Baltic languages, Branch of the Indo-European language family that includes three attested languages, Lithuanian, Latvian, and Old Prussian. They were or are spoken along the eastern and southeastern shore and hinterlands of the Baltic Sea. Medieval chronicles report four other Baltic-speaking peoples in the region, though by the 16th century these peoples had been completely assimilated. Baltic has certain striking features in common with Slavic languages, though the deep divisions within Baltic itself, among other factors, make the hypothesis of a common Balto-Slavic protolanguage difficult to defend.
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