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Illyrian languages are a group of Indo-European languages that were found in the western part of the Balkans. Around 230 BC the languages were Romanized (sometime completely, as in the case of the Dalmatian), but, since the 7th century they began to lose ground in front of other languages spoken in the area, mainly Slavic languages in the rural areas and the Venetian language in the urban areas. Nowadays the main source of informations about the Illyrian languages are just glossaries and names; since so little is known about them, when linguists encounter what they consider anomalies in their data, they humorously blame them on Illyrian influences.
Messapian, an extinct language of South-eastern Italy is believed to be a dialect of Illyrian, based on the personal names found on the tombs inscriptions.
Some linguists believe Albanian to be a derivative from Illyrian languages, but the Messapian inscriptions and the words that we know seem to indicate that Albanian and Illyrian were part of two different branches of the Indo-European tree.
1 See also
2 External link
Extinct languages
Indo-European languages
