East Slavic languages
| East Slavic | |
|---|---|
| Geographic distribution |
Eurasia (Eastern Europe, Northern Asia, and the Caucasus) |
| Linguistic classification |
Indo-European
|
Early forms |
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| Subdivisions | |
| ISO 639-5 | zle |
| Glottolog | east1426 |
The East Slavic languages constitute one of three regional subgroups of the Slavic languages, distinct from the West and South Slavic languages. East Slavic languages are currently spoken natively throughout Eastern Europe, and eastwards to Siberia and the Russian Far East. In part due to the large historical influence of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union, the Russian language is also spoken as a lingua franca in many regions of Caucasus and Central Asia. Of the three Slavic branches, East Slavic is the most spoken, with the number of native speakers larger than the Western and Southern branches combined.
The common consensus is that Belarusian, Russian and Ukrainian are the existent East Slavic languages; Rusyn is mostly considered as a separate language too, but some classify it as a dialect of Ukrainian.
The modern East Slavic languages descend from a common predecessor spoken in Kievan Rus' from the 9th to 13th centuries, which later evolved into Ruthenian, the chancery language of the Balto-Ruthenian Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the Dnieper river valley, and into medieval Russian in the Volga river valley, the language of the Russian principalities including the Grand Duchy of Moscow.
All these languages use the Cyrillic script, but with particular modifications. Belarusian and Ukrainian, which are descendants of Ruthenian, have a tradition of using Latin-based alphabets—the Belarusian Łacinka and Ukrainian Latin alphabets, respectively (also Rusyn uses Latin in some regions).
Differentiation
The East Slavic territory exhibits a linguistic continuum with many transitional dialects. Between Belarusian and Ukrainian there is the Polesian dialect, which shares features from both languages. East Polesian is a transitional variety between Belarusian and Ukrainian on one hand, and between South Russian and Ukrainian on the other hand. At the same time, Belarusian and Southern Russian form a continuous area, making it virtually impossible to draw a line between the two languages. Central or Middle Russian (with its Moscow sub-dialect), the transitional step between the North and the South, became a base for the Russian literary standard. Northern Russian with its predecessor, the Old Novgorod dialect, has many original and archaic features.
Ruthenian, the ancestor of modern Belarusian and Ukrainian, was the official language of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania as "Chancery Slavonic" until the end of the 17th century when it was gradually replaced by the Polish language. The Constitution of Pylyp Orlyk from 1710 is one of the most important written sources of the Ruthenian language. Due to the influence of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth over many centuries, Belarusian and Ukrainian have been influenced in several respects by Polish, a Lechitic West Slavic language . As a result of the long Polish-Lithuanian rule, these languages had been less exposed to Church Slavonic, featuring therefore less Church Slavonicisms than the modern Russian language, e.g. Ukr.: солодкий / solodkyj and Bel.: салодкі / salodki vs. Rus.: сладкий / sladkij ("sweet"). Additionally, the original East Slavic phonetic form was kept in many words in Ukrainian and Belarusian, e.g. Ukr.:одиниця / odynycja and Bel. адзінка / adzinka vs. Rus.: eдиница / edinica ("unit").
Orthography
| sound | Letters | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Russian | Belarusian | Ukrainian | Rusyn | |
| /ʲe, je/ | е | е | є | є |
| /e/ | э | э | е | е |
| /i/ | и | і | і | і |
| /ʲi/ | ї | |||
| /ji/ | ї | |||
| /ɨ/ | ы | ы | - | ы |
| /ɪ/ | - | - | и | и |
| /ɤ/ | - | - | - | ы |
| /ʲo/ | ё | ё | ьо | ё |
Phonology
| Isoglosses |
Northern Russian |
Standard Russian (Moscow dialect) |
Southern Russian |
Standard Belarusian | Standard Ukrainian | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| reduction of unstressed /o/ (akanye) |
no | yes | no | R. голова́ /ɡɐlɐˈva/, B. галава́ /ɣalaˈva/, U. голова́ /ɦɔlɔˈʋa/ "head" |
||
| pretonic /ʲe/ (yakanye) | /ʲe/ | /ʲi/ | /ʲa/ | /e/ | R. земля́ /zʲiˈmlʲa/, B. зямля́ /zʲaˈmlʲa/, U. земля́ /zeˈmlʲa/ "earth" |
|
| Proto-Slavic *i | /i/ | /ɪ/ | R. лист /ˈlʲist/, B. ліст /ˈlʲist/, U. лист /ˈlɪst/ "leaf" |
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| Proto-Slavic *y | /ɨ/ |
R./B. ты /ˈtɨ/, U. ти /ˈtɪ/ "thou, you" |
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| stressed CoC | /o/ | /i/ |
R. ночь /ˈnot͡ɕ/, B. ноч /ˈnot͡ʂ/, U. ніч /ˈnʲit͡ʃ/ "night" |
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| Proto-Slavic *ě | /e̝~i̯ɛ~i/ | /e/ | R. се́мя /ˈsʲemʲa/, B. се́мя /ˈsʲemʲa/, U. сі́м'я /ˈsʲimja/ "seed" |
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| /e/>/o/ change before nonpalatalized consonants | always | under stress | after /j/, /nʲ/, /lʲ/, /ʒ/, /ʃ/, /t͡ʃ/ | R. зелёный /zʲiˈlʲonɨj/, B. зялёны /zʲaˈlʲonɨ/, U. зеле́ний /zeˈlenɪj/ "green" |
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| Proto-Slavic *c | /t͡s/ | /t͡s, t͡sʲ/ | ||||
| Proto-Slavic *č | /t͡ɕ/ | /t͡ʂ/ | /t͡ʃ/ | R. час /ˈt͡ɕas/ "hour", B. час /ˈt͡ʂas/, U. час /ˈt͡ʃas/ "time (of day)" |
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| Proto-Slavic *skj, zgj | /ɕː/, /ʑː/ | /ʂt͡ʂ/, /ʐd͡ʐ/ | /ʃt͡ʃ/, /ʒd͡ʒ/ | |||
| soft dental stops | /tʲ/, /dʲ/ | /t͡sʲ/, /d͡zʲ/ | /tʲ/, /dʲ/ |
R. де́сять /ˈdʲesʲitʲ/, B. дзе́сяць /ˈd͡zʲesʲat͡sʲ/, U. де́сять /ˈdesʲatʲ/ "ten" |
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| Proto-Slavic *v | /v, f/ | /w/ |
/v/ [v, w] |
/w/ [β, w] |
R. о́стров /ˈostraf/, B. во́страў /ˈvostrau̯/, U. о́стрів /ˈostriʋ/ "island" |
|
| /f/ (in loanwords) | /f/ | /x~xv~xw~xu̯/ | /f/ | |||
| Prothetic /v~w~u̯/ | no | yes |
R. о́стров /ˈostraf/, B. во́страў /ˈvostrau̯/, U. о́стрів /ˈostriʋ/ "island" |
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| Proto-Slavic *g | /ɡ/ | /ɣ/ | /ɦ/ | R. голова́ /ɡɐlɐˈva/, B. галава́ /ɣalaˈva/, U. голова́ /ɦɔlɔˈʋa/ "head" |
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| Hardening of final soft labials | no | yes | R. степь /sʲtʲepʲ/,
B. стэп /stɛp/, U. степ /stɛp/ "steppe" |
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| Hardening of soft /rʲ/ | no | yes | partially | |||
| Proto-Slavic *CrьC, ClьC, CrъC, CrъC |
/rʲe/, /lʲe/, /ro/, /lo/ |
/rɨ/, /lʲi/, /rɨ/, /lɨ/ |
/rɪ/, /lɪ/, /rɪ/, /lɪ/ |
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| Proto-Slavic *-ъj-, -ьj- | /oj/, /ej/ | /ɨj/, /ij/ | /ɪj/ | |||
| Proto-Slavic adj. end. *-ьjь | /ej/ | /ij/, /ej/ | /ej/ | /ij/ | /ɪj/, /ij/ | |
| Proto-Slavic adj. end. *-ъjь | /oj/ | /ɨj/, /oj/ | /oj/ | /ɨj/ | /ɪj/ | |
| Loss of the vocative case | no | yes | no | |||
| 3 sg. & pl. pres. ind. | /t/ | /tʲ/ | /t͡sʲ/ | /tʲ/ |
R. ду́мают /ˈdumajut/, B. ду́маюць /ˈdumajut͡sʲ/, Uk. ду́мають /ˈdumajutʲ/ "(they) think" |
|
| Dropping out of 3 sg. pres. ind. ending (in e-stems) |
no | yes | ||||
| 3 sg. masc. past ind. | /v~w~u̯/ | /l/ | /v, w/ | R. ду́мал /ˈdumal/, B. ду́маў /ˈdumau̯/, U. ду́мав /ˈdumaʋ/ "(he) thought" |
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| 2nd palatalization in oblique cases | no | yes | R. руке́ /ruˈkʲe/, B. руцэ́ /ruˈt͡se/, U. руці́ /ruˈt͡sʲi/ "hand" (locative or prepositional case) |
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