SLAVIC LANGUAGES. A branch of the Indo-Germanic languages (q.v.). Among these languages Slavic is most closely connected with the Baltic group, which includes Old Prussian, Leak, and Lithuanian. The most universally aeeepted theory places the original home of the Slays within the borders of present Russia in the region lying between the upper course of the Don on the one hand and the Baltic Sea with the upper course of the Vistula on the other. The heart of this country belongs mainly to the hasin of the Dnieper. The principal characteristics of the Slavic languages are as follows: (1) The dis appearance of consonants and syllables at the end of words, as OChurch Slavic drimS, `house': Russian, Serb, Bulgarian, Slovenian, don ; Po lish. Czechie, dam : Sanskrit. damns; Greek. 56a.or, domus. (2) The monophthongizatinn of primitive diphthongs, as OChurch Slay., zima, 'winter' Russ., Serb, Bulgs Sloven, Pol., and Czech., zima Lithuanian. Rsnia Gk., xeijsa, ; Skt., homer; Albanian, dimen. (3) Change of short i and u into indistinct sounds, in Old Slay. and their complete disap pearance in Modern Slavic languages, as OChurch Slay., vidova, `widow:' Russ., Czech., vdova Serb, udova Bulg.. rdovira Skt., vidbara Gk., iFteos, Lat.. victim; Goth., widuwo. (4) Development of nasal vowels, as OChurch Slay., `five': Pol., Skt., pofica; Gk. vivre, Lat., quinquc: Lifts penki Ger., fiinf. (5) Development of the peculiar sound y from the primitive Si, as OChureh Slay., dyntS, 'smoke Russ., Pol., Czech., dym: Skt., dhitinds: Gk., Otas6s; Lat., Minus ; OHG'er., toum Lith., dfimai. (6) Change of primitive intervocalic s into eh (kh) as ()Church Slay., who, 'ear'; Russ., Serb, Bulg., Pol., Czech., uclio; ausis; Lat., auris; Goth., aus6. (7) Change of primitive k to (a) s, and y, 371, and q, 6h into z, as OChnrch Slay., Russ., Serb, Slay., Bulg., Czech., sloeo, 'word;' s/ofro; Gk., faXtrros ; Lat., inclutus; Olrish, cloth; Skt., gru-tas; ( b) g, ()Church Slay., znati, 'to know;' Russ., zuat; Pol., znac; Gk., 7L7vui0ketv; Lat., gnoscerc; Skt., jiia; Goth., kann; OHGer., knaen; Olrish, gnath ; Lith., zinoti; (c) gh, ()Church Slay.. aza, '1 ;' Skt., ahant; Gk., ; Lat., ego; Goth., ik. (8) Palatalization of g, k, kh, into (a ) .1 before the palatal vowels e, i, and b, later into z, c, s, before e and i resulting from primitive oi, oi, as (a) OChurch Slay., Zfra, 'alive'; Lat., vivos; Gk., pios; Olrish, Leo; Goth., gins; Skt., fleas; Lith., thas; e, OChurch Slay., oecse, gen. sing. of ok-o, 'eye ;' Russ., Serb, Slov., Bulg., Czech., Pol., oko; Lith., akis; Lat., oculus; Ger., augc; ()Church Slay., nom. pl. of echo, 'ear;' Russ., Serb, Slov., Buig., Czech., Pol., nil.
(b) z, ()Church Slay., Laze, loc. sing.„ and bozi, nom. pl. of bog 6, `God'; c, OChurch Slay., elovece, lac. sing., and e/oreci, nom. pl. of elovekil, 'man ;' s, ()Church Slay., duse, loc.
sing., and dusi, nom. pl. of ducha-, 'soul.' (9) The preservation of the primitive free accentua tion, the penultimate accentuation in Polish and the Czechic accent on the first syllable being of a decidedly late origin.
The first attempt at a scientific classification of the Slavic languages was made by Dobrovsky, who in his Institationcs Lingum Sla view Dialecti ceteris (Vienna, 1822) divided them into a Western and an Eastern group. A later division was into Eastern, Southern, and Western. The most accurate plan would be to consider the sev eral languages without trying to reduce them to groups. This i\liklosich did in his leichoule Grammatik der slavischen Sprachen, where he arranges them as follows: Paheo-Slovenian. Neo Slovenian, Bulgarian, Serbo-Horvatian (Serbo Croatian), Little Russian, Russian, Czechic, Po lish. Upper Lusatian, and Lower Lusatian. At present the following representatives are dis tinguished in the Slavic group: ( I ) .Russian
(with its Great Russian, Little Russian, and White Russian branches). (2) Bulgarian (with its Macedonian dialect). (3) Serbo-Horvatian, or Serbo-Croatian (Shtokavian-Servian in the South, and Chakavian-Horvatian in the West), with its (4) Slovenian or Kaykavian dialect in the West; (5) Czecho-Moravian, with its (6) Slovak dialect; (7) Serbo-Lusatian or Sorbian (with the Upper Lusatian and Lower Lusatian dialects) ; (S) Polish, with (9) Kashubian; (10) Polabian (along the Elbe), now extinct, and (11) Old Church Slavic. Though attempts at a genetic classification must be futile, . the labors of scholars have ascertained a number of phonetic peculiarities which may be made the basis of a conventional grouping, as be ing a common characteristic of several mem bers of the group. The distinguishing features of the groups designated above as Eastern, Southern, and Western are the following: (1) Treatment of the sound combinations tj, dj ; (2) presence or absence of 1 in the treatment of the primitive combinations pj, bj, rj, Inj; (3) re tention or dropping of the dentals t, d, in the combinations tl, dl, tn, dn ; (4) treatment of the primitive combinations ar, al, er, el; (5) treatment of the original combinations gv, kv. On the basis of these criteria the groups will be characterized as follows: ( ) tj becomes 6 in Eastern Slavic, as sve6a, 'candle,' for *svel-ja ; it in Bulgarian, as s-veit a, c in Serb, as sveca; Slov., sreea; c (= Is) in Western Slavic, as Czechic, sricc; Polish, stvieca ; dj becomes Z in Russian, mesa, 'boundary line,' for *mcdja, cf. Lat. nfedius (= English j in Serb, meda; Sloven., meta, 6d in Bldg., inc6da, in Western; v in Czechic, miezc; dz in Pol.. miedza. (2) pj, bj, vj, mj, become plj, btj, vlj, ml) in Rus sian. top/ju. 'heat,' infinitive topit; Itublju 'I love,' infinitive /jubit; /ov/ju, 'I seize,' in finitive brit; zcnaja, 'earth,' for *zcmja • also in Southern Slavic, as Serb, toplen, lovIen, zemlja ; Slov. (Eastern), topljen, lovIjcn, zemlja (Western), topjca, ljubjen, loe len, zemla; Bulg. topPi, zonja ; while in Western ate sound 1 is absent, as Polish, topic, labiv, bowie, infinitives topic, labic, ziemia • Czechic, topu, lore, infinitive topiti, /Grit/. zone; t and d before I and If fall in Russian, as plel, 'I led,' vel, 'I wove,' to pieta, 'I lead,' eadu, weave;' in Southern, as Serb, pleo, veo, Slay. (Eastern), pleb, plea, vel, (Western) pletl, vedl ; but are retained in Western: as Czech., plctl, red1; Pol., plan, wiodl; (4) ar, al, er, el, become ono, o/o, cre, elc in Russian, as boroda,;beard gol ova. 'head;' bcreg, 'shore pclera, `membrane;' re, la, re, be in Southern Slavic, as brada (Serb, Slow., Bulg.), gla Ca (Serb, Slov., Bulg.), breg (Serb, Bulg.), breg (Slov.). plena (Serb), piet/ (Slay.) , Mem (Bulg.) ; in Western Slavic ra, la, re, la in Czechie, brada, hlava, OM, plena; ro, lo, rte, lc in Polish, broda, gtowa, brzeg, plcira ; (5) gv and kv become ze, sr in Russian and Southern Slavic, as Russ., Serb, Bulg., zrezda, 'star ;' Slov., zrezda cret, 'color, flower,' Russ., Serb, Bulg., Slov., but remain in Western Slavic, as Czechic, hrezda, k vet ; Polish, glciazda, ktciat. The Slavic nations do not all use the same alphabet for writing and printing. In the ninth century two different alphabets were introduced, the Glago litsa. (q.v.) and the Ki-rillitsa (q.v.). After a time the nationalities that accepted Roman Catholicism adopted the Roman characters for their alphabet, while those professing Greek Catholicism retained the alphabets mentioned. The Kirillitsa in a modified form is the present alphabet of the Russians, Servians, and Bulga rians.