View source for West Slavic languages

{{Short description|Subdivision of the Slavic language group}}
{{Infobox language family
|name        = West Slavic 
|ethnicity   = [[West Slavs]]
|region      = [[Central Europe]]
|familycolor = Indo-European
|fam2        = [[Balto-Slavic languages|Balto-Slavic]]
|fam3        = [[Slavic languages|Slavic]]
|child1      = [[Czech–Slovak languages|Czech–Slovak]]
|child2      = [[Lechitic languages|Lechitic]]
|child3      = [[Sorbian languages|Sorbian]]
|iso5        = zlw
|glotto      = west2792
|glottorefname= West Slavic
|map         = Zapadoslovanske.jpg
|mapcaption = Distribution of the West Slavic languages and dialects. 
| ancestor      = [[Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European]]
| altname       = West Slavonic
| ancestor2     = [[Proto-Balto-Slavic language|Proto-Balto-Slavic]]
| ancestor3     = [[Proto-Slavic language|Proto-Slavic]]
| ancestor4     = [[Old West Slavic language|Old West Slavic]]
}}
[[File:Slavic languages tree.svg|thumb|right|300px|Balto-Slavic languages.]]
The '''West Slavic languages''' are a subdivision of the [[Slavic languages|Slavic language group]].<ref name="Winkler Prins">{{cite encyclopedia |title=Slavische talen |encyclopedia=[[Encarta]] Encyclopedie [[Winkler Prins]] |date=1993–2002 |publisher=Microsoft Corporation/Het Spectrum |language=nl}}</ref> They include [[Polish language|Polish]], [[Czech language|Czech]], [[Slovak language|Slovak]], [[Kashubian language|Kashubian]], [[Silesian language|Silesian]], [[Upper Sorbian language|Upper Sorbian]] and [[Lower Sorbian language|Lower Sorbian]].<ref name="Winkler Prins"/> The languages have traditionally been spoken across a mostly continuous region encompassing the [[Czech Republic]], [[Slovakia]], [[Poland]],<ref name="Winkler Prins" /> the westernmost regions of [[Ukraine]] and [[Belarus]], and a bit of eastern [[Lithuania]].{{cn|date=August 2022}} In addition, there are several [[language island]]s such as the Sorbian areas in [[Lusatia]] in [[Germany]],<ref name="Winkler Prins"/> and Slovak areas in [[Hungary]] and elsewhere.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Slowaakse taal |encyclopedia=Encarta Encyclopedie Winkler Prins |date=1993–2002 |publisher=Microsoft Corporation/Het Spectrum |language=nl}}</ref>

== Classification ==
West Slavic is usually divided into three subgroups—[[Czech–Slovak languages|Czech–Slovak]], [[Lechitic languages|Lechitic]] and [[Sorbian languages|Sorbian]]—based on similarity and degree of [[mutual intelligibility]]. The groupings are as follows:<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.phil.muni.cz/jazyk/files/IEclassSIGL.pdf|title=On the internal classification of Indo-European languages: Survey|first=Václav|last=Blažek|pages=16–17}}</ref>

{{clade
|label1=West Slavic
|1={{clade
   |label1=[[Lechitic languages|Lechitic]]
   |1={{clade
      |1=[[Polish language|Polish]]
      |label2=[[Pomeranian language|Pomeranian]]
      |2={{clade
         |1=[[Kashubian language|Kashubian]]
         |2=[[Slovincian language|Slovincian]] {{†}}
         }}
      |3=[[Polabian language|Polabian]] {{†}}
      }}
   |label2=[[Sorbian languages|Sorbian]]
   |2={{clade
      |1=[[Lower Sorbian language|Lower Sorbian]]
      |2=[[Upper Sorbian language|Upper Sorbian]]
      }}
   |label3=[[Czech–Slovak languages|Czech–Slovak]]
   |3={{clade
      |1=[[Czech language|Czech]]
      |2=[[Slovak language|Slovak]]
      }}
   }}
}}

The [[Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology]] classifies the West Slavic languages within their [[Glottolog]] database as follows:<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/west2792 |title=Glottolog 4.8 - West Slavic |date=2023-07-10 |access-date=2023-09-06 |website=[[Glottolog]] |last=Hammarström |first=Harald |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230907041818/https://glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/west2792 |archive-date=2023-09-07 |url-status=live |publisher=[[Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology]] |author-link=Harald Hammarström |last2=Forkel |first2=Robert |publication-place=[[Leipzig]] |doi=10.5281/zenodo.7398962 |last3=Haspelmath |first3=Martin |author-link3=Martin Haspelmath |last4=Bank |first4=Sebastian |doi-access=free}}</ref>

{{clade
|label1=West Slavic
|1={{clade
   |label1=[[Czech–Slovak languages|Czech–Slovak]]
   |1={{clade
      |1=[[Czech language|Czech]]<ref name="Knaanic" group="note">[[Knaanic language|Knaanic]] is classified as a dialect of Czech under the name "West Judeo-Slavic".</ref>
      |2=[[Slovak language|Slovak]]
      }}
   |label2=[[Lechitic languages|Lechitic]]
   |2={{clade
      |label1=Polish–Silesian
      |1={{clade
         |1=[[Polish language|Polish]]
         |2=[[Silesian language|Silesian]]
         }}
      |2=[[Kashubian language|Kashubian]]<ref name="Slovincian" group="note">[[Slovincian language|Slovincian]] is classified as a dialect of Kashubian.</ref>
      |3=[[Polabian language|Polabian]] {{†}}
      }}
   |label3= [[Sorbian languages|Sorbian]]
   |3={{clade
      |1=[[Lower Sorbian language|Lower Sorbian]]
      |2=[[Upper Sorbian language|Upper Sorbian]]
      }}
   }}
}}

Some linguists include Upper and Lower Sorbian in the Lechitic branch, but other linguists regard it as a separate branch.{{sfn|Sussex|Cubberley|2006|p=55}} The reason for this is that 'the Sorbian dialects are extremely diverse, and there are virtually no linguistic features common to all Sorbian dialects which distinguish them as a group from the other Slavic languages' (Sussex & Cubberley 2006).{{sfn|Sussex|Cubberley|2006|p=55}} Czech and Slovak are more closely related to each other than to the other West Slavic languages, and also closer to each other than Polish and Sorbian are.{{sfn|Sussex|Cubberley|2006|p=55}} Czecho-Slovak (Slovak in particular) shares certain features with other Slavic languages, such as [[Slovene language|Slovene]] and [[Serbo-Croatian|BCMS]].{{sfn|Sussex|Cubberley|2006|p=55}}

==Distinctive features==
Some distinctive features of the West Slavic languages, as from when they split from the [[East Slavic languages|East Slavic]] and [[South Slavic languages|South Slavic]] branches around the 3rd to 6th centuries AD (alternatively, between the 6th and 10th centuries{{sfn|Sussex|Cubberley|2006|p=58}}), are as follows:<ref>Zenon Klemensiewicz, ''Historia języka Polskiego'', 7th edition, Wydawnictwo naukowe PWN, Warsaw 1999. {{ISBN|83-01-12760-0}}</ref>
* Development of [[Proto-Slavic]] ''*tj'', ''*dj'' into palatalized ''ts'', ''(d)z'', as in modern Polish/Czech/Slovak ''{{lang|pl|noc}}'' ("night"; compare Russian {{lang|ru|ночь}} (''noch''));
* Retention of the groups ''kv'', ''gv'' as in Polish {{Lang|pl|kwiat}} ("flower"); ''{{lang|pl|gwiazda}}'' ("star") (Compare Russian {{Lang|ru|цвет}} (''cvet''); {{lang|ru|звезда}} (''zvezda''));
* Retention of ''tl'', ''dl'', as in Polish/Slovak/Czech ''{{lang|pl|radło/radlo/rádlo}}'' ("[[ard (plough)|ard]]"; compare Russian {{lang|ru|рало}});
* Palatized ''x'' developed into ''š'', as in Polish ''{{lang|pl|musze}}'' ([[locative]] case of ''{{lang|pl|mucha}}'', "fly");
* The groups ''pj'', ''bj'', ''mj'', ''vj'' developed into (soft) consonant forms without the [[epenthesis]] of ''l'', as in Polish ''{{lang|pl|kupię}}'' ("I shall buy"; compare Russian {{lang|ru|куплю}});
* A tendency towards [[fixed stress]] (on the first syllable in Czech and Slovak and on the penultimate syllable in Polish);
* Use of the endings ''-ego'' or ''-ého'' for the genitive singular of the adjectival declension;
* Extension of the accusative form ''*tъnъ'' to nominative in place of ''*tъ'', leading to Slovak/Polish/Czech ''{{lang|pl|ten}}'' ("this" (masc.); compare Russian {{lang|ru|тот}}; [[Old Church Slavonic]] [[wiktionary:тъ#Old_Church_Slavonic|тъ]]);
* Extension of the genitive form ''*čьso'' to nominative and accusative in place of ''čь(to)'', leading to Polish/Czech ''{{lang|pl|co}}'' ("what", compare Russian {{lang|ru|что}}; OCS [[wiktionary:чьто|чьто]], genitive чьсо).

Although influences from other language families have contributed a large number of [[loanword]]s, and to a lesser extent to verb [[Morphology (linguistics)|morphology]] and syntax, the Slavic languages retained a distinctly Slavic character, with clear roots in Indo-European.{{sfn|Sussex|Cubberley|2006|p=58}}

The West Slavic languages are all written in the [[Latin script]], while the East Slavic branch uses Cyrillic{{sfn|Sussex|Cubberley|2006|p=60}} and the South Slavic branch is mixed.{{sfn|Sussex|Cubberley|2006|p=58}}<ref name="O.T. Ford">{{cite web|author=O.T. Ford|url=http://the-stewardship.org/research/reference/slavs.htm|title=Slavs|publisher=The Stewardship|website=the-stewardship.org|accessdate=2022-01-27}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/serbia-proposes-law-changes-to-halt-cyrillic-s-decline-08-01-2018 |title=Serbia Proposes Law Changes to Halt Cyrillic's Decline |last=Zivanovic |first=Maja |work=Balkan Insight |date=2 August 2018 |access-date=28 November 2018}}</ref>

==History==
{{see|Early Slavs|Wends|Veneti (Slavs)|Vistula Veneti|List of Medieval Slavic tribes}}

The [[early Slavs|early Slavic expansion]] reached Central Europe in c. the 7th century, and the West Slavic dialects diverged from Common Slavic over the following centuries. West Slavic polities of the 9th century include   the [[Principality of Nitra]] and  [[Great Moravia]]. The West Slavic tribes settled on the eastern fringes of the [[Carolingian Empire]], along the ''{{lang|la|[[Limes Saxoniae]]}}''. The [[Obotrites]] were given territories by [[Charlemagne]] in exchange for their support in his war against the [[Saxons]].{{Citation needed|date=August 2022}}

In the high medieval period, the West Slavic tribes were again pushed to the east by the incipient German ''{{lang|de|[[Ostsiedlung]]}}'', decisively so following the [[Wendish Crusade]] in the 11th century. The Sorbs and other [[Polabian Slavs]] like [[Obodrites]] and [[Veleti]] came under the domination of the [[Holy Roman Empire]] and were strongly [[germanization|Germanized]].<ref>Christiansen, Erik (1997). The Northern Crusades. London: Penguin Books. p. 287. {{ISBN|0-14-026653-4}}.</ref>  

The Bohemians established the [[Duchy of Bohemia]] in the 9th century, which was incorporated into the Holy Roman Empire in the early 11th century. At the end of the 12th century the duchy was raised to the status of [[Kingdom of Bohemia|kingdom]], which was legally recognized in 1212 in the [[Golden Bull of Sicily]]. [[Lusatia]], the homeland of the remaining Sorbs, became a [[crown land]] of Bohemia in the 11th century, and Silesia followed suit in 1335. The [[Slovaks]], on the other hand, never became part of the Holy Roman Empire, being incorporated into the [[Kingdom of Hungary]]. Hungary fell under [[Habsburg monarchy|Habsburg rule]] alongside Austria and Bohemia in the 16th century, thus uniting the Bohemians, Moravians, Slovaks, and Silesians under a single ruler. While Lusatia was lost to [[Electorate of Saxony|Saxony]] in 1635 and most of Silesia was lost to [[Prussia]] in 1740, the remaining West Slavic Habsburg dominions remained part of the [[Austrian Empire]] and then [[Austria-Hungary]], and after that remained united until 1992 in the form of [[Czechoslovakia]].{{Citation needed|date=August 2022}}

Over the past century, there have been efforts by some to standardize and to recognize [[Silesian language|Silesian]], [[Lachian Language|Lachian]], and [[Moravian dialects|Moravian]] as [[Language secessionism|separate languages]].{{Citation needed|date=August 2022}}

==See also==
*{{anl|West Slavs}}
*[[Comparison of Czech and Slovak]]
* [[Outline of Slavic history and culture]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist|liststyle=lower-alpha|group=note}}

==References==
{{commons category|West Slavic languages}}
{{reflist}}

== Bibliography ==
*{{cite book |last1=Sussex |first1=Roland |last2=Cubberley |first2=Paul |title=The Slavic Languages |year=2006 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9780521223157}}

{{Slavic languages}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:West Slavic Languages}}
[[Category:West Slavic languages| ]]