Languages of the Balkans

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. 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.

Germanic

 * Yiddish (Slovenia, Romania)
 * Austrian German (Slovenia)

Albanian

 * Arvanitika
 * Northwestern Arvanitika
 * Southcentral Arvanitika
 * Thracean Arvanitika
 * Gheg
 * Standard Albanian
 * Arbëresh
 * Tosk
 * Istrian

Hellenic languages

 * Cappadocian Greek
 * Pontic Greek
 * Standard Greek
 * Tsakonian

Indo-Aryan languages

 * Romani

Eastern South Slavic

 * Bulgarian
 * Macedonian

Transitional dialects

 * Transitional Bulgarian dialects
 * Transitional Serbo-Croatian dialects (Našinski/Torlakian)

East Slavic

 * Pannonian Rusyn

Western South Slavic

 * Slovene
 * Serbo-Croatian with standardized varieties based on the Shtokavian dialect:
 * Bosnian
 * Croatian
 * Montenegrin
 * Serbian

Regiolects

 * Chakavian
 * Kajkavian

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

 * Crimean Tatar
 * Gagauz
 * Tatar
 * Turkish

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