Uraliclanguage

The Uralic language family comprises about 30 languages spoken across northern Eurasia from the Baltic Sea to western Siberia. They are related languages sharing a common ancestor, Proto-Uralic, spoken several thousand years ago. The total number of speakers is around 25–30 million, with Hungarian, Finnish, and Estonian among the most widely spoken.

The family is traditionally divided into two main branches: Samoyedic and Finno-Ugric. Finno-Ugric further splits into Finnic and Ugric groups. Finnic languages include Finnish, Estonian, Karelian, and several minority languages; Ugric includes Hungarian, Khanty, and Mansi. Samoyedic languages are spoken in northern Russia, including Nenets and Nganasan, with smaller languages such as Selkup and Enets.

Common features include agglutinative morphology, extensive case systems, and vowel harmony in many branches. Consonant gradation is a distinctive phonological feature in Finnic and some other Uralic languages. Word order is typically flexible due to rich morphology, though SVO is common in some languages.

The Proto-Uralic homeland is placed near the Ural Mountains, with diversification from the Neolithic into a wide area. Contact with Indo-European languages influenced some branches, while others remained relatively isolated.

Language status varies; Hungarian is official in Hungary; Finnish and Estonian are official in their respective countries; many minority Uralic languages face endangerment, with efforts in language preservation and revitalization.