Slavic. What languages belong to the Slavic group

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 literary language with all its stylistic, genre and other varieties and their 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 Czech 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 the 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. Having retained 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 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 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. Apart from the only one 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. In the western Slavic group there were 3 subgroups: Lechit, Serboluzhitskaya 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 he received further development 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 alphabet: 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 - the Old Church Slavonic language, in the Czech Republic and Poland - Latin language). 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 "awakeners" 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 he 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.

Languages. Distributed in Czechoslovakia, Poland, partly in the USSR (Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania), GDR [Upper Lusatian and Lower Lusatian languages - in the vicinity of the cities. Bautzen (Budyshyn), Cottbus and Dresden]. Carriers Z. I. also live in America (USA, Canada), Australia and Europe (Austria, Hungary, France, Yugoslavia, etc.). The total number of speakers is over 60 million people.

In the 6th-7th centuries. the ancestors of the Western Slavs occupied vast areas between the Oder and the Elbe (Labe). The movement of the Slavs from the Carpathians and the Vistula basin took place west and southwest to the Oder, beyond the Sudetes, to the northern tributaries of the Danube. In the west, the Slavic tribes lived interspersed with the Germanic ones (some of them were Germanized during the 8th-14th centuries, the language of the Polabian tribes was kept until the middle of the 18th century), in the south they reached the Danube.

In Z. I. 3 subgroups are distinguished: Lechit, Czech-Slovak, Serbo-Lusatian, the 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 with the Kashubian dialect was preserved, 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:

Selishchev A. M., Slavic linguistics, vol. 1, West Slavic languages, M., 1941;
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;
Nachtigal R., Slavic languages, trans. from Slovenian, M., 1963;
Entry to the historical-historical culture of the words of the Jansk language, Kiev, 1966;
Slavic languages. (Essays on the grammar of the West Slavic and South Slavic languages), ed. Edited by A. G. Shirokova and V. P. Gudkov. Moscow, 1977.
Historical typology of Slavic languages. Phonetics, word formation, vocabulary and phraseology, Kiev, 1986;
Lehr-Spławinski T., Kuraszkiewicz W., Slawski Fr., Przegląd i charakterystyka języków słowiańskich, Warszawa, 1954;
Horalek K., Úvod do studia slovanských jazyků, Praha, 1955;
Petr J., Zaklady slavistiky, Praha, 1984.

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 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 independent language, others - as a dialect of Kashubian or (not highlighting 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 replaced 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 (since the 16th century), already speaking mainly German - were considered by the Polish government as Germans and were mostly expelled to Germany or then left Poland along own will, settling in Germany (many in the Hamburg area). 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, authored by the linguist Milan Gattala ( we are talking about the so-called. "Godzhovo-Gattala reform"). This variant is the basis of today's literary Slovak language. Important points in the history of further standardization of the Slovak language is the edition of the spelling in 1931 and 1953. and the development of terminology in the interwar and above all postwar period.

The Hungarian authorities during the existence of Austria-Hungary 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

SLAVIC LANGUAGES, a group of languages belonging to the Indo-European family, spoken by more than 440 million people in Eastern Europe and North and Central Asia. The thirteen currently existing Slavic languages are divided into three groups: 1) the East Slavic group includes Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian languages; 2) West Slavic includes Polish, Czech, Slovak, Kashubian (which is spoken in a small area in northern Poland) and two Lusatian (or Serb Lusatian) languages - Upper Lusatian and Lower Lusatian, common in small areas in eastern Germany; 3) the South Slavic group includes: Serbo-Croatian (spoken in Yugoslavia, Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina), Slovenian, Macedonian and Bulgarian. In addition, there are three dead languages - Slovene, which disappeared at the beginning of the 20th century, Polabian, which became extinct in the 18th century, and Old Slavonic - the language of the first Slavic translations of the Holy Scripture, which is based on one of the ancient South Slavic dialects and which was used in worship in Slavic Orthodox Church, but has never been an everyday colloquial language ( cm. OLD SLAVONIC LANGUAGE).

Modern Slavic languages have many words in common with other Indo-European languages. Many Slavic words are similar to the corresponding English ones, for example: sister – sister,three - three,nose - nose,night and etc. In other cases, the common origin of the words is less clear. Russian word see related to Latin videre, Russian word five related to German funf, Latin quinque(cf. musical term quintet), Greek penta, which is present, for example, in a borrowed word pentagon(lit. "pentagon") .

An important role in the system of Slavic consonantism is played by palatalization - the approach of the flat middle part of the tongue to the palate when pronouncing a sound. Almost all consonants in Slavic languages can be either hard (non-palatalized) or soft (palatalized). In the field of phonetics, there are also some significant differences between the Slavic languages. In Polish and Kashubian, for example, two nasalized (nasal) vowels have been preserved - ą and ERROR, disappeared in other Slavic languages. Slavic languages differ greatly in stress. In Czech, Slovak and Sorbian, the stress usually falls on the first syllable of a word; in Polish - to the penultimate one; in Serbo-Croatian, any syllable can be stressed except for the last one; in Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian, the stress can fall on any syllable of a word.

All Slavic languages, except Bulgarian and Macedonian, have several types of declension of nouns and adjectives, which change in six or seven cases, in numbers and in three genders. The presence of seven cases (nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, instrumental, local or prepositional and vocative) testifies to the archaism of the Slavic languages and their closeness to the Indo-European language, which supposedly had eight cases. An important feature of the Slavic languages is the category of the verb aspect: every verb belongs either to the perfect or to the imperfect aspect and denotes, respectively, either a completed, or a lasting or repetitive action.

The habitat of the Slavic tribes in Eastern Europe in the 5th–8th centuries. AD expanded rapidly, and by the 8th c. the common Slavic language spread from the north of Russia to the south of Greece and from the Elbe and the Adriatic Sea to the Volga. Up to the 8th or 9th c. it was basically a single language, but gradually the differences between the territorial dialects became more noticeable. By the 10th c. there were already predecessors of modern Slavic languages.

West Slavic languages - a group of Slavic languages, including Czech, Slovak, Polish, Lusatian (in two versions - Upper and Lower Lusatian), as well as the extinct Polabian languages. Distributed in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, partly in the territories of Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania, as well as in Germany (Upper Lusatian and Lower Lusatian languages - in the vicinity of the cities of Bautzen, Cottbus and Dresden). Speakers of West Slavic languages also live in America (USA, Canada), Australia and Europe (Austria, Hungary, France, the countries of the Balkan Peninsula, etc.). The total number of speakers is over 60 million people.

In the 6th-7th centuries, the ancestors of the Western Slavs occupied vast areas between the Oder and the Elbe (Labe). The movement of the Slavs from the Carpathians and the Vistula basin took place west and southwest to the Oder, beyond the Sudetes, to the northern tributaries of the Danube. In the west, Slavic tribes lived interspersed with Germanic ones (some of them were Germanized during the 8th-14th centuries, the language of the Polabian tribes was kept until the middle of the 18th century), in the south they reached the Danube.

In the West Slavic languages, three subgroups are distinguished: Lechitic, Czech-Slovak, Serbo-Lusatian, the 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.

West Slavic tribes

BODRICHI (encouraged, rarogs) - a medieval union of Slavic tribes, the so-called Polabian Slavs. The area of residence is the lower reaches of the Elbe (Labe), the west of modern Mecklenburg, the eastern part of Schleswig-Holstein and the northeastern part of modern Lower Saxony (the area east of the city of Hamburg - the so-called "Wendland", the region of Lukhov-Dannenberg) where the Drevani lived. Moreover, in this area, the Obodrite - Polabian Slavic language existed until the 18th century.

In the VIII-XII centuries. The Bodrich Union was a federative association of the Bodrichs, Vagrs, Polabs, Glinians, Smolenians, Varns, and Drevans. The largest city- Rerik (Rarog?) on the coast Baltic Sea. Other centers: Stargard, Lyubice, Velegrad, Varnov, Zverin, Ilovo, Dobin (near Wismar).

During the reign of the Franks of Charlemagne, the Bodrichi fought on his side against the Luticians and Saxons, and their prince Drazhko (Trasco, Dragovit) recognized himself as a vassal of the Frankish emperor. But the people did not support the prince in his undertaking and he had to flee the country. Intensified at the beginning of the 9th century, the Danes in 808 opposed the Carolingians and their allies. Gottfried of Denmark took Rerik by storm, captured and hanged Prince Godlav (Godeleyb), destroyed the city itself, and resettled a larger number of inhabitants (artisans and merchants) in Hedeby.

Then the Danes defeated Drazhko twice and Gottfried imposed tribute on the Bodrich tribe. After the death of Drazhko (810) and Gottfried under Prince Slavomir, the Bodrichi restored an alliance with the Carolingians.

By the 9th century, social stratification intensified among the Obodrite population, its own feudal elite was formed, which borrowed material culture from the Danish and German nobility. At the same time, the first Christian missions appeared. Prince Slavomir was the first to accept Christianity in 821.

After the collapse of the Carolingian empire, the Bodrichi became vassals of the East Frankish (German) kingdom. They freed themselves from vassalage only in the 30s of the 10th century. In the 90s of the 10th century, Prince Mstivoy I, having entered into an alliance with the Danish king Harald Sinezuby and married his daughter, managed to create political prerequisites for the creation of the Venedian principality, which, in addition to Obodrites, included Lutich tribes.

This state formation was headed by Prince Godeslav (Godescalcus, Gottschalk) from the Nakonid clan, the grandson of Mstivoy, who in 1043 occupied the obodrite throne and contributed to the Christianization of the country. In 1066, a pagan uprising rose up against Godeslav / Gottschalk and he was killed. Taking advantage of anti-Christian sentiments, the pagan prince Kruto (ruler of Rugen / Ruyan) seized power. The son of Godeslav / Gottschalk Henry in 1090 was able to return power to the Nakonids (Billungs).

The independent state of the Bodrichs reached its greatest development under Pribyslav I (about the year 1) and Niklot (about the year 1). Despite Niklot's attempts to maintain independence, the principality gradually became Germanized. Under Pribyslav II (1), the Bodrichi were actually included in the German kingdom.

On the lands of the Bodrichians, the Duchy of Mecklenburg arose, built into the structure of the Holy Roman Empire. Like the Germanization of the Pomeranian house in the east, the Slavic dynasty of the Niklotings / Niklotichs was reborn into typical German feudal lords (see Mecklenburg house).

By the middle of the 12th century, the Saxon ruler Heinrich the Lion from the Welf family and the Brandenburg margrave Albrecht the Bear from the Askani family included the Vendian territories in their states.

In 1147, Christian feudal lords and crusader knights organized a crusade against the Slavic pagans in the Northern Polabie and transformed the lands of the Bodrichi and Lutichi into the Mecklenburg brand, after which the process of Christianization and the gradual "Germanization" and assimilation of the Bodrichi began.

Vagry is a West Slavic tribe that lived in the Middle Ages on the Vagria peninsula. One of the tribes of the so-called Polabian Slavs. The Vagrs were the most northwestern tribe of the Bodrichi union. Their range, presumably mastered by them in the 7th century, covered the east of the present German land of Schleswig-Holstein.

The main fortification of the Wagris was Starigard (Stargrad), later renamed Oldenburg, in which the residence of their prince and the sanctuary were located. At the beginning of the 10th century, the Wagris were conquered by Otto I and converted to Christianity, retaining their own princes. A bishopric was created in Stargrad in 968, but the Slavic uprisings of 983 and 990 eliminated it and German power. Again falling under the influence of the Germans, the Wagrams managed to repeat the successful uprising in 1066 and again free themselves for almost a hundred years. Under the leadership of the pagan prince Kruko, until 1090 they even took over the supremacy in the union of the Bodrichi. In the Baltic Sea region, the Wagrs were reputed to be dangerous pirates who attacked the Danish islands like the Vikings.

In 1138/39 the lands of the Wagris were ravaged and subjugated by the Saxons from the northern Elbe. handed over Wagria to Adolf II of Holstein, who from 1143 began to populate southern and central Wagria with German settlers. The northern lands around Stargrad and Lutenburg remained Wagra. Subsequently, the descendants of the Wagris completely assimilated with the German population.

DREVAN (v.-luzh. Drjewjanscy Slowjenjo; Polish. Drzewianie) - one of the branches of the Polabian Slavs, who lived in the modern area of \u200b\u200bLyukhov-Dannenberg. They were one of the constituent tribes of the Bodrichi union. In the 9th century, their lands were conquered by the Germans. Today, the territories south of Hamburg, inhabited at that time by the Slavs, are called the Lüneburg Heath or Wendland (the Germans used to call the Slavs Wends). The Drevan language died out in the 19th century.

LYUTICHI (Vilts, Velets) - a union of West Slavic tribes. One of the tribal unions of the so-called Polabian Slavs - the original Slavic population of modern northern, northwestern and eastern Germany. The name comes from the word "fierce". In addition to the Luticians, the Polabian Slavs included tribal unions of the Bodrichs (Obodrites, Rarogs or Rereks) and Lusatians (Lusatian Serbs, Milchans or simply Serbs). The lyutichi themselves consisted of dolenchans, rataries, khizhans and throughpenians.

Ptolemy called the Wends one of the most numerous peoples of Sarmatia and placed them on the coast of the Baltic Sea east of the Vistula. To the east of the Wends, according to Ptolemy, certain Velts lived on the coast, whose name is presumably associated with the West Slavic Lutich-velets (veletabi in the German medieval chronicles). To the south of the Wends lived hyphons, galinds and vessels. If the first tribe is unknown, then the other two peoples are associated with the East Prussian Baltic-speaking tribes, known in Russia as golyad and yatvings (Sudovites).

Lutici lived in the territories of the current German federal states of Mecklenburg - Vorpommern and Brandenburg (north of Brandenburg). Both states are in eastern Germany.

The center of the union of the Luticians was the sanctuary "Radogost" in the city of Retra, in which the god Svarozhich was revered. This sanctuary was located on the territory of the Ratarii (Redarii, Retrians), who were the most powerful tribe in the Lutici tribal union. All decisions were made at a large tribal meeting, and there was no central authority. Also, one of the capitals of the Lyutichs was the city of Arkona, located on the island of Rugen (Slavic name Ruyan) with the sanctuary of the god Svyatovit. This city was destroyed by the Danes under King Valdemar I, during the wars waged by the German states that had already adopted Christianity at that time against the lands of the Polabian Slavs, with the aim of annexing these rich lands to the German states and converting the local population to Christianity. The Danes, in particular, took part in these wars, pursuing their goal, in addition to the spread of Christianity, also protection from the Luticians, as well as revenge for the attacks and devastation that the Luticians had previously committed against Denmark; finally, the goal was to get rid of the tribute paid to the Luticians by some Danish provinces.

According to the Annals of the Kingdom of the Franks, in 789 Charlemagne made a campaign against the Vilians (Lutichs), the reason for the campaign was that the Lutichi constantly disturbed their northern neighbors (Obodrites) - the allies of the Franks. After the Franco-Saxon army crossed the river. Elba, he was joined by the Sorbs and encouraged, led by Prince Vyshan. The Wilts could not resist for a long time, they submitted and handed over the hostages. Charles I entrusted the conquered country to the obodrite prince Dragovit (Drazhko), who was killed around 810. The Lyutichi were driven back to the Pena River.

The Lutici led the Slavic uprising of 983 against the German colonization of lands east of the Elbe, as a result of which colonization was suspended for almost two hundred years. Already before that, they were ardent opponents of the German king Otto I. It is known about his descendant, Henry II, that he did not try to enslave them, but rather lured them with money and gifts to his side in the fight against Poland, Boleslav the Brave.

Military and political successes intensified the adherence to paganism and pagan customs in the Lutiches, which also applied to related Bodrichs. However, in the 1050s, among the constituent tribes of the Lutichs, a internecine war and changed their position. The union quickly lost power and influence, and after the central sanctuary in the city of Retra was destroyed by the Saxon duke Lothair in 1125, the union finally broke up. Over the following decades, the Saxon dukes gradually expanded their possessions to the east and conquered the lands of the Luticians.

RATARI (lat. redarii) - the name of the West Slavic tribe that lived south of the Pena River, which flows into the Odra at its very mouth, between Dolensky Lake and the upper reaches of the Havela and Dosha. Introduced into the literature by R. Safarik. According to medieval chroniclers, their capital was Retra with the sanctuary of Redegasta, they themselves were part of a tribal union

RUYAN (wounds) - a West Slavic tribe that inhabited the island of Rugen (Ruyan) since the 6th century.

During the Middle Ages, the Slavs (the so-called Polabian Slavs) settled in the lands of present-day eastern, northern and northwestern Germany, including the island of Rügen. The Ruyan tribe was ruled by princes who lived in fortresses. The religious center of the Ruyans was the sanctuary of Arkona, in which the god Svyatovit was revered. The Ruyans probably belonged to the military-tribal union of Obodrites.

The main occupation of the Ruyans was cattle breeding, agriculture and fishing. According to archeology, the Ruyans had extensive trade relations with Scandinavia and the Baltic states, and also carried out predatory, pirate raids. For example, some provinces of Denmark, before King Valdemar I, paid tribute to the Ruyans, which was one of the reasons for the wars that Valdemar I waged with them. During these wars, the Ruyans lost their independence in 1168, their cult fortress Arkona was destroyed, the sanctuary of Svyatovit was destroyed.

According to the Danish chronicles, the Ruyan prince Jaromar (Jaromir) became a vassal of the Danish king, and the island became part of the bishopric of Roskilde. The first conversion of the Ruyans to Christianity dates back to this period. In 1234, the Ruyans freed themselves from Danish rule and expanded their possessions on the coast of the modern German land of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, founding a city now known as Stralsund (in Pomeranian Strzelowo, in Polish Strzalow). In 1282, Prince Wenceslas II entered into an agreement with King Rudolf I of Germany, receiving Rügen for life, along with the title of Imperial Jägermeister. Further, the Slavs of Rügen, being part of various German state formations, over the next few centuries, gradually became completely Germanized. In 1325, the last prince of Ruyansk Vitslav died (who was also a minnesinger and created a number of lyrical songs and didactic poems-spruhs). In 1404, Gulitsyna died, who, together with her husband, belonged to the last inhabitants of Ruyan who spoke Slavonic.

Slovintsy - a West Slavic tribe that lived within the boundaries of the present-day West Pomeranian Voivodeship of Poland. The main area of their settlement was located between the cities of Slupsk and Leba.

The Slovenians differed from the Catholic Kashubians living in East Pomerania in that they were Protestants. Perhaps this contributed to the fact that many Slovenians switched to German at the end of the 17th century, since Protestant services were conducted in it. Many topographical names, however, remained of Slavic origin.

After 1945, the descendants of the Slovenians were expelled from Poland, which was expanded to the west, along with the Germans. Attempts were made to leave them the right not to leave their native places, emphasizing their Slavic origin. However, those few Slovenes who were allowed to stay subsequently left their region themselves.

The Slovenes had a dialect or language that died out in the 20th century, closely related to Kashubian.

LUZHICIANS, Lusatian Serbs (German Sorben, N.-Lud. Serby, V.-Lud. Serbja, N.-Lud. Serbski lud, V.-Lud. Serbski lud), Sorbs, ve? ndy, meadows - Slavic people. The remainder of the Slavic population of eastern Germany currently live in the territory of Lusatia, a historical region that is part of modern Germany. Lusatia is divided into Lower Lusatia (Dolna Luzyca, Niederlausitz) - in the north, in the federal state of Brandenburg, and Upper Lusatia (Hornja Luzica, Oberlausitz) - in the south, in the federal state of Saxony. The last surviving ethnic community of the Slavs of Germany, whose representatives use the Slavic language.

Modern Lusatians are a remnant of the Lusatian Serbs or simply Serbs, one of the 3 main tribal unions of the so-called Polabian Slavs, which also included tribal unions of Lutichs (velets or velts) and Bodrichs (obodrites, rereks or rarogs). The Polabian Slavs or, in German, the Wends, in the early Middle Ages inhabited at least a third of the territory of the modern German state - the north, northwest and east. At present, all of them, with the exception of the Lusatians, are completely Germanized. The process of incorporating the Polabian and Pomeranian lands into the German states stretched over the period from the 8th to the 14th centuries. The first attempts to conquer the lands of the Lusatian Serbs were made by Charlemagne. However, the Lusatians regained their independence. In 928-929, the German king Henry I defeated the union of the Lusatian tribes, and they fell under the rule of the East Frankish kingdom. At the beginning of the 11th century, the Lusatian lands were conquered by Poland, however, they soon came under the authority of the Meissen Margraviate. In 1076, the German Emperor Henry IV ceded the Lusatian March to the Czech Republic. Colonists from Germany moved to Lusatia en masse, receiving various trade and tax privileges from the Czech state. After the establishment of the Habsburg dynasty in the Czech Republic, the processes of Germanization of the Slavic population accelerated. In the 17th century, the Lusatian lands were ceded to Saxony, and in the 19th century they became part of Prussia, since 1871 - as part of the German Empire.

The first settlements of the Lusatian Serbs, in accordance with German theories, were recorded presumably by the 6th century, when the process of separating the Slavs as such from earlier Indo-European communities took place. In Brandenburg there is a restored Lusatian fortress of the 9th-10th centuries. Raddush.

Modern Lusatian is divided into Upper Lusatian and Lower Lusatian.

Pomeranians, Pomeranians - West Slavic tribes that lived until the 16th-17th centuries. in the lower reaches of the Odra on the coast of the Baltic Sea. In 900, the border of the Pomeranian area passed along the Odra in the west, the Vistula in the east and the Notech in the south. They gave the name of the historical area of Pomerania (in Slavic Pomerania or Pomerania).

In the 10th century, the Polish prince Mieszko I included the lands of the Pomeranians into the Polish state. In the 11th century, the Pomeranians revolted and regained their independence from Poland. During this period, their territory expanded westward from the Odra into the lands of the Luticians. At the initiative of Prince Vartislav I, the Pomeranians adopted Christianity.

From the 1180s, German influence began to grow and German settlers began to arrive on the lands of the Pomeranians. Because of the devastating wars with the Danes, the Pomeranian feudal lords welcomed the settlement of the devastated lands by the Germans. Over time, the process of Germanization and Polonization of the Pomeranian population began. Those who escaped assimilation among the Germans and Poles, the remnant of the ancient Pomeranians today are the Kashubians, numbering 300 thousand people.

Slavic. What languages ​​belong to the Slavic group

West Slavic tribes

Slavic. What languages belong to the Slavic group