Editing Baltic languages (section)

===Contact with Uralic languages===
Though [[Estonia]] is geopolitically included among the [[Baltic states]] due to its location, [[Estonian language|Estonian]] is a [[Finnic language]] of the [[Uralic languages|Uralic language family]] and is not related to the Baltic languages, which are [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European]].

The [[Mordvinic languages]], spoken mainly along western tributaries of the [[Volga]], show several dozen loanwords from one or more Baltic languages. These may have been mediated by contacts with the Eastern Balts along the river [[Oka River|Oka]].<ref>{{cite book|author-first=Riho |author-last=Grünthal |chapter=Baltic loanwords in Mordvin |title=A Linguistic Map of Prehistoric Northern Europe |date=2012 |pages=297–343 |chapter-url=http://www.sgr.fi/sust/sust266/sust266_grunthal.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.sgr.fi/sust/sust266/sust266_grunthal.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |series=Suomalais-Ugrilaisen Seuran Toimituksia 266}}</ref> In regards to the same geographical location, [[Asko Parpola]], in a 2013 article, suggested that the Baltic presence in this area, dated to {{circa|200}}–600 CE, is due to an "elite superstratum".<ref>Parpola, A. (2013). "[https://www.sgr.fi/sust/sust266/sust266_parpola.pdf Formation of the Indo-European and Uralic (Finno-Ugric) language families in the light of archaeology]". In: Grünthal, R. & Kallio, P. (Eds.). ''A linguistic map of prehistoric northern Europe''. Suomalais-Ugrilainen Seura, 2013. p. 150.</ref> However, linguist {{ill|Petri Kallio|nn|Petri Kallio}} argued that the Volga-Oka is a ''secondary'' Baltic-speaking area, expanding from East Baltic, due to a large number of Baltic loanwords in Finnic and [[Saami languages|Saami]].<ref>Kallio, Petri. "[https://www.academia.edu/20252178/The_Language_Contact_Situation_in_Prehistoric_Northeastern_Europe The Language Contact Situation in Prehistoric Northeastern Europe]". In: Robert Mailhammer, Theo Vennemann gen. Nierfeld, and Birgit Anette Olsen (eds.). ''The Linguistic Roots of Europe: Origin and Development of European Languages''. Copenhagen Studies in Indo-European 6. Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press, 2015. p. 79.</ref>

Finnish scholars also indicate that Latvian had extensive contacts with [[Livonian language|Livonian]],<ref>{{cite book |last=Grünthal |first=Riho|authorlink=:fi:Riho Grünthal |chapter=Livonian at the crossroads of language contacts |editor=Santeri Junttila |url=https://journal.fi/uralicahelsingiensia/issue/view/uh7 |title=Contacts between the Baltic and Finnic languages |publisher=Uralica Helsingiensia |volume=7 |location=Helsinki |year=2015 |pages=97–102 |isbn=978-952-5667-67-7 |issn=1797-3945}}</ref> and, to a lesser extent, to [[Estonian language|Estonian]] and [[South Estonian]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Junttila |first=Santeri |chapter=Introduction|editor=Santeri Junttila |url=https://journal.fi/uralicahelsingiensia/issue/view/uh7 |title=Contacts between the Baltic and Finnic languages |publisher=Uralica Helsingiensia |volume=7 |location=Helsinki |year=2015 |isbn=978-952-5667-67-7 |issn=1797-3945 |page=6}}</ref> Therefore, this contact accounts for the number of Finnic hydronyms in Lithuania and Latvia that increase in a northwards direction.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Zinkevičius |first1=Zigmas |author1-link=Zigmas Zinkevičius |last2=Luchtanas |first2=Aleksiejus |last3=Česnys |first3=Gintautas |title=Where We Come from: The Origin of the Lithuanian People |date=2005 |publisher=Science & Encyclopedia Publishing Institute |isbn=978-5-420-01572-8 |page=42 }}</ref>

Parpola, in the same article, supposed the existence of a Baltic substratum for Finnic, in Estonia and coastal Finland.<ref>Parpola, A. (2013). "[https://www.sgr.fi/sust/sust266/sust266_parpola.pdf Formation of the Indo-European and Uralic (Finno-Ugric) language families in the light of archaeology]". In: Grünthal, R. & Kallio, P. (Eds.). ''A linguistic map of prehistoric northern Europe''. Suomalais-Ugrilainen Seura, 2013. p. 133.</ref> In the same vein, Kallio argues for the existence of a lost "North Baltic language" that would account for loanwords during the evolution of the Finnic branch.<ref>{{cite book|last=Kallio |first=Petri |chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/20252178 |chapter=The Language Contact Situation in Prehistoric Northeastern Europe |editor1=Robert Mailhammer |editor2=Theo Vennemann gen. Nierfeld |editor3=Birgit Anette Olsen |title=The Linguistic Roots of Europe: Origin and Development of European Languages |series=Copenhagen Studies in Indo-European |volume=6 |location=Copenhagen |publisher=[[Museum Tusculanum Press]] |year=2015 |pages=88–90}}</ref>