Czech–Slovak languages

Not to be confused with Czechoslovak language.

Czech–Slovak
Geographic distribution	Central Europe
Linguistic classification	Indo-European Balto-Slavic Slavic West Slavic Czech–Slovak
Subdivisions	Czech Slovak
Language codes
Glottolog	czec1260
Czech–Slovak within West Slavic

The Czech and Slovak languages form the Czech–Slovak (or Czecho–Slovak) subgroup within the West Slavic languages.

Most varieties of Czech and Slovak are mutually intelligible, forming a dialect continuum (spanning the intermediate Moravian dialects) rather than two clearly distinct languages; the eastern Slovak dialects are more divergent and form a dialect continuum with the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic, most notably Polish.

The name Czechoslovak language is mostly reserved for an official written standard intended to unify Czech and Slovak created in the 19th century (but to a greater extent based on Czech rather than Slovak).

History

Further information: West Slavic, History of the Czech language, and History of the Slovak language

The early Slavic expansion reached Central Europe in c. the 7th century, and the West Slavic dialects diverged from Common Slavic over the following centuries. The West Slavic tribes settled on the eastern fringes of the Carolingian Empire, along the Limes Saxoniae. Prior to the Magyar invasion of Pannonia in the 890s, the West Slavic polity of Great Moravia spanned much of Central Europe between what is now Eastern Germany and Western Romania. In the high medieval period, the West Slavic tribes were again pushed to the east by the incipient German Ostsiedlung, decisively so following the Wendish Crusade in the 11th century.

West Slavic as a group distinct from Common Slavic thus emerges during the 7th to 9th centuries. The Czech-Slovak in turn develops as a separate dialect continuum within West Slavic during roughly the 10th to 12th centuries, just predating the first written attestation of the language in the 13th to 14th centuries. The diversification of West Slavic had the characteristic of a dialect continuum. For example, the spirantisation of Slavic /g/ to /h/ is an areal feature shared by the Czech-Slovak group with both Ukrainian and Sorbian (but not with Polish). This innovation appears to have travelled from east to west, and is sometimes attributed to contact with Scytho-Sarmatian. It is approximately dated to the 12th century in Slovak, the 12th to 13th century in Czech and the 14th century in Upper Sorbian.

The Bohemian state was incorporated as the Kingdom of Bohemia in the 13th century. The Slovaks, on the other hand, never became part of the Holy Roman Empire in the medieval period, being incorporated into the Kingdom of Hungary. For this reason, the history of the closely related Czech and Slovak peoples took a significantly different course during the later medieval period, the Czechs being associated with the Holy Roman Empire and the Slovaks being affected by the history of Eastern Europe (the history of Hungary and the Mongol invasion). In the 16th century, however, they were once again united under Habsburg rule, and after the fall of the Habsburg monarchy sharing their own country of Czechoslovakia during 1918–1993.

In the modern period, the spoken language of Bohemia became influenced by the written standard and developed into Common Czech, largely effacing dialectal variation within Bohemia. By contrast, Moravia remained dialectally diverse, with a series of variants intermediate between Czech and Slovak, and are thus sometimes viewed as dialects of Slovak rather than Czech. The Czech–Slovak group was summarized under the term "Bohemian–Moravian–Slovak" (Böhmisch-Mährisch-Slowakisch) in the Austrian census of Cisleithania beginning in the 1880s.

The Czechoslovak language was an attempt to create a single written standard, first proposed during the national revival in the 1830s and in official use during 1920–1938. In practice, the "Czechoslovak language" was closer to the western (Czech) dialects, leaving the eastern (Slovak) dialects without a written standard. After the Second World War, a written standard of Slovak (as opposed to Czech or Czechoslovak) was developed in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic.

In television and radio, Czech and Slovak were used in equal ratios Since the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1993, the Czech and Slovak written standards have been the official languages of the Czech and Slovak Republics, respectively.

Beginning in the 1990s, a political movement of Moravian linguistic separatism has developed. On the occasion of 2011 Census of the Czech Republic, several Moravian organizations (Moravané and Moravian National Community among others) led a campaign to promote the Moravian nationality and language. The 2011 census recorded 108,000 native speakers of Moravian.

Varieties

The Czech-Slovak dialect continuum historically blended into Silesian in the west and Ukrainian (Ruthenian) in the east. With the development of the written standards in the 19th century, it has become less diversified, but there remains a pronounced dialectal division in Moravia. The southeastern Moravian dialects, in particular, are sometimes considered dialects of Slovak rather than Czech, e.g. using the same declension patterns for nouns and pronouns and the same verb conjugations as Slovak.

• Czech language: since the later 20th century largely standardised, dialectal use is now mostly restricted to older speakers) Common Czech (obecná čeština) is the main vernacular based on the dialect of the Prague region.
  • Nářečí středočeská (Central Bohemian dialects)
  • Nářečí jihozápadočeská (Southwestern Bohemian dialects)
    • Podskupina chodská (Chod subgroup)
    • Podskupina doudlebská (Doudleby subgroup)
  • Nářečí severovýchodočeská (Northeastern Bohemian dialects)
    • Podskupina podkrknošská (Krkonoše subgroup)
  • Moravian dialects (moravština)
    • Bohemian-Moravian (Nářečí českomoravská, transitional to Bohemian Czech)
    • Central Moravian (Hanakian, Nářečí středomoravská)
      • Podskupina tišnovská (Tišnov subgroup)
    • Lach/Silesian (Nářečí slezská, transitional Silesian)
    • Eastern Moravian (Moravian-Slovak, Nářečí východomoravská,transitional to Slovak)
      • Podskupina slovácká (Moravian Slovak subgroup)
      • Podskupina valašská (Moravian Wallachian subgroup)
• Slovak language
  • Western Slovak dialects (in Kysuce, Trenčín, Trnava, Nitra, Záhorie)
  • Central Slovak dialects (in Liptov, Orava, Turiec, Tekov, Hont, Novohrad, Gemer and the historic Zvolen county)
  • Lowland (dolnozemské) Slovak dialects (outside Slovakia in the Pannonian Plain in Serbian Vojvodina, and in southeastern Hungary, western Romania, and the Croatian part of Syrmia)
  • Eastern Slovak dialects (in Spiš, Šariš, Zemplín and Abov, transitional to Ruthenian)

In a 1964 textbook on Czech dialectology, Břetislav Koudela used the sentence "Put the flour from the mill in the cart" to highlight phonetic differences between dialects:

Standard Czech:	Dej mouku ze mlýna na vozík.
Common Czech:	Dej mouku ze mlejna na vozejk.
Central Moravian:	Dé móku ze mléna na vozék.
Lach:	Daj muku ze młyna na vozik.
Eastern Moravian:	Daj múku ze młýna na vozík.
Standard Slovak:	Daj múku z mlyna na vozík.

Comparison of written standards

The following comparison concerns the contemporary written standards:

Orthography

Slovak graphemes that do not exist in the Czech language are: ä, ľ, ĺ, ŕ, ô, dz, dž. Czech graphemes that do not exist in the Slovak language are: ě, ř and ů (see Pronunciation for Czech language and Pronunciation for Slovak language).

Phonology

Slovak has the following phonemes which Czech does not have: /ʎ/, /rː/, /lː/ (also /æ/ in higher-style standard Slovak, or some dialects), and the diphthongs /i̯a/, /i̯e/, /i̯u/, /u̯o/; and on the contrary, Czech has /r̝/. Slovak, unlike Czech, uses palatal consonants more frequently (that is, is phonetically "softer"), but there are some exceptions. Slovak de, te, ne are usually pronounced as the Czech dě, tě, ně. The "Rhythmic Law" in Slovak prohibits two adjacent long syllables.

Grammar

Slovak grammar is somewhat more regular than the grammar of literary Czech, since present-day standard Slovak was not codified until the 19th century. The two languages have differences in declension and conjugation endings and paradigms (e.g. Slovak -cia, -ej, -dlo, -ť, -ov, -om, -mi – Czech -c(i)e, -é, -tko, -t, -ů, -em, y). Slovak does not commonly use the vocative case, while the Czech vocative is still very much alive. Slovak uses the passive voice formed like in English less than Czech, and prefers the passive voice formed using the reflexive pronoun sa (like in Spanish language) instead.

Lexicon

Lexical differences are mostly of simple historical origin. As for professional terminology, except for biology (esp. all names of animals and plants), the Czech terminology was mostly taken over (in Slovakised form) for practical reasons. The Czech-Slovak Dictionary of Different Terms (1989, Prague) contains some 11,000 entries (without professional terminology):

Examples of basic different words

English	Slovak	Czech
yeah	hej	jo
if	ak	jestli, jestliže, -li
really, actually	naozaj	opravdu
just, only	iba, len	pouze, jenom
to like	páčiť sa	líbit se
as well	tiež	také, taky
but	veď	vždyť
let's	nech	ať
to wish	želať	přát
to see	zbadať	spatřit
next to	popri	vedle
cemetery	cintorín	hřbitov
especially	najmä	především, obzvlášť, zejména
forgive, excuse	prepáčiť	prominout
apart from, besides	okrem	kromě, mimo
traffic	prevádzka, premávka	doprava, provoz
war	vojna	válka
current	terajší	stávající
to go	ísť	jet
as soon as	len čo	jakmile
to forget	zabudnúť	zapomenout
once	raz	jednou
next	budúcí	příští
ball	lopta	míč
button	gombik	knoflík
pub	krčma	hospoda
stamp	pečiatka	razítko
room	izba	pokoj
to acquire	nadobudnúť	nabýt
behaviour	správanie	chování
to listen	počuť	poslechnout
to look	pozerať	koukat
pocket	vrecko	kapsa
to clean up	upratovať	uklízet
to fail	zlýhať	selhat
because	keďže	jelikož
surname	priezvisko	příjmení
cellar	pivnica	sklep
including	vrátane	včetně
baby	bábätko	miminko
autumn	jeseň	podzim
to love	ľúbiť	milovat
be called (as in name),	volať sa	jmenovat se
guy, boy	chalan	kluk
girl	dievča	holka
breakfast	raňajky	snídaně
to count	rátať	počítat
snack	olovrant	svačina
to clug, to stuff	pcháť	cpát
laundry	bielizeň	prádlo
press	tlač	tisk
although	hoci	ačkoliv
late	neskoro	pozdě
pillow	vankúš	polštář
that is	čiže	čili
thirst	smäd	žízeň
strike	štrajk	stávka
Good bye	dovidenia	na shledanou
cat	mačka	kočka
to kiss	bozkať	líbat
now	teraz	teď, nyní
goods	tovar	zboží
potatoes	zemiaky	brambory
trap	klepec, pasca	past, léčka
almost	takmer	skoro, téměř
the same, equal	rovnaký	stejný
dishes	riad	nádobí
tissue, handkerchief	vreckovka	kapesník
offer	ponuka	nabídka
be surprised, wonder	čudovať sa	divit se
pencil	ceruzka	tužka
perhaps	azda	snad
to look like	vyzerať	vypadat
to say, to speak	povedať, vravieť	říct, mluvit
baggage	batožina	zavazadlo
branch	konár	větev
to meet	stretnúť sa	setkat se, potkat
spine	chrbtica	páteř
he/she/it is not	nie je	není
to do	robiť	dělat
to apologize, to excuse	ospravedlniť sa	omluvit se
to smoke	fajčiť	kouřit
whatever	hocičo, voľačo	leccos, cokoliv
blueberry	čučoriedka	borůvka
bricklayer	murár	zedník
demand	dopyt	poptávka
sooner, earlier	skôr	dřív
suddenly	zrazu	najednou
fairy tale	rozprávka	pohádka
tramway	električka	tramvaj
pork	bravčové	vepřové
(the) rest (of a group)	zvyšok	zbytek
thanks to	vďaka	díky
lips	pera	rty
lipstick	rúž	rtěnka
flock	kŕdeľ	hejno
railway station	železničná stanica	nádraží
despite	napriek	navzdory
when	keď	když
glass	pohár	sklenice, sklenička
pepper	čierne korenie	pepř
ill	chorý	nemocný

Examples of words with different meanings : SK topiť (to melt/to drown) (could be same meanings, depends on region) – CZ topit (to heat/to drown), SK horký (bitter) – CZ horký (hot) but hořký (bitter), SK stávka (stake, bet) – CZ stávka (strike), SK chudý (slim, skinny) – CZ chudý (poor), SK kapusta (cabbage) – CZ kapusta (kale), SK vodič (driver) – CZ vodič (electrical conductor), SK krajina (state) – CZ krajina (landscape), SK pivnica (cellar) – CZ pivnice (pub), SK spraviť (to make, to create) – CZ spravit (to repair, to fix). Czech months are of Slavic origin (e.g. Říjen), whereas the Slovak months are of Latin origin (e.g. Október).

Although most words are in fact different, they are largely similar, which makes both languages mutually intelligible to a significant extent; e.g. foreign (SK cudzí – CZ cizí), reason (SK dôvod – CZ důvod), to want (SK chcieť – CZ chtít), to promise (SK sľubovať – CZ slibovat), if (SK keby – CZ kdyby), river (SK rieka – CZ řeka), wedding (SK svadobný – CZ svatební), who (SK kto – CZ kdo), to ask (SK spýtať sa – CZ zeptat se).

Sample text

The following is a sample text in Slovak and Czech, of the Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (by the United Nations):

English: All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Czech: Všichni lidé se rodí svobodní a sobě rovní v důstojnosti i právech. Jsou nadáni rozumem a svědomím a mají spolu jednat v duchu bratrství.

Slovak: Všetci ľudia sa rodia slobodní a rovní v dôstojnosti aj právach. Sú obdarení rozumom a svedomím a majú sa k sebe správať v duchu bratstva.

See also

• West Slavic languages
• History of the Czech language
• History of the Slovak language
• Czechoslovak language

References

• Wilson, James (2010). Moravians in Prague: A Sociolinguistic Study of Dialect Contact in the Czech Republic. Peter Lang. pp. 49–50.
• Kortmann, Bernd; van der Auwera, Johan (2011). The Languages and Linguistics of Europe: A Comprehensive Guide. Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 3110220261.

External links

• "Map of Czech Dialects". Český statistický úřad (Czech Statistical Office). 2003. Retrieved July 26, 2014.