Editing Languages of Europe (section)

== Non-Indo-European languages ==
=== Turkic ===
{{Main|Turkic languages}}

[[File:Turkic Languages distribution map.png|thumb|right|340px|Distribution of Turkic languages in Eurasia]]

* [[Oghuz languages]] in Europe include [[Turkish language|Turkish]], spoken in [[East Thrace]] and by immigrant communities; [[Azerbaijani language|Azerbaijani]] is spoken in [[Azerbaijan|Northeast Azerbaijan]] and parts of [[Southern Russia]] and [[Gagauz language|Gagauz]] is spoken in [[Gagauzia]].<ref name=":5">{{Cite web |date=2025-02-28 |title=Turkic languages {{!}} Geography, History, & Comparison {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Turkic-languages |access-date=2025-03-25 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>
* [[Kipchak languages]] in Europe include [[Karaim language|Karaim]], [[Crimean Tatar language|Crimean Tatar]] and [[Krymchak language|Krymchak]], which is spoken mainly in [[Crimea]]; [[Tatar language|Tatar]], which is spoken in [[Tatarstan]]; [[Bashkir language|Bashkir]], which is spoken in [[Bashkortostan]]; [[Karachay-Balkar language|Karachay-Balkar]], which is spoken in the [[North Caucasus]], and [[Kazakh language|Kazakh]], which is spoken in [[Kazakhstan|Northwest Kazakhstan]].<ref name=":5" />
* [[Oghur languages]] were historically indigenous to much of Eastern Europe; however, most of them are extinct today, with the exception of [[Chuvash language|Chuvash]], which is spoken in [[Chuvashia]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Yükselen Peler |first=Gökçe |date=2018 |title=Tarih İçinde Yunanistan'da Türk Dili: Hun-Avar-Bulgar Dönemi |url=https://iupress.istanbul.edu.tr/en/journal/tuded/article/tarih-icinde-yunanistanda-turk-dili-hun-avar-bulgar-donemi |journal=Journal of Turkish Language and Literature |volume=58 |issue=2 |pages=429–448 |doi=10.26650/TUDED2018-0004|doi-access=free }}</ref>

=== Uralic ===
{{Main|Uralic languages}}

[[File:Uralic languages ( ALL LANGUAGES ).png|alt=|thumb|271x271px|Distribution of Uralic languages in Eurasia]]

The Uralic language family is native to northern Eurasia.
[[Finnic languages]] include [[Finnish language|Finnish]] ({{circa}} 5 million) and [[Estonian language|Estonian]] ({{circa}} 1 million), as well as smaller languages such as [[Kven language|Kven]] ({{circa}} 8,000). Other languages of the [[Finno-Permic]] branch of the family include e.g. [[Mari language|Mari]] (c. 400,000), and the [[Sami languages]] ({{circa}} 30,000).<ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-02-24 |title=Uralic languages {{!}} Finno-Ugric, Samoyedic, & Permic Groups {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Uralic-languages |access-date=2025-03-25 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>

The [[Ugric]] branch of the language family is represented in Europe by the [[Hungarian language]] ({{circa}} 13 million), historically introduced with the [[Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin]] of the 9th century.{{Citation needed|date=August 2022}}
The Samoyedic [[Nenets language]] is spoken in [[Nenets Autonomous Okrug]] of Russia, located in the far northeastern corner of Europe (as [[Extreme points of Europe#Mainland Europe|delimited]] by the [[Ural Mountains]]).{{Citation needed|date=August 2022}}

=== Semitic ===
{{Main|Semitic languages}}
[[File:Non-Indo European nations in Europe.svg|thumb|270x270px|Map of countries where most people's native language is not Indo-European]]

* [[Maltese language|Maltese]] ({{circa}} 500,000) is a [[Semitic language]] with [[Romance language|Romance]] and [[Germanic language|Germanic]] influences, spoken in [[Malta]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Alexander |first=Marie |title=2nd International Conference of Maltese Linguistics: Saturday, September 19&nbsp;– Monday, September 21, 2009 |url=http://www.fb10.uni-bremen.de/maltese/abstracts.aspx |year=2009 |publisher=International Association of Maltese Linguistics |access-date=2 November 2009 |display-authors=etal |archive-date=23 June 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080623195959/http://www.fb10.uni-bremen.de/maltese/abstracts.aspx |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |first=J. |last=Aquilina |title=Maltese as a Mixed Language |journal=Journal of Semitic Studies |year=1958 |volume=3 |number=1 |pages=58–79 |doi=10.1093/jss/3.1.58}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=The Structure of Maltese |first=Joseph |last=Aquilina |journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society |volume=80 |number=3 |date=July–September 1960 |pages=267–68 |doi=10.2307/596187|jstor=596187 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=Europe's New Arabic Connection |first1=Louis |last1=Werner |first2=Alan |last2=Calleja |url=http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/200406/europe.s.new.arabic.connection.htm |journal=Saudi Aramco World |date=November–December 2004 |access-date=2016-02-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120929195459/http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/200406/europe.s.new.arabic.connection.htm |archive-date=2012-09-29 |url-status=dead }}</ref> It is based on [[Sicilian Arabic]], with influences from [[Sicilian language|Sicilian]], [[Italian language|Italian]], [[French language|French]] and, more recently, [[English language|English]]. It is the only Semitic language whose [[standard language|standard form]] is written in [[Latin script]]. It is also the second smallest official language of the [[European Union|EU]] in terms of speakers (after Irish), and the only official Semitic language within the EU.{{Citation needed|date=August 2022}}
* [[Cypriot Maronite Arabic]] (also known as Cypriot Arabic) is a [[varieties of Arabic|variety of Arabic]] spoken by [[Maronite]]s in [[Cyprus]]. Most speakers live in [[Nicosia]], but others are in the communities of [[Kormakiti]] and [[Limassol|Lemesos]]. Brought to the island by Maronites fleeing [[Lebanon]] over 700 years ago, this variety of Arabic has been influenced by [[Greek language|Greek]] in both [[phonology]] and [[vocabulary]], while retaining certain unusually archaic features in other respects.
*  [[Eastern Aramaic]], a [[Semitic languages|Semitic language]] is spoken by [[Assyrian people|Assyrian]] communities in the Caucasus and southern Russia who fled the [[Sayfo|Assyrian Genocide]] during World War I, and also by Assyrian communities in the [[Assyrian diaspora]] in other parts of Europe.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Assyrian Neo-Aramaic {{!}} Ethnologue Free |url=https://www.ethnologue.com/language/aii/ |access-date=2023-12-22 |website=Ethnologue (Free All) |language=en}}</ref>

=== Others ===
* The [[Basque language]] (or ''Euskara'', {{circa}} 750,000) is a [[language isolate]] and the ancestral language of the [[Basque people]] who inhabit the [[Basque Country (greater region)|Basque Country]], a region in the western [[Pyrenees]] mountains mostly in northeastern [[Spain]] and partly in southwestern [[France]] of about 3&nbsp;million inhabitants, where it is spoken fluently by about 750,000 and understood by more than 1.5&nbsp;million people. Basque is directly related to [[Aquitanian language|ancient Aquitanian]], and it is likely that an early form of the Basque language was present in Western Europe before the arrival of the Indo-European languages in the area in the [[Bronze Age Europe|Bronze Age]].{{Citation needed|date=August 2022}} 
* [[North Caucasian languages]] is a geographical blanket term for two unrelated [[Language family|language families]] spoken chiefly in the north [[Caucasus]] and [[Turkey]]{{Citation needed|date=August 2022}}
** the [[Northwest Caucasian languages|Northwest Caucasian]] family (including [[Abkhaz language|Abkhaz]] and [[Adyghe language|Circassian]]){{Citation needed|date=August 2022}}
** the [[Northeast Caucasian languages|Northeast Caucasian]] family, spoken mainly in the border area of the southern [[Russian Federation]] (including [[Dagestan]], [[Chechnya]], and [[Ingushetia]]) and northern [[Azerbaijan]]{{Citation needed|date=August 2022}}
* [[Kalmyk language|Kalmyk]] is a [[Mongolic languages|Mongolic language]], spoken in the [[Republic of Kalmykia]], part of the [[Russian Federation]]. Its speakers entered the Volga region in the early 17th century.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kalmyk |url=https://celt.indiana.edu/portal/Kalmyk/index.html |access-date=2024-08-29 |website=Center for Language Technology |language=en-US}}</ref>
* [[Kartvelian languages]] (also known as Southwest Caucasian languages), the most common of which is [[Georgian language|Georgian]] ({{circa}} 3.5 million), others being [[Mingrelian language|Mingrelian]] and [[Svan language|Svan]], spoken mainly in the Caucasus and Anatolia.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kartvelian languages {{!}} Kartvelian, Georgian, Svan & Laz |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Kartvelian-languages |access-date=2023-09-03 |website=Britannica  |language=en}}</ref>

===Sign languages===
{{Main|List of sign languages#Europe}}

Several dozen manual languages exist across Europe, with the most widespread sign language family being the [[French Sign Language family|Francosign languages]], with its languages found in countries from [[Iberian Peninsula|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|British Sign Language (BSL)]] and [[French Sign Language|French Sign Language (LSF)]] are probably the oldest confirmed, continuously used sign languages. Alongside [[German Sign Language|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|date=August 2022}}

Notably, few European sign languages have overt connections with the local majority/oral languages, aside from standard [[language contact]] and [[borrowing (linguistics)|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 [[French Sign Language|LSF]] for: '''''l'''angue des '''s'''ignes '''f'''rançaise''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=La Langue des signes française (LSF) {{!}} Fondation pour l'audition |url=https://www.fondationpourlaudition.org/la-langue-des-signes-francaise-569 |access-date=2023-12-22 |website=www.fondationpourlaudition.org}}</ref>

Recognition of non-oral languages varies widely from region to region.<ref>{{Cite book|doi=10.1002/9781405198431.wbeal1417|chapter=Language Policy for Sign Languages|title=The Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics|year=2014|last1=Reagan|first1=Timothy|pages=1–6|isbn=9781405194730}}</ref> Some countries afford legal recognition, even to official on a state level, whereas others continue to be actively suppressed.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Murray |first1=Joseph J. |title=Linguistic Human Rights Discourse in Deaf Community Activism |journal=Sign Language Studies |date=2015 |volume=15 |issue=4 |pages=379–410 |pmid=26190995 |url= |doi=10.1353/sls.2015.0012 |jstor=26190995 |pmc=4490244 }}</ref>

Though "there is a widespread belief—among both Deaf people and sign language linguists—that there ''are'' sign language families,"<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Reagan |first=Timothy |date=2021 |title=Historical Linguistics and the Case for Sign Language Families |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/799807 |journal=Sign Language Studies |language=en |volume=21 |issue=4 |pages=427–454 |doi=10.1353/sls.2021.0006 |s2cid=236778280 |issn=1533-6263}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Power |first=Justin M. |date=2022 |title=Historical Linguistics of Sign Languages: Progress and Problems |journal=Frontiers in Psychology |volume=13 |doi=10.3389/fpsyg.2022.818753 |pmid=35356353 |issn=1664-1078 |doi-access=free |pmc=8959496 }}</ref> Some of the current understandings of sign language relationships, however, provide some reasonable estimates about potential sign language families:

* [[French Sign Language family|Francosign]] languages, such as [[French Sign Language|LSF]], [[American Sign Language|ASL]], [[Dutch Sign Language]], [[Flemish Sign Language]], and [[Italian Sign Language]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Andrews |first=Bruce |title=The rich diversity of sign languages explained |url=https://news.csu.edu.au/opinion/the-rich-diversity-of-sign-languages-explained |access-date=2023-12-22 |website=news.csu.edu.au |language=en-AU}}</ref>
* [[BANZSL]] languages, including [[British Sign Language|British Sign Language (BSL)]], [[New Zealand Sign Language|New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL)]], [[Auslan|Australian Sign Language (Auslan)]], and [[Swedish Sign Language]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=BANZSL |url=https://www.signcommunity.org.uk/banzsl.html |access-date=2023-12-22 |website=www.signcommunity.org.uk}}</ref>
* Isolate languages, such as [[Albanian Sign Language]], [[Armenian Sign Language]], [[Caucasian Sign Language]], [[Spanish Sign Language|Spanish Sign Language (LSE)]], [[Turkish Sign Language|Turkish Sign Language (TİD)]], and perhaps [[Ghardaia Sign Language]].
* Many other sign languages, such as [[Irish Sign Language|Irish Sign Language (ISL)]], have unclear origins.<ref>{{Citation |chapter=Chapter 2. The Linguistic Setup of Sign Languages – The Case of Irish Sign Language (ISL) |date=2014-07-28 |pages=4–30 |publisher=De Gruyter Mouton |language=de |doi=10.1515/9781614514978.4 |isbn=978-1-61451-497-8 |title=Mouth Actions in Sign Languages |doi-access=free }}</ref>