Finno-Ugric language

The Finno-Ugric languages form a subfamily of the Uralic languages. They include Finnish, Hungarian and Estonian, among others. Unlike most of the languages spoken in Europe, the Finno-Ugric languages are not part of the Indo-European family of languages.

The "Urheimat" of the proto-language of the modern Finno-Ugric languages, known as Proto-Finno-Ugric, is believed to be to the west of the Ural mountains, some 5000 years ago. There is evidence that before the arrival of Slavic tribes to their present territory in Russia, a sprinkling of Finno-Ugrians inhabited the whole territory from the Urals to the Baltic Sea.

There have been attempts to relate them to the Indo-European languages, but there are not enough similarities to link them with any certainty. Conversely, there have been suggestions that the Germanic languages evolved from an Indo-European language such as Celtic imposed on a Finnic substrate, but no satisfactory proof yet exists.

The Finno-Ugric subfamily of the Uralic languages has the following members:

• Finnic
  • Finno-Lappic
    • Baltic Finnic:
      • Finnish
      • Estonian
      • Karelian
      • Meänkieli
      • Veps - In danger of extinction
      • Livonian - Almost extinct
      • Votic - Almost extinct
      • Izhorian - Almost extinct
      • Ingrian Finnish
      • Ludic
    • Lappic
      • Sami languages (or Lappish)
        • Western Sami languages
          • Lule Sami
          • Northern Sami
          • Pite Sami
          • Southern Sami
          • Ume Sami
        • Eastern Sami languages
          • Akkala Sami
          • Inari Sami
          • Kainuu Sami - Extinct
          • Kemi Sami - Extinct
          • Kildin Sami
          • Skolt Sami
          • Ter Sami
  • Volga-Finnic
    • Mordvinic
      • Erzya
      • Moksha
    • Mari or Cheremis (obsolete)
  • Permian-Finnic:
    • Udmurt or Votyak (obsolete)
    • Komi
      • Komi-Permyak
      • Komi-Zyrian
• Ugric
  • Hungarian
  • Ob Ugric
    • Khant or Ostyak (obsolete), see Khant
    • Mansi or Vogul (obsolete), see Mansi

de:Finno-ugrische Sprachen fi:Suomalais-ugrilaiset kieletsv:Finsk-ugriska språk fr:Langues finno-ougriennes nl:Finoegrische talen pl:Języki ugrofińskie ro:Limbile fino-ugrice

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