European languages mostly fall within four Indo-European language groups: the Romance languages, derived from the Latin of the Roman Empire; the Germanic languages, whose ancestor language came from southern Scandinavia; the Baltic languages; and the Slavic languages.[127]English is a West Germanic language, since its core vocabulary of everyday words (though most of its vocabulary is borrowed from French or directly from Latin, the most commonly used words in everyday speech are native to the English language[172]), sounds, structure, and phonology[173] is inherited from the western branch of the Proto-Germanic language.[174][175]
Romance languages are spoken primarily in south-western Europe as well as in Romania andMoldova, in Central or Eastern Europe. Germanic languages are spoken in north-western Europe and some parts of Central Europe. Slavic languages are spoken in Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe.[127]
Many other languages outside the three main groups exist in Europe. Other Indo-European languages include the Baltic group (i.e., Latvian and Lithuanian), the Celtic group (i.e., Irish,Scottish Gaelic, Manx, Welsh, Cornish, and Breton[127]), Greek, Albanian, and Armenian. A distinct group of Uralic languages includes Estonian, Finnish, and Hungarian, spoken in the respective countries as well as in parts of Romania, Russia, Serbia, and Slovakia. Maltese is the only Semitic language that is official within the EU. Turkic languages includeAzerbaijani and Turkish, in addition to the languages of minority nations in Russia. There is also a non-Indo-European language isolate,Basque.
Multilingualism and the protection of regional and minority languages are recognized political goals in Europe today. The Council of EuropeFramework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities and the Council of Europe's European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages set up a legal framework for language rights in Europe.
Religion
Main article: Religion in Europe
Historically, religion in Europe has been a major influence on European art, culture, philosophy and law. The largest religion in Europe is Christianity as practiced by Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and Protestant Churches. Following these is Islam concentrated mainly in the south east (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, Kosovo, Kazakhstan, North Cyprus, Turkey and Azerbaijan), and Tibetan Buddhism, found inKalmykia. Other religions including Judaism and Hinduism are minority religions. Europe is a relatively secular continent and has an increasing number and proportion of irreligious, agnostic and atheistic people, actually the largest in the Western world, with a particularly high number of self-described non-religious people in the Czech Republic, Estonia, Sweden, Germany (East), and France.[176]
Culture
Main article: Culture of Europe
The culture of Europe can be described as a series of overlapping cultures; cultural mixes exist across the continent. There are culturalinnovations and movements, sometimes at odds with each other. Thus the question of "common culture" or "common values" is complex.
The foundation of European culture was laid by the Greeks, strengthened by the Romans, stabilised by Christianity, reformed and modernised by the 15th-century Renaissance and Reformation and globalised by successive European empires between the 16th and 20th centuries.
See also
Main articles: Outline of Europe and Index of Europe-related articles
- Communications in Europe
- Continental Europe
- Europe as a potential superpower
- Europa Nostra
- List of European countries in order of geographical area
- List of European television stations
- Politics
- Demographics
- Area and population of European countries
- Demography of Europe
- European American
- European ethnic groups
- European Union Statistics
- Largest cities of the EU
- Largest European metropolitan areas
- Largest urban areas of the EU
- List of cities in Europe by country
- List of villages in Europe by country
- List of European countries by population
- Economics
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