Slavic languages

   

The Slavic languages (also called Slavonic languages) are the languages of the Slavic peoples. They form a distinct group of Indo-European languages, with speakers in most of Eastern Europe, much of the Balkans, parts of Central Europe, and the northern part of Asia.

Branches

Scholars divide the Slavic languages into three branches:

Distribution of Slavic languages
Map of Slavic languages in eastern Europe

The tripartite division of the Slavic languages does not take into account the spoken dialects of each language. Of these, certain so-called transitional dialects and hybrid dialects often bridge the gaps between different languages, showing similarities that do not stand out when comparing Slavic literary (i.e., standard) languages.

Enough differences exist between the various Slavic dialects and languages to make communication between Slavs of different linguistic backgrounds difficult, but not impossible. Within the individual Slavic languages, dialects may vary to a lesser degree, as in Russian, or to a much greater degree, as in Slovenian. Modern mass communication, however, has helped to minimize variation in all the Slavic languages.

History

Slavic languages descend from a dialect of Proto-Slavic, their parent language, which developed from a language that was also the ancestor of Proto-Baltic, the parent of the Baltic languages. It is believed that the "Urheimat" of Proto-Balto-Slavic, this ancestral language, lay in the territories surrounding today's Lithuania at some time after the Indo-European language community had separated into different dialect regions (c. 3000 BC). Slavic and Baltic speakers share at least 289 words which could have come from that hypothetical language. The process of separation of Proto-Slavic speakers from Proto-Baltic speakers occurred around 1000 BC. (Proto-Baltic-Slavic earlier developed from Proto-Baltic-Germanic-Slavic, which has a reconstructed vocabulary of around 164 words.)

In the opinion of linguists, probably even in the 10th–12th centuries all Slavs spoke generally Common Slavonic: the same language, with very slight differences.

Some linguists maintain however, that the Slavic group of languages differs more radically from the neighboring Baltic group (Lithuanian, Latvian, and the now-extinct Old Prussian). The Baltic language speakers once lived in a much larger area along the Baltic Sea and south. Starting by AD 600 Slavic language speakers gradually spread and took over large areas of Baltic settlements. (At the same time records note them taking over portions of Greece.) (The first documented attempt at conquest of Baltic speakers by Slavic speakers comes from Adalbert of Prague in the year AD 997.) This group of linguists explain Baltic/Slavic similarities in grammar and vocabulary as a result of this Slav migration into the Baltic-speaking areas and the subsequent proximity of the two groups.

Detailed list with SIL and ISO 639-2 codes

The following tree for the Slavic languages derives from http://www.ethnologue.com/show_family.asp?subid=656. ISO 639-2 uses the code sla in a general way for Slavic languages not included in one of the other codes.

West Slavic languages:

  • Sorbian Section - also known as Wendish - ISO 639-2 code, wen
  • Lekhitic Section
    • Polish - (SIL Code, PQL; ISO 639-1 code, pl; ISO 639-2 code, pol) (NOTE: The counterintuitive SIL code "PQL" is correct; "POL" is used for the Polci language of Nigeria)
    • Kashubian - (SIL Code, CSB; ISO 639-2 code, sla)
    • Slovincian - an extinct dialect of Kashubian
    • Polabian - extinct - (SIL Code, POX; ISO 639-2 code, sla)
  • Czech-Slovak Section
    • Czech - (SIL Code, CZC; ISO 639-1 code, cs; ISO 639-2(B) code, cze; ISO 639-2(T) code, ces)
    • Knaanic or Judeo Slavic - extinct - (SIL Code, CZK; ISO 639-2 code, sla)
    • Slovak - (SIL Code, SLO; ISO 639-1 code, sk; ISO 639-2(B) code, slo; ISO 639-2(T) code, slk)

South Slavic languages:

  • Western Section
    • Slovenian - (SIL Code, SLV; ISO 639-1 code, sl; ISO 639-2 code, slv)
    • Serbo-Croatian - (SIL Code, SRC; ISO 639-1 codes, bs, hr and sr; ISO 639-2 codes, bos; ISO 639-2(B) codes, scr and scc; ISO 639-2(T) codes, hrv and srp)
    • Romano-Serbian - (SIL Code, RSB; ISO 639-2 code, sla)
  • Eastern Section
    • Macedonian - (SIL Code, MKJ; ISO 639-1 code, mk; ISO 639-2(B) code, mac; ISO 639-2(T) code, mkd)
    • Bulgarian - (SIL Code, BLG; ISO 639-1 code, bg; ISO 639-2 code, bul)
    • Old Church Slavonic - extinct (SIL Code, SLN; ISO 639-1 code, cu; ISO 639-2 code, chu)

East Slavic languages:

  • Belarusian (alternatively Belarusan, Belarussian, Belorussian) - (SIL Code, RUW; ISO 639-1 code, be; ISO 639-2 code, bel)
    • The United States State Department, ethnologue.com and the Rosetta Project recognize the form Belarusan.
  • Ukrainian - (SIL Code, UKR; ISO 639-1 code, uk; ISO 639-2 code, ukr)
  • Russian - (SIL Code, RUS; ISO 639-1 code, ru; ISO 639-2 code, rus)
  • Rusyn - (SIL Code, RUE; ISO 639-2 code, sla)

Transitional

A planned language called Slovio also exists: constructed on the basis of Slavic languages, and intended to facilitate intercommunication between people who already speak at least one Slavic language.

See also



az:Slavyan qrupu bg:Славянски езици ca:Llengua eslava cs:Slovanské jazyky de:Slawische Sprachen eo:Slava lingvaro fr:Langues slaves he:שפות סלאביות hr:Slavenski jezici id:Bahasa Slavia ja:スラヴ諸語 nl:Slavische talen pl:Języki słowiańskie ro:Limbile slavice ru:Славянские языки sl:Slovanski jeziki fi:Slaavilaiset kielet sv:Slaviska språk tl:Mga wikang Eslabo

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