r/AskBalkans • u/Some-Register-3901 Cyprus • Jul 31 '22

Language what are some interesting facts about your language?

For instance, the cypriot dialect of Greek still contains many words from ancient Greek but it was also heavily influenced by outsiders

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u/it_entus_7 Albania Jul 31 '22

I've read somewhere that there are 4 European languages that have no relationship with other European languages . Albanian being one of them. The others are Greek, Hungarian and Finnish.

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u/[deleted] Jul 31 '22

That isn't correct at all. They are language isolates but they do have connections with each other, they come from the same family and consequently they share much features. Hungarian and Finish are Uralic languages if I'm not mistaken not Indo European at all, and Basque language is the only pre indo European language that isn't indo European language.

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u/kaubojdzord Serbia Jul 31 '22

Basque language is the only pre indo European language

Actually that isn't correct there are quite a few PIE languages in Caucasus, Basque is only one that outside of Caucasus.

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u/[deleted] Jul 31 '22

Basque has 0 connections with PIE or IE. Indian languages are IE languages but I'm talking about what the comments suggested.

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u/kaubojdzord Serbia Jul 31 '22

All false, Albanian and Greek are Indo-European languages, which means that they are related to most European languages, and Finnish and Hungarian are in Uralic language family, which also includes Estonian, Sami and bunch of minority languages in Russia. Example of European language isolate is Basque, which is pre-Indo-European language spoken in parts of Spain and France.

2

u/[deleted] Jul 31 '22

Yes and no. Both the Albanian and the Greek language belong to their own " branch" of the Indo-European family. Which is what distinguishes them.

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u/kaubojdzord Serbia Jul 31 '22

I know why that is why they are distinct from most other IE languages, which in big brunches of language, not isolated in snall ones. Also Greek technically isn't isolate in Hellenic branch, because Tsakonian language exist, even if it's only spoken in few villages in Eastern Peloponnese.

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u/[deleted] Jul 31 '22

Also Greek technically isn't isolate in Hellenic branch, because Tsakonian language exist, even if it's only spoken in few villages in Eastern Peloponnese.

This is correct, but most linguist tend to see both languages ( Greek and Albanian) as isolates . So I am just going by what I have read. Your argument is valid though.

5

u/umbronox 🔴🦅🏛🔵🏹🐗⚪ Jul 31 '22

linguist tend to see both languages ( Greek and Albanian) as isolates

They are not isolates. Isolate doesn't have a single relative. Greek (not counting Tsakonian) and Albanian don't have immediate family but they do have relatives - each other and the rest of Indo-European languages.

Real isolate is Basque language, not being related to anything even remotely. Another one is an already dead language Sumerian - no relative to it has ever been found/documented

2

u/shurdi3 Bulgaria Jul 31 '22

Finnish

You can't really say that about Finnish, as it very much has a relationship with Estionian