East Baltic languages in the context of "Baltic languages"

The West Baltic languages are a group of extinct Baltic languages that were spoken by West Baltic peoples. West Baltic is one of the two primary branches of Baltic languages, along with East Baltic. It includes Old Prussian, Sudovian, West Galindian, possibly Pomeranian Baltic, Skalvian and Old Curonian.

Lithuanian (lietuvių kalba, pronounced [lʲiəˈtʊvʲuː kɐɫˈbɐ]) is an East Baltic language belonging to the Baltic branch of the Indo-European language family. It is the language of Lithuanians and the official language of Lithuania as well as one of the official languages of the European Union. There are approximately 2.8 million native Lithuanian speakers in Lithuania and about 1.5 million speakers elsewhere. Around half a million inhabitants of Lithuania of non-Lithuanian background speak Lithuanian daily as a second language.

Lithuanian is closely related to neighbouring Latvian, though the two languages are not mutually intelligible. It is written in a Latin script. Some linguists consider it to be the most conservative of the extant Indo-European languages, retaining features of the Proto-Indo-European language that have otherwise been lost to more recent linguistic developments in the remainder of its descendant languages.

Latvian (latviešu valoda, pronounced [ˈlatviɛʃu ˈvaluɔda]), also known as Lettish, is an East Baltic language belonging to the Indo-European language family. It is spoken in the Baltic region, and is the language of the Latvians. It is the official language of Latvia as well as one of the official languages of the European Union. There are about 1.5 million native Latvian speakers in Latvia and 100,000 abroad. Of those, around 1.16 million or 62% of Latvia's population used it as their primary language at home, though excluding the Latgale and Riga regions it is spoken as a native language in villages and towns by over 90% of the population.

As a Baltic language, Latvian is most closely related to neighboring Lithuanian (as well as Old Prussian, an extinct Baltic language); however, Latvian has developed in different directions. In addition, there is some disagreement whether Standard Latgalian and Kursenieki, which are mutually intelligible with Latvian, should be considered varieties or separate languages.

Latgalian (latgalīšu volūda, Latvian: latgaliešu valoda) is an East Baltic language. The language law of Latvia classifies it as a "historical variant of the Latvian language". It is mostly spoken in Latgale, the eastern part of Latvia. The 2011 Latvian census established that 164,500 of Latvia's inhabitants, or 8.8% of the population, speak Latgalian daily. 97,600 of them lived in Latgale, 29,400 in Riga and 14,400 in the Riga Planning Region.

Selonian was an East Baltic language, which was spoken by the East Baltic tribe of the Selonians, who until the 15th century lived in Selonia, a territory in southeastern Latvia and northeastern Lithuania. The language persisted until the 16th century.

Semigallian, also known as Zemgalian, was an East Baltic language of the Baltic language sub-family of the Indo-European languages.