Western Slavic languages. Slavic languages

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 and historical-cultural conditions, their contacts with related and unrelated ethnic groups.

Slavic languages according to the degree of their proximity to each other, they are usually divided into 3 groups: East Slavic (Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian), South Slavic (Bulgarian, Macedonian, Serbo-Croatian and Slovenian) and Western Slavic (Czech, Slovak, Polish with a Kashubian dialect that has retained a certain genetic independence, upper - and Lower Sorbians). Small local groups of Slavs with their own literary languages are also known. Thus, Croats in Austria (Burgenland) have their own literary language based on the Chakavian dialect. Not all Slavic languages have reached us. At the end of the 17th - beginning of the 18th centuries. The Polabian language disappeared. The distribution of Slavic languages within each group has its own characteristics (see East Slavic languages, West Slavic languages, South Slavic languages). Every Slavic language includes literary language with all its stylistic, genre and other varieties and its own territorial dialects. The ratios of all these elements in Slavic languages are different. The Czech literary language has a more complex stylistic structure than Slovak, but the latter better preserves the features of the dialects. Sometimes 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. Often the specific gravity of identical elements is different. For example, the category of diminutive in the Czech language is expressed in more diverse and differentiated forms than in the Russian language.

From Indo-European languages S. I 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, which later split into Proto-Baltic and Proto-Slavic. However, most modern scientists explain their special closeness to the long-term contact of the ancient Balts and Slavs. It has not been established on what territory the separation of the Slavic language continuum from the Indo-European one took place. It can be assumed that it occurred 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 have been located. On the basis of one of the Indo-European dialects (Proto-Slavic), 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 arise. The process of transition of the Proto-Slavic language and its dialects into independent S. languages. was long and difficult. It took place most actively in the 2nd half of the 1st millennium AD. e., during the period of 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 developed, the Slavs entered into relationships with peoples and tribes at different stages of cultural development. All this was reflected in the history of Slavic languages.

The Proto-Slavic language was preceded by a period of Proto-Slavic language, elements of which can be reconstructed with the help of ancient Indo-European languages. The Proto-Slavic language in its main part is restored with the help of data from S. I. different periods of their history. The history of the Proto-Slavic language is divided into 3 periods: the oldest - before the establishment of close Balto-Slavic linguistic 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 in the early period. It was then that a new system of vowel sonants was formed, consonantism was significantly simplified, the reduction stage became widespread in ablaut, and the root ceased to obey ancient restrictions. According to the fate of the middle palatal k' and g', the Proto-Slavic language is included in the satəm group (sрьдьce, pisati, prositi, Wed. Lat. cor - cordis, pictus, precor; zьrno, znati, zima, Wed. 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 Proto-Slavic soil. Proto-Slavic vocabulary is highly original; 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 preserved in most cases the old lexical Indo-European fund, it at the same time lost many old Indo-European lexemes (for example, some terms from the field of social relations, nature, etc.). Many words were lost due to various kinds of prohibitions. For example, the name of oak - Indo-European - was forbidden. perku̯os, from Lat. quercus. The old Indo-European root has reached us only in the name of the pagan god Perun. In Slavic languages, the tabooistic dǫbъ was established, from where Russian. "oak", Polish dąb, Bulgarian dab, 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 compound 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 the position before consonants and the sequence “vowel sonant before vowels” (sъmьrti, 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 the softening of consonants before the iota. In connection with the first process, all ancient diphthong combinations turned into monophthongs, smooth syllabic, nasal vowels arose, and a shift in the syllable division occurred, which in turn caused a simplification of consonant groups and the phenomenon of intersyllabic dissimilation. These ancient processes left their mark on all modern Slavic languages, which is reflected in many alternations: cf. rus. “reap - reap”; “take - I’ll take”, “name - names”, Czech. žíti - žnu, vzíti - vezmu; Serbohorv. zheti - press, uzeti - uzme, ime - names. The softening of consonants before the 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 iota, the process of the so-called first palatalization of vesterior palatals 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 palatalization of the posterior palatals began to operate, as a result of which the alternations k: c, g: ʒ (z), x: s (š) arose. The name changed according to 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 present tense. From the former, the infinitive, supine, aorist, imperfect, participles in ‑l, active past participles in ‑vъ and passive participles in ‑n were formed. From the bases of the present tense, the present tense, the imperative mood, and the active participle of the present tense were formed. Later, in some Slavic languages, an 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 West Slavic group there were 3 subgroups: Lechitic, Serbo-Sorbian and Czech-Slovak. The most differentiated in terms of dialect was the South Slavic group.

The Proto-Slavic language functioned in the pre-state period of 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 Slavic languages. By the 12th-13th centuries. there was a loss of the super-short (reduced) vowels ъ and ь, characteristic of the Proto-Slavic language. In some cases they disappeared, in others they became fully formed vowels. As a result, significant changes occurred in the phonetic and morphological structure of the Slavic languages. The Slavic languages have experienced many common processes in the field of grammar and lexical composition.

Slavic languages received literary treatment for the first time in the 60s. 9th century The creators of Slavic writing were the brothers Cyril (Constantine the Philosopher) and Methodius. They translated liturgical texts from Greek into Slavic for the needs of Great Moravia. The new literary language was based on the South Macedonian (Thessalonica) dialect, but in Great Moravia it acquired many local linguistic features. Later it was further developed in Bulgaria. In this language (usually called Old Church Slavonic) a wealth of original and translated literature was created in Moravia, Pannonia, Bulgaria, Russia, and Serbia. There were two Slavic alphabets: Glagolitic and Cyrillic. From 9th century no Slavic texts have survived. The most ancient ones date back to the 10th century: the Dobrudzhan inscription 943, the inscription of King Samuel 993, etc. From the 11th century. Many Slavic monuments have already been preserved. Slavic literary languages of the feudal era, as a rule, did not have strict norms. Some important functions were performed by foreign languages (in Rus' - Old Church Slavonic, in the Czech Republic and Poland - Latin language). The unification of literary languages, the development of written and pronunciation norms, the expansion of the scope of use of the native language - all this characterizes the long period of formation of national Slavic languages. The Russian literary language has experienced centuries-long and complex evolution. It absorbed folk elements and elements of the Old Church Slavonic language, and 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 proceeded differently. In the Czech Republic in the 18th century. literary language, which reached in the 14th-16th centuries. great perfection, has almost disappeared. The German language was dominant in the cities. During the period of national revival, Czech “awakeners” artificially revived the language of the 16th century, which at that time was already far from the national language. The entire history of the Czech literary language of the 19th and 20th centuries. reflects the interaction between the old book language and the spoken language. 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 18th century the process of bringing this language closer to the folk one began. As a result of the reform carried out by V. Karadzic in the mid-19th century, a new literary language was created. This new language began to serve not only the Serbs, but also the Croats, and therefore began to be called Serbo-Croatian or Croatian-Serbian. The Macedonian literary language was finally formed in the mid-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.

Maye A., Common Slavic language, trans. from French, M., 1951;
Bernstein S. B., Essay on the comparative grammar of Slavic languages. Introduction. Phonetics, M., 1961;
his, Essay on the comparative grammar of Slavic languages. Alternations. Name bases, M., 1974;
Kuznetsov P.S., Essays on the morphology of the Proto-Slavic language. M., 1961;
Nachtigal R., Slavic languages, trans. from Slovenian, M., 1963;
Entry into the historical-historical learning of Slovenian language. Per ed. 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 Kh., 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 are a group of Slavic languages, including Czech, Slovak, Polish, Sorbian (in two variants - Upper and Lower Sorbian), 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 Sorbian and Lower Sorbian 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, 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 (Laba). The movement of the Slavs from the Carpathian region and the Vistula basin occurred west and southwest to the Oder, beyond the Sudetenland, 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; until the mid-18th century, the language of the Polabian tribes was retained), in the south they reached the Danube.

In the West Slavic languages, three subgroups are distinguished: Lechitic, Czech-Slovak, Serbo-Sorbian, 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, which retained a certain genetic independence, was preserved.

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 reconstructed on the basis of individual words and local names available in Latin and German documents, in small recordings of live speech of the 17th-18th centuries.

The Lusatian languages are preserved in the form of small islands in Germany. There are about 150 thousand Lusatian residents. They have their own schools, their own press, and there is a Slavic department at the University of Berlin.

West Slavic tribes

BODRICHI (obodrits, rarogs) - a medieval union of Slavic tribes, the so-called Polabian Slavs. The area of residence is the lower reaches of the Elbe (Lab), 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 Lüchow-Dannenberg region) where the Drevanes lived. Moreover, in this area, the Obodritian - Polabian Slavic language existed until the 18th century.

In the VIII-XII centuries. The Bodrichi Union was a federal union of the Bodrichi, Vagrs, Polabs, Glinyans, Smolyans, Varnovs, and Drevans. The largest city is Rerik (Rarog?) on the coast Baltic Sea. Other centers: Stargard, Lubice, Velehrad, Warnov, Zwerin, Ilovo, Dobin (near Wismar).

During the reign of the Franks of Charlemagne, the Bodrichi fought on his side against the Lutichians and Saxons, and their prince Drazko (Trasko, Dragovit) recognized himself as a vassal of the Frankish emperor. But the people did not support the prince in his endeavor and he had to flee the country. The Danes, strengthened at the beginning of the 9th century, opposed the Carolingians and their allies in 808. Godfrey of Denmark took Rerik by storm, captured and hanged Prince Godlav (Godeleib), destroyed the city itself, and larger number residents (craftsmen and traders) were resettled in Hedeby.

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

By the 9th century, social stratification was intensifying among the Obodrite population, and its own feudal elite was being 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 convert to Christianity in 821.

After the collapse of the Carolingian Empire, the Bodrici became vassals of the East Frankish (German) Kingdom. They freed themselves from vassal dependence only in the 30s of the 10th century. In the 90s of the 10th century, Prince Mstivoy I, having concluded an alliance with the Danish king Harald Bluetooth and marrying his daughter, managed to create the political prerequisites for the creation of the Venedian principality, which, in addition to the Obodrites, also included the Lutich tribes.

This state formation was headed by Prince Godeslav (Godescalcus, Gottschalk) from the Nakonid family, grandson of Mstivoy, who in 1043 took the Obodrite throne and contributed to the Christianization of the country. In 1066, a pagan uprising arose against Godeslav/Gottschalk and he was killed. Taking advantage of anti-Christian sentiments, the pagan prince Kruto (ruler of Rügen/Ruyan) seized power. Godeslav/Gottschalk's son Henry was able to return power to the Naconids (Billungs) in 1090.

The independent state of the Bodrichi reached its greatest development under Pribyslav I (about 1 AD) and Niklot (about 1 AD). 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.

The Duchy of Mecklenburg arose on the lands of the Bodrichs, built into the structure of the Holy Roman Empire. Similar to the Germanization of the House of Pomerania in the east, the Slavic dynasty of Nikloting/Niklotich degenerated into typical German feudal lords (see House of Mecklenburg).

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

In 1147, Christian feudal lords and crusading knights organized crusade against the Slavic pagans in Northern Polabie and transformed the lands of the Bodrichi and Lutich into the Mecklenburg Mark, after which the process of Christianization and gradual “Germanization” and assimilation of the Bodrichi began.

VAGRY - 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 Bodriči union. Their range, which they presumably mastered in the 7th century, covered the east of what is now the German state of Schleswig-Holstein.

The main fortification of the Wagr was Starigard (Stargrad), later renamed Oldenburg, which housed the residence of their prince and sanctuary. At the beginning of the 10th century, the Wagers 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. Once again falling under the influence of the Germans, the Wahrs managed to repeat a successful revolt in 1066 and were again free for almost a hundred years. Led by the pagan prince Kruko, they even took over the supremacy in the Bodrichi union until 1090. In the Baltic Sea region, the Vagr were known as dangerous pirates, attacking the Danish islands like the Vikings.

In 1138/39, the lands of the Wagars were devastated and subjugated by the Saxons from the northern Elbe. gave 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 Vagr. Subsequently, the descendants of the Wagr were completely assimilated into the German population.

DREVANE (V.-Lug. Drjewjanscy Slowjenjo; Polish. Drzewianie) - one of the branches of the Polabian Slavs, who lived in the modern region of Lüchow-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 Luneburg Heath or Wendland (the Germans used to call the Slavs Wends). The Drevani language became extinct in the 19th century.

LYUTICHI (Wiltsy, Velety) - a union of West Slavic tribes. One of the tribal unions of the so-called Polabian Slavs - the original Slavic population of the modern northern, northwestern and eastern Germany. The name comes from the word "fierce". In addition to the Lutichi, the Polabian Slavs included the tribal unions of the Bodrichi (Obodrits, Rarogs or Rereks) and the Lusatians (Lusatian Serbs, Milchans or simply Serbs). The Lyutichs themselves consisted of Dolenchans, Ratars, Khizhans and Kerezpenyans.

Ptolemy named the Wends one of the most numerous peoples of Sarmatia and placed them on the Baltic Sea coast east of the Vistula. To the east of the Wends on the coast lived, according to Ptolemy, certain Velts, whose name is presumably associated with the West Slavic Lutich-Veleta (veletabi in German medieval chronicles). To the south of the Wends lived the Giphons, Galindas and Sudins. If the first tribe is unknown, then the other two peoples are associated with the East Prussian Baltic-speaking tribes, known in Rus' as Golyad and Yatvingians (Sudovites).

The 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 Lutich union was the Radogost sanctuary in the city of Retra, in which the god Svarozhich was revered. This sanctuary was located on the territory of the Ratars (Redarii, Retrians), who were the most powerful tribe in the Lutich 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 Rügen (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 goal 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 as 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 liberation from the tribute paid to the Lutich by some Danish provinces.

According to the "Annals of the Kingdom of the Franks", in 789 Charlemagne made a campaign against the Wilts (Lutichs), the reason for the campaign was that the Lutichs constantly disturbed their northern neighbors (Obodrites) - 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 Vilians could not resist for long, they submitted and handed over the hostages. Charles I entrusted the conquered country to the prince of the Obodrites, Dragovit (Drazhko), who was killed around 810. The Lyutici were driven back to the Pena River.

The Luticians led the Slavic uprising of 983 against German colonization of the lands east of the Elbe, as a result of which colonization was suspended for almost two hundred years. Even before this, 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 strengthened the Lutich people's commitment to paganism and pagan customs, which also applied to related Bodriches. However, in the 1050s, internecine war broke out among the component tribes of the Lutich and changed their position. The alliance quickly lost power and influence, and after the central sanctuary in the city of Rethra was destroyed by the Saxon Duke Lothair in 1125, the alliance finally disintegrated. Over the next decades, the Saxon dukes gradually expanded their possessions to the east and conquered the lands of the Luticians.

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

RUYAN (rans) - a West Slavic tribe that inhabited the island of Rügen (Ruyan) from the 6th century.

During the Middle Ages, the Slavs (the so-called Polabian Slavs) inhabited the lands of what is now 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 Ruyan was the sanctuary of Arkon, in which the god Svyatovit was revered. The Ruyans were probably part of the military-tribal alliance of the Obodrites.

The main occupation of the Ruyans was cattle breeding, farming and fishing. According to archeology, the Ruyans had extensive trade ties with Scandinavia and the Baltic states, and also committed predatory and 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 of Arkona was destroyed, and the sanctuary of Svyatovit was destroyed.

According to Danish chronicles, the prince of Ruyan 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 Rujans freed themselves from Danish rule and expanded their possessions on the coast of the modern German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, founding the city now known as Stralsund (in Pomeranian Strzelowo, in Polish Strzalow). In 1282, Prince Witzlaus 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 entities, over the next few centuries, gradually became completely Germanized. In 1325, the last Ruyan prince Vitslav died (who was also a minnesinger and created a number of lyrical songs and didactic poems). In 1404, Gulitsyna died, who, together with her husband, belonged to the last inhabitants of Ruyan who spoke Slavic.

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

The Slowinians differed from the Catholic Kashubians who lived in Eastern Pomerania in that they were Protestants. Perhaps this contributed to the fact that many Slovinians switched to German at the end of the 17th century, since Protestant services were conducted in it. Many topographic names, however, remained of Slavic origin.

After 1945, the descendants of the Slovinians were expelled from Poland expanded to the west along with the Germans. Attempts were made to reserve for them the right not to leave their native places, focusing on their Slavic origin. However, the few Slovinians who were allowed to stay subsequently left their region themselves.

The Slowinians had a dialect or language closely related to Kashubian, which became extinct in the 20th century.

Lusatians, Lusatian Serbs (German: Sorben, N.-Luz. Serby, V.-Luz. Serbja, N.-Luz. Serbski lud, V.-Luz. Serbski lud), Sorbs, ve? Ndy, Lugia - 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 Slavs in Germany, whose representatives use the Slavic language.

Modern Lusatians are the remnant of the Lusatian Serbs or simply Serbs, one of the 3 main tribal unions of the so-called Polabian Slavs, which also included the tribal unions of the Lutich (Velets or Weltz) and the Bodrichi (Obodrit, Rerek or Rarog). Polabian Slavs or, in German, Vends, in 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 including 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 alliance of Lusatian tribes, and they came 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 rule of the Meissen Margraviate. In 1076, the German Emperor Henry IV ceded the Lusatian Mark to the Czech Republic. Colonists from Germany moved en masse to Lusatia, 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, and from 1871 - part of the German Empire.

The first settlements of the Lusatian Serbs, in accordance with German theories, were recorded presumably in 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 from the 9th-10th centuries. Raddush.

Modern Lusatian language is divided into Upper Lusatian and Lower Lusatian.

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

In the 10th century, the Polish prince Mieszko I included the Pomeranian lands into the Polish state. In the 11th century, the Pomeranians rebelled and regained independence from Poland. During this period, their territory expanded west from the Odra into the lands of the Lutich. On the initiative of Prince Wartislaw I, the Pomeranians adopted Christianity.

From the 1180s, German influence began to increase and German settlers began to arrive on the Pomeranian lands. Due to 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. Having escaped assimilation among the Germans and Poles, the remnant of the ancient Pomeranians today are the Kashubians, numbering 300 thousand people.

SLAVIC LANGUAGES, a group of languages belonging to the Indo-European family, spoken by more than 440 million people in Eastern Europe and Northern 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 (spoken in a small area in northern Poland) and two Lusatian (or Serbian) languages - Upper Lusatian and Lower Lusatian, spoken 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 - Slovinian, which disappeared at the beginning of the 20th century, Polabian, which died out in the 18th century, as well as Old Church Slavonic - the language of the first Slavic translations of the Holy Scriptures, which is based on one of the ancient South Slavic dialects and which was used in worship in Slavic Orthodox Church but was never everyday spoken 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 – night and etc. In other cases, the common origin of the words is less obvious. Russian word see cognate with Latin videre, Russian word five cognate with German fünf, 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 nasal vowels have been preserved - ą And ERROR, disappeared in other Slavic languages. Slavic languages vary greatly in stress. In Czech, Slovak and Sorbian the stress usually falls on the first syllable of a word; in Polish – to the penultimate; in Serbo-Croatian, any syllable except the last one can be stressed; in Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian, 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 vary in six or seven cases, in number and in three genders. The presence of seven cases (nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, instrumental, locative or prepositional and vocative) indicates the archaic nature of the Slavic languages and their closeness to the Indo-European language, which supposedly had eight cases. Important feature Slavic languages is a category of verb form: every verb refers either to the perfect or to imperfect form and denotes, respectively, either a completed or ongoing or repeated action.

The territory inhabited by Slavic tribes in Eastern Europe in the 5th–8th centuries. AD expanded rapidly, and by the 8th century. 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 century. it was basically a single language, but gradually the differences between territorial dialects became more noticeable. By the 10th century. There were already predecessors to modern Slavic languages.

Western 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 Sorbian and Lower Sorbian languages - in the vicinity of the cities of Bautzen (Budiszyn), Cottbus and Dresden]. Speakers of Western languages 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.

West Slavic languages include:

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

In Z. I. 3 subgroups are distinguished: Lechitic, Czech-Slovak, Serbian, 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, which retained a certain genetic independence, was preserved.

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

preservation of the consonant group kv", gv" before the vowels i, "e, "a (‹м) in accordance with cv, zv in South Slavic and West Slavic languages: Polish. kwiat, gwiazda; Czech kvмt, hvмzda; Slovak kvet, hviezda; lower-puddle kwмt, gwмzda; top-puddle kwмt, hwмzda (cf. Russian “color”, “star”, etc.).

Preservation of unsimplified consonant groups tl, dl in accordance with l in the languages of other Slavic groups: Polish. plutі, mydіo; Czech pletl, medlo; Slovak plietol, mydlo; lower-puddle pleti, mydio; top-puddle pleti, mydio; (cf. Russian “plait”, “soap”).

Consonants c, dz (or z) in place of the Proto-Slavic *tj, *dj, *ktj, *kti, which in other Slavic languages correspond to the consonants i, ћ, љt, dj, ћd, zh: Polish. њwieca, sadzаж; Czech svнce, sбzet; Slovak svieca, sбdzaќ; lower-puddle swmca, sajџaj; top-puddle swмca, sadџeж (cf. Russian “candle”, “to plant”).

The presence of the consonant љ in those cases that correspond to s or њ in the languages of other Slavic groups (with analogous formations ch): Polish. wszak, musze (Danish-prepositional clause from mucha); Czech vљak, mouљe; Slovak vљak, muљe; lower-puddle vљako, muљe; top-puddle vљak, muљe [cf. rus. “everyone”, “fly”; Ukrainian “everyone”, “musi” (= fly)].

Absence of l epenthetic after labials in the non-initial position of a word (from the combination labial + j): Polish. ziemia, cupiony; Czech zemм, koupм; Slovak zem, kъpene; lower-luzh.zemja, kupju; top-puddle zemja, kupju (cf. Russian “land”, “purchase”).

In the history of the development of Z. I. changes common to the entire group occurred:

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

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). The Kashubian dialect has different accents.

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. i. that arose in historical period their development: different fate nasal vowels, sound m (yat), long and short vowels; the Proto-Slavic consonant g in Czech, Slovak and Sorbian languages changed into h (glottal, fricative), the differences also concern the category of hardness/softness of consonants. In the system of nominal declension of all Z. i. All-Slavic processes took place: regrouping of declension types based on grammatical gender, loss of some previous types (mainly consonant stems), mutual influence of case inflections within the paradigm, reorganization of stems, emergence of new endings. Unlike East Slavic languages, the influence of the feminine gender is more limited. The Czech language has retained the most archaic declension system. All Z. I. (except for Lusatian ones) have lost the forms of the dual number. Developed and received morphological expression category of animation (Czech, Slovak) and specific category of personality (Polish, Upper Sorbian). Short forms of adjectives have disappeared (Slovak, Upper Sorbian) or have been preserved to a limited extent (Czech, Polish).

The verb is characterized by the transition of unproductive conjugation classes to productive ones (cf. Czech siesti > sednouti), the loss (except for the Sorbian languages) of simple past tenses (aorist and imperfect), in some languages, and the plusquaperfect (Czech, partly Polish). The most significant changes in the conjugation of present forms of the verb have been experienced by the Slovak language, where all verbs in the present tense have the same ending system.

Syntactic features are partly due to the influence of Latin and German. In contrast to the East Slavic languages, modal verbs, reflexive forms of verbs in an indefinite-personal and generalized-personal meaning such as Czech are more often used. 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 and 19th centuries, especially intensified after World War II.

In the early feudal period as a written language The Western Slavs used Latin. The oldest literary language of the Slavs is Old Church Slavonic, which emerged in the 9th century. The first Czech monuments proper date back to the end of the 13th century, Polish ones - to the beginning of the 14th century, Slovak ones - to the end of the 15th - 16th centuries, Lusatian ones - to the 16th century. Modern Z. i. use Latin script.

Lehitic subgroup

Kaszumbian language (alternative names: Pomeranian language, Pomeranian language; Kashubian kaszлbsczi jгzлk, ptmрsczi jгzлk, kaszлbskф mтwa, kaszлbskт-siowiсskф mтwa) is a West Slavic language of the Lechitic subgroup, widespread to the west and south of Gdańsk. Currently, approximately 50 thousand people speak Kashubian in everyday life, and approximately 150 thousand people are familiar with it.

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

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

The dialects of the Polish language include:

§ Wielkopolska dialect, covers the territory of Greater Poland, Krajna and Borow Tucholski. This dialect is based on the tribal dialect of the Polyans.
§ Lesser Poland dialect, occupies the territory of the Lesser Poland, Subcarpathian, Świętokrzyskie and Lublin 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 Upper Silesia, is a continuation of the development of the dialect of the Slenzan tribe.

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

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

The name of the language comes from the Slavic name of the Elbe River (Polish: Јaba, Czech: Labe, etc.). Other names: Old-Solabian, Vendian. Accordingly, the Slavic tribe that spoke it was called Polabian Slavs, Drevyans (Drevans) or Vends (Vends is 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 Principality of Lunenburg (now the Lüchow-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 became socially unprestigious, the “Vendas” hid or did not advertise their origin and switched to German, including being subjected to forced Germanization. By 1725 there is information about a family of native speakers, in which the younger generation no longer knew Polabian. The last entry was made around 1750. In 1790, the compiler of the first consolidated Polabian dictionary, Johann Jugler, looked for people who could understand at least a little Polish, but he could no longer find anyone.

Slovinsky (Slovinc) language is a West Slavic idiom of the Lechitic subgroup, extinct in the 20th century. It is considered by some authors as an independent language, by others as a dialect of Kashubian or (not distinguishing Kashubian in turn) Polish. The term “Pomeranian (Pomeranian) language” is used, combining Kashubian and Slovinian. It was spoken by the Slovinians, first ethnographically described by A.F. Hilferding in 1856 and living northwest of the Kashubians, between Lake Łebski and Lake Gardno.

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

After 1945, the Slovinians - Protestants (since the 16th century), speaking mainly German - were considered by the Polish government as Germans and were mostly expelled to Germany or then left Poland by at will, settling in Germany (many in the Hamburg area). There they finally assimilated. Some old people who remained in Poland remembered Slovinian 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 people, of which about 40,000 live in Saxony and about 20,000 in Brandenburg. In the region 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 Sorbian (in Upper Lusatia) and Low Sorbian (in Lower Lusatia).

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

Slovak language West Slavic ethnic

Czech-Slovak subgroup

Chemsh language (self-name - eeљtina, eeske 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. Currently, under the influence of the literary language, the boundaries between dialects are blurred. Czech dialects are divided into 4 groups:

§ Czech dialects (with colloquial Czech as koine)
§ Central Moravian group of dialects (Ganatsky);
§ East Moravian group of dialects (Moravian-Slovak);
§ Silesian dialects.

The border lands formerly inhabited by Sudeten Germans cannot be classified as 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, иerstve - fresh; pozor - attention; mmsto - city; hrad - castle; ovoce - - fruits; rodina - family; and other so-called false friends of the translator).

Slovak language (Slovak slovenіina, slovenskе jazyk) - total number of speakers - 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 Anton Bernolak's book “Dissertatio philologico-critica de litteris Slavorum” with the appendix “Orthographia” (1787) was published. This literary language was based on Western Slovak dialects. The modern literary Slovak language, which is based on Central Slovak linguistic features, arose in the middle of the 19th century thanks to the efforts of the Slovak patriots Ludovit Štur, Michal Miloslav Goji, Josef Miloslav Gurban and others. The first version of Štur’s codification was formulated in the books “Nauka reii slovenskej” ( The science of the Slovak language) and “Nbreija slovenskuo alebo potreba pнsатja v tomto nbrein” (Slovak dialect or the need to write in this dialect) and came primarily from the speech of the intelligentsia of the central Slovak city of Liptovsky Mikulas and was characterized by a strong phonological principle of spelling, the absence of soft “ l" ("s") and the long vowel "th" with the exception of the word "dcеra" (daughter) and other linguistic features that are in modern version Slovak language. In 1851, at a meeting of Slovak intellectuals, a reformed version of the Stur codification was adopted, the author of which was the linguist Milan Gattala ( we're talking about about the so-called "Godjov-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 publication of spelling books in 1931 and 1953. and the development of terminology in the interwar and especially postwar period.

During the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Hungarian authorities persecuted the literary Slovak language while promoting the less widespread Eastern Slovak dialect.

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

The best known is the Judeo-Czech variant of the Old Czech language, which was spoken by Bohemian and Moravian Jews before the massive influx of Yiddish-speaking Ashkenazim from Germany and the subsequent resettlement of both to the east and northeast within the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. However, nothing is known about its differences from the language of the surrounding population. Most likely, as in the case of other medieval Hebrew languages of Europe, the differences were minimal and were 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 Slavic countries by the term Qna`an (Hebrew lrtp, anciently denoting Palestine - Canaan), found in Jewish texts (for example, Benjamin of 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




					vogon, vogon	fire, fire

						veter, wind

Subgroups

Separation time

A number of researchers, in addition to the languages mentioned above, highlight now extinct languages that in the past occupied an intermediate position between South Slavic and West Slavic (Pannonian Slavic language), as well as between South Slavic and East Slavic languages (Dacoslavian language).

Origin

Slavic languages within the Indo-European family are most closely related to the Baltic languages. The similarities between the two groups served as the basis for the theory of “Balto-Slavic proto-language”, according to which the Balto-Slavic proto-language first emerged from the Indo-European proto-language, which later split into Proto-Baltic and Proto-Slavic. However, many scientists explain their special closeness by the long-term contact of the ancient Balts and Slavs and deny the existence of the Balto-Slavic language.

It has not been established in what territory the separation of the Slavic language continuum from the Indo-European/Balto-Slavic occurred. From one of the Indo-European dialects (Proto-Slavic), the Proto-Slavic language was 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. Dialectal variants arose later.

The process of transition of the Proto-Slavic language into independent languages took place most actively in the 2nd half of the 1st millennium AD, during the formation of the early Slavic states in the territory of South-Eastern and Eastern Europe. During this period, the territory of Slavic settlements increased significantly. Areas of different geographical zones with different natural and climatic conditions were developed, the Slavs entered into relationships with the inhabitants of these territories, who were at different stages of cultural development. All this was reflected in the history of Slavic languages.

Separation time

Gray and Atkinson

Atkinson and Gray performed statistical analysis related words of 103 living and dead Indo-European languages (out of approximately 150 known), using a lexical-statistical database (created using Swadesh lists by Isidore Dayen) and additional information.

And the Slavic linguistic unity, according to the results of their research, fell apart 1300 years ago, that is, around the 8th century AD. The Balto-Slavic linguistic unity collapsed 3400 years ago, that is, around the 15th century BC.

Gray and Atkinson's methods and results have been heavily criticized by different sides.

Chang, Cathcart, Hall and Garrett

Kasyan, Dybo

In September 2015, A. S. Kasyan and A. V. Dybo, as part of an interdisciplinary study on Slavic ethnogenesis, published a lexicostatistical classification of Slavic languages, built on high-quality 110-word Swadesh lists collected according to the standard of the Global Lexicostatistical Database project "and processed by modern phylogenetic algorithms.

The resulting dated tree is in agreement with the traditional Slavic point of view on the structure of the Slavic group. The tree suggests the first division of the Proto-Slavic language into three branches: eastern, western and southern. The moment of collapse is dated to ca. 100 AD e., this is consistent with the opinion of archaeologists that at the beginning of the 1st millennium AD. e. the Slavic population occupied a fairly vast territory and was no longer monolithic. Further, in the V-VI centuries. n. e., the three Slavic branches are almost simultaneously divided into more fractional taxa, which corresponds to the rapid spread of the Slavs throughout Eastern Europe and the Balkans in the 2nd half of the 1st millennium AD. e. (Slavicization of Europe).

The Slovene language was excluded from the analysis, since Ljubljana Koine and literary Slovene show a mixture of South Slavic and West Slavic lexical features (presumably this may indicate an original West Slavic attribution of the Slovene language, which for a long time was influenced by neighboring Serbo-Croatian dialects), and qualitative Swadesh lists for Slovenian dialects were not collected at that time. Due to the lack or unreliability of lexical data, the study did not cover the so-called. Old Novgorod dialect, Polabian language and some other Slavic idioms.

History of development

In the early period of development of the Slavic proto-language, a new system of vowel sonants was formed, consonantism was significantly simplified, the reduction stage became widespread in ablaut, and the root ceased to obey ancient restrictions. The Proto-Slavic language is part of the satem group (sьrdьce, pisati, prositi, cf. lat. cor, - cordis, pictus, precor; zьrno, znati, zima, cf. lat. granum, cognosco, hiems). However, this feature was not fully realized: 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.

Dialects began to form in the Proto-Slavic language. There were three groups of dialects: eastern, western and southern. From them the corresponding languages were then formed. The group of East Slavic dialects was the most compact. There were 3 subgroups in the West Slavic group: Lechitic, Serbo-Sorbian and Czech-Slovak. The South Slavic group was the most differentiated in terms of dialect.

The Proto-Slavic language functioned in the pre-state period of the history of the Slavs, when tribal social order. Significant changes occurred during the period of early feudalism. In the XII-XIII centuries, further differentiation of the Slavic languages took place; the super-short (reduced) vowels ъ and ь, characteristic of the Proto-Slavic language, were lost. In some cases they disappeared, in others they became vowels complete education. As a result, significant changes occurred in the phonetic and morphological structure of the Slavic languages, in their lexical composition.

Phonetics

In the field of phonetics, there are some significant differences between the Slavic languages.

In most Slavic languages, the long/short vowel opposition has been lost, at the same time in the Czech and Slovak languages (excluding the North Moravian and East Slovak dialects), in the literary norms of the Shtokavian group (Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian and Montenegrin), and also partly in the Slovenian language these differences remain. The Lechitic languages, Polish and Kashubian, retain nasal vowels, which are lost in other Slavic languages (nasal vowels were also characteristic of the phonetic system of the extinct Polabian language). For a long time nasals were retained in the Bulgarian-Macedonian and Slovenian language areas (in the peripheral dialects of the corresponding languages, relics of nasalization are reflected in a number of words to this day).

Slavic languages are characterized by the presence of palatalization of consonants - 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 hard (non-palatalized) or soft (palatalized). Due to a number of depalatalization processes, the opposition of hard/soft consonants in the languages of the Czech-Slovak group is significantly limited (in Czech the opposition t - t', d - d', n - n', in Slovak - t - t', d - d', n - n', l - l', while in the West Slovak dialect due to assimilation t', d' and their subsequent hardening, as well as hardening l', usually only one pair is presented n - n', in a number of Western Slovak dialects (Povazski, Trnava, Zagorje) paired soft consonants are completely absent). The opposition of consonants in terms of hardness/softness did not develop in the Serbo-Croatian-Slovenian and Western Bulgarian-Macedonian linguistic areas - of the old paired soft consonants, only n' (< *nj), l' (< *lj) did not undergo hardening (primarily in the Serbo-Croatian area).

Stress is implemented differently in Slavic languages. In most Slavic languages (except Serbo-Croatian and Slovenian), the polytonic Proto-Slavic stress was replaced by a dynamic one. The free, mobile nature of the Proto-Slavic stress was preserved in the Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian and Bulgarian languages, as well as in the Torlak dialect and the northern dialect of the Kashubian language (the stress was also mobile in the extinct Polabian language). In Central Russian dialects (and, accordingly, in the Russian literary language), in the South Russian dialect, in Northern Kashubian dialects, as well as in the Belarusian and Bulgarian languages, this type of stress caused a reduction of unstressed vowels. In a number of languages, primarily in Western Slavic, a fixed stress has been formed, assigned to a specific syllable of a word or tact group. The penultimate syllable is stressed in the standard Polish language and most of its dialects, in the Czech North Moravian and East Slovak dialects, in the southwestern dialects of the southern dialect of the Kashubian language, as well as in the Lemko dialect. The stress falls on the first syllable in the Czech and Slovak literary languages and most of their dialects, in the Lusatian languages, in the South Kashubian dialect, as well as in some Gural dialects of the Lesser Poland dialect. In the Macedonian language, the stress is also fixed - it falls no further than the third syllable from the end of the word (accent group). In the Slovenian and Serbo-Croatian languages, the stress is polytonic, varied, and the tonic characteristics and stress distribution in word forms are different among dialects. In the Central Kashubian dialect, the stress varies, but is assigned to a specific morpheme.

Writing

The Slavic languages received their first literary treatment in the 60s. 9th century. The creators of Slavic writing were the brothers Cyril (Constantine the Philosopher) and Methodius. They translated liturgical texts from Greek into Slavic for the needs of Great Moravia. The new literary language was based on the South Macedonian (Thessalonica) dialect, but in Great Moravia it acquired many local linguistic features. It was later further developed in Bulgaria. In this language (usually called Old Church Slavonic) a wealth of original and translated literature was created in Moravia, Pannonia, Bulgaria, Rus', and Serbia. There were two Slavic alphabets: Glagolitic and Cyrillic. From the 9th century no Slavic texts have survived. The most ancient ones date back to the 10th century: the Dobrudzhan inscription of 943, the inscription of King Samuil of 993, the Varosha inscription of 996 and others. Starting from c. More Slavic monuments have survived.

Similarities and differences between Slavic languages

Due to historical reasons, the Slavic languages managed to maintain significant similarities relative to each other. At the same time, almost each of them has a number of unique features.

	Eastern group			Western group			Southern group
	Russian	Ukrainian	Belorussian	Polish	Slovak	Czech	Serbo-Croatian	Bulgarian	Macedonian	Slovenian
Number of carriers	250	45	6,4	40	5,2	9,5	21	8,5	2	2,2
Nearest	Belorussian	Ukrainian	Kashubian	Czech	Slovak	Serbo-Croatian	Macedonian	Bulgarian	Slovenian
Writing	Cyrillic	Cyrillic	Cyrillic	Latin	Latin	Latin	Cyrillic / Latin	Cyrillic	Cyrillic	Latin
Differences from others Slavic languages	reduction of unstressed vowels (akanie); Preservation of soft consonants [g’], [k’], [d’], [p’]	alternation o-i, e-i in a closed syllable	phonetic principle in spelling; extreme reduction of vowels (akanye)	two rows of sibilant consonants; stress is fixed on the penultimate syllable	ascending diphthongs	the stress is fixed on the first syllable; separation of long and short vowels;		loss of cases; variety of verb forms; lack of infinitive	loss of cases; variety of verb forms; lack of infinitive	the presence of a dual number; high heterogeneity (more than 40 dialects)
Accent type	free dynamic	free dynamic	free dynamic	fixed to penultimate	fixed noe on the per-	fixed noe on the per-	free musical	free dynamic	fixed third layer ha from the end of the word)	free musical
Morphology: vocative form (case)	No	There is	There is	There is	No	There is	There is	There is	There is	No

Literary languages

In the era of feudalism, Slavic literary languages, as a rule, did not have strict norms. Sometimes the functions of the literary language were performed by foreign languages (in Rus' - the Old Church Slavonic language, in the Czech Republic and Poland - the Latin language).

The Russian literary language has experienced centuries-long and complex evolution. It absorbed folk elements and elements of the Old Church Slavonic language, and was influenced by many European languages.

In the Czech Republic in the 18th century. literary language, which reached in the XIV-XVI centuries. great perfection, has almost disappeared. The German language was dominant in the cities. During the period of national revival in the Czech Republic, the language of the 16th century was artificially revived, which at that time was already far from vernacular. History of the Czech literary language XIX - centuries. reflects the interaction between the old book language and the spoken language. The Slovak literary language had a different history; it developed on the basis of the folk language. In Serbia until the 19th century. Church Slavonic was dominant. In the 18th century the process of bringing this language closer to the folk one began. As a result of the reform carried out