| Balto-Slavic | |
|---|---|
| Balto-Slavonic | |
| Geographic distribution | Northern Europe, Eastern Europe, Central Europe, Southeast Europe and Northern Asia |
| Ethnicity | Balts and Slavs |
| Linguistic classification | Indo-European
|
Early form | |
| Proto-language | Proto-Balto-Slavic |
| Subdivisions | |
| Language codes | |
| Glottolog | balt1263 |
 Countries where the national language is:
Eastern Baltic
Eastern Slavic
Southern Slavic
Western Slavic | |
| Part of a series on |
| Indo-European topics |
|---|
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The Balto-Slavic languages form a branch of the Indo-European family of languages, traditionally comprising the Baltic and Slavic languages. Baltic and Slavic languages share several linguistic traits not found in any other Indo-European branch,[1] which points to a period of common development and origin.[2]
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. One particularly innovative dialect separated from the Balto-Slavic dialect continuum and became ancestral to the Proto-Slavic language, from which all Slavic languages descended.[3]
While the notion of a Balto-Slavic unity was previously contested largely due to political controversies, there is now a general consensus among academic specialists in Indo-European linguistics that Baltic and Slavic languages comprise a single branch of the Indo-European language family, with only some minor details of the nature of their relationship remaining in contention.[4]
- ^ Young (2009), p. 135.
- ^ "Balto-Slavic languages. Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online". Encyclopædia Britannica Inc. Retrieved 10 December 2012.
Those scholars who accept the Balto-Slavic hypothesis attribute the large number of close similarities in the vocabulary, grammar, and sound systems of the Baltic and Slavic languages to development from a common ancestral language after the breakup of Proto-Indo-European. Those scholars who reject the hypothesis believe that the similarities are the result of parallel development and of mutual influence during a long period of contact.
- ^ Young (2009), p. 136.
- ^ Fortson (2010), p. 414.