 1,400,000 Chechnya & Dagestan (Russia)
Chuvash cv Turkic, Oghur 1,100,000 Chuvashia (Russia)
Cimbrian cim Indo-European, Germanic, West, High German, Upper, Bavarian 400
Cornish kw Indo-European, Celtic, Brittonic 563 Cornwall (United Kingdom)
Corsican co Indo-European, Romance, Italo-Dalmatian 30,000 125,000 Corsica (France), Sardinia (Italy)
Crimean Tatar crh Turkic, Kipchak 480,000 Crimea (Ukraine)
Croatian hr Indo-European, Slavic, South, Western, Serbo-Croatian 5,600,000 Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia Burgenland (Austria), Vojvodina (Serbia)
Czech cs Indo-European, Slavic, West, Czech–Slovak 10,600,000 Czech Republic
Danish da Indo-European, Germanic, North 5,500,000 Denmark Faroe Islands (Denmark), Schleswig-Holstein (Germany)
Dargwa dar Northeast Caucasian, Dargin 490,000 Dagestan (Russia)
Dutch nl Indo-European, Germanic, West, Low Franconian 22,000,000 Belgium, Netherlands
Elfdalian ovd Indo-European, Germanic, North 2000
Emilian egl Indo-European, Romance, Western, Gallo-Italic
English en Indo-European, Germanic, West, Anglo-Frisian, Anglic 63,000,000 260,000,000 Ireland, Malta, United Kingdom
Erzya myv Uralic, Finno-Ugric, Mordvinic 120,000 Mordovia (Russia)
Estonian et Uralic, Finno-Ugric, Finnic 1,165,400 Estonia
Extremaduran ext Indo-European, Romance, Western, West Iberian 200,000
Fala fax Indo-European, Romance, Western, West Iberian 11,000
Faroese fo Indo-European, Germanic, North 66,150 Faroe Islands (Denmark)
Finnish fi Uralic, Finno-Ugric, Finnic 5,400,000 Finland Sweden, Norway, Republic of Karelia (Russia)
Franco-Provençal (Arpitan) frp Indo-European, Romance, Western, Gallo-Romance 140,000 Aosta Valley (Italy)
French fr Indo-European, Romance, Western, Gallo-Romance, Oïl 81,000,000 210,000,000 Belgium, France, Luxembourg, Monaco, Switzerland, Jersey Aosta Valley (Italy
Frisian fry
frr
stq
Indo-European, Germanic, West, Anglo-Frisian 470,000 Friesland (Netherlands), Schleswig-Holstein (Germany)
Friulan fur Indo-European, Romance, Western, Gallo-Italic 600,000 Friuli (Italy)
Gagauz gag Turkic, Oghuz 140,000 Gagauzia (Moldova)
Galician gl Indo-European, Romance, Western, West Iberian 2,400,000 Galicia (Spain), Eo-Navia (Asturias), Bierzo (Province of León) and Western Sanabria (Province of Zamora)
German de Indo-European, Germanic, West, High German 97,000,000 170,000,000 Austria, Belgium, Germany, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Switzerland South Tyrol, Friuli-Venezia Giulia (Italy)
Godoberi gin Northeast Caucasian, Avar–Andic 130
Greek el Indo-European, Hellenic 13,500,000 Cyprus, Greece Albania (Himara, Finiq, Dervican and other southern townships)
Hinuq gin Northeast Caucasian, Tsezic 350
Hungarian hu Uralic, Finno-Ugric, Ugric 13,000,000 Hungary Burgenland (Austria), Vojvodina (Serbia), Romania, Slovakia, Subcarpathia (Ukraine), Prekmurje, (Slovenia)
Hunzib bph Northeast Caucasian, Tsezic 1,400
Icelandic is Indo-European, Germanic, North 330,000 Iceland
Ingrian izh Uralic, Finno-Ugric, Finnic 120
Ingush inh Northeast Caucasian, Nakh 300,000 Ingushetia (Russia)
Irish ga Indo-European, Celtic, Goidelic 240,000 2,000,000 Ireland Northern Ireland (United Kingdom)
Istriot ist Indo-European, Romance 900
Istro-Romanian ruo Indo-European, Romance, Eastern 1,100
Italian it Indo-European, Romance, Italo-Dalmatian 65,000,000 82,000,000 Italy, San Marino, Switzerland, Vatican City Istria County (Croatia), Slovenian Istria (Slovenia)
Italiot Greek mis Indo-European, Hellenic, Greek, Attic-Ionic 20,000 native speakers in 1981 50,000 Calabria (Bovesia), Apulia[citation needed] (Salento), (Italy)
Judeo-Italian itk Indo-European, Romance, Italo-Dalmatian 250
Judaeo-Spanish (Ladino) lad Indo-European, Romance, Western, West Iberian 320,000 few Bosnia and Herzegovina, France
Kabardian kbd Northwest Caucasian, Circassian 530,000 Kabardino-Balkaria & Karachay-Cherkessia (Russia)
Kaitag xdq Northeast Caucasian, Dargin 30,000
Kalmyk xal Mongolic 80,500 Kalmykia (Russia)
Karata kpt Northeast Caucasian, Avar–Andic 260
Karelian krl Uralic, Finno-Ugric, Finnic 36,000 Republic of Karelia (Russia)
Karachay-Balkar krc Turkic, Kipchak 300,000 Kabardino-Balkaria & Karachay-Cherkessia (Russia)
Kashubian csb Indo-European, Slavic, West, Lechitic 50,000 Poland
Kazakh kk Turkic, Kipchak 1,000,000 Kazakhstan Astrakhan Oblast (Russia)
Khwarshi khv Northeast Caucasian, Tsezic 1,700
Komi kv Uralic, Finno-Ugric, Permic 220,000 Komi Republic (Russia)
Kubachi ugh Northeast Caucasian, Dargin 7,000
Kumyk kum Turkic, Kipchak 450,000 Dagestan (Russia)
Kven fkv Uralic, Finno-Ugric, Finnic 2000-8000 Norway
Lak lbe Northeast Caucasian, Lak 152,050 Dagestan (Russia)
Latin la Indo-European, Italic, Latino-Faliscan extinct few Vatican City
Latvian lv Indo-European, Baltic 1,750,000 Latvia
Lezgin lez Northeast Caucasian, Lezgic 397,000 Dagestan (Russia)
Ligurian lij Indo-European, Romance, Western, Gallo-Italic 500,000 Monaco (Monégasque dialect is the "national language") Liguria (Italy), Carloforte and Calasetta (Sardinia, Italy)
Limburgish li
lim
Indo-European, Germanic, West, Low Franconian 1,300,000 (2001) Limburg (Belgium), Limburg (Netherlands)
Lithuanian lt Indo-European, Baltic 3,000,000 Lithuania
Livonian liv Uralic, Finno-Ugric, Finnic 1 210 Latvia
Lombard lmo Indo-European, Romance, Western, Gallo-Italic 3,600,000 Lombardy (Italy)
Low German (Low Saxon) nds
wep
Indo-European, Germanic, West 1,000,000 2,600,000 Schleswig-Holstein (Germany)
Ludic lud Uralic, Finno-Ugric, Finnic 300
Luxembourgish lb Indo-European, Germanic, West, High German 336,000 386,000 Luxembourg Wallonia (Belgium)
Macedonian mk Indo-European, Slavic, South, Eastern 1,400,000 North Macedonia
Mainfränkisch vmf Indo-European, Germanic, West, High German, Upper 4,900,000
Maltese mt Semitic, Arabic 520,000 Malta
Manx gv Indo-European, Celtic, Goidelic 230 2,300 Isle of Man
Mari chm
mhr
mrj
Uralic, Finno-Ugric 500,000 Mari El (Russia)
Megleno-Romanian ruq Indo-European, Romance, Eastern 3,000
Minderico drc Indo-European, Romance, Western, West Iberian 500
Mirandese mwl Indo-European, Romance, Western, West Iberian 15,000 Miranda do Douro (Portugal)
Moksha mdf Uralic, Finno-Ugric, Mordvinic 2,000 Mordovia (Russia)
Montenegrin cnr Indo-European, Slavic, South, Western, Serbo-Croatian 240,700 Montenegro
Neapolitan nap Indo-European, Romance, Italo-Dalmatian 5,700,000 Campania (Italy)
Nenets yrk Uralic, Samoyedic 4,000 Nenets Autonomous Okrug (Russia)
Nogai nog Turkic, Kipchak 87,000 Dagestan (Russia)
Norman nrf Indo-European, Romance, Western, Gallo-Romance, Oïl 50,000 Guernsey (United Kingdom), Jersey (United Kingdom)
Norwegian no Indo-European, Germanic, North 5,200,000 Norway
Occitan oc Indo-European, Romance, Western, Occitano-Romance 500,000 Catalonia (Spain)
Ossetian os Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Iranian, Eastern 450,000 North Ossetia-Alania (Russia), South Ossetia
Palatinate German pfl Indo-European, Germanic, West, High German, Central 1,000,000
Picard pcd Indo-European, Romance, Western, Gallo-Romance, Oïl 200,000 Wallonia (Belgium)
Piedmontese pms Indo-European, Romance, Western, Gallo-Italic 1,600,000 Piedmont (Italy)
Polish pl Indo-European, Slavic, West, Lechitic 38,500,000 Poland
Portuguese pt Indo-European, Romance, Western, West Iberian 10,000,000 Portugal
Rhaeto-Romance fur
lld
roh
Indo-European, Romance, Western 370,000 Switzerland Veneto Belluno, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, South Tyrol, & Trentino (Italy)
Ripuarian (Platt) ksh Indo-European, Germanic, West, High German, Central 900,000
Romagnol rgn Indo-European, Romance, Western, Gallo-Italic
Romani rom Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan, Western 1,500,000 Kosovo
Romanian ro Indo-European, Romance, Eastern 24,000,000 28,000,000 Moldova, Romania Mount Athos (Greece), Vojvodina (Serbia)
Russian ru Indo-European, Slavic, East 106,000,000 160,000,000 Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia Mount Athos (Greece), Gagauzia (Moldova), Left Bank of the Dniester (Moldova), Ukraine
Rusyn rue Indo-European, Slavic, East 70,000
Rutul rut Northeast Caucasian, Lezgic 36,400 Dagestan (Russia)
Sami se Uralic, Finno-Ugric 23,000 Norway Sweden, Finland
Sardinian sc Indo-European, Romance 1,350,000 Sardinia (Italy)
Scots sco Indo-European, Germanic, West, Anglo-Frisian, Anglic 110,000 Scotland (United Kingdom), County Donegal (Republic of Ireland), Northern Ireland (United Kingdom)
Scottish Gaelic gd Indo-European, Celtic, Goidelic 57,000 Scotland (United Kingdom)
Serbian sr Indo-European, Slavic, South, Western, Serbo-Croatian 9,000,000 Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Serbia Croatia, Mount Athos (Greece), North Macedonia, Montenegro
Sicilian scn Indo-European, Romance, Italo-Dalmatian 4,700,000 Sicily (Italy)
Silesian szl Indo-European, Slavic, West, Lechitic 522,000
Silesian German sli Indo-European, Germanic, West, High German, Central 11,000
Slovak sk Indo-European, Slavic, West, Czech–Slovak 5,200,000 Slovakia Vojvodina (Serbia), Czech Republic
Slovene sl Indo-European, Slavic, South, Western 2,100,000 Slovenia Friuli-Venezia Giulia (Italy)
Sorbian (Wendish) wen Indo-European, Slavic, West 20,000 Brandenburg & Sachsen (Germany)
Spanish es Indo-European, Romance, Western, West Iberian 47,000,000 76,000,000 Spain Gibraltar (United Kingdom)
Swabian German swg Indo-European, Germanic, West, High German, Upper, Alemannic 820,000
Swedish sv Indo-European, Germanic, North 11,100,000 13,280,000 Sweden, Finland, Åland and Estonia
Swiss German gsw Indo-European, Germanic, West, High German, Upper, Alemannic 5,000,000 Switzerland (as German)
Tabasaran tab Northeast Caucasian, Lezgic 126,900 Dagestan (Russia)
Tat ttt Indo-European, Iranian, Western 30,000 Dagestan (Russia)
Tatar tt Turkic, Kipchak 4,300,000 Tatarstan (Russia)
Tindi tin Northeast Caucasian, Avar–Andic 2,200
Tsez ddo Northeast Caucasian, Tsezic 13,000
Turkish tr Turkic, Oghuz 15,752,673 Turkey, Cyprus Northern Cyprus
Udmurt udm Uralic, Finno-Ugric, Permic 340,000 Udmurtia (Russia)
Ukrainian uk Indo-European, Slavic, East 32,600,000 Ukraine Left Bank of the Dniester (Moldova)
Upper Saxon sxu Indo-European, Germanic, West, High German, Central 2,000,000
Vepsian vep Uralic, Finno-Ugric, Finnic 1,640 Republic of Karelia (Russia)
Venetian vec Indo-European, Romance, Italo-Dalmatian 3,800,000 Veneto (Italy)
Võro vro Uralic, Finno-Ugric, Finnic 87,000 Võru County (Estonia)
Votic vot Uralic, Finno-Ugric, Finnic 21
Walloon wa Indo-European, Romance, Western, Gallo-Romance, Oïl 600,000 Wallonia (Belgium)
Walser German wae Indo-European, Germanic, West, High German, Upper, Alemannic 20,000
Welsh cy Indo-European, Celtic, Brittonic 562,000 750,000 Wales (United Kingdom)
Wymysorys wym Indo-European, Germanic, West, High German 70
Yenish yec Indo-European, Germanic, West, High German 16,000 Switzerland
Yiddish yi Indo-European, Germanic, West, High German 600,000 Bosnia and Herzegovina, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Sweden, Ukraine
Zeelandic zea Indo-European, Germanic, West, Low Franconian 220,000

Languages spoken in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cyprus, Georgia, and Turkey

There are various definitions of Europe, which may or may not include all or parts of Turkey, Cyprus, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. For convenience, the languages and associated statistics for all five of these countries are grouped together on this page, as they are usually presented at a national, rather than subnational, level.

Name ISO-
639
Classification Speakers in expanded geopolitical Europe Official status
L1 L1+L2 National Regional
Abkhaz ab Northwest Caucasian, Abazgi Abkhazia/Georgia: 191,000
Turkey: 44,000
Abkhazia Abkhazia
Adyghe (West Circassian) ady Northwest Caucasian, Circassian Turkey: 316,000
Albanian sq Indo-European, Albanian Turkey: 66,000 (Tosk)
Arabic ar Afro-Asiatic, Semitic, West Turkey: 2,437,000 Not counting post-2014 Syrian refugees
Armenian hy Indo-European, Armenian Armenia: 3 million
Azerbaijan: 145,000[citation needed]
Georgia: around 0.2 million ethnic Armenians (Abkhazia: 44,870)
Turkey: 61,000
Cyprus: 668: 3 
Armenia
Azerbaijan
Cyprus
Azerbaijani az Turkic, Oghuz Azerbaijan 9 million[citation needed]
Turkey: 540,000
Georgia 0.2 million
Azerbaijan
Batsbi bbl Northeast Caucasian, Nakh Georgia: 500[needs update]
Bulgarian bg Indo-European, Slavic, South Turkey: 351,000
Crimean Tatar crh Turkic, Kipchak Turkey: 100,000
Georgian ka Kartvelian, Karto-Zan Georgia: 3,224,696
Turkey: 151,000
Azerbaijan: 9,192 ethnic Georgians
Georgia
Greek el Indo-European, Hellenic Cyprus: 679,883: 2.2 
Turkey: 3,600
Cyprus
Juhuri jdt Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Iranian, Southwest Azerbaijan: 24,000 (1989)[needs update]
Kurdish kur Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Iranian, Northwest Turkey: 15 million
Azerbaijan: 9,000[citation needed]
Kurmanji kmr Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Iranian, Southwest Turkey: 8.13 million
Armenia: 33,509
Georgia: 14,000[citation needed]
Armenia
Laz lzz Kartvelian, Karto-Zan, Zan Turkey: 20,000
Georgia: 2,000
Megleno-Romanian ruq Indo-European, Italic, Romance, East Turkey: 4–5,000
Mingrelian xmf Kartvelian, Karto-Zan, Zan Georgia (including Abkhazia): 344,000
Pontic Greek pnt Indo-European, Hellenic Turkey: greater than 5,000
Armenia: 900 ethnic Caucasus Greeks
Georgia: 5,689 Caucasus Greeks
Romani language and Domari language rom, dmt Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Indic Turkey: 500,000
Russian ru Indo-European, Balto-Slavic, Slavic Armenia: 15,000
Azerbaijan: 250,000
Georgia: 130,000
Armenia: about 0.9 million
Azerbaijan: about 2.6 million
Georgia: about 1 million
Cyprus: 20,984
Abkhazia
South Ossetia
Armenia
Azerbaijan
Svan sva Kartvelian, Svan Georgia (incl. Abkhazia): 30,000
Tat ttt Indo-European, Indo-Aryan, Iranian, Southwest Azerbaijan: 10,000[needs update]
Turkish tr Turkic, Oghuz Turkey: 66,850,000
Cyprus: 1,405 + 265,100 in the North
Turkey
Cyprus
Northern Cyprus

Immigrant communities

Recent (post–1945) immigration to Europe introduced substantial communities of speakers of non-European languages.

The largest such communities include Arabic speakers (see Arabs in Europe) and Turkish speakers (beyond European Turkey and the historical sphere of influence of the Ottoman Empire, see Turks in Europe).Armenians, Berbers, and Kurds have diaspora communities of c. 1–2,000,000 each. The various languages of Africa and languages of India form numerous smaller diaspora communities.

    List of the largest immigrant languages
Name ISO 639 Classification Native Ethnic diaspora
Arabic ar Afro-Asiatic, Semitic 5,000,000 12,000,000
Turkish tr Turkic, Oghuz 3,000,000 7,000,000
Armenian hy Indo-European 1,000,000 3,000,000
Kurdish ku Indo-European, Iranian, Western 600,000 1,000,000
Bengali–Assamese bn as syl Indo-European, Indo-Aryan 600,000 1,000,000
Azerbaijani az Turkic, Oghuz 500,000 700,000
Kabyle kab Afro-Asiatic, Berber 500,000 1,000,000
Chinese zh Sino-Tibetan, Sinitic 300,000 2,000,000
Urdu ur Indo-European, Indo-Aryan 300,000 1,800,000
Uzbek uz Turkic, Karluk 300,000 2,000,000
Persian fa Indo-European, Iranian, Western 300,000 400,000
Punjabi pa Indo-European, Indo-Aryan 300,000 700,000
Gujarati gu Indo-European, Indo-Aryan 200,000 600,000
Tamil ta Dravidian 200,000 500,000
Somali so Afro-Asiatic, Cushitic 200,000 400,000

See also

Notes

Tags:

Languages Of Europe Indo-European languagesLanguages Of Europe Non-Indo-European languagesLanguages Of Europe History of standardizationLanguages Of Europe List of languagesLanguages Of Europe Immigrant communitiesLanguages Of Europe

🔥 Trending searches on Wiki English:

Corey FeldmanThe Goat LifeMarch 26ExhumaWeCrashedJennifer LopezRoad House (2024 film)Digital World Acquisition CorpFormula OneMillie Bobby BrownNorovirusEasterMV Dali (2015)Aaron HernandezKim PorterCatGerard Piqué69 (sex position)Comstock lawsInvincible (TV series)Mao ZedongMeek MillBitcoinIsrael–Hamas warStripchatNull2024 Miami OpenJenna OrtegaCharlie SheenPaul AtreidesTajikistanRohit SharmaBrooke ShieldsKieffer MooreVirat KohliKey Bridge (Washington, D.C.)Bob DylanDrake (musician)Al B. Sure!Cillian MurphyWrestleMania XLMary & GeorgeSven-Göran ErikssonCurb Your EnthusiasmNetherlandsTokugawa IeyasuWilliam Adams (pilot)Ashley ColeNetflixFinal offensive of the Spanish Civil WarSteve HarveyOnlyFansDeath's EndDeadpool & WolverineDali (container ship)Jude BellinghamSenegalSaudi ArabiaFuture (rapper)Barkley MarathonsChris Evans (actor)Bohemian GroveSacha Baron CohenWinona RyderAllisionThe Eras TourJeffrey Epstein2024 Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly electionOutlook.comCosmo JarvisIndependence Day (Bangladesh)Kathy GriffinCivil War (2024 film)RihannaJack BlackKaty PerryBharatiya Janata PartyWelcome Home (2020 film)List of constituencies of the Lok Sabha🡆 More