Western South Slavic languages

Western South Slavic languages ​​form a single linguistic continuum , smoothly passing into the eastern South Slavic area . In this language territory, mixed and transitional dialects formed: Slovenian-Kaykavian (Slovenian-Croatian), Serbian-Macedonian and Serbian-Bulgarian ^[10] .

The modern dialect landscape of the Serbo-Croatian range is represented by four dialects, or dialects : Shtokavsky , Chakavsky , Kaykavsky and Torlak . The linguistic features of the Serbo-Croatian dialects are so different that mutual understanding of the speakers of individual dialects who do not speak the literary language can be very difficult. The most common in terms of number of speakers and coverage of the area of ​​distribution is the Shtokav dialect. It is spoken in Montenegro , Bosnia and Herzegovina, and in most parts of Serbia and Croatia ^[13] .

The dialects of the Shtokav dialect ( Novoshtokav East Herzegovina and Shumdiy-Voivodina ) are the basis of modern Croatian, Bosnian, Serbian and Montenegrin literary norms ^[14] . Also on the Shtokav basis, a small Slavic literary language was formed in Italy - the Molisian-Slavic . In addition, attempts are being made to create a literary language based on the Bunev dialects of the Shtokav dialect in the border regions of Serbia and Hungary ^[15] .

The Torlak dialect, whose range is located in southeastern Serbia, is similar in structure to the languages ​​of the Balkan language union , the dialects of the Torlak dialect form a transitional dialect belt from the Shtokav area to the area of ​​distribution of the Bulgarian and Macedonian languages ^[13] .

The Chakavian dialect is spoken in the coastal regions of western Croatia, the Kaykavian dialect is spoken in northern and central Croatia, mainly in areas adjacent to Slovenia , including in the vicinity of Zagreb . The Kaykavian dialect is in many ways similar to the dialects of the Slovenian language ^[13] . Based on the dialects of the Chakavian and Kaykavian dialects, the Chakavian and Kaykavian regional literary languages ​​are developed, which are mainly limited to the field of fiction. In addition, a regional language based on the dialects of the Chakava dialect was formed in Austria among the Gradiscan Croatians - the Gradiscan-Croatian, or the Burgenland-Croatian language ^[2] . At present, the Chakavian and Kaykavian dialects are most often considered as dialectal unions of the Croatian language ^[7] .

The Slovenian language range is composed of seven dialect groups - Carinthian , Maritime , Rovtarsky , Gorensky , Doleni , Styrian and Pannonian ^[16] . In a number of regions of Slovenia and in neighboring countries, regional spoken languages ​​are formed, partly crowding out some Slovenian dialects. These languages ​​are local subdialectic entities. The Central Slovenian, Southern Styrian, Northern Styrian, Primorye, Rovtar and Carinthian spoken languages ​​are distinguished ^[17] . Several small literary languages ​​are also developing on the basis of Slovenian dialects: on the basis of coastal dialects in Italy - Rezian and Venetian-Slovenian languages , on the basis of Pannonian dialects in Hungary - Prekmur-Slovenian ^[18] .

Among the gypsies living in Serbia (mainly in the Sremska Mitrovica community), a mixed Gypsy-Serbian language was formed on the basis of the Serbian language with 172 thousand people speaking in 2006 ^[19] .

Western South Slavic languages ​​include two main areas - Slovenian and Serbo-Croatian (Serbian / Croatian / Bosnian) ^[1] :

• Slovenian language ;
• Serbo-Croatian (Croatian) language continuum :
  • Croatian language
  • Bosnian language
  • Serbian language
    • Slavic Serbian language ;
  • Montenegrin language .

The main area of ​​Western South Slavic languages ​​is the Balkan Peninsula and the adjacent territories in Central and Southern Europe . Native Western Slavic speakers make up the majority of the population in countries such as Slovenia , Croatia , Bosnia and Herzegovina , Serbia and Montenegro . Also native speakers of Western South Slavic languages ​​represent the autochthonous population (as ethnic minorities ) in countries such as Italy (Slovenian, Croatian), Austria (Slovenian, Croatian), Hungary (Slovenian, Croatian, Serbian), Romania (Serbian) and Macedonia (Serbian, Bosnian). Significant diasporas of native speakers of Western South Slavic languages ​​(including those formed from migrant workers ) are represented in Germany , France and other countries of Western Europe , as well as in the countries of America ( USA , Canada , Argentina ) and Australia ^{[2] [16] [20 ]} .

According to Ethnologue , about 18 million people speak Western South Slavic languages. Of these, in Slovenian in Slovenia - 1 910 thousand people (2012), all in the world - 2 085 thousand people ^[6] ; Croatian in Croatia - 4,200 thousand people (2006), total in the world - 5,609 thousand people ^[7] ; in Bosnian in Bosnia and Herzegovina - 1,120 thousand people (2014), total in the world - 1,334 thousand people ^[8] ; in Serbian (including also Montenegrin) in Serbia and Montenegro ^{[~ 1]} - 6 620 thousand people (2002), all in the world - 8 639 thousand people ^[9] . According to separate statistics on the Montenegrin language in Montenegro, the number of speakers of this language is 229.3 thousand people (2011) ^[21] .

Western South Slavic languages ​​along with eastern are characterized by such common features as ^[2] :

1. The development of rat , lat combinations at the place of the pre-Slavic combinations * ort , * olt at the beginning of the word with descending intonation : Serbian horror. equal to “flat”, lacquer “elbow”, Sloven. raven , lakat ; bulg. equal , lakat , maked. ramen , lakot .
2. Change of the Pre-Slavic nasal * ę > e in most of the South Slavic language area.
3. Transition of the Proto-Slavic vowel * y in all positions in i .
4. The presence of inflection -om in nouns of the masculine and neuter gender of strong declension (in the West Slavic and East Slavic languages the ending -m was formed ).
5. The presence of the ending -ę in nouns in -a mild declension in the form of the genitive case of the singular and the nominative and accusative cases of the plural (in the West Slavic and East Slavic languages ​​the ending ě was formed).
6. Widespread multifunctional union yes .
7. The presence of ancient pan-Slavic words, for example, a verb with the meaning "to step": Serbian corps. Gaziti , Slovenia. gaziti ; bulg. Gazya , Maced . gazi .

Western South Slavic languages ​​are characterized by a number of specific features, contrasted with the features of eastern South Slavic languages ^[2] :

1. Opposition to long and short vowels . There are five pairs of long and short vowels in Serbo-Croatian: / ā /, / ē /, / ī /, / ō /, / ū / - / a /, / e /, / i /, / o /, / u / ^{[ 22]} . In the Slovenian literary language, variants of seven of the eight phonemes of the Slovenian phonetic system are presented ([iː], [eː], [ɛː], [aː], [ɔː], [oː], [uː]), which can be long in the stressed position ^{[23] [24]} . In the Torlak dialect, as well as in the eastern South Slavic languages, the opposition of long and short vowels is lost.
2. The presence in the Serbo-Croatian language of a vowel of complete education and in place of the reduced : sȁn “dream”, dȃn “day”; in Slovenian, the reduced ones went into a (in long syllables) and e [ə] (in short syllables): mȃh “moss”, dȃn “day”, pes [pəs] “dog”. In the Bulgarian language, vowels представлены, представлены are represented in the place of the reduced: сън «сон dream’, м « мо moss’, den день day ’, dog « dog ’; in the Macedonian language - vowels o , e : dream "dream", den "day" ^[25] .
3. Preservation of l epenthetic after labial consonants p , b , m , v at the junction of morphemes at the place of the Pre-Slavic combinations of labial with j : serbochor. land , Slovenia. zemlja . In Bulgarian and Macedonian l is absent: Bulgarian. Zemia "earth", Maced . land . This phenomenon brings Western Western Slavic languages ​​closer to Eastern Slavic and contrasts them with Eastern Southern Slavic and Western Slavic languages.
4. Sequential hardening of semi-soft consonants .
5. Preservation of the pre-Slavic polytonic stress . The tonic characteristics and stress distribution in word forms in this case vary in dialects. In the eastern South Slavic area, tonality was not preserved. In the Bulgarian language, as well as in the Torlak dialect, a different stress was formed, in Macedonian - fixed on the third syllable from the end of the word.
6. Sustainable preservation of nominal declension, excluding some of the dialects of the Serbo-Croatian range (the analytical nominal system has developed in the dialects of the Torlak dialect). In eastern South Slavic languages, case inflections are lost.
7. Saving the infinitive . In eastern South Slavic languages, the infinitive is replaced by a combination of conjunction and a verb in the form of the present tense. The same tendency to replace the infinitive is characteristic of the Serbo-Croatian range.
8. Preservation of forms of degrees of comparison . In the Bulgarian and Macedonian languages, prefixes appear in their place.
9. Lack of article . Post-positive articles are widely used in the Torlak dialect and in the eastern South Slavic languages.
10. The loss of simple past tenses. In the eastern South Slavic languages, a complex system of past tense forms is preserved.

A number of differences are noted between Slovenian and Serbo-Croatian language areas related to both the preservation of archaisms and the development of innovations in the languages ​​of the respective areas. So, archaic features preserved in the Slovenian language (the dual in the name and verb, some difference in the forms of short and full adjectives, supine ) are lost in Serbo-Croatian. Innovations developed in Slovenian (strong reduction of vowels, partial loss of the middle gender in dialects, disappearance of simple past tenses, simplification or loss of tonic stress in dialects) are unknown in the Serbo-Croatian area. In addition, differences in the development of Pre-Slavic reflexes are noted in the Slovenian and Serbo-Croatian languages, for example, in the place of the nasal * ǫ in the Serbo-Croatian vowel is represented by ( arm “hand”), and in Slovenian - o ( roka ); in the groups * tъlt , * tьlt in the Serbo-Croatian vocalization l occurred ( arcs “duty”, wook “wolf”), and in Slovenian, the reduced one developed into the vowel of complete education - ( dolg , volk ). The Torlak dialect is characterized by significant differences from the rest of the western South Slavic area, in many respects these differences are associated with the influence of the languages ​​of the Balkan language union , primarily Macedonian and Bulgarian ^{[26] [27]} .

Comments

Sources

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• Kretschmer A. G., Neveklovsky G. Serbo-Croatian language (Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian) // (inaccessible link) Languages ​​of the world. Slavic languages . - M .: Academia , 2005 .-- 62 p. - ISBN 5-87444-216-2 .