{{Short description|Multidisciplinary study of the language and culture of the Baltic nations}} {{More citations needed|date=January 2022}}
'''Baltistics''', also referred to as '''Baltic studies''', is a multidisciplinary study of the language and culture (history, literature, folklore and mythology) of the Baltic nations.<ref name="litbalt.weebly.com">{{cite web |title=About the Website |url=https://litbalt.weebly.com/about-the-website.html |website=Literatūrinė baltistika |access-date=18 January 2022 |language=en}}</ref> Baltistics by its subject splits into Lithuanistics, Latvistics, Prussistics, etc. Special attention is paid to the language studies, especially to the reconstruction of the Proto-Baltic language, which some linguists have argued is the same as the Proto-Balto-Slavic language, while others (V. Toporov, V. Ivanov, V. Mažiulis etc.) have believed that the Proto-Slavic language has formed out of from the Proto-Baltic peripheral-type dialects.<ref>{{cite book|last=Dini|first=P.U.|title=Baltų kalbos. Lyginamoji istorija|url=https://archive.org/details/dini-baltu-kalbos.-lyginamoji-istorija-2000|publisher=Mokslo ir enciklopedijų leidybos institutas|location=Vilnius|year=2000|pages=128-150|isbn=5-420-01444-0}}</ref> Currently there are about 30 centres of Baltistics, most of them based in Europe, the University of Vilnius considered to be the most active centre.
== History == [[File:LT-2014-10litų-Baltistika-b.png|thumb|A commemorative Lithuanian litas coin, dedicated to Baltistics, depicts an amber disk from the Neolithic era]]
First signs of researching and comparing of the Baltic languages – Lithuanian and Latvian – were seen in the writings of the grammar creators (Daniel Klein, ''Grammatica Litvanica'' 1653, Gotthard Friedrich Stender, ''Lettische Grammatik'' 1783). For the first time, scientifically Baltic languages were researched and compared with other Indo-European languages in the 19th century, when Franz Bopp in 1816 laid the ground for comparative linguistics. In his ''Vergleichende Grammatik'', published in 1833, Lithuanian was included. Prussian language was researched by Georg Heinrich Ferdinand Nesselmann (''Die Sprache der alten Preussen an ihren Ueberresten erlaeutert'', 1845) and Erich Berneker (''Die preussische Sprache'', 1896). It was Nesselmann who first suggested the term "Baltic languages".
From 1718 to 1944, a seminar for the study of the Lithuanian language took place in the University of Königsberg.
== Current status ==
Despite the trend in education since the latter part of the 20th century towards economic rationalism and its impacts on humanities departments,<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://theconversation.com/defunding-arts-degrees-is-the-latest-battle-in-a-40-year-culture-war-141689 |title=''Defunding arts degrees is the latest battle in a 40-year culture war'' |date=2 July 2020 |access-date=30 June 2023 |archive-date=27 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230427074737/https://theconversation.com/defunding-arts-degrees-is-the-latest-battle-in-a-40-year-culture-war-141689 |url-status=bot: unknown }}</ref> baltistics as a course of study is still offered by a surprising number of universities in the Baltic region and further afield. The majority of universities offering such programs are located in central and northern Europe, with courses offered at an undergraduate level at the University of Greifswald,<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.uni-greifswald.de/studium/vor-dem-studium/studienangebot/studienfaecher/s/skandinavistik-bachelor/ |title=''Skandinavistik [Scandinavian Studies]'' |access-date=30 June 2023 |archive-date=22 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230522183902/https://www.uni-greifswald.de/studium/vor-dem-studium/studienangebot/studienfaecher/s/skandinavistik-bachelor/ |url-status=bot: unknown }}</ref> Goethe University Frankfurt<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.uni-frankfurt.de/49354120/Bachelor |title=''Skandinavistik, Bachelor of Arts'' |access-date=30 June 2023 |archive-date=1 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230601022225/https://www.uni-frankfurt.de/49354120/Bachelor |url-status=bot: unknown }}</ref> in Germany, University of Warsaw<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://baltystyka.uw.edu.pl/?page_id=193&lang=en |title=''Welcome to Baltic studies!'' |access-date=30 June 2023 |archive-date=16 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210916022545/http://baltystyka.uw.edu.pl/?page_id=193&lang=en |url-status=bot: unknown }}</ref> in Poland, Masaryk University<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.muni.cz/en/bachelors-and-masters-study-programmes/24109-baltic-studies |title=''Baltic Studies'' |access-date=30 June 2023 |archive-date=7 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230207141508/https://www.muni.cz/en/bachelors-and-masters-study-programmes/24109-baltic-studies |url-status=bot: unknown }}</ref> in the Czech Republic and Stockholm University in Sweden. Some universities also offer individual modules as part of broader programs, for example the Bachelor of Linguistics at the University of Mainz,<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.sneb.uni-mainz.de/wie-studiere-ich-sneb-sprachen-nordeuropas-und-des-baltikums-im-bachelor-system/ |title=''Wie studiere ich SNEB (Sprachen Nordeuropas und des Baltikums) im Bachelor-System? [How do I study SNEB (Languages of Northern Europe and the Baltic) in the Bachelor system?]'' |access-date=30 June 2023 |archive-date=26 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230626011134/https://www.sneb.uni-mainz.de/wie-studiere-ich-sneb-sprachen-nordeuropas-und-des-baltikums-im-bachelor-system/ |url-status=bot: unknown }}</ref>) Germany, which offers language modules in Lithuanian or Latvian, as part of a Bachelor in Scandinavian Studies at the University of Vienna,<ref>[https://skandinavistik.univie.ac.at/fileadmin/user_upload/p_skandinavistik/Studium/Erweiterungscurricula/EC_Ostseeraumstudien2.pdf Ostseeraumstudien [Baltic Sea Region Studies 2]], [University of Vienna]</ref> Austria, or courses for specialists in comparative historical linguistics by the philological department at Moscow State University.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.msu.ru/info/struct/dep/philol.html |title=''Филологический факультет МГУ [Department of Philology, MSU]'' |access-date=30 June 2023 |archive-date=20 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211020141200/https://www.msu.ru/info/struct/dep/philol.html |url-status=bot: unknown }}</ref> In North America, there is an undergraduate Baltic studies program offered by Washington University in St. Louis.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://scandinavian.washington.edu/baltic-studies-program |title=''Baltic Studies Program'' |access-date=30 June 2023 |archive-date=28 November 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211128234854/https://scandinavian.washington.edu/baltic-studies-program |url-status=bot: unknown }}</ref>
== See also == * Slavic studies * Indo-European studies *:Category:Balticists *:Category:Balts
==References== {{Reflist}}
== Further reading == * Gimbutas, Marija (1963). [https://archive.org/details/TheBalts The Balts]. London : Thames and Hudson, Ancient peoples and places 33. * Compiler Adomas Butrimas (2009). „Baltų menas / Art of the Balts“. Vilnius : Vilniaus dailės akademijos leidykla. {{ISBN|978-9955-854-36-4}}
== External links == * [https://www.britannica.com/topic/Baltic-languages Baltic languages | Britannica.com]
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Category:Ethnography Category:European folklore Category:European studies Category:Linguistics