The Balkan Languages

Numerous languages in the Balkans have converged over time, structurally and lexically. This survey explains how and why.

Victor A. Friedman (Author), Brian D. Joseph (Author)

9780521553490, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 26 June 2025

1096 pages
25 x 17.2 x 6.6 cm, 1.97 kg

'Working from decades of research, Friedman and Joseph explain the complex linguistic phenomena resulting from the interplay of Balkan languages, geography, and history, never losing sight of the fact that it is not languages that are in contact, but the people who use them. The breadth of coverage of their study is unsurpassed. Every page gives the reader new vantage points from which to consider the complex, intertwined histories of the peoples of the Balkans and the resulting Balkan Sprachbund.' Christina E. Kramer, Professor Emerita, Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, University of Toronto

Southeast Europe's Balkan peninsula is home to numerous languages that have come to converge structurally and lexically, due to complex social factors involving contact among speakers of these languages, constituting a 'sprachbund'. This volume provides the first comprehensive, book-length survey of the Balkan languages in English. It covers the full range of languages involved in the Balkan convergence zone, including Albanian, Aromanian, Bulgarian, Gagauz, Greek, Judezmo, Macedonian, Meglenoromanian, Romani, Romanian, Torlak, and West Rumelian Turkish. Balkan convergences - 'Balkanisms' - are presented, considering the grammatical domains of phonetics, phonology, morphology, morphosyntax, syntax, semantics, pragmatics, and lexicon. It gives attention to relevant notions of contact linguistics and to the history of the field, while also introducing key conceptual innovations. Providing fresh data and perspectives on the most studied intense contact situation, this work is essential reading for anyone interested in Balkan languages. This title is also available as open access on Cambridge Core.

Preface
Acknowledgements
User's guide to this book
Introduction
1. The Balkan Peninsula and its languages
2. History of Balkan linguistics
3. Concepts, theories, methods
4. The Lexicon
5. Phonology
6. Morphology and morphosyntax: the fate of inflection and the formation of paradigms
7. Syntax
8. Conclusion: summation, causation and the future (and some definitional issues)
Envoi.

Subject Areas: Historical & comparative linguistics [CFF]