Balkan sprachbund

The Balkan sprachbund or Balkan language area is a proposed theory of an ensemble of areal features—similarities in grammar, syntax, vocabulary and phonology—among the languages of the Balkans. Several features are found across these languages though not all apply to every single language.

The languages of the Balkans share their similarities despite belonging to various separate language family (genetic) branches. The Slavic, Hellenic, Romance and Albanian branches all belong to the large Indo-European family, and the Turkish language is non-Indo-European.

Some of the languages use these features for their standard language (i.e. those whose homeland lies almost entirely within the region) whilst other populations to whom the land is not a cultural pivot (as they have wider outside communities) may still adopt the features for their local register.

While some of these languages may share little vocabulary, their grammars exhibit extensive similarities; for example:

• They have similar case systems, those that have preserved grammatical case and verb conjugation systems.
• They have all become more analytic, although to differing degrees.
• Some of those languages mark evidentiality, which is uncommon among Indo-European languages, and was likely inspired by contact with Turkish.

The existence of the Balkan sprachbund has not gained widely acceptance among linguists as is explained below, and the reason for these similarities is not a settled question among experts. Genetic commonalities, language contact, and the geopolitical history of the region all seem to be relevant factors, but many disagree over the specifics and degree of these factors.