Editing Slavic languages (section)

==Features==
The Slavic languages are a relatively homogeneous family, compared with other families of [[Indo-European languages]] (e.g. [[Germanic languages|Germanic]], [[Romance languages|Romance]], and [[Indo-Iranian languages|Indo-Iranian]]). As late as the 10th century AD, the entire Slavic-speaking area still functioned as a single, dialectally differentiated language, termed ''[[Common Slavic]]''. Compared with most other Indo-European languages, the Slavic languages are quite conservative, particularly in terms of [[morphology (linguistics)|morphology]] (the means of inflecting nouns and verbs to indicate grammatical differences). Most Slavic languages have a rich, [[fusional language|fusional]] morphology that conserves much of the [[inflection]]al morphology of [[Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European]].{{sfn|Comrie|Corbett|2002|loc=p. 6}} The vocabulary of the Slavic languages is also of Indo-European origin. Many of its elements, which do not find exact matches in the ancient Indo-European languages, are associated with the Balto-Slavic community.{{sfn|Skorvid|2015|loc=p. 389, 396–397}}

===Consonants===
The following table shows the inventory of consonants of Late Common Slavic:{{sfn|Schenker|2002|loc=p. 82}}

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|+ Consonants of Late Proto-Slavic
|-
!
! colspan="2" | [[Labial consonant|Labial]]
! colspan="2" | [[Coronal consonant|Coronal]]
! colspan="2" | [[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
! colspan="2" | [[Velar consonant|Velar]]
|-
! [[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
| colspan="2" | {{IPA link|m}}
| colspan="2" | {{IPA link|n}}
| colspan="2" | {{IPA link|nʲ}}
| colspan="2" |
|-
! [[Plosive consonant|Plosive]]
| {{IPA link|p}}
| {{IPA link|b}}
| {{IPA link|t}}
| {{IPA link|d}}
| {{IPA link|tʲː}}
| {{IPA link|dʲː}}
| {{IPA link|k}}
| {{IPA link|ɡ}}
|-
! [[Affricate consonant|Affricate]]
| colspan="2" |
| {{IPA link|ts}}
| {{IPA link|dz}}
| {{IPA link|tʃ}}
|
| colspan="2" |
|-
! [[Fricative consonant|Fricative]]
| colspan="2" |
| {{IPA link|s}}
| {{IPA link|z}}
| {{IPA link|ʃ}}, ({{IPA link|sʲ}}<sup>1</sup>)
| {{IPA link|ʒ}}
| {{IPA link|x}}
|
|-
! [[Trill consonant|Trill]]
| colspan="2" |
| colspan="2" | {{IPA link|r}}
| colspan="2" | {{IPA link|rʲ}}
| colspan="2" |
|-
! [[Lateral consonant|Lateral]]
| colspan="2" |
| colspan="2" | {{IPA link|l}}
| colspan="2" | {{IPA link|lʲ}}
| colspan="2" |
|-
! [[Approximant consonant|Approximant]]
| colspan="2" | {{IPA link|ʋ}}
| colspan="2" |
| colspan="2" | {{IPA link|j}}
| colspan="2" |
|}

<sup>1</sup>The sound {{IPA|/sʲ/}} did not occur in West Slavic, where it had developed to {{IPA|/ʃ/}}.

This inventory of sounds is quite similar to what is found in most modern Slavic languages. The extensive series of [[palatal consonant]]s, along with the [[affricate]]s *ts and *dz, developed through a series of [[Palatalization (sound change)|palatalization]]s that happened during the [[Proto-Slavic]] period, from earlier sequences either of [[velar consonant]]s followed by [[front vowel]]s (e.g. *ke, *ki, *ge, *gi, *xe, and *xi), or of various consonants followed by *j (e.g. *tj, *dj, *sj, *zj, *rj, *lj, *kj, and *gj, where *j is the [[palatal approximant]] ({{IPA|[j]}}, the sound of the English letter "y" in "yes" or "you").

The biggest change in this inventory results from a further [[History of the Slavic languages#General palatalization|general palatalization]] occurring near the end of the Common Slavic period, where ''all'' consonants became palatalized before front vowels. This produced a large number of new palatalized (or "soft") sounds, which formed pairs with the corresponding non-palatalized (or "hard") consonants{{sfn|Comrie|Corbett|2002|loc=p. 6}} and absorbed the existing palatalized sounds {{IPA link|*lʲ *rʲ *nʲ *sʲ}}. These sounds were best preserved in Russian but were lost to varying degrees in other languages (particularly Czech and Slovak). The following table shows the inventory of modern Russian:

{| class="wikitable nowrap" style="text-align: center;"
|+ Consonant phonemes of Russian
|-
! rowspan="2" |
! colspan="2" | [[Labial consonant|Labial]]
! colspan="2" | [[Dental consonant|Dental]] & <br> [[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
! colspan="2" | [[Postalveolar consonant|Post-<br>alveolar]]/<br>[[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
! colspan="2" | [[Velar consonant|Velar]]
|-
! <small>hard</small>
! <small>soft</small>
! <small>hard</small>
! <small>soft</small>
! <small>hard</small>
! <small>soft</small>
! <small>hard</small>
! <small>soft</small>
|-
! [[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
| {{IPA link|m}} || {{IPA link|mʲ}}
| {{IPA link|n}} || {{IPA link|nʲ}}
| colspan="2" |
| colspan="2" |
|-
! [[Stop consonant|Stop]]
| {{IPA link|p}} &nbsp; {{IPA link|b}} || {{IPA link|pʲ}} &nbsp; {{IPA link|bʲ}}
| {{IPA link|t̪|t}} &nbsp; {{IPA link|d̪|d}} || {{IPA link|tʲ}} &nbsp; {{IPA link|dʲ}}
| colspan="2" |
| {{IPA link|k}} &nbsp; {{IPA link|ɡ}} || {{IPA link|kʲ}} &nbsp; {{IPA link|ɡʲ}}
|-
! [[Affricate consonant|Affricate]]
| colspan="2" |
| {{IPA link|t͡s}} || ({{IPA link|t͡sʲ}})
| &nbsp; || {{IPA link|t͡ɕ}}
| colspan="2" |
|-
! [[Fricative consonant|Fricative]]
| {{IPA link|f}} &nbsp; {{IPA link|v}} || {{IPA link|fʲ}} &nbsp; {{IPA link|vʲ}}
| {{IPA link|s}} &nbsp; {{IPA link|z}} || {{IPA link|sʲ}} &nbsp; {{IPA link|zʲ}}
| {{IPA link|ʂ}} &nbsp; {{IPA link|ʐ}} || {{IPA link|ɕː}} &nbsp; {{IPA link|ʑː}}
| {{IPA link|x}} &nbsp; &nbsp; || {{IPA link|xʲ}} &nbsp;
|-
! [[Trill consonant|Trill]]
| colspan="2" |
| {{IPA link|r}} || {{IPA link|rʲ}}
| colspan="2" |
| colspan="2" |
|-
! [[Approximant consonant|Approximant]]
| colspan="2" |
| {{IPA link|ɫ|l}} || {{IPA link|lʲ}}
| &nbsp; || {{IPA link|j}}
| colspan="2" |
|}

This general process of palatalization did not occur in Serbo-Croatian and Slovenian. As a result, the modern consonant inventory of these languages is nearly identical to the Late Common Slavic inventory.

Late Common Slavic tolerated relatively few [[consonant cluster]]s. However, as a result of the loss of certain formerly present vowels (the weak [[yer]]s), {{failed verification span|the modern Slavic languages allow quite complex clusters, as in the Russian word {{lang|ru|'''взбл'''еск}} {{IPA|ru|vzblʲesk|}} ("flash"). Also present in many Slavic languages are clusters rarely found cross-linguistically, as in Russian {{lang|ru|'''рт'''уть}} {{IPA|ru|rtutʲ|}} ("mercury") or Polish {{lang|pl|'''mch'''u}} {{IPA|pl|mxu|}} ("moss", gen. sg.). The word for "mercury" with the initial ''rt-'' cluster, for example, is also found in the other East and West Slavic languages, although Slovak retains an [[epenthetic]] vowel ({{lang|sk|ortuť}}).|date=October 2020}}{{sfn|Nilsson|2014|loc=p. 41}}

===Vowels===
A typical vowel inventory is as follows:

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
!
! [[Front vowel|Front]]
! [[Central vowel|Central]]
! [[Back vowel|Back]]
|-
! style="text-align: left;" | [[Close vowel|Close]]
| style="font-size:120%" | {{IPA link|i}}
| style="font-size:120%" | {{IPA link|ɨ|(ɨ)}}
| style="font-size:120%" | {{IPA link|u}}
|-
! style="text-align: left;" | [[Mid vowel|Mid]]
| style="font-size:120%" | {{IPA link|e}}
| style="font-size:120%" |
| style="font-size:120%" | {{IPA link|o}}
|-
! style="text-align: left;" | [[Open vowel|Open]]
|
| style="font-size:120%" | {{IPA link|a}}
|
|}

The sound {{IPAblink|ɨ}} occurs only in some languages (e.g. Russian and Belarusian), and even in these languages, it is often unclear whether it is its own [[phoneme]] or an [[allophone]] of /i/. Nonetheless, it is a quite prominent and noticeable characteristic of the languages in which it is present.
* Russian {{lang|ru|мышь}} {{Audio-IPA|Ru-мышь.ogg|[mɨʂ]}} and Polish {{lang|pl|mysz}} {{Audio-IPA|Pl-mysz.ogg|[mɨʂ]|help=no}} "mouse"

Common Slavic also had two [[nasal vowel]]s: *ę {{IPA link|[ẽ]}} and *ǫ {{IPA link|[õ]}}. However, these are preserved only in modern Polish (along with a few lesser-known dialects and microlanguages; see [[Yus]] for more details).
* Polish {{lang|pl|wąż}} {{Audio-IPA|Pl-wąż.ogg|/vɔ̃ʐ/|help=no}} and {{lang|pl|węże}} {{Audio-IPA|Pl-węże.ogg|/vɛ̃ʐɛ/|help=no}} "snake, snakes"

Other phonemic vowels are found in certain languages (e.g. the [[schwa]] {{IPA|/ə/}} in Bulgarian and Slovenian, distinct [[high-mid]] and [[low-mid]] vowels in Slovenian, and the lax front vowel {{IPA|/ɪ/}} in Ukrainian).

===Length, accent, and tone===
An area of great difference among Slavic languages is that of [[prosody (linguistics)|prosody]] (i.e. syllabic distinctions such as [[vowel length]], [[accent (phonetics)|accent]], and [[tone (linguistics)|tone]]). Common Slavic had a complex system of prosody, inherited with little change from [[Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European]]. This consisted of [[phonemic]] vowel length and a free, mobile [[pitch accent]]:
* All vowels could occur either short or long, and this was phonemic (it could not automatically be predicted from other properties of the word).
* There was (at most) a single accented syllable per word, distinguished by higher pitch (as in modern [[Japanese language|Japanese]]) rather than greater dynamic stress (as in English).
* Vowels in accented syllables could be pronounced with either a rising or falling tone (i.e. there was ''pitch accent''), and this was phonemic.
* The accent was ''free'' in that it could occur on any syllable and was phonemic.
* The accent was ''mobile'' in that its position could potentially vary among closely related words within a single paradigm (e.g. the accent might land on a different syllable between the nominative and genitive singular of a given word).
* Even within a given inflectional class (e.g. masculine ''i''-stem nouns), there were multiple accent patterns in which a given word could be inflected. For example, most nouns in a particular inflectional class could follow one of three possible patterns: Either there was a consistent accent on the root (pattern A), predominant accent on the ending (pattern B), or accent that moved between the root and ending (pattern C). In patterns B and C, the accent in different parts of the paradigm shifted not only in location but also type (rising vs. falling). Each inflectional class had its own version of patterns B and C, which might differ significantly from one inflectional class to another.

The modern languages vary greatly in the extent to which they preserve this system. On one extreme, Serbo-Croatian preserves the system nearly unchanged (even more so in the conservative [[Chakavian dialect]]); on the other, Macedonian has basically lost the system in its entirety. Between them are found numerous variations:
* Slovenian preserves most of the system but has shortened all unaccented syllables and lengthened non-final accented syllables so that vowel length and accent position largely co-occur.
* Russian and Bulgarian have eliminated distinctive vowel length and tone and converted the accent into a [[stress (linguistics)|stress accent]] (as in English) but preserved its position. As a result, the complexity of the mobile accent and the multiple accent patterns still exists (particularly in Russian because it has preserved the Common Slavic noun inflections, while Bulgarian has lost them).
* Czech and Slovak have preserved phonemic vowel length and converted the distinctive tone of accented syllables into length distinctions. The phonemic accent is otherwise lost, but the former accent patterns are echoed to some extent in corresponding patterns of vowel length/shortness in the root. Paradigms with mobile vowel length/shortness do exist but only in a limited fashion, usually only with the zero-ending forms (nom. sg., acc. sg., and/or gen. pl., depending on inflectional class) having a different length from the other forms. (Czech has a couple of other "mobile" patterns, but they are rare and can usually be substituted with one of the "normal" mobile patterns or a non-mobile pattern.)
* [[Old Polish]] had a system very much like Czech. Modern Polish has lost vowel length, but some former short-long pairs have become distinguished by quality (e.g. {{IPA link|[o oː]}} > {{IPA|[o u]}}), with the result that some words have vowel-quality changes that exactly mirror the mobile-length patterns in Czech and Slovak.

===Grammar===

{{expand section|date=February 2013}}

Similarly, Slavic languages have extensive morphophonemic alternations in their derivational and inflectional morphology,{{sfn|Comrie|Corbett|2002|loc=p. 6}} including between velar and postalveolar consonants, front and back vowels, and a vowel and no vowel.{{sfn|Comrie|Corbett|2002|loc=p. 8}}

===Selected cognates===
{{Main|Slavic vocabulary}}
The following is a very brief selection of cognates in basic vocabulary across the Slavic language family, which may serve to give an idea of the sound changes involved. This is not a list of translations: cognates have a common origin, but their meaning may be shifted and loanwords may have replaced them.
{| class="wikitable"
! [[Proto-Slavic language|Proto-Slavic]]
! [[Russian language|Russian]]
! [[Ukrainian language|Ukrainian]]
! [[Belarusian language|Belarusian]]
! [[Carpatho-Rusyn language|Rusyn]]
! [[Polish language|Polish]]
! [[Czech language|Czech]]
! [[Slovak language|Slovak]]
! [[Slovene language|Slovene]]
! [[Serbo-Croatian language|Serbo-Croatian]]
! [[Bulgarian language|Bulgarian]]
! [[Macedonian language|Macedonian]]
|-
! {{lang|sla|*uxo}} (ear)
| {{lang|ru|ухо}} ({{Transliteration|ru|úkho}})
| {{lang|uk|вухо}} ({{Transliteration|uk|vúkho}})
| {{lang|be|вуха}} ({{Transliteration|be|vúkha}})
| {{lang|rue|ухо}} ({{Transliteration|rue|úkho}})
| {{lang|pl|ucho}}
| {{lang|cs|ucho}}
| {{lang|sk|ucho}}
| {{lang|sl|uho}}
| {{lang|sr|уво}} / {{Transliteration|sr|uvo}} (Serbia only)<br>{{lang|sh|ухо}} / {{Transliteration|sh|uho}} (Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia)
| {{lang|bg|ухо}} ({{Transliteration|bg|ukhó}})
| {{lang|mk|уво}} ({{Transliteration|mk|úvo}})
|-
! {{lang|sla|*ognь}} (fire)
| {{lang|ru|огонь}} ({{Transliteration|ru|ogónʹ}})
| {{lang|uk|вогонь}} ({{Transliteration|uk|vohónʹ}})
| {{lang|be|агонь}} ({{Transliteration|be|ahónʹ}})
| {{lang|rue|огинь}} ({{lang|rue|ohénʹ}})
| {{lang|pl|ogień}}
| {{lang|cs|oheň}}
| {{lang|sk|oheň}}
| {{lang|sl|ogenj}}
| {{lang|sh|огањ}} / {{Transliteration|sh|oganj}}
| {{lang|bg|огън}} ({{Transliteration|bg|ógǎn}})
| {{lang|mk|оган}}/{{lang|mk|огин}} ({{Transliteration|mk|ógan}}/{{Transliteration|mk|ógin}})
|-
! {{lang|sla|*ryba}} (fish)
| {{lang|ru|рыба}} ({{Transliteration|ru|rýba}})
| {{lang|uk|риба}} ({{Transliteration|uk|rýba}})
| {{lang|be|рыба}} ({{Transliteration|be|rýba}})
| {{lang|rue|рыба}} ({{Transliteration|rue|rýba}})
| {{lang|pl|ryba}}
| {{lang|cs|ryba}}
| {{lang|sk|ryba}}
| {{lang|sl|riba}}
| {{lang|sh|риба}} / {{Transliteration|sh|riba}}
| {{lang|bg|риба}} ({{Transliteration|bg|ríba}})
| {{lang|mk|риба}} ({{Transliteration|mk|ríba}})
|-
! {{lang|sla|*gnězdo}} (nest)
| {{lang|ru|гнездо}} ({{Transliteration|ru|gnezdó}})
| {{lang|uk|гнiздо}} ({{Transliteration|uk|hnizdó}})
| {{lang|be|гняздо}} ({{Transliteration|be|hnyazdó}})
| {{lang|rue|гнïздо}} ({{Transliteration|rue|hnʹizdó}})
| {{lang|pl|gniazdo}}
| {{lang|cs|hnízdo}}
| {{lang|sk|hniezdo}}
| {{lang|sl|gnezdo}}
| {{lang|sh|гнездо}} / {{Transliteration|sh|gnezdo}} ([[Ekavian|ek.]])<br>{{lang|sh|гнијездо}} / {{Transliteration|sh|gnijezdo}} ([[Ijekavian|ijek.]])<br>{{lang|sh|гниздо}} / {{Transliteration|sh|gnizdo}} ([[Ikavian|ik.]])
| {{lang|bg|гнездо}} ({{Transliteration|bg|gnezdó}})
| {{lang|mk|гнездо}} ({{Transliteration|mk|gnézdo}})
|-
! {{lang|sla|*oko}} (eye)
| {{lang|ru|око}} ({{Transliteration|ru|óko}}) (dated, poetic or in set expressions)<br>modern: {{lang|ru|глаз}} ({{Transliteration|ru|glaz}})
| {{lang|uk|око}} ({{Transliteration|uk|óko}})
| {{lang|be|вока}} ({{Transliteration|be|vóka}})
| {{lang|rue|око}} ({{Transliteration|rue|óko}})
| {{lang|pl|oko}}
| {{lang|cs|oko}}
| {{lang|sk|oko}}
| {{lang|sl|oko}}
| {{lang|sh|око}} / {{Transliteration|sh|oko}}
| {{lang|bg|око}} ({{Transliteration|bg|óko}})
| {{lang|mk|око}} ({{Transliteration|mk|óko}})
|-
! {{lang|sla|*golva}} (head)
| {{lang|ru|голова}} ({{Transliteration|ru|golová}})<br>{{lang|ru|глава}} ({{Transliteration|ru|glavá}}) "chapter or chief, leader, head"
| {{lang|uk|голова}} ({{Transliteration|uk|holová}})
| {{lang|be|галава}} ({{Transliteration|be|halavá}})
| {{lang|rue|голова}} ({{Transliteration|rue|holová}})
| {{lang|pl|głowa}}
| {{lang|cs|hlava}}
| {{lang|sk|hlava}}
| {{lang|sl|glava}}
| {{lang|sh|глава}} / {{Transliteration|sh|glava}}
| {{lang|bg|глава}} ({{Transliteration|bg|glavá}})
| {{lang|mk|глава}} ({{Transliteration|mk|gláva}})
|-
! {{lang|sla|*rǫka}} (hand)
| {{lang|ru|рука}} ({{Transliteration|ru|ruká}})
| {{lang|uk|рука}} ({{Transliteration|uk|ruká}})
| {{lang|be|рука}} ({{Transliteration|be|ruká}})
| {{lang|rue|рука}} ({{Transliteration|rue|ruká}})
| {{lang|pl|ręka}}
| {{lang|cs|ruka}}
| {{lang|sk|ruka}}
| {{lang|sl|roka}}
| {{lang|sh|рука}} / {{Transliteration|sh|ruka}}
| {{lang|bg|ръка}} ({{Transliteration|bg|rǎká}})
| {{lang|mk|рака}} ({{Transliteration|mk|ráka}})
|-
! {{lang|sla|*noktь}} (night)
| {{lang|ru|ночь}} ({{Transliteration|ru|nočʹ}})
| {{lang|uk|ніч}} ({{Transliteration|uk|nič}})
| {{lang|be|ноч}} ({{Transliteration|be|noč}})
| {{lang|rue|нуч}} ({{Transliteration|rue|nuč}})
| {{lang|pl|noc}}
| {{lang|cs|noc}}
| {{lang|sk|noc}}
| {{lang|sl|noč}}
| {{lang|sh|ноћ}} / {{Transliteration|sh|noć}}
| {{lang|bg|нощ}} ({{Transliteration|bg|nosht}})
| {{lang|mk|ноќ}} ({{Transliteration|mk|noḱ}})
|}