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). Each Slavic language includes a literary language with all its stylistic, genre and other varieties and its own territorial dialects. The ratios of all these elements in 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.

Of the Indo-European languages, S. 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 the South-Eastern and of 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 it took shape new system vowel sonants, consonantism was significantly simplified, the reduction stage became widespread in ablaut, 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 area 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. Except 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 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.

Proto-Slavic language functioned in pre-state period 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). Unification literary languages, development of written and pronunciation standards, expansion of the scope of use 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.

Education

Slavic. What languages belong to the Slavic group?

March 14, 2015

The Slavic group of languages is a major branch of the Indo-European languages, since the Slavs are the largest group of people in Europe united by similar speech and culture. More than 400 million people use them.

General information

The Slavic group of languages is a branch of the Indo-European languages used in most countries of Eastern Europe, the Balkans, parts of Central Europe and northern Asia. It is most closely related to the Baltic languages (Lithuanian, Latvian and the extinct Old Prussian). Languages belonging to the Slavic group originated from Central and Eastern Europe (Poland, Ukraine) and spread to the remaining territories listed above.

Classification

There are three groups of Slavic languages: South Slavic, West Slavic and East Slavic branches.

IN colloquial speech, unlike the clearly divergent literary, linguistic boundaries are not always obvious. There are transitional dialects connecting different languages, except in the area where the South Slavs are separated from other Slavs by Romanians, Hungarians and German-speaking Austrians. But even in these isolated areas there are some remnants of the old dialectal continuity (for example, the similarity between Russian and Bulgarian).

Therefore, it should be noted that the traditional classification into three separate branches should not be considered as a true model historical development. It is more correct to imagine it as a process in which differentiation and reintegration of dialects constantly took place, as a result of which the Slavic group of languages has a striking homogeneity throughout the territory of its distribution. Centuries of journey different nations intersected, and their cultures mixed.

Differences

But it would still be an exaggeration to assume that communication between any two speakers of different Slavic languages is possible without any linguistic difficulties. Many differences in phonetics, grammar and vocabulary can cause misunderstandings even in a simple conversation, not to mention difficulties in journalistic, technical and artistic speech. Thus, the Russian word “green” is recognizable to all Slavs, but “red” means “beautiful” in other languages. Suknja is “skirt” in Serbo-Croatian, “coat” in Slovenian, a similar expression “suknya” is “dress” in Ukrainian.

Eastern group of Slavic languages

It includes Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian. Russian is the native language of almost 160 million people, including many residents of countries that were part of the former Soviet Union. Its main dialects are northern, southern and transitional central group. It also includes the Moscow dialect, on which the literary language is based. In total, about 260 million people speak Russian in the world.

In addition to the “great and mighty”, the Eastern Slavic group of languages includes two more large languages.

Ukrainian, which is divided into northern, southwestern, southeastern and Carpathian dialects. The literary form is based on the Kiev-Poltava dialect. More than 37 million people speak Ukrainian in Ukraine and neighboring countries, and more than 350,000 people speak the language in Canada and the United States. This is explained by the presence of a large ethnic community of migrants who left the country in late XIX century. The Carpathian dialect, which is also called Carpatho-Rusynian, is sometimes considered a separate language.
Belarusian is spoken by about seven million people in Belarus. Its main dialects are: southwestern, some features of which can be explained by its proximity to Polish lands, and northern. The Minsk dialect, which serves as the basis for the literary language, lies on the border of these two groups.

West Slavic branch

It includes Polish and other Lechitic (Kashubian and its extinct variant Slovinian), Lusatian and Czechoslovak dialects. This Slavic group of the language family is also quite common. More than 40 million people speak Polish not only in Poland and other parts of Eastern Europe (particularly Lithuania, the Czech Republic and Belarus), but also in France, the USA and Canada. It is also divided into several subgroups.

Polish dialects

The main ones are northwestern, southeastern, Silesian and Masovian. The Kashubian dialect is considered part of the Pomeranian languages, which, like Polish, are classified as Lechitic. Its speakers live west of Gdansk and on the Baltic Sea coast.

The extinct Slovinian dialect belonged to the northern group of Kashubian dialects, which differs from the southern one. Another unused Lechitic language is Polabian, which was spoken in the 17th and 18th centuries. Slavs who lived in the Elbe River area.

Its close relative is Serbo-Sorbian, which is still spoken by the people of Lusatia in East Germany. It has two literary languages: Upper Sorbian (used in Bautzen and the surrounding area) and Lower Sorbian (used in Cottbus).

Czechoslovakian group of languages

It includes:

Czech, spoken by approximately 12 million people in the Czech Republic. His dialects are Bohemian, Moravian and Silesian. The literary language was formed in the 16th century in Central Bohemia on the basis of the Prague dialect.
Slovak, it is used by about 6 million people, the majority are residents of Slovakia. Literary speech was formed on the basis of the dialect of Central Slovakia in the middle of the 19th century. Western Slovak dialects are similar to Moravian and differ from central and eastern ones, which have common features with Polish and Ukrainian languages.

South Slavic group of languages

Among the three main ones, it is the smallest in terms of the number of native speakers. But this is an interesting group of Slavic languages, the list of which, as well as their dialects, is very extensive.

They are classified as follows:

1. Eastern subgroup. These include:

2. Western subgroup:

Serbo-Croatian language - about 20 million people use it. The basis for the literary version was the Shtokavian dialect, which is widespread in most of the Bosnian, Serbian, Croatian and Montenegrin territories.
Slovene is a language spoken by more than 2.2 million people in Slovenia and surrounding areas of Italy and Austria. It shares some common features with the dialects of Croatia and includes many dialects with large differences between them. In Slovenian (in particular its western and northwestern dialects) traces of old connections with the West Slavic languages (Czech and Slovak) can be found.

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

Slavic languages, according to the degree of their proximity to each other, are usually divided into 3 groups: East Slavic (Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian languages), South Slavic (Bulgarian, Macedonian, Serbo-Croatian and Slovenian languages) and Western Slavic (Czech, Slovak, Polish with a Kashubian dialect that has retained a certain genetic independence, Upper Sorbian and Lower Sorbian languages). 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). Each Slavic language includes a literary language with all its stylistic, genre and other varieties and its own territorial dialects. The ratios of all these elements in 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. The specific gravity of identical elements is often different. For example, the category of diminutive in the Czech language is expressed in more diverse and differentiated forms than in the Russian language.

Of the Indo-European languages, the Slavic languages are closest to the Baltic languages. This proximity served as the basis for the theory of the “Balto-Slavic proto-language”, according to which the Balto-Slavic proto-language first emerged from the Indo-European proto-language, which later split into Proto-Baltic and Proto-Slavic. However, most modern scientists explain their special closeness by the long-term contact of the ancient Balts and Slavs. It has not been established in what territory the separation of the language continuum from Indo-European occurred. 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 home. 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 an identical structure. Later, dialect variants arise. The process of transition of the Proto-Slavic language and its dialects into independent Slavic languages was long and complex. It took place most actively in the second half of the first millennium AD, 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 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 is mainly restored using data from Slavic languages from various periods of their history. The history of the Proto-Slavic language is divided into three periods: the oldest - before the establishment of close Balto-Slavic linguistic contact, the period of Balto-Slavic community and the period of dialectical fragmentation and the beginning of the formation of independent Slavic languages.

The individuality and originality of the Proto-Slavic language began to take shape 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 Palatals, the Proto-Slavic language is included in the satəm group (“sьrdьce”, “pisati”, “prositi”, cf. Latin “cor” - “cordis”, “pictus”, “precor”; “zьrno”, “znati”, "zima", cf. Latin "granum", "cognosco", "hiems"). However, this feature was implemented inconsistently: cf. Proto-Slavic “*kamy”, “*kosa”, “*gąsь”, “gordъ”, “bergъ”, etc. Proto-Slavic morphology represents significant deviations from the Indo-European type. This primarily applies to the verb, to a lesser extent to the name. Most of the suffixes were already formed on 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 was forbidden - the Indo-European “*perkuos”, from which the Latin “quercus”. The old Indo-European root has reached us only in the name of the pagan god Perun. In Slavic languages, the taboo “*dąbъ” was established, from where the Russian “oak”, Polish “dąb”, Bulgarian “дъб”, etc. The Indo-European name for the bear was lost. It is preserved only in the new scientific term “Arctic” (cf. Greek “αρκτος”). The Indo-European word in the Proto-Slavic language was replaced by the taboo 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” (“sъmрti”, but “umirati”), intonation (acute and circumflex) became relevant features. The most important processes of the Proto-Slavic period were the loss of closed syllables and the softening of consonants before the iota. In connection with the first process, all the ancient diphthong combinations into monophthongs, smooth syllabic, nasal vowels arose, a shift in the syllable division occurred, 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”, “take - take”, “name - yen”, Czech “žíti - žnu”, “vzíti - vezmu”, Serbo-Croatian “zheti - press”, “useti - uzmem”, “ime - names” . The softening of consonants before the iot is reflected in the form of alternations s/š, z/ž and others. All these processes had a strong impact on the grammatical structure and 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 palatalizations of the posterior palatal began to operate, as a result of which alternations of k/c, g/z, x/s 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 bases of the infinitive and the present tense. From the first, the infinitive, supine, aorist, imperfect, participles starting with “-l”, active participles of the past tense with “-vъ” and passive participles starting with “-n” were formed. From the foundations of the present tense the present tense was formed, imperative mood, present active participle. Later, in some Slavic languages, an imperfect began to form from this stem.

Even in the depths of the Proto-Slavic language, dialectical formations began to form. The most compact was the group of Proto-Slavic dialects, on the basis of which the East Slavic languages later arose. There were three subgroups in the West Slavic group: Lechitic, Serbo-Sorbian and Czech-Slovak. The most dialectically differentiated 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 XII-XIII 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 transferred for the needs of Great Moravia from Greek language into Slavic liturgical texts. 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, 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 943, the inscription of Tsar Samuel 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 Rus' - the Old Church Slavonic language, in the Czech Republic and Poland - the 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 XIV-XVI centuries. great perfection, has almost disappeared. Dominated the cities German. 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-20th centuries. reflects the interaction between the old book language and the spoken one. 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 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, and therefore 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. Slavic studies deals with the study of Slavic languages.

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MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND SCIENCE OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION

Federal State Autonomous educational institution higher education

"CRIMEAN FEDERAL UNIVERSITY NAMED AFTER V.I. Vernadsky" (Federal State Autonomous Educational Institution of Higher Education "KFU named after V.I. Vernadsky")

TAURIDE ACADEMY

Faculty of Slavic Philology and Journalism

on the topic: Modern Slavic languages

in the discipline: “Introduction to Slavic philology”

Completed by: Bobrova Marina Sergeevna

Scientific supervisor: Malyarchuk-Proshina Ulyana Olegovna

Simferopol - 2015

Introduction

1. Modern Slavic languages. General information

1.1 West Slavic group

1.2 South Slavic group

1.3 East Slavic group

2. West Slavic group of languages

2.1 Polish language

2.2 Czech language

2.3 Slovak language

2.4 Serbian Sorbian language

2.5 Polabian language

3. South Slavic group of languages

3.1 Serbo-Croatian language

3.2 Slovenian language

3.3 Bulgarian language

3.4 Macedonian language

4. East Slavic group of languages0

4.1 Russian language

4.2 Ukrainian language

4.3 Belarusian language

Conclusion

Literature

Introduction

SlaviclanguageAnd--a group of related languages of the Indo-European family (see. Indo-European languages). Distributed throughout Europe and Asia. The total number of speakers is over 290 million people. They are distinguished by a high degree of closeness to each other, which is found in the root word, affixes, word structure, the use of grammatical categories, sentence structure, semantics, a system of regular sound correspondences, and morphonological alternations. This closeness is explained both by the unity of origin of the Slavic languages and by their long and intensive contacts at the level of literary languages and dialects. There are, however, differences of a material, functional and typological nature, due to the long-term independent development of Slavic tribes and nationalities in different ethnic, geographical and historical-cultural conditions, their contacts with related and unrelated ethnic groups.

Slavic languages, according to the degree of their proximity to each other, 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. 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). Each Slavic language includes a literary language with all its stylistic, genre and other varieties and its own territorial dialects.

1 . Modern Slavic languages. ABOUTgeneral information

1. 1 West Slavic group

The West Slavic group includes Polish, Kashubian, Czech, Slovak and Serbo-Sorbian languages (Upper and Lower). Polish is spoken by about 35 million people living in Poland, and about 2 million Poles abroad (including about 100 thousand in Czechoslovakia - in Cieszyn Silesia and Orava). The Kashubians live in Poland on the coast of the Vistula current, mainly in the Morskaya and Kartuzy regions. Their number reaches 200 thousand. The closely related Czech and Slovak languages are represented on the territory of Czechoslovakia: In the western regions there are about 10 million. people use Czech; in the east, about 5 million speak Slovak. About 1 million people live outside Czechoslovakia. Czechs and Slovaks.

The Serbian Sorbian language is widespread in western Germany along the upper reaches of the river. Spree. The Upper Lusatians are part of the state of Saxony; The lower Lusatians live in Brandeburg. Lusatians are a national minority former GDR; before the Second World War there were about 180 thousand; Currently, their number is estimated at 150 thousand.

Thus, about 50 million people use West Slavic languages, which is approximately 17% of the total number of Slavs and about 10% of the total population of Europe.

In the territory of eastern Germany, West Slavic languages underwent German assimilation in the 12th-16th centuries and disappeared. Data from modern toponymy indicate an ancient Slavic population of Brandenburg, Mecklenburg, Saxony and some other areas. Back in the 18th century. Slavic speech was preserved on the Elbe, in the Lyukhovsky district on the river. Etse. The language of the Polabian Slavs is reconstructed on the basis of individual words and local names found in Latin and German documents, small recordings of live speech made in the 17th-18th centuries, and small dictionaries of that time. In Slavic studies it is called the “Polabian language”.

1.2 South Slavic group

The South Slavic group includes Serbo-Croatian, Slovenian, Bulgarian and Macedonian languages. They are distributed throughout most of the Balkan Peninsula. From Eastern Slavs the southern ones are distant from the territory of Romania, from the western ones - Hungary and Austria.

Serbo-Croatian, Slovenian and Macedonian languages are represented on the territory of Yugoslavia. The Slovenian language is spoken by about 1.5 million Slovenians living in Slovenia. 500 thousand Slovenians live outside Yugoslavia. The Kajkavian dialect is a transitional language from Slovenian to Serbo-Croatian.

The Serbo-Croatian language is spoken by over 18 million people, uniting Serbs and Croats, as well as Montenegrins and Bosnians. They use a single literary Serbo-Croatian language. The Serbo-Croatian language is separated from the Bulgarian language by a wide belt of transitional and mixed dialects stretching from the mouth of the river. Timok through Pirot Vranje, all the way to Prizren.

Macedonian is spoken by populations south of Skopje in Yugoslavia, Greece and Bulgaria. In the west, the territory of distribution of this language is limited by the Ohrid and Presnyansky lakes, in the east - the river. Struma. The total number of Macedonians is difficult to establish, but it is unlikely to exceed 1.5 million in total. The Macedonian language received literary treatment only after the Second World War.

Bulgarian is spoken by about 9 million people living in Bulgaria. In addition to the Macedonians living in Greece, it should be noted that one hundred people live outside of Bulgaria and Yugoslavia: Slovenes in Trieste, Italy, Austria, Serbs and Croats (about 120 thousand) in Hungary and Romania, Bulgarians in Moldova and Ukraine. The total number of South Slavs is about 31 million people.

1.3 East Slavic group

East Slavic languages are used as the main languages throughout the East European Plain north of the Black and Caspian Seas and the Caucasus Range, east of the Prut and Dniester rivers. The Russian language, which is a means of interethnic communication many Slavs (over 60 million).

2. West Slavic group of languages

2.1 Polish language

Poles use Latin script. To transmit some sounds they are used diacritics with Latin letters and combinations of letters.

There are eight vowel sounds in the literary language. Nasal vowels are not always pronounced the same way; in some positions the nasal sound is lost.

Distribution area Polish language is divided into five dialect groups: Greater Poland, Lesser Poland, Silesian, Masovian and Kashubian. The most extensive territories are occupied by the dialects of Greater Poland, Lesser Poland and Mavsosha.

The division into dialects is based on two features of Polish phonetics: 1) mazurenization, 2) features of interword phonetics. Masuria dominates in Mavsoshia, Lesser Poland and the northern part of Selesia.

The most significant features characterize the Kashubian dialect, which is widespread to the west of the lower Vistula. The number of speakers of this dialect reaches 200 thousand people. Some scholars believe that the Kashubian dialect should be taken as independent language and belong to the West Slavic subgroup.

Features of the dialect:

1. Place of stress different from Polish. In the southern part of the Kashubian region the stress falls on the initial syllable, in the north the stress is free and widespread.

2. Pronunciation of hard words s,dz.

3. Pronunciation of vowels i (y), and like е.

4. The presence of a soft consonant before the group - ar-.

5. Loss of nasality after soft consonants and before all consonants except d, n, s, z, r, t.

6. Partial preservation of vowel differences in length and shortness.

2.2 Czech

Czech graphics use the Latin alphabet. To convey Czech sounds, some changes and innovations have been made based on the use of superscripts.

Czech writing is dominated by the morphological principle, but there are a number of historical writings.

The distribution area of the Czech language is characterized by dialect diversity. The most important dialect groups are: Czech (Bohemia and Western Moravia), Middle Moravian and Polish (Silesia and north-eastern Moravia). This classification is based mainly on differences in the pronunciation of long vowels. Within the noted dialect groups, smaller dialect units are distinguished (in the Czech group there are: Central Bohemian, North Bohemian, West Bohemian and North-East Bohemian dialects; dialect diversity is especially great in Moravia). It should be noted that many dialects of eastern Moravia are close to the Slovak language

2 . 3 Slovak language

Distributed in the eastern regions of Czechoslovakia. It is closest to the Czech language, with which it shares commonalities grammatical structure and a significant part of the main vocabulary (the names of natural phenomena, animals, plants, parts of the year and day, many household items, etc. are identical).

The Slovak language consists of three dialects: Western Slovak, many of whose features are close to the neighboring Moravian dialects of the Czech language, Central Slovak - the dialectal basis of the modern literary language, Eastern Slovak, some dialects of which indicate Polish or Ukrainian influence.

2. 4 Serbolous Sorbian languagesTo

The Lusatian Serbs are descendants of the Western Slavs, who in the past occupied the territories between the Odra and the Elbe and underwent Germanization. They speak rather sharply different dialects: Upper Sorbian and Lower Sorbian, which is why there are two corresponding literary languages. In addition, it should be noted the presence of the East Lusatian (Muzhakovsky) dialect.

Writing in both Lusatian languages arose in the 16th century.

Lusatian graphics are Latin.

2.5 Polabian language

From the language of the tribes that once occupied the territory between the Oder and the Elbe, only information has been preserved about the language of the Drevlyan tribe, who lived on the left bank of the Elbe in the vicinity of Luneburg (Hannovrer). The last speakers of the Polabian language died out at the end of the 18th century, and our information about it is based on records and dictionaries of that language made by German lovers of folk art.

The entire region of the Polabian Slavs is usually divided into Veletian, Obodritian and Drevlyanian dialect groups, but there is no exact information about the first two.

3 . South Slavic group of languages

3.1 Serbo-Croatian language

The Serbo-Croatian language is used by three nations - Serbs, Croats and Montenegrins, as well as Bosniaks, residents of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Currently, the differences between the Serbian and Croatian versions of the literary language are only in vocabulary and pronunciation. The graphic form of these options differs; Serbs use the Cyrillic alphabet, which goes back to the Russian civil alphabet, and Croats use the Latin alphabet. The Serbo-Croatian language is characterized by significant dialect diversity. It is customary to distinguish three major dialects: Shtokavian, Chakavian and Kajkavian. They received these names based on the relatively insignificant feature of the interrogative pronoun that The Shtokavian dialect occupies most of the territory of the Serbo-Croatian language. The Chakavian dialect currently occupies a relatively small territory of the Serbo-Croatian language: the coast of Dalmatia, the western part of Croatia, part of Istria and the coastal islands of Krk, Rab, Brac, Korcula, etc. The Kajkavian dialect is located in the northwestern part of the Serbo-Croatian territory in Croatia (the center of Croatia is Zagreb is located in the territory of this adverb).

3.2 Slovenian language

The Slovenian literary language uses Croatian script.

The territory of the Slovenian language is distinguished by extreme dialect diversity. This is explained by the fragmentation of the people and partly by the nature of the terrain. Up to six dialect groups are distinguished: 1) Khorutan (extreme north-west); 2) seaside (west of Slovenia); 3) Vekhnekrainskaya (northwest of Ljubljana in the valley of the Sava River); 4) Nizhnekrainskaya (southeast of Ljubljana); 5) Styrian (in the northeast between Drava and Sava); 6) Pannonian (extreme northeast) with a Zamurian (beyond the Mura River) dialect, which has a long literary tradition.

3. 3 Bulgarian language

Bulgarians use the Cyrillic alphabet, which is derived from the Russian civil alphabet. The Bulgarian alphabet differs from the Russian alphabet in the absence of letters s And uh.

A characteristic feature that allows Bulgarian dialects to be grouped is the pronunciation of replacements for the old ? . In this regard, pan-Bulgarian dialects are divided into Western and Eastern. The border separating these two dialects comes from the mouth of the river. Vit through Pleven, Tatar-Pasardzhik, Melnik to Thessaloniki. Northeastern dialects are also distinguished.

3. 4 Macedonian language

The youngest and Slavic literary languages. Its development began in 1943, when, during the liberation struggle against Hitlerism, a decision was made to transform Yugoslavia into a federal state on the basis of national equality of all its peoples, including the Macedonians. The basis of the new literary language was the central dialects (Bitol, Prilep, Veles, Kichevo), where the influence of the Serbian and Bulgarian languages was relatively weaker. In 1945, a unified spelling was adopted, which was brought closer to graphics in 1946. The first school grammar was published.

In addition to the central one, there are also northern and southern dialects. A northern dialect extending north from Skopje and Kumanovo, as well as occupying Dolni Polog, characterized by features similar to the Serbian language. The southern dialect is diverse.

4. East Slavic group of languages

4.1 Russian language

Russians use graphics dating back to Cyrillic alphabet. At the direction of Peter I (1672-1725), the Slayan alphabet was replaced by the so-called “civil” alphabet. The letters were given a more rounded and simple form, convenient for both writing and printing; a number of unnecessary letters have been eliminated. The civil alphabet, with some modifications, is used by all Slavic peoples who do not use the Latin alphabet. The leading principle of Russian spelling is morphological, although we often find elements of phonetic and traditional spelling.

The Russian language is divided into two main dialects - Northern Great Russian and Southern Great Russian, between which Central Great Russian dialects stretch in a narrow strip from the gray-west to the southeast, forming a passage between the two dialects. Transitional dialects for the most part have a northern basis, on which later (after the 16th century) southern Russian features were layered.

The Northern Great Russian dialect is characterized by three main features common to all its dialects: okanye, vowel distinction A And O not only under stress but also in unstressed positions, by the presence G explosive and - T(hard) at the end of the 3rd person present tense of verbs. There are also clicking and clinking sounds (not distinguishing ts And h).

The South Great Russian dialect is characterized by akanye, the presence of r fricative and -t" (soft) in the 3rd person verbs. Yakanye is characteristic.

4.2 Ukrainian language

Ukrainian graphics are basically the same as in the Russian language. The peculiarity of e is, first of all, the absence of letters e, b, s, e. For transmission e in Ukrainian the combination is used yo And yo. In the meaning of a separating solid ъ an apostrophe is used.

The territory of the Ukrainian language is divided into three dialects: northern (to the north from the line Sudzha - Sumy - Kanev - Bila Tserkva - Zhitormir - Vladimir-Volynsky), southwestern and southeastern (the border between them goes from Skvira through Uman, Ananyev to the lower currents of the Dniester). The southeastern dialect formed the basis of the Ukrainian literary language. Its features basically coincide with the system of the literary language.

4.3 Belarusian language

The Belarusian alphabet differs from the Russian alphabet in the following features: vowel th always indicated by the letter i; letter ъ is absent and the dividing meaning is conveyed by an apostrophe; to convey non-syllabic y, a superscript is used; missing letter sch, since in Belarusian there is no such sound, but there is a combination shch. The basis Belarusian spelling the phonetic principle is laid down.

Territory Belarusian language is divided into two dialects: southwestern and northeastern. The approximate border between them goes along the line Vilnos - Minsk - Rogachev - Gomel. The principle of division is the character of Akanya and some others phonetic features. The southwestern dialect is characterized primarily by non-dissimilative akan and yakan. It should be noted that on the border with Ukrainian language There is a wide range of transitional Ukrainian-Belarusian dialects.

Slavic language phonetic morphological

Conclusion

The emergence of Slavic writing in the second half of the 9th century. (863) was of great importance for the development of Slavic culture. A very perfect graphics system for one type of Slavic speech, work has begun on translating some parts of the Bible and creating other liturgical texts. Old Church Slavonic language became common language due to Western influence and the transition to Catholicism. Therefore, the further use of the Old Church Slavonic language is associated primarily with the Slavic south and east. The use of Old Church Slavonic as a literary language led to the fact that this language was primarily subjected to grammatical processing.

The Proto-Slavic language has gone through a long history. It was during the existence of the Proto-Slavic language that all the main characteristic features Slavic languages. Among these phenomena, the main phonetic and morphological changes should be noted.

Literature

1. Kondrashov N.A. Slavic languages: Textbook. A manual for students of philology. specialist, ped, inst. - 3rd edition, revised. and additional - M.: Enlightenment, 1986.

2. Linguistic encyclopedic Dictionary edited by V.N. Yartseva

3. Kuznetsov P. S. Essays on the morphology of the Proto-Slavic language. M., 1961.

4. Nachtigal R. Slavic languages. M., 1963

5. Meie A. Common Slavic language, trans. from French, M., 1951.

6. Trubachev O.N. Ethnogenesis and culture the most ancient Slavs: linguistic research. M., 1991.

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