The Slavic group of languages ​​is the closest from this family to the Baltic group, so some scholars combine these two groups into one - Balto-Slavic subfamily Indo-European languages. The total number of speakers of Slavic languages ​​(for whom they are native languages) is over 300 million. The main number of speakers of Slavic languages ​​lives in Russia and Ukraine.

The Slavic group of languages ​​is divided into three branches: East Slavic, West Slavic and South Slavic. The East Slavic branch of languages ​​includes: Russian language or Great Russian, Ukrainian, also known as Little Russian or Ruthenian, and Belarusian. Together these languages ​​are spoken by about 225 million people. The West Slavic branch includes: Polish, Czech, Slovak, Lusatian, Kashubian and the extinct Polabian language. Living West Slavic languages ​​are today spoken by approximately 56 million people, mostly in Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The South Slavic branch consists of Serbo-Croatian, Bulgarian, Slovene and Macedonian. The Church Slavonic language also belongs to this branch. The first four languages ​​are spoken collectively by more than 30 million people in Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Yugoslavia, Macedonia and Bulgaria.

All Slavic languages, according to linguistic research, are rooted in one common ancestor language, usually called Proto-Slavic, which, in turn, separated much earlier from Proto-Indo-European language(about 2000 BC), the ancestor of all Indo-European languages. The Proto-Slavic language was probably common to all Slavs as early as the 1st century BC, and already starting from the 8th century AD. Separate Slavic languages ​​begin to form.

General characteristics

colloquial Slavic languages very similar to each other, stronger than the Germanic or Romance languages ​​among themselves. However, even if there are common features in vocabulary, grammar and phonetics, they still differ in many aspects. One of the common characteristics of all Slavic languages ​​is the relatively large number of consonants. A striking example of different usage is the variety of positions of the main stress in individual Slavic languages. For example, in Czech, the stress falls on the first syllable of a word, and in Polish, on the next syllable after the last, while in Russian and Bulgarian, the stress can fall on any syllable.

Grammar

Grammatically, the Slavic languages, with the exception of Bulgarian and Macedonian, have a highly developed system of noun inflections, up to seven cases(nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, instrumental, prepositional and vocative). The verb in Slavic languages ​​has three simple times(past, present and future), but is also characterized by such a complex characteristic as the species. The verb can be imperfect (shows the continuity or repetition of the action) or perfect (denotes the completion of the action) form. Participles and gerunds are widely used (one can compare their use with the use of participles and gerunds in English). In all Slavic languages, except for Bulgarian and Macedonian, there is no article. The languages ​​of the Slavic subfamily are more conservative and therefore closer to Proto-Indo-European than the languages ​​of the Germanic and Romance groups, as evidenced by the preservation by the Slavic languages ​​of seven of the eight cases for nouns that were characters for the Proto-Indo-European language, as well as the development of the form of the verb.

Vocabulary

The vocabulary of the Slavic languages ​​is predominantly of Indo-European origin. There is also an important element of the mutual influence of the Baltic and Slavic languages ​​on each other, which is reflected in the vocabulary. Borrowed words or translations of words go back to Iranian and German groups, and also to Greek, Latin, and Turkic languages. Influenced the vocabulary and languages ​​such as Italian and French. Slavic languages ​​also borrowed words from each other. The borrowing of foreign words tends to be translated and imitated rather than simply absorbed.

Writing

Perhaps it is in writing that the most significant differences between the Slavic languages ​​lie. Some Slavic languages ​​(in particular, Czech, Slovak, Slovene and Polish) have a script based on the Latin alphabet, since the speakers of these languages ​​belong predominantly to the Catholic denomination. Other Slavic languages ​​(for example, Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Macedonian, and Bulgarian) use adopted Cyrillic variants as a result of the influence of the Orthodox Church. The only language, Serbo-Croatian, uses two alphabets: Cyrillic for Serbian and Latin for Croatian.
The invention of the Cyrillic alphabet is traditionally attributed to Cyril, a Greek missionary who was sent by the Byzantine Emperor Michael III to the Slavic peoples then in the 9th century AD. in what is now Slovakia. There is no doubt that Cyril created the predecessor of the Cyrillic alphabet - Glagolitic, based on the Greek alphabet, where new symbols were added to denote Slavic sounds that did not find a match in the Greek language. However, the very first Cyrillic texts dating back to the 9th century AD. not preserved. The most ancient Slavic texts preserved in the church Old Church Slavonic date back to the 10th and 11th centuries.

There are, however, differences of a material, functional, and typological nature, due to the long-term independent development of Slavic tribes and nationalities in different ethnic, geographical, historical and cultural conditions, their contacts with kindred and unrelated ethnic groups.

Slavic languages ​​are usually divided into 3 groups according to the degree of their proximity to each other: East Slavic (Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian), South Slavic (Bulgarian, Macedonian, Serbo-Croatian and Slovenian) and West Slavic (Czech, Slovak, Polish with a Kashubian dialect that retained a certain genetic independence , Upper and Lower Lusatian). There are also small local groups of Slavs with their own literary languages. Thus, the Croats in Austria (Burgenland) have their own literary language based on the Chakavian dialect. Not all Slavic languages ​​have come down to us. At the end of the 17th - beginning of the 18th centuries. the Polish language disappeared. The distribution of Slavic languages ​​within each group has its own characteristics (see East Slavic languages, West Slavic languages, South Slavic languages). Each Slavic language includes a literary language with all its stylistic, genre and other varieties and its own territorial dialects. The ratios of all these elements in the Slavic languages ​​are different. The Czech literary language has a more complex stylistic structure than Slovak, but the latter better preserves the features of dialects. Sometimes the dialects of one Slavic language differ from each other more than independent Slavic languages. For example, the morphology of the Shtokavian and Chakavian dialects of the Serbo-Croatian language differs much more deeply than the morphology of the Russian and Belarusian languages. The proportion of identical elements is often different. For example, the category of diminutive in the Czech language is expressed in more diverse and differentiated forms than in Russian.

Of the Indo-European languages, C. I are the closest to the Baltic languages. This proximity served as the basis for the theory of " Balto-Slavic proto-language", according to which the Balto-Slavic proto-language first separated from the Indo-European proto-language, later splitting into Proto-Baltic and Proto-Slavic. However, most modern scientists explain their special closeness by the long contact of the ancient Balts and Slavs. It has not been established in which territory the separation of the Slavic language continuum from the Indo-European took place. It can be assumed that it took place to the south of those territories that, according to various theories, belong to the territory of the Slavic ancestral homelands. There are many such theories, but all of them do not localize the ancestral home where the Indo-European proto-language could be. On the basis of one of the Indo-European dialects (Proto-Slavonic), the Proto-Slavic language was later formed, which is the ancestor of all modern Slavic languages. The history of the Proto-Slavic language was longer than the history of individual Slavic languages. For a long time it developed as a single dialect with the same structure. Later, dialect variants appear. The process of transition of the Proto-Slavic language, its dialects into independent S. Ya. was long and difficult. It was most active in the 2nd half of the 1st millennium AD. e., during the formation of the early Slavic feudal states in the territory of South-Eastern and Eastern Europe. During this period, the territory of Slavic settlements increased significantly. Areas of various geographical zones with different natural and climatic conditions were mastered, the Slavs entered into relationships with peoples and tribes standing at different stages of cultural development. All this was reflected in the history of the Slavic languages.

The Proto-Slavic language was preceded by the period of the Proto-Slavic language, elements of which can be restored with the help of the ancient Indo-European languages. The Proto-Slavic language in its main part is restored using the data of S. Ya. different periods of their history. The history of the Proto-Slavic language is divided into 3 periods: the most ancient - before the establishment of close Balto-Slavic language contact, the period of Balto-Slavic community and the period of dialect fragmentation and the beginning of the formation of independent Slavic languages.

The individuality and originality of the Proto-Slavic language began to take shape even in the early period. It was then that a new system of vowel sonants was formed, consonantism became much simpler, the stage of reduction became widespread in ablaut, the root ceased to obey the ancient restrictions. According to the fate of the middle palate k ’and g’, the Proto-Slavic language is included in the satəm group (sürdce, pisati, prositi, cf. lat. cor - cordis, pictus, precor; zürno, znati, zima, cf. lat. granum, cognosco, hiems). However, this feature was implemented inconsistently: cf. Praslav *kamy, *kosa, *gǫsь, *gordъ, *bergъ, etc. Proto-Slavic morphology represents significant deviations from the Indo-European type. This primarily applies to the verb, to a lesser extent - to the name. Most of the suffixes were already formed on the Proto-Slavic soil. Proto-Slavic vocabulary is distinguished by great originality; already in the early period of its development, the Proto-Slavic language experienced a number of significant transformations in the field of lexical composition. While retaining in most cases the old Indo-European lexical fund, at the same time he lost many old Indo-European lexemes (for example, some terms from the field of social relations, nature, etc.). Many words have been lost due to various kinds of prohibitions. Forbidden, for example, was the name of the oak - Indo-European. perku̯os, whence lat. quercus. The old Indo-European root has come down to us only in the name of the pagan god Perun. In the Slavic languages, the taboo dǫbъ was established, from where Rus. "oak", Polish. dąb, Bulgarian db, etc. The Indo-European name for the bear has been lost. It is preserved only in the new scientific term "Arctic" (cf. Greek ἄρκτος). The Indo-European word in the Proto-Slavic language was replaced by the taboo word formation medvědъ ‘honey eater’. During the period of the Balto-Slavic community, the Slavs borrowed many words from the Balts. During this period, vowel sonants were lost in the Proto-Slavic language, diphthongic combinations appeared in their place in position before consonants and the sequences of “vowel sonant before vowels” (sьmürti, but umirati), intonations (acute and circumflex) became relevant features. The most important processes of the Proto-Slavic period were the loss of closed syllables and softening of consonants before iot. In connection with the first process, all ancient diphthongic combinations turned into monophthongs, syllabic smooth, nasal vowels arose, a syllable division moved, which, in turn, caused a simplification of consonant groups, the phenomenon of intersyllabic dissimilation. These ancient processes have left their mark on all modern Slavic languages, which is reflected in many alternations: cf. Russian "reap - reap"; “to take - I will take”, “name - names”, Czech. žíti - žnu, vzíti - vezmu; Serbohorv. zhȅti - zhmȇm, uzeti - ȕzmȇm, ȉme - names. The softening of consonants before iot is reflected in the form of alternations s - š, z - ž, etc. All these processes had a strong impact on the grammatical structure, on the system of inflections. In connection with the softening of the consonants before the iot, the process of the so-called first palatalization of the posterior palate was experienced: k > č, g > ž, x > š. On this basis, even in the Proto-Slavic language, the alternations k: č, g: ž, x: š were formed, which had a great influence on nominal and verb word formation. Later, the so-called second and third palatalization of the posterior palate began to operate, as a result of which the alternations k: c, g: ʒ (z), x: s (š) arose. The name changed by cases and numbers. In addition to the singular and plural, there was a dual number, which was later lost in almost all Slavic languages. There were nominal stems that performed the functions of definitions. In the late Proto-Slavic period, pronominal adjectives arose. The verb had infinitive and present tense stems. From the first, the infinitive, supine, aorist, imperfect, participles in -l, participles of the real past tense in -vъ and participles of the passive voice in -n were formed. From the foundations of the present tense, the present tense, the imperative mood, the participle of the active voice of the present tense were formed. Later, in some Slavic languages, the imperfect began to form from this stem.

Even in the depths of the Proto-Slavic language, dialect formations began to form. The most compact was the group of Proto-Slavic dialects, on the basis of which the East Slavic languages ​​later arose. There were 3 subgroups in the West Slavic group: Lechit, Lusatian and Czech-Slovak. The most differentiated dialectally was the South Slavic group.

The Proto-Slavic language functioned in the pre-state period in the history of the Slavs, when tribal social relations dominated. Significant changes occurred during the period of early feudalism. This was reflected in the further differentiation of the Slavic languages. By the 12th-13th centuries. there was a loss of super-short (reduced) vowels ъ and ь, characteristic of the Proto-Slavic language. In some cases they disappeared, in others they turned into full vowels. As a result, there have been significant changes in the phonetic and morphological structure of the Slavic languages. Many common processes have gone through the Slavic languages ​​in the field of grammar and lexical composition.

For the first time, Slavic languages ​​received literary processing in the 60s. 9th c. The creators of Slavic writing were the brothers Cyril (Konstantin the Philosopher) and Methodius. They translated liturgical texts from Greek into Slavonic for the needs of Great Moravia. At its core, the new literary language had a South Macedonian (Thessalonica) dialect, but in Great Moravia it adopted many local linguistic features. Later it was further developed in Bulgaria. In this language (usually called the Old Church Slavonic language), the richest original and translated literature was created in Moravia, Pannonia, Bulgaria, Russia, and Serbia. There were two Slavic alphabets: Glagolitic and Cyrillic. From the 9th c. Slavic texts have not been preserved. The most ancient date back to the 10th century: the Dobrudzhan inscription 943, the inscription of Tsar Samuil 993, etc. From the 11th century. many Slavic monuments have already been preserved. Slavic literary languages ​​of the era of feudalism, as a rule, did not have strict norms. Some important functions were performed by foreign languages ​​(in Russia - Old Church Slavonic, in the Czech Republic and Poland - Latin). The unification of literary languages, the development of written and pronunciation norms, the expansion of the sphere of use of the native language - all this characterizes the long period of formation of the national Slavic languages. The Russian literary language has gone through a centuries-old and complex evolution. He absorbed folk elements and elements of the Old Slavonic language, was influenced by many European languages. It developed without interruption for a long time. The process of formation and history of a number of other literary Slavic languages ​​went differently. In the Czech Republic in the 18th century. literary language, which reached in the 14-16 centuries. great perfection, almost disappeared. The German language dominated in the cities. During the period of the national revival, the Czech "wake-ups" artificially revived the language of the 16th century, which at that time was already far from the vernacular. The entire history of the Czech literary language in the 19th-20th centuries. reflects the interaction of the old bookish language and spoken language. The development of the Slovak literary language proceeded differently. Not burdened by old book traditions, it is close to the folk language. Serbia until the 19th century. the Church Slavonic language of the Russian version dominated. In the 18th century began the process of rapprochement of this language with the people. As a result of the reform carried out by V. Karadzic in the middle of the 19th century, a new literary language was created. This new language began to serve not only the Serbs, but also the Croats, in connection with which it began to be called Serbo-Croatian or Croatian-Serbian. The Macedonian literary language was finally formed in the middle of the 20th century. Slavic literary languages ​​have developed and are developing in close communication with each other. For the study of Slavic languages, see Slavic studies.

• Meillet A., Common Slavonic language, trans. from French, M., 1951;
• Bernstein S. B., Essay on comparative grammar of Slavic languages. Introduction. Phonetics, M., 1961;
• his own, Essay on Comparative Grammar of Slavonic Languages. Alternations. Name bases, M., 1974;
• Kuznetsov PS, Essays on the morphology of the Proto-Slavic language. M., 1961;
• Nachtigal R., Slavic languages, trans. from Slovenian, M., 1963;
• Entry to the historical-historical development of the words of the Yan language. For red. O. S. Melnichuk, Kiev, 1966;
• National revival and formation of Slavic literary languages, M., 1978;
• Boskovic R., Fundamentals of Comparative Grammar of Slavic Languages. Phonetics and word formation, M., 1984;
• Birnbaum H., Proto-Slavic language. Achievements and problems of its reconstruction, trans. from English, M., 1987;
• Vaillant A., Grammaire comparée des langues slaves, t. 1-5, Lyon-P., 1950-77.

West Slavic languages

West Slavic languages ​​are a group within the Slavic branch of the Indo-European language family. Distributed in Central and Eastern Europe (in Czechoslovakia, Poland, partly in Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, Germany [Upper Lusatian and Lower Lusatian languages ​​\u200b\u200bis in the vicinity of Bautzen (Budishin), Cottbus and Dresden]. Z. carriers also live in territories of America (USA, Canada), Australia and Europe (Austria, Hungary, France, Yugoslavia, etc.) The total number of speakers is over 60 million people.

The West Slavic languages ​​are:

• § Lechitic subgroup
• § Kashubian
• § Polabian †
• § Polish
• § Silesian (in Poland, officially the Silesian language is considered a dialect of Polish or transitional dialects between Polish and Czech. According to 2002 data, 60,000 people in Poland called the Silesian language their native language. The language does not have its own literary tradition, although it was distinguished as a special one by the Slavists of the 19th century)
• § Sloven †
• § Lusatian subgroup (Serbian Lusatian)
• § Upper Lusatian
• § Lower Lusatian
• § Czecho-Slovak subgroup
• § Slovak
• § Czech
• § knanite †

The most common West Slavic languages ​​are Polish (35 million), Czech (9.5 million) and Slovak (4.5 million). A small population of Kashubians lives in Poland. Polabian is now a dead language. It is restored on the basis of individual words and local names found in Latin and German documents, in small recordings of live speech of the 17th-18th centuries.

In Z. I. 3 subgroups are distinguished: Lechit, Czech-Slovak, Serb-Lusatian, differences between which appeared in the late Proto-Slavic era. From the Lechitic subgroup, which included Polish, Polabian, Kashubian, and earlier other tribal languages, the Polish language was preserved with the Kashubian dialect, which retained a certain genetic independence.

Z. i. differ from the East Slavic and South Slavic languages ​​in a number of features that developed in the Proto-Slavic period:

preservation of the consonant group kv", gv" before the vowels i, "e, "a (‹м) in accordance with cv, zv in the South Slavic and West Slavic languages: Polsk. kwiat, gwiazda; Czech kvmt, hvmzda; Slovak kvet, hviezda; lower puddle kwmt, gwmzda; upper puddle kwmt, hwmzda (cf. Russian “color”, “star”, etc.).

Preservation of unsimplified consonant groups tl, dl in accordance with l in the languages ​​of other Slavic groups: Polsk. pluti, mydio; Czech pletl, madlo; Slovak plietol, mydlo; lower puddle pleti, mydio; upper puddle pleti, mydio; (cf. Russian “weave”, “soap”).

The consonants c, dz (or z) in place of the Proto-Slavic *tj, *dj, *ktj, *kti, which in other Slavic languages ​​correspond to the consonants and, ћ, љt, dj, ћd, zh: Polsk. њwieca, sadzazh; Czech svnce, sbzet; Slovak svieca, sádzaќ; lower puddle swmca, sajşazh; upper puddle swmca, sadşezh (cf. Russian “candle”, “plant”).

The presence of the consonant љ in those cases, which in the languages ​​of other Slavic groups correspond to s or њ (with analogous formations ch): Polsk. wszak, musze (Dat. Prop. from mucha); Czech vљak, mouљe; Slovak vřak, muře; lower puddle vљako, muљe; upper puddle vřak, muře [cf. Russian "anyone", "fly"; Ukrainian "everyone", "musi" (= fly)].

Absence of epenthetic l after labials in the non-initial position of the word (from the combination of labial + j): Pol. ziemia, cupiony; Czech zemm, koupm; Slovak zem, kъpenе; lower puddle zemja, kupju; upper puddle zemja, kupju (cf. Russian "land", "purchase").

In the history of the development of Z. I. there were changes common to the whole group:

contraction of groups of vowels into one long with the loss of intervocalic j and the assimilation of vowels in inflections and in roots: Czech. dobre

In Z. I. a fixed stress was established either on the first (Czech, Slovak, Lusatian languages), or on the penultimate syllable (Polish, some Czech dialects). In the Kashubian dialect, the stress is different.

For most of Z. I. and dialects are characterized by the same change in strong reduced ъ and ь > e: Czech. sen

The main differences between individual Z. Ya. that arose during the historical period of their development: the different fate of nasal vowels, the sound m (yat), long and short vowels; the proto-Slavic consonant g in Czech, Slovak and Lusatian has changed to h (glottal, fricative), the differences also relate to the category of hardness / softness of consonants. In the system of nominal declension of all Z. I. Common Slavic processes took place: a regrouping of declension types on the basis of grammatical gender, the loss of some former types (mainly stems to consonants), the mutual influence of case inflections within the paradigm, the re-decomposition of stems, the emergence of new endings. In contrast to the East Slavic languages, the influence of the feminine gender is more limited. The Czech language has preserved the most archaic declension system. All Z. i. (except Lusatian) have lost their dual form. The category of animation (Czech, Slovak) and the specific category of personality (Polish, Upper Lusatian) developed and received morphological expression. Short forms of adjectives have disappeared (Slovak, Upper Lusatian) or have been preserved to a limited extent (Czech, Polish).

The verb is characterized by the transition of non-productive conjugation classes to productive ones (cf. Czech siesti > sednouti), the loss (except for Lusatian languages) of simple past tenses (aorist and imperfect), in some languages ​​and pluperfect (Czech, partly Polish). The Slovak language experienced the most significant changes in the conjugation of the present forms of the verb, where all verbs in the present tense have one system of endings.

Syntactic features are due in part to the influence of Latin and German. In contrast to the East Slavic languages, modal verbs are used more often, reflexive forms of verbs in an indefinitely personal and generalized personal meaning such as Czech. Jak se jde? "How to get there?" etc.

The vocabulary reflected Latin and German influence, in Slovak - Czech and Hungarian. Influence of the Russian language, significant in the 18th-19th centuries, especially intensified after World War II.

In the early feudal period as a written language the Western Slavs used Latin. The most ancient literary language of the Slavs is the Old Slavonic language, which arose in the 9th century. The first Czech monuments proper belong to the end of the 13th century; Modern Z. I. use Latin script.

The most common West Slavic languages ​​are Polish (35 million), Czech (9.5 million) and Slovak (4.5 million). A small population of Kashubians lives in Poland. Polabian is now a dead language. It is restored on the basis of individual words and local names found in Latin and German documents, in small recordings of live speech of the 17th-18th centuries.

The Lusatian languages ​​have survived as small islands in Germany. There are about 150,000 Lusatians. They have their own schools, their own press, and the University of Berlin has a Slavic department.

Lechitic subgroup

Kashumbi language (alternative names: Pomeranian language, Pomeranian language; Kashubian kaszlbsczi jgzlk, ptmtrsczi jgzlk, kaszlbskf mtwa, kaszlbskt-sіowiсskf mtwa) is a West Slavic language of the Lechit subgroup, widespread west and south of Gdansk. Currently, about 50 thousand people speak the Kashubian language in everyday life, about 150 thousand people are familiar with it.

The closest language to Kashubian is Polish, with which Kashubian shares most of its core vocabulary. Kashubian also experienced a significant influence of Polish on its grammar and word formation. The main differences from Polish are borrowings from Old Prussian and German (about 5% of the vocabulary from the latter), as well as the omission of vowels in syllables without stress and other stress rules, which, however, are also heterogeneous in Kashubian itself. While in the south the stress always falls on the first syllable, in the north the stress can vary.

Pomlian (jкzyk polski, polszczyzna) is the language of Poles and is native to about 40 million people in many countries of the world, including about 38 million people in the Republic of Poland. About 5-10 million more people speak Polish as a second and foreign language.

Polish dialects include:

• § Wielkopolska dialect, occupies the territory of Wielkopolska, Krayna and Tucholskie Hogs. The basis of this dialect was the tribal dialect of the glades.
• § Malopolska dialect, occupies the territory of Malopolska, Podkarpackie, Swietokrzyski and Lubelskie voivodeships. It was based on the Vistula dialect.
• § The Masovian dialect occupies the eastern and central part of Poland. It was formed on the basis of the dialect of the Mazovshan tribe.
• § The Silesian dialect, widespread in the territory of Upper Silesia, is a continuation of the development of the dialect of the Slenzan tribe.

Polambian is an extinct West Slavic language. The native language of the Polabian Slavs, assimilated by the Germans by the beginning of the 19th century.

The Polabian language was closest to Polish and, together with it, Kashubian and the extinct Slovenian.

The name of the language comes from the Slavic name of the Elbe River (Polish Јaba, Czech Labe, etc.). Other names: woody-polabsky, Vendian. Accordingly, the Slavic tribe that spoke it was called the Polabian Slavs, the Drevyans (Drevans) or the Wends (the Wends are the German name for all the Slavs of Germany). The language was widespread until the first half of the 18th century on the left bank of the Elbe in the Lünenburg principality (now the Luchow-Dannenberg district of Lower Saxony), where monuments of this language were recorded, and earlier also in the north of modern Germany (Mecklenburg, Brandenburg, Schleswig, Fr. Rügen).

In the south, the area of ​​the Polabian language bordered on the Lusatian languages, which were widespread in the southern part of modern eastern Germany.

In the 17th century, the Polabian language becomes socially unprestigious, the “Vends” hide or do not advertise their origin and switch to German, including being subjected to forcible Germanization. By 1725, there are data on a family of native speakers, in which the younger generation no longer knew Polabian. The last entry was made around 1750. In 1790, Johann Jugler, the compiler of the first composite Polabian dictionary, was looking for people who would understand at least a little Polabian, but he could no longer find anyone.

The Slovenian (Slovenian) language is a West Slavic idiom of the Lechit subgroup, which became extinct in the 20th century. It is considered by some authors as an independent language, by others as a dialect of Kashubian or (which do not single out Kashubian in turn) Polish. There is a use of the term "Pomeranian (Pomeranian) language", combining Kashubian and Slovene. It was spoken by the Slovenes, first ethnographically described by A.F. Hilferding in 1856 and lived northwest of the Kashubians, between Lake Lebsko and Lake Gardno.

In the 17th - 19th centuries, the Slovene language/dialect was used even in church sermons, but after the unification of Germany in 1871, it began to be completely supplanted by the German language. By the beginning of the 20th century, no more than a few hundred speakers remained, and all of them also spoke German.

After 1945, the Slovinians, Protestants (from the 16th century) who already spoke mainly German, were considered by the Polish government as Germans and were mostly expelled to Germany or then left Poland of their own free will, settling in the FRG (many in area of ​​Hamburg). There they finally assimilated. Some old people who remained in Poland remembered Slovene words back in the 1950s.

Lumzhitsky languages, Serbolumzhitsky languages: (obsolete name - Serbian) - the languages ​​​​of the Lusatians, one of the national minorities in Germany.

They belong to the Slavic group of languages. The total number of speakers is about 60,000, of which about 40,000 live in Saxony and about 20,000 in Brandenburg. In the area where the Lusatian language is spoken, tables with the names of cities and streets are often bilingual.

There are two written languages, which in turn consist of several dialects: Upper Lusatian (in Upper Lusatia) and Lower Lusatian (in Lower Lusatia).

The number of speakers of the Lusatian languages ​​in everyday life is much lower than the above figures. In contrast to the rather stable Upper Lusatian language, the Lower Lusatian language is on the verge of extinction.

Slovak language West Slavic ethnic

Czecho-Slovak subgroup

Chemsh language (self-name - ieљtina, ieske jazyk) - total number of speakers - 12 million. Latin (Czech alphabet)

The Czech language is divided into several dialects, the speakers of which generally understand each other. At present, under the influence of the literary language, the boundaries between dialects are being erased. Czech dialects are divided into 4 groups:

• § Czech dialects (with colloquial Czech as Koine)
• § Central Moravian group of dialects (Hanacian);
• § East Moravian group of dialects (Moravian-Slovak);
• § Silesian dialects.

The frontier lands, formerly inhabited by Sudeten Germans, cannot be attributed to one dialect due to the heterogeneity of the population.

As in many related languages ​​that have developed independently for a long time, similar-sounding Czech and Russian words often have different and even opposite meanings (for example, ierstve - fresh; pozor - attention; mmsto - city; hrad - castle; ovoce - - fruits; rodina - family; and others, the so-called false friends of the translator).

Slovak language (Slovak. slovenіina, slovenske jazyk) - the total number of speakers is 6 million. The Slovak language is very close to the Czech language.

The standardization of the Slovak language began at the end of the 18th century. Then the book of Anton Bernolak "Dissertatio philologico-critica de litteris Slavorum" was published with the appendix "Orthographia" (1787). This literary language was based on Western Slovak dialects. The modern literary Slovak language, which is based on the Middle Slovak language features, arose in the middle of the 19th century thanks to the efforts of the Slovak patriots Ludovit Stuhr, Michal Miloslav Godzha, Josef Miloslav Gurban and others. The science of the Slovak language) and “Nbreija slovenskuo alebo potreba pnsatja v tomto nbrein” (Slovak dialect or the need to write in this dialect) and proceeded primarily from the speech of the intelligentsia of the Middle Slovak city of Liptovsky Mikulas and was characterized by a strong phonological principle of spelling, the absence of a soft “ л" ("ѕ") and a long vowel "й" with the exception of the word "dcйra" (daughter) and other language features that are in the modern version of the Slovak language. In 1851, at a meeting of Slovak intellectuals, a reformed version of the Stuhr codification was adopted, the author of which was the linguist Milan Gattala (we are talking about the so-called "Godzhian-Gattala reform"). This variant is the basis of today's literary Slovak language. Important moments in the history of the further standardization of the Slovak language are the publication of the spelling in 1931 and 1953. and the development of terminology in the interwar and above all postwar period.

During the existence of Austria-Hungary, the Hungarian authorities persecuted the literary Slovak language, while promoting the less common East Slovak dialect.

Jewish-Slavic dialects (Knaanit, Qna`anith) is the conventional name for several dialects and registers of Slavic languages ​​spoken by Jews who lived in the Middle Ages in Slavic countries. All known Jewish-Slavic dialects were supplanted by Yiddish or the surrounding Slavic languages ​​by the end of the Middle Ages.

The most famous is the Jewish-Czech variant of the Old Czech language, which was spoken by Bohemian and Moravian Jews before the mass influx of Yiddish-speaking Ashkenazi Jews from Germany and then the resettlement of both of them to the east and northeast within the boundaries of the Commonwealth. However, nothing is known about its differences from the language of the surrounding population. Most likely, as in the case of other medieval Jewish languages ​​of Europe, the differences were minimal and limited to the inclusion of Hebrew and Aramaic words and the use of the Hebrew alphabet.

The name Knaanite (English Knaanic) is associated with the designation of the Slavic countries by the term Qna`an (ancient Hebrew lrtp, from ancient times designating Palestine - Canaan), found in Jewish texts (for example, Benjamin from Tudela in the 12th century calls Kievan Rus " Land of Canaan). The reason for this identification is unknown.

Polabian	Polish	Kashubian	Upper Lusatian	lower lusatian		Ukrainian	Belorussian
						man, man
prenja zaima, jisin
						fire, fire	fire, fire
							wind, windmill

The structure of the word, the use of grammatical categories, the structure of the sentence, the system of regular sound correspondences, morphonological alternations. This proximity is explained both by the unity of the origin of the Slavic languages, and by their long and intensive contacts at the level of literary languages ​​and dialects. There are, however, differences of a material, functional, and typological nature, due to the long-term independent development of Slavic tribes and nationalities in different ethnic, geographical, historical and cultural conditions, their contacts with kindred and unrelated ethnic groups.

According to the degree of their proximity to each other, Slavic languages ​​​​are usually divided into 3 groups: East Slavic (Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian languages), South Slavic (Bulgarian, Macedonian, Serbo-Croatian and Slovenian languages) and West Slavic (Czech, Slovak, Polish with a Kashubian dialect that has retained a certain genetic independence, Upper Lusatian and Lower Lusatian languages). There are also small local groups of Slavs with their own literary languages. Thus, the Croats in Austria (Burgenland) have their own literary language based on the Chakavian dialect. Not all Slavic languages ​​have come down to us. At the end of the XVII - beginning of the XVIII centuries. the Polish language disappeared. The distribution of Slavic languages ​​within each group has its own characteristics (see East Slavic languages, West Slavic languages, South Slavic languages). Each Slavic language includes a literary language with all its stylistic, genre and other varieties and its own territorial dialects. The ratios of all these elements in the Slavic languages ​​are different. The Czech literary language has a more complex stylistic structure than Slovak, but the latter better preserves the features of dialects. Sometimes the dialects of one Slavic language differ from each other more than independent Slavic languages. For example, the morphology of the Shtokavian and Chakavian dialects of the Serbo-Croatian language differ much more deeply than the morphology of the Russian and Belarusian languages. The proportion of identical elements is often different. For example, the category of diminutive in Czech is expressed in more diverse and differentiated forms than in Russian.

Of the Indo-European languages, the Slavic languages ​​are closest to the Baltic languages. This proximity served as the basis for the theory of the "Balto-Slavic proto-language", according to which the Balto-Slavic proto-language first emerged from the Indo-European proto-language, later splitting into Proto-Baltic and Proto-Slavic. However, most modern scientists explain their special closeness by the long contact of the ancient Balts and Slavs. It has not been established in which territory the separation of the language continuum from the Indo-European took place. It can be assumed that it took place to the south of those territories that, according to various theories, belong to the territory of the Slavic ancestral home. There are many such theories, but all of them do not localize the ancestral home where the Indo-European proto-language could be. On the basis of one of the Indo-European dialects (Proto-Slavonic), the Proto-Slavic language was later formed, which is the ancestor of all modern Slavic languages. The history of the Proto-Slavic language was longer than the history of individual Slavic languages. For a long time it developed as a single dialect with an identical structure. Later, dialect variants appear. The process of transition of the Proto-Slavic language, its dialects into independent Slavic languages ​​was long and complicated. It was most active in the second half of the first millennium AD, during the formation of the early Slavic feudal states in the territory of Southeastern and Eastern Europe. During this period, the territory of Slavic settlements increased significantly. Areas of various geographical zones with different natural and climatic conditions were mastered, the Slavs entered into relationships with peoples and tribes standing at different stages of cultural development. All this was reflected in the history of the Slavic languages.

The Proto-Slavic language was preceded by the period of the Proto-Slavic language, elements of which can be restored with the help of the ancient Indo-European languages. The Proto-Slavic language in its main part is restored with the help of data from the Slavic languages ​​of various periods of their history. The history of the Proto-Slavic language is divided into three periods: the most ancient - before the establishment of close Balto-Slavic language contact, the period of Balto-Slavic community and the period of dialectical fragmentation and the beginning of the formation of independent Slavic languages.

The individuality and originality of the Proto-Slavic language began to take shape even in the early period. It was then that a new system of vowel sonants was formed, consonantism became much simpler, the stage of reduction became widespread in ablaut, and the root ceased to obey the ancient restrictions. According to the fate of the middle palate and the Proto-Slavic language is included in the group satəm ("sьrdьce", "pisati", "prositi", cf. Latin "cor" - "cordis", "pictus", "precor"; "zьrno", "znati", "zima", cf. Latin "granum", "cognosco", "hiems"). However, this feature was implemented inconsistently: cf. Proto-Slavic “*kamy”, “*kosa”, “*gąsь”, “gordъ”, “bergъ”, etc. Proto-Slavic morphology represents significant deviations from the Indo-European type. This primarily applies to the verb, to a lesser extent - to the name. Most of the suffixes were already formed on the Proto-Slavic soil. Proto-Slavic vocabulary is distinguished by great originality; already in the early period of its development, the Proto-Slavic language experienced a number of significant transformations in the field of lexical composition. While retaining in most cases the old Indo-European lexical fund, at the same time he lost many old Indo-European lexemes (for example, some terms from the field of social relations, nature, etc.). Many words have been lost in connection with various kinds of prohibitions. For example, the name of the oak was forbidden - the Indo-European "*perkuos", whence the Latin "quercus". The old Indo-European root has come down to us only in the name of the pagan god Perun. The taboo “*dąbъ” was established in the Slavic languages, from where the Russian “oak”, the Polish “dąb”, the Bulgarian “dab”, etc. The Indo-European name of the bear has been lost. It is preserved only in the new scientific term "Arctic" (cf. Greek "αρκτος"). The Indo-European word in the Proto-Slavic language was replaced by the taboo phrase "*medvědь" - "honey eater". During the period of the Balto-Slavic community, the Slavs borrowed many words from the Balts. During this period, vowel sonants were lost in the Proto-Slavic language, in their place diphthong combinations appeared in position before consonants and the sequences “vowel sonant before vowels” (“sьmürti”, but “umirati”), intonation (acute and circumflex) became relevant features. The most important processes of the Proto-Slavic period were the loss of closed syllables and softening of consonants before iot. In connection with the first process, all ancient diphthongic combinations into monophthongs, syllabic smooth, nasal vowels arose, a syllable division shifted, which, in turn, caused a simplification of consonant groups, the phenomenon of intersyllabic dissimilation. These ancient processes have left their mark on all modern Slavic languages, which is reflected in many alternations: cf. Russian “reap - reap”, “take - take”, “name - yen”, Czech “žíti - žnu”, “vzíti - vezmu”, Serbo-Croatian “zheti - we press”, “uzeti - uzmem”, “ime - names” . Softening of consonants before iot is reflected in the form of alternations s/š, z/ž and others. All these processes had a strong impact on the grammatical structure, on the system of inflections. In connection with the softening of consonants before the iot, the process of the so-called first palatalization of the posterior palate was experienced: [k] > [č], [g] > [ž], [x] > [š]. On this basis, even in the Proto-Slavic language, the alternations k / č, g / ž, x / š were formed, which had a great influence on nominal and verbal word formation. later, the so-called second and third palatalizations of the posterior palate began to operate, as a result of which alternations of k / c, g / z, x / s arose. The name changed by cases and numbers. In addition to the singular and plural, there was a dual number, which was later lost in almost all Slavic languages. There were nominal stems that performed the functions of definitions. In the late Proto-Slavic period, pronominal adjectives arose. The verb had the stems of the infinitive and the present tense. From the first, the infinitive, supine, aorist, imperfect, participles in "-l", participles of the real past tense in "-vъ" and participles of the passive voice in "-n" were formed. From the foundations of the present tense, the present tense, the imperative mood, the participle of the active voice of the present tense were formed. Later, in some Slavic languages, the imperfect began to form from this stem.

Even in the depths of the Proto-Slavic language, dialectical formations began to form. The most compact was the group of Proto-Slavic dialects, on the basis of which the East Slavic languages ​​later arose. There were three subgroups in the West Slavic group: Lechit, Lusatian Serb and Czech-Slovak. The most differentiated dialectically was the South Slavic group.

The Proto-Slavic language functioned in the pre-state period in the history of the Slavs, when tribal social relations dominated. Significant changes occurred during the period of early feudalism. This was reflected in the further differentiation of the Slavic languages. By the XII-XIII centuries. there was a loss of super-short (reduced) vowels [b] and [b] characteristic of the Proto-Slavic language. In some cases they disappeared, in others they turned into full vowels. As a result, there have been significant changes in the phonetic and morphological structure of the Slavic languages. Many common processes have gone through the Slavic languages ​​in the field of grammar and lexical composition.

For the first time, Slavic languages ​​received literary processing in the 60s. 9th century The creators of Slavic writing were the brothers Cyril (Konstantin the Philosopher) and Methodius. They translated liturgical texts from Greek into Slavonic for the needs of Great Moravia. The new literary language was based on the South Macedonian (Thessalonica) dialect, but in Great Moravia it adopted many local linguistic features. Later it was further developed in Bulgaria. In this language (usually called the Old Church Slavonic language), the richest original and translated literature was created in Moravia, Pannonia, Bulgaria, Russia, and Serbia. There were two Slavic alphabets: Glagolitic and Cyrillic. From IX century. Slavic texts have not been preserved. The oldest date back to the 10th century: the Dobrujan inscription 943, the inscription of Tsar Samuil 993, etc. From the 11th century. many Slavic monuments have already been preserved. Slavic literary languages ​​of the era of feudalism, as a rule, did not have strict norms. Some important functions were performed by foreign languages ​​(in Russia - Old Church Slavonic, in the Czech Republic and Poland - Latin). The unification of literary languages, the development of written and pronunciation norms, the expansion of the sphere of use of the native language - all this characterizes the long period of formation of the national Slavic languages. The Russian literary language has gone through a centuries-old and complex evolution. He absorbed folk elements and elements of the Old Slavonic language, was influenced by many European languages. It developed without interruption for a long time. The process of formation and history of a number of other literary Slavic languages ​​went differently. Czech Republic in the 18th century literary language, which reached in the XIV-XVI centuries. great perfection, almost disappeared. The German language dominated in the cities. During the period of national revival, the Czech “wake-ups” artificially revived the language of the 16th century, which at that time was already far from the vernacular. The whole history of the Czech literary language of the XIX-XX centuries. reflects the interaction of the old book language and colloquial. The development of the Slovak literary language proceeded differently. Not burdened by old book traditions, it is close to the folk language. in Serbia until the 19th century. the Church Slavonic language of the Russian version dominated. In the XVIII century. began the process of rapprochement of this language with the people. As a result of the reform carried out by V. Karadzic in the middle of the 19th century, a new literary language was created. This new language began to serve not only the Serbs, but also the Croats, in connection with which it began to be called Serbo-Croatian or Croatian-Serbian. The Macedonian literary language was finally formed in the middle of the 20th century. Slavic literary languages ​​have developed and are developing in close communication with each other. The study of Slavic languages ​​is carried out by Slavic studies.