Slovak language

Dialects

The spoken Slovak language consists of a large number of dialects that can be divided in three basic groups:

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• Eastern Slovak dialects (in Spis, Saris, Zemplin and Abov)
• Central Slovak dialects (in Liptov, Orava, Turiec, Tekov, Hont, Novohrad, Gemer and the historic Zvolen county)
• Western Slovak dialects (in remaining Slovakia)

They differ mostly in phonology, inflection and vocabulary. The differences in syntax are minor. Modified Central Slovak forms the basis of the present-day standard language. Not all dialects are fully mutually intelligible. The differences between some Slovak dialects make it for example often impossible for an inhabitant of the Slovak capital Bratislava (in western Slovakia) to understand a person from eastern Slovakia. Also, at the dialect level, only some dialects of western Slovak can be considered fully mutually intelligible with the Czech language, with which Slovak borders in the west.

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The dialects are fragmented geographically, separated by numerous mountain ranges (Slovakia is a mountainous country). The above three groups already existed in the 10th century. All the three dialect groups are also spoken by the Slovaks living outside Slovakia (in Hungary, Serbia, Romania, Croatia, Bulgaria and elsewhere).

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The western dialects contain many features common with the Moravian dialects in the Czech Republic, the southern central dialects contain a few features common with South Slavic languages, and the eastern dialects a few features common with Polish and the East Slavonic languages. However, historically, Slovak dialects arose as varieties of the autonomous Slovak language and they arose neither from the Czech, nor from the Polish, nor from the Ukrainian language.

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