This is a list of languages spoken in regions ruled by Balkan countries. With the exception of several Turkic languages, all of them belong to the Indo-European family. Despite belonging to four different families of Indo-European; Slavic, Romance, Greek, and Albanian, a subset of these languages is notable for forming a well-studied sprachbund, a group of languages that have developed some striking structural similarities over time.
Indo-European languages
Germanic
- Yiddish (Slovenia, Romania)
- Austrian German (Slovenia)
Albanian
- Arvanitika
- Northwestern Arvanitika
- Southcentral Arvanitika
- Thracean Arvanitika
- Gheg
- Standard Albanian
- Arbëresh
- Tosk
- Istrian
Hellenic languages
Indo-Aryan languages
Slavic languages
Eastern South Slavic
Transitional dialects
- Transitional Bulgarian dialects
- Transitional Serbo-Croatian dialects (Našinski/Torlakian)
East Slavic
Western South Slavic
- Slovene
- Serbo-Croatian with standardized varieties based on the Shtokavian dialect:
Regiolects
Romance languages
- Aromanian
- Istriot (in western Istria)
- Istro-Romanian (In eastern Istria)
- Italian (on the Adriatic coast)
- Ladino (in Greece, Turkey, Bosnia, Serbia, North Macedonia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania)
- Megleno-Romanian (Meglenenitic)
- Romanian
Turkic languages
Extinct languages
These are the extinct languages that were once spoken in the Balkans:
- Ancient Macedonian
- Dacian
- Dalmatian
- Eteocretan
- Eteocypriot
- Illyrian
- Lemnian
- Liburnian
- Ottoman Turkish
- Paeonian
- Pelasgian
- Phrygian
- Thracian
See also
| Countries on the Balkan Peninsula | ||
|---|---|---|
| Geographically fully located |  | |
| Significantly located | ||
| Partially located | ||
| Mostly outside the peninsula |
| |
| See also | ||