Slavic languages

The Slavic languages (also called Slavonic languages), a group of closely related languages of the Slavic peoples and a subgroup of Indo-European languages, have speakers in most of Eastern Europe, in much of the Balkans, in parts of Central Europe, and in the northern part of Asia.

History

Common roots and ancestry

One can view all Slavic languages as descendants from Proto-Slavic, their parent language.

Related Topics:
Proto-Slavic - Parent language

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

According to some historical linguistics theories, Proto-Slavic in turn developed from the Proto-Balto-Slavic language, a common ancestor of Proto-Baltic, the parent of the Baltic languages. According to this theory, the "Urheimat" of Proto-Balto-Slavic lay in the territories surrounding today's Lithuania at some time after the Indo-European language community had separated into different dialect regions (c. 3000 BC). Slavic and Baltic speakers share at least 289 words which could have come from that hypothetical language. According to some linguists the process of separation of Proto-Slavic speakers from Proto-Baltic speakers presumably occurred around 1000 BC.

Related Topics:
Historical linguistics - Proto-Balto-Slavic - Proto-Baltic - Urheimat - Lithuania - 3000 BC - 1000 BC

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

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

Related Topics:
Lithuanian - Latvian - Old Prussian - Baltic Sea - AD 600 - Greece - Adalbert of Prague - AD 997

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A minority of linguists, spurred by the idea of "geolinguistics", view the southern branch of the Slavic languages as possibly autochthonous to the Balkans.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Differentiation of Slavic languages

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

Related Topics:
Linguist - 10th - 12th centuries

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Linguistic differentiation received impetus from the dispersion of the Slavic peoples over large territory - which in Central Europe exceeded the current extent of Slavic-speaking majorities. Written documents of the 9th, 10th and 11th centuries already have some local linguistic features. For example the Freising monuments show a language which contains some phonetic and lexical elements peculiar to Slovenian dialects (e.g. rhotacism, the word krilatec).

Related Topics:
Freising monuments - Rhotacism

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Separation of South and West Slavs

The movement of Slavic-speakers into the Balkans in the declining centuries of the Byzantine empire expanded the area of Slavic speech, but pre-existing languages (notably Greek) survived in this area. The arrival of the Hungarians in Pannonia in the 9th century interposed non-Slavic speakers between South and West Slavs. Frankish conquests completed the geographical separation between these two groups, severing the connection between Slavs in Lower Austria (Moravians) from those in present-day Styria, Carinthia and East Tyrol, ancestors of present-day Slovenians.

Related Topics:
Balkans - Byzantine empire - Pannonia - 9th century - Frankish - Lower Austria - Moravians - Styria - Carinthia - East Tyrol - Slovenians

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Slavic-speaking populations under foreign rule

Political situations have also affected the use and scope of the Slavic languages. In the course of their history, many Slavic-speaking communities came under foreign rule for longer or shorter periods. Poland underwent partition, German-speaking empires appeared to absorb the Czechs for many centuries, and the Ottomans in their hey-day dominated the Balkan Slavs. Even the Russians had to submit to the Tatar yoke.

Related Topics:
Poland - German-speaking - Czechs - Ottomans - Balkan - Russians - Tatar

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The largest geographical extent of Slavic population, which in the Middle Ages included the majority of the present-day German lands of Brandenburg and Pomerania, diminished in the course of the German Drang nach Osten.

Related Topics:
Middle Ages - German - Brandenburg - Pomerania - Drang nach Osten

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Turkish incursions suppressed the regional hegemonies of Bulgarian and Serbian speakers; Poland suffered decline, partition and extinction as a separate national state in the 18th century. Until the 20th century, certain speech-groups (such as speakers of Slovenian) lacked the resources to establish their own distinctive independent nation-states. Other communities (speakers of Sorbian or of Kashubian, for example) remain as minorities in the current system of nation-states.

Related Topics:
Turk - Sorbian - Kashubian

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Some speech-communities have long stood under the influence of others -- even other Slavs: speakers of Ukrainian and Belarusian came under Polish and/or Russian rule; German-speaking overlords have long dominated the Sorbian-speakers. In the case of Czech- and Slovak-speakers, originally kindred languages diverged when the former came under German rule, the latter under Hungarian. The same division marks the now well-established border between the Slovenian and Croatian language areas, even if some bordering dialects of the two languages indicate an almost smooth transition.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Despite their frequent lack of political power, speakers of Slavic languages demonstrated resilience, sometimes culturally taking over foreign political rulers, as in Bulgaria, where Bulgar overlords became Slavicized. Similarly, in the Republic of Dubrovnik Croatian became an official language in parallel to Ragusan Dalmatian and Latin. Even under the Ottoman Empire, south-eastern Europe, except for Greece proper and Albanian, Romanian and Hungarian areas, remained Slavic speaking.

Related Topics:
Bulgaria - Bulgar - Republic of Dubrovnik - Croatian - Ragusan Dalmatian - Latin - Ottoman Empire - Greece - Albania

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Modern developments

In the 19th century Pan-Slavism combined with nationalism to foster linguistic and literary expansion and revival: often under the aegis of the Russian tsars. The arrival of Communist regimes in the 20th century fostered the separate lingustic development of Ukrainian, Belarusian and Macedonian, for example, but the years from 1945 to 1990 saw the vast majority of Slavic speakers grouped in the institutions of the Warsaw Pact under Soviet Russian domination. The following trend to political independence and the break-up of the old unified polities (Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia) has encouraged a greater diversity of Slavic linguistic paths.

Related Topics:
Pan-Slavism - Nationalism - Communist - Warsaw Pact - Soviet

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~