East Slavic languages

The modern East Slavic languages ​​include Belarusian , Russian and Ukrainian , they also distinguish the Ruthenian language , the status of which as an independent language is the subject of scientific discussion ^[6] . Dead East Slavic languages ​​are: the common ancestor of all the languages ​​of the group is Old Russian ; the written language of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania is West Russian , as well as the Old Novgorod dialect, which had its own characteristic features ^[7] .

East Slavic languages ​​differ from other Slavic groups in the following features:

Phonetics

In the 10th century , the nasal vowels “o” and “e” (ǫ, ę), which changed to “u” and “'a”, were lost.

The pre-Slavic combinations * or, * ol, * er, * el developed into the full- consonant combinations -oro-, -olo-, -ere-, -elo in the position between the consonants. Example: Rus. “City”, “swamp”, “milk”, “coast” , Belor. “City”, “malako”, “berag” correspond to Polish. gród, błoto, mleko, brzeg , senior glory “Hail”, “blato”, “mlѣko”, “brѣg” ^[8] .

The initial East Slavic o- in the South and West Slavic languages ​​is regularly associated with a combination of je-. Example: Rus. “One”, “lake”, “deer” , Belor. “Adzin”, “carriage”, “deer” , Ukrainian “One”, “lake”, “deer” at the Bulgarian. “One”, “Jesero”, “Helen” , Czech. “Jeden”, “jezero”, “jelen” ^[8] .

In Old Russian, there was originally a pan-Slavic voiced explosive posterior consonant g, which is preserved in the literary Russian language (“g”), and in Ukrainian and Belarusian languages ​​(and South Russian dialects), it became a voiced fricative posterolinguistic γ; according to Yu. V. Shevelev , this transition took place in the 2nd half of the XII - beginning of the XIII centuries. ( R.I. Avanesov , however, dates the indicated transition to the 11th – 1st half of the 12th century ^[9] ), and in the 16th century in the Ukrainian language this sound turned into a voiced fricative glottal ɦ. Among the Western Slavic languages, a similar transition (but occurring independently and at different times) occurred in the Czech , Slovak, and Upper Luzhsky languages ^[10] .

The pre-Slavic combinations * tj, * dj developed into the consonants "h", "j" (in the Russian language simplified to "f"), in contrast to "pcs", "railway" among the southern Slavs and "q", "dz" in Western Slavs. Example: Rus. candle, give birth , Ukrainian candle, folk , belor. candle, narajayu correspond polish. świeca, rodzę, senior glory Holy birth . The combinations * stj, zdj naturally gave "sch" ("sch"), "zhj", preserved in the Ukrainian and Belarusian languages ​​and simplified to / w: /, / f: / in Russian.

From the pre-Slavic combinations of labial consonants with j, in all positions an epenthetic “l” has consistently developed. In the West Slavic, it is present only in the initial position, and in the South Slavic it developed inconsistently. Example: Rus. I spit, the land corresponds to Polish. pluję, ziemia ^[11] .

The Fate of the Reduced

In the period of the XII-XIII centuries, the pre-Slavic reduced - vowels "b" and "b" were lost. Common to all East Slavic languages ​​was the loss of “b” and “b” in weak positions and their successive transition to “o” and “e” in strong:

• other Russian det > rus. Ukrainian white sleep
• other Russian Sina > Rus. Ukrainian white sleep
• other Russian пн > рус. Ukrainian Belor. stump
• other Russian pnya > rus. Ukrainian Belor. stump

The fate of the same sounds in the positions before [j] and after “p”, “l” without stress, the so-called tense reduced “y̌”, “̌”, differed in the Russian language on the one hand and in Belarusian and Ukrainian on the other.

• In the future Russian language, they merged with unstressed in all cases: dr. shǐya, wě, trouble, glatati > rus. neck, mine, anxiety, swallow .
• In the future Ukrainian and Belarusian languages, they merged with the vowels of the full education “s”, “and”: dr. shǐya, wě, trouble, glatati > ukr. shiya, miyu , trivoga, glitati , belor. shyya, wash, anxiety, lump .

Subsequently, the results of the fall and vocalization of the reduced ones were obscured by later phonetic processes, such as the coincidence of “s” and “and” (in Ukrainian), hardening of hissing and “p” (in Belarusian), partial transition ['e]> ['o] (in all three languages). The South Slavic influence in the Russian language led to the replacement in some cases of the unstressed “o” (<“y̌”), “e” (<“и̌”) with “s”, “and”: old , extreme .

The Pre-Slavic and Old Russian * jь- in the initial syllable gave a tense reduced, which changed according to the general rules in the Ukrainian and Belarusian languages, but converted to “and” in Russian: praslav. * jístina, * jíměti > rus. truth, to have , Ukrainian Istina, mother , belor. Istsina, Metz .

In the Ukrainian language, there was a change in the original “o”, “e” in the syllable, which became closed after the loss of the weak “b”, “b” in the following syllable: “o”, “e” lengthened and diphthongized: “horse”> “horse” > “Ku͡n” (with a further change in the diphthong to “and”: “kin”).

Vocabulary

The main part of the vocabulary of the East Slavic languages ​​is inherited from the Pre-Slavic language, but, in addition, specific East Slavic elements that are not characteristic of the South Slavic and West Slavic languages, as well as words that arose in relatively late eras in certain East Slavic languages, are also found. In the vocabulary of the East Slavic languages, borrowings from Turkic , Finno-Ugric , Samoyed , Baltic , Iranian , various Germanic (Gothic, Old Norse), Caucasian and some others are also found. In the Russian language, ancient borrowings are noted - from Western European languages ​​(primarily French , German , in modern times - English ). The Ukrainian and Belarusian languages ​​reflect the significant influence of Polish vocabulary.

The history of modern East Slavic languages ​​since the XI century is easily traced by the preserved written monuments. Modern East Slavic languages ​​go back to one source - the Old Russian language .

In the XI century, all the eastern Slavs were part of the Old Russian state . On the territory occupied by the Eastern Slavs, a single Old Russian language began to form. Spoken Old Russian language had territorial dialects, distinguished by their phonetic , lexical and morphological features.

At the end of the XII - the beginning of the XIII century, the Kiev state disintegrated, as a result of which the formation of a single Old Russian language was stopped. On the basis of its individual territorial dialects, the formation of independent related East Slavic languages ​​began in the XIV century, which eventually became Russian , Belarusian and Ukrainian .

Since the end of the X century, the Eastern Slavs in connection with the spread of Christianity received the written language that came from Bulgaria . Modern East Slavic languages ​​use alphabets based on the Cyrillic alphabet .

East Slavic signs are already found in the monuments of the Old Slavic language of the 11th century : the Ostromir Gospel and the Novgorod Codex .

Birch bark letters are known - the monuments of writing of Ancient Russia of the XI - XV centuries.

• Northern Slavic languages
• West Slavic languages
• East Slavs
• Slavs

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