South Slavic languages

The South Slavic languages are a group of related languages spoken by around 30 million people. They are mainly used in the Balkans, a region in southeastern Europe. These languages are one of three main groups of Slavic languages, which also include the West and East Slavic languages.

What makes the South Slavic languages special is their unique position. They are separated from the other Slavic language speakers by areas where people speak Austrian German, Hungarian, and Romanian. This separation has helped these languages develop their own distinct characteristics over time.

Learning about these languages helps us understand the rich cultures and histories of the people who speak them. It shows how languages can change and grow when they are influenced by nearby cultures and languages.

History

The first South Slavic language to be written was Old Church Slavonic. It was spoken in Thessaloniki and dates back to the ninth century. Today, it is used in some Orthodox churches as a special language for ceremonies.

Classification

The South Slavic languages are a group of related languages spoken by around 30 million people, mostly in the Balkans. They are separated from other Slavic language speakers by areas where German, Hungarian, and Romanian are spoken.

South Slavic languages are divided into two main groups: Eastern and Western. The Eastern group includes Bulgarian and Macedonian, while the Western group includes Slovene and Serbo-Croatian. Serbo-Croatian itself has several versions spoken in different countries, such as Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian, and Montenegrin.

These languages share some common features that set them apart from other Slavic languages, like changes in certain sounds and word forms. However, experts sometimes debate whether these shared features mean they all come from a single ancient language or if they developed separately over time.

• South Slavic
  • Eastern South Slavic
    • Bulgarian
    • Macedonian
    • Old Church Slavonic
  • Western South Slavic  ^[ru]
    • Slovene
    • Serbo-Croatian
      • Serbian
      • Croatian
      • Bosnian
      • Montenegrin

Eastern South Slavic languages

Main article: Eastern South Slavic

The Eastern South Slavic languages are spoken mainly in Bulgaria and Macedonia, as well as in nearby areas. These languages have some special features that make them different from other Slavic languages. For example, they have a special word that means "the" (like "the book"), they do not change nouns much to show their role in a sentence, and they do not use a special form for future actions the same way other languages do. Bulgarian and Macedonian also share some of these features with languages like Greek and Albanian.

Bulgarian dialects

Main article: Bulgarian language

See also: Bulgarian dialects and Banat Bulgarian language

• Eastern Bulgarian dialects
• Western Bulgarian dialects (includes Torlakian dialects)

Macedonian dialects

Main article: Macedonian language

See also: Dialects of Macedonian

• Southeastern Macedonian dialects
• Northern Macedonian dialects (including three Torlakian dialects)
• Western Macedonian dialects

Torlakian dialect in Serbian

• Torlakian dialects in southeast Serbia are only spoken and not standardized, as Serbian literary language only recognizes the Shtokavian form (as other Serbo-Croatian languages)

Transitional South Slavic languages

Torlakian dialects

Main article: Torlakian dialects

The Torlakian dialects are spoken in parts of southeastern Serbia, northern North Macedonia, western Bulgaria, southeastern Kosovo, and some areas of western Romania. These dialects are special because they are a mix between the Western and Eastern groups of South Slavic languages. They are often linked with Bulgarian and Macedonian languages due to a shared area where languages have influenced each other over time, called the Balkan sprachbund. Because of this mix, some experts group Torlakian with Bulgarian and Macedonian into what they call Southeast Slavic.

Western South Slavic languages

History

The Western South Slavic languages have many different local dialects. In the past, each village often had its own special words and phrases. But during the 1900s, as people got used to TV, radio, and school, many local ways of speaking changed. After the breakup of Yugoslavia, people started speaking more in ways that matched their new countries. Wars caused many people to move, which also changed how people speak in places like Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and Serbia. Because of all these changes, it is hard to know which ways of speaking will stay or disappear.

Shtokavian dialects

Main article: Shtokavian

The eastern Herzegovinian dialect is the basis of the Bosnian, Croatian, Montenegrin, and Serbian standard variants of the pluricentric Serbo-Croatian.

Chakavian dialects

Main article: Chakavian

Chakavian is spoken in parts of Croatia, including Istria, the Kvarner Gulf, Dalmatia, and inland areas. It has special ways of saying words that came from old Slavic languages. Many Chakavian dialects keep words from Dalmatian and also borrow words from Venetian, Italian, Greek, and other Mediterranean languages.

Example: Ča je, je, tako je vavik bilo, ča će bit, će bit, a nekako će već bit!

Burgenland Croatian

Main article: Burgenland Croatian

This dialect is spoken in Austria, Slovakia, and Hungary by people whose families came from Croatia in the 1500s. It is different from standard Croatian because it has been influenced by German and Hungarian. It mixes features from different Croatian dialects.

Kajkavian dialects

Main article: Kajkavian

Kajkavian is mostly spoken in northern Croatia, near the borders with Hungary and Slovenia. It is spoken around cities like Zagreb, Varaždin, and Čakovec. Kajkavian has its own way of saying words and often uses the letter "e" where other dialects use different sounds. It also borrows words from Slovene and German.

Example: Kak je, tak je; tak je navek bilo, kak bu tak bu, a bu vre nekak kak bu!

Slovene dialects

Main article: Slovene dialects

Slovene is mainly spoken in Slovenia. It has many dialects, and experts do not even agree on how many there are. Some dialects are so different that people speaking them might have trouble understanding each other. Some southern Slovene dialects share features with Chakavian or Kajkavian dialects of Serbo-Croatian.

Comparison

The table below compares grammatical and phonological innovations. The similarity of Kajkavian and Slovene is apparent.^{[citation needed]}

Grammar

The Eastern and Western groups of South Slavic languages have some key differences. The Eastern languages, like Bulgarian and Macedonian, have lost many noun changes and use endings for definite articles. They also do not use infinitives in the same way as Western languages. For example, in Bulgarian, instead of saying "I want to go," they say "I want that I go."

The Western languages, such as Serbian, Bosnian, and Croatian, keep more noun changes and use different forms based on where they are spoken. Slovene is special because it keeps an old way of counting things in pairs, called the dual. In Macedonian, the way they talk about things they have done is different from other Slavic languages. They use the verb "to have" instead of "to be." For example, Macedonians say "I have seen," while Bulgarians say "I seen am."

Writing systems

Some South Slavic languages use the Latin script, like those spoken in Croatia and Slovenia. Others use Cyrillic, like those spoken in Serbia, Montenegro, Bulgaria, and Macedonia. Serbian uses both scripts equally, but Cyrillic is often used in newspapers and books by Serbian authors, while Latin is common in magazines and translated books. This split is partly tied to religion, with Orthodox countries favoring Cyrillic and Catholic countries using Latin. The Bosnian language, used by Muslim Bosniaks, typically uses Latin but has also used Bosnian Cyrillic in the past. Long ago, the Glagolitic alphabet was used in places like Bulgaria, Macedonia, and Croatia, but it is no longer in use.