Slavic languages

The Slavic languages ​​( also Slavic ) constitute a major branch of the Indo-European languages ​​and Baltic languages ​​are here to the next. One usually distinguishes East Slavonic, Westslawisch and South Slavonic.

About 300 million people speak one of the 20 Slavic languages ​​as their native language, 400 million, including a second language. By far the richest Slavic language speaker, the Russian has approximately 145 million native speakers and 250 million, including a second language. Other important Slavic languages ​​are Ukrainian and Polish ( each about 50 million speakers), almost all major Slavic languages ​​are national languages ​​of their countries.

The science of the Slavic languages ​​and the related literatures and cultures is called Slavic.

Proto-Slavic and the development of the Slavic languages

The Slavic language branch is related within the Indo closest to the Baltic, so that some researchers assume a Balto - Slavic unity; But this thesis is less and less support.

The Slavic languages ​​are predecessors or proto-language originated from a common, called Proto-Slavic or Protoslawisch, and which, in time is the oldest known Slavic written language, Old Church Slavonic the next. The separation of Proto -Slavic from Indo-European is done at least 3000 years ago. The three main branches (East, West and South Slavonic ) have probably developed in the middle of the first millennium AD, from the pre-Slavic, then it came through further migrations to the differentiation of today's diversity. Of great importance in the formation of the Slavonic from the Indo-European have the sound processes of palatalization and the tendency to increasing Silbensonorität.

Classification of Slavic languages

The Slavic languages ​​disintegrate linguistically ( and geographically ) into three main groups: the East Slavic, West Slavic and South Slavic. Overall, the Slavic languages ​​can be classified as follows (see the references cited and links ):

• Slavic East Slavonic Altnowgoroder dialect †
• Altostslawisch ( Old Russian ) †
• Russian
• Ruthenian ( Altweißrussisch, Altukrainisch ) †
• Belarusian
• Ukrainian
• Russinisch: Carpatho - Russinisch and Jugoslawo - Russinisch
• Westpolessisch

• Lechitische group Including Polish Silesia (*)
• Elbe and Ostseeslawisch Kashubian
• Slovincian †
• Polabian ( Elbslawisch ) †
• Pomoranisch ( Ostseeslawisch ) †

• Lower
• Upper Sorbian

• Slovak
• Czech including Lachish (*)
• Knaanisch (west Judeo- Slavic ) †

• Südostslawisch † Old Church Slavonic (also called Old Bulgarian, it is Church Slavonic developed )
• Bulgarian, Banat Bulgarian
• Macedonian, Aegean Macedonian

• Mittelsüdslawische ( Serbo-Croatian ) Group Bosnian
• Burgenland Croatian
• Croatian
• Moliseslawisch
• Montenegrin
• Serbian

• Slovenian
• Resianisch

(*) Dialect bridge between Polish and Czech

† means the language is extinct

Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian are exhibiting spoke genetic point of view is a single common language, also known as Serbo-Croatian. However, there are differences, for example in the vocabulary, which has according to the ancient border between West and Oströmischem Empire in Croatian Latin loanwords more, in more Serbian Greek ( cf. differences between the Serbo-Croatian standard varieties ). After the collapse of Yugoslavia, three national standard languages ​​have been established. It is assumed that these three varieties will develop further apart in the future. The fourth language is possibly Montenegrin (the shape of the Serbian Montenegro ) achieve the status of a standard language. On the other hand, Serbian and Bulgarian, Czech and Slovak, Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian, and some other are each mutually intelligible to some degree. Macedonian, in turn, is often considered by the Bulgarian and the Greek side as dialect of Bulgarian.

A good impression of the degree of relationship of the individual Slavic languages ​​are the chart below Slavic word equations.

Geographical distribution and numbers of speakers

The following table provides an overview of the geographical distribution and numbers of speakers of Slavic languages ​​, structured by the three main branches. In the spread column are areas in which that language is the official language, bold and territories in which the language is first passed through emigration in recent years, highlighted in italics.

Language categories

Standard Languages ​​and Literature Languages ​​micro

It is common in the Slavic languages ​​, in " standard languages ​​" and "micro- literary languages ​​" divide Slavic languages. By many researchers, some of these small languages ​​but are regarded only as dialects or varieties of standard languages ​​(especially in the Anglo-Saxon literature). The default languages ​​are after the breakup of Yugoslavia and the division of Czechoslovakia exactly the Slavic languages ​​have the status of a national language.

In this sense

• Standard languages: Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Upper Sorbian, Slovenian, Croatian, Bosnian, Serbian, Bulgarian and Macedonian.

• Micro Literature Languages ​​: Jugoslawo - Russinisch, Carpatho - Russinisch, Westpolessisch, Kashubian, Lower Sorbian, Resianisch ( to Slovenian ) Burgenland - Croatian, Croatian - Molise, Banat Bulgarian and Pomakisch ( to Bulgarian).

The classification of the Sorbian languages ​​is handled differently, but lacking in particular the Lower Sorbian all the criteria of a " standard language".

Extinct Slavic languages

The most important extinct Slavic language is the belonging to the South Slavic Old Church Slavonic branch, an early form of the Bulgarian, which is attested in about 30 manuscripts and some inscriptions of the 10th and 11th centuries. Mainly on the basis of Old Church Slavonic can the Proto - Slavic, largely open up the hypothetical common ancestor language of all Slavic languages ​​. Further developments of the Old Church Slavonic language - through local substrate influences and conscious normalization approaches resulting, so called editors of Church Slavonic - played a central role to the modern times as a literary language in the Orthodox context Slavic areas. Even today, the Neukirchen Slavonic is used in almost all Slavic Orthodox churches as liturgical language.

In the course of the German eastward expansion a greater number of West Slavic peoples were assimilated or displaced, their languages ​​are extinct. This concerns first of all the Slavic tribes between the Elbe and the Oder and the island of Rügen, which have died out until the beginning of the 15th century, then the Polabische (also Drawänopolabisch ) in Wendland at Lüchow ( Wendland) and Dannenberg (Elbe ), the first in the half of the 18th century, has died. Finally, until shortly after 1900, spoken in Pomerania Slowinski. The number of speakers of the two Sorbian languages ​​goes back for centuries steadily, Lower Sorbian must now apply threatened as acute.

Other Slavic languages ​​small

Other languages ​​and dialects, which are counted among the Slavic languages ​​are:

• Aegean Macedonian is the Macedonian and Bulgarian language related in northern Greece to their Verschriftung local intellectuals have been trying for a few years * Čakavisch is a collective term for Croatian dialects to Istria, Pomorje Islands ( Kvarner ), Zadar and Split, which in the past ( served until the mid 19th century ) as a written language;
• Kajkavisch is a collective term for Croatian dialects in the area around Zagreb and surroundings, bounded by the line Karlovac - Jasenovac - Koprivnica- Varaždin and Karlovac. KAJKAVIAN dialects have served in the past as a written language;
• Štokavisch is a collective term for dialects of Serbia, Bosnia, Herzegovina; Montenegro and Croatia.
• Lachish is located in North Moravia and in the former Austrian Silesia spoken dialect of Czech, which the writer Ondra Łysohorsky wanted to raise a written language;
• Under Moravian understood as different attempts to introduce based on the spoken in Moravia Czech dialects own default language;
• Masurian is strongly influenced by the German Polish dialect in the area of the former East Prussia, was temporarily released in which a certain amount of literature;
• Ostslowakisch is the attempt their own written language based on ostslowakischer dialects, the Slovak Calvinists took from the 17th century;
• Podhalisch is the Polish Podhale dialect of the foothills of the Carpathian mountains, where a certain amount of dialect literature was published;
• Pomakisch is the language of a Slavic ethnic group of Muslim religion in southern Bulgaria, which was temporarily written in Greek characters;
• Slawenoserbisch is a form of Russian Church Slavonic, which was used in the 18th century and at the beginning of the 19th century in Serbia as a written language.

Vocabulary compared

The vocabulary of the pre-Slavic can be partially reconstructed with the methods of comparative linguistics based on later writing of detained Slavic languages ​​as well as of traditional Slavic words in other languages. The following table lists some Slavic word equations with the reconstructed pre-Slavic forms ( second last column ) and the corresponding Indo-European root word are shown (last column ). This table shows the close relatedness of the Slavic languages ​​among themselves.

The example clearly shows the head already rising Silbensonorität onset of the pre-Slavic According to the process of trend divergence of the three branches of Slavic languages ​​.

Reconstructed, unused forms are marked with an asterisk * prefixed. The data written in the Cyrillic alphabet languages ​​( Russian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Old Church Slavonic ) are transliterated.

Slavonic word equations

Some German words of Slavic origin

Sinkhole - border - Cucumber - Robot - Vampire - Sable - Quark - Kren - cab - mink - Reizker - Ogonek - Signet - Karst - Whip - gun - Goldfinch - Troika - Siskin - Pogrom - Ponor - Samovar - Sputnik - kolkhoz