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- DictionarySlav·ic/ˈslävik/
adjective
- 1. relating to or denoting the branch of the Indo-European language family that includes Russian, Ukrainian, and Belorussian (East Slavic), Polish, Czech, Slovak, and Sorbian (West Slavic), and Bulgarian, Serbian, Croatian, Macedonian, and Slovene (South Slavic).
noun
- 1. the Slavic languages collectively.
The Slavs or Slavic people are a group of peoples who speak Slavic languages.Slavs are geographically distributed throughout the northern parts of Eurasia; they predominantly inhabit Central Europe, Eastern Europe, and Southeastern Europe, though there is a large Slavic minority scattered across the Baltic states, Northern Asia, and Central Asia, and a substantial Slavic diaspora in the ...
Slav, member of the most numerous ethnic and linguistic body of peoples in Europe, residing chiefly in eastern and southeastern Europe but extending also across northern Asia to the Pacific Ocean. Slavic languages belong to the Indo-European family. Customarily, Slavs are subdivided into East Slavs (chiefly Russians, Ukrainians, and Belarusians ...
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Overview
- Languages of the family
Slavic languages, group of Indo-European languages spoken in most of eastern Europe, much of the Balkans, parts of central Europe, and the northern part of Asia. The Slavic languages, spoken by some 315 million people at the turn of the 21st century, are most closely related to the languages of the Baltic group (Lithuanian, Latvian, and the now-ext...
The Slavic language group is classified into three branches: (1) the South Slavic branch, with its two subgroups Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian-Slovene and Bulgarian-Macedonian, (2) the West Slavic branch, with its three subgroups Czech-Slovak, Sorbian, and Lekhitic (Polish and related tongues), and (3) the East Slavic branch, comprising Russian, Ukrainian, and Belarusian.
In the spoken Slavic dialects (as opposed to the sharply differentiated literary languages), the linguistic frontiers are not always apparent. There are transitional dialects that connect the different languages, with the exception of the area where the South Slavs are separated from the other Slavs by the non-Slavic Romanians, Hungarians, and German-speaking Austrians. Even in the latter domain, some vestiges of the old dialectal continuity (between Slovene, Serbian, and Croatian on the one hand and Czech and Slovak on the other) can be traced; similar remnants of the old links are seen in comparing Bulgarian and Russian dialects.
Thus, it should be noted that the traditional family tree of the Slavic group with three separate branches is not to be taken as the real model of historical development. It would be more realistic to represent the historical development as a process in which tendencies to differentiate and to reintegrate the dialects have been continuously at work, bringing about a remarkable degree of uniformity throughout the Slavic area.
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Still it would be an exaggeration to suppose that communication between any two Slavs is possible without any linguistic complications. The myriad differences between the dialects and languages in phonetics, grammar, and, above all, vocabulary may cause misunderstandings even in the simplest of conversations; and the difficulties are greater in the language of journalism, technical usage, and belles lettres, even in the case of closely connected languages. Thus, Russian zelënyj ‘green’ is recognizable to all Slavs, but krasnyj ‘red’ means ‘beautiful’ in the other languages. In Serbian and Croatian vrijedan means ‘hard-working,’ but Russian vrednyj means ‘harmful.’ Suknja is ‘skirt’ in Serbian and Croatian, ‘coat’ in Slovene. The month listopad is October in Croatian, November in Polish and Czech.
The Slavic languages, also known as the Slavonic languages, are Indo-European languages spoken primarily by the Slavic peoples and their descendants. They are thought to descend from a proto-language called Proto-Slavic, spoken during the Early Middle Ages, which in turn is thought to have descended from the earlier Proto-Balto-Slavic language ...
Sep 10, 2014 · Definition. The term " Slavs " designates an ethnic group of people who share a long-term cultural continuity and who speak a set of related languages known as the Slavic languages (all of which belong to the Indo-European language family). Little is known about the Slavs before they are mentioned in Byzantine records of the 6th century CE, and ...
- Cristian Violatti
Mar 22, 2024 · Slavic religion, beliefs and practices of the ancient Slavic peoples of eastern Europe. Slavs are usually subdivided into East Slavs (Russians, Ukrainians, and Belorussians), West Slavs (Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, and Lusatians [Sorbs]), and South Slavs (Bosnians, Serbs, Croats, Slovenes, Macedonians,
Learn about the Slavic languages, their history, culture, and diversity, and how to study them at Harvard. The department offers instruction in five Slavic languages, including Russian, Ukrainian, Polish, Czech, and Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian, and provides courses, events, and resources for students and faculty.
