Editing Language family (section)

=== Sprachbund ===
{{Main|Sprachbund}}

A [[sprachbund]] is a geographic area having several languages that feature common linguistic structures. The similarities between those languages are caused by language contact, not by chance or common origin, and are not recognized as criteria that define a language family. An example of a sprachbund would be the [[Indian subcontinent]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Joseph |first=Brian |date=2017 |title=The Balkan Sprachbund |url=https://www.linguisticsociety.org/sites/default/files/e-learning/LSAInstitute--BalkanSprachbundSlides.pdf|access-date=2 October 2020 |website=linguisticsociety.org}}</ref>

Shared innovations, acquired by borrowing or other means, are not considered genetic and have no bearing with the language family concept. It has been asserted, for example, that many of the more striking features shared by [[Italic languages]] ([[Latin]], [[Oscan language|Oscan]], [[Umbrian language|Umbrian]], etc.) might well be "[[areal feature]]s". However, very similar-looking alterations in the systems of long vowels in the [[West Germanic languages]] greatly postdate any possible notion of a proto-language innovation (and cannot readily be regarded as "areal", either, since English and continental West Germanic were not a linguistic area). In a similar vein, there are many similar unique innovations in [[Germanic languages|Germanic]], [[Baltic languages|Baltic]] and [[Slavic languages|Slavic]] that are far more likely to be areal features than traceable to a common proto-language. But legitimate uncertainty about whether shared innovations are areal features, coincidence, or inheritance from a common ancestor, leads to disagreement over the proper subdivisions of any large language family.