Information about the Uralic languages

Where are the Uralic languages spoken?

These languages are spoken in Eastern and Northern Europe: in the Baltic countries, Scandinavia, Hungary, in the central and northern European part of Russia, and northern Siberia in the Asian part of Russia.

Map of Uralic languages:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/87/Uralic-Yukaghir.png

Total number of speakers (estimated):

Approximately 25 000 000

Classification

The Uralic language family includes 33 or 34 active languages depending on the source, but some are very close to extinction.

For a more readable version:

Download the Uralic languages tree (in French)

Samoyed Languages

North Branch

Enets: close to extinction

Nenets

Nganasan

Yurètse: probably extinct

South Branch

Kamassian (alternate name: Kamas): extinct

Mator (alternate name: Motor): extinct

Selkup (alternate name: Samoyed Ostyak)

Finno-Ugric Languages

Ugric languages

Hungarian (alternate name: Magyar)

Ob-Ugric branch

Khanty (alternate name: Ostyak)

Mansi (alternate name: Vogul)

Finno-Permic

Permic languages

Komi (alternate name: Zyrian)

Komi-Permyak

Udmurt (alternate name: Votyak)

Finno-Volgaic languages

Mari

Mordvinic branch

Erzya

Moksha

Finno-Lapic branch

Sami Languages

Western Sami Group

Southern Sami

Ume Sami: close to extinction

Lule Sami

Pite Sami: close to extinction

Northern Sami

Eastern Sami Group

Kainuu Sami: extinct

Kemi Sami: extinct

Inari Sami

Akkala Sami: probably extinct

Kildin Sami

Skolt Sami

Ter Sami: close to extinction

Balto-Finnic languages

Finnish

Ingrian (alternate name: Izhorian) close to extinction

Livonian: close to extinction

Veps: close to extinction

Votic

Estonian Branch

Standard Estonian

Southern Estonian

Võro

Karelian Branch

Karelian

Lude

Olonets (alternate name: Liwi)

Comments on the classification of Uralic languages:

The Uralic languages take their name from one of the theories concerning the place of origin of Proto-Uralic. But there are several competing theories concerning the origin of these languages.

There have been many attempts to link this family to other language families like Altaic, Eskimo-Aleut, or even Dravidian, but all of these proposals are controversial at best. The proposal to include the Siberian isolate Youghakir is often regarded as promising but is not yet sufficiently proven.

The internal classification is broadly agreed. Concerning the Estonian branch, however, Standard Estonian is a standardized form of the former Northern Estonian. With this standardization the Southern Estonian dialects were overwhelmed and subsequently declined. Since the independence of Estonia in 1991, there has been a movement to revitalize Southern Estonian which led to the creation of a modern form of Võro which is the dialect of Southern Estonian furthest from Standard Estonian, as well as the establishment of literature in Võro. This revitalization and standardization of Võro has been joined by political demands for regional autonomy in southern Estonia. The question of whether Võro should be considered an independant language or a variant of Estonian is a complex issue that we do not attempt to decide here.