East Slavic languages are a subgroup of languages that is part of the Slavic group of the Indo-European family. They are common in Eastern Europe, Asia, America and other parts of the world.
Classification
East Slavic languages include both living and already dead languages and various dialects. As for the first group, this includes:
- Belarusian.
- Russian.
- Ukrainian.
- Rusyn, sometimes considered a dialect of Ukrainian.
As for dead languages, this includes Old Russian, which existed before the 14th century, Western Russian, which was used by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, as well as Old Novgorod dialect with its own characteristics.
History
Belarusian, Russian and Ukrainian are Slavic languages. The East Slavic aspect is represented by the fact that these languages had a common ancestor - the Old Russian language, which appeared in the 7th century on the basis of Proto-Slavic. In connection with a variety of historical circumstances, the ancient Russian nationality was divided into three large branches - Belarusian, Russian and Ukrainian, each ofwho went their own way of development.
The East Slavic group of languages has been developing for a long time. Some distinctive features appeared in languages quite late - in the 14th century, while others many centuries earlier. All three languages are characterized by similar morphology, grammar and vocabulary, but they also have significant differences. Some grammatical categories are inherent only in the Ukrainian and Belarusian languages, and are absent in Russian. The same applies to vocabulary, since a significant number of lexical units in Ukrainian and Belarusian are of Polish origin.
Features
East Slavic languages have their own distinctive features that make them stand out from others:
- Phonetics. It is characterized by the presence of Proto-Slavic combinations -oro-, -olo-, -ere-, -elo-, one hundred, which is not typical for the southern and western Slavs, as well as the presence of consonants: h, j, which were simplified in other Slavic languages.
- Vocabulary. The East Slavic subgroup of languages inherited most of their lexical units from the Proto-Slavic language, however, it also has its own characteristics that distinguish them from other Slavs. The group is also characterized by borrowing, in particular from the Finno-Ugric, B altic, Turkic, Iranian, Caucasian, and Western European languages.
East Slavic languages use an alphabet based on the Cyrillic alphabet that came from Bulgaria, however each language of the group has its own characteristics and letters that are not found in others.
Belarusian language
Is the national language of Belarusians and the official language of the Republic of Belarus. In addition, it is spoken in Russia, Lithuania, Latvia, Ukraine, Poland, etc. Like other East Slavic languages, Belarusian comes from Old Russian and was formed around the 13th-14th centuries on the territory of modern Belarus. This was facilitated by the formation of the Belarusian nationality, united by political, geographical, religious and other factors. A special role in this was played by the unification of lands within the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. At this time, the Belarusian language becomes official and almost all state and legal documentation is conducted in it. Also, the development of the language was facilitated by schools in the communities that arose on the territory of Belarus in the 15th century.
Significant monuments of the written language of the Belarusian language are the Lithuanian Statute, the annals of Avraamka and Bykhovets, "Ps alter", "Small travel book", "Grammar Slovenska" and others. The revival of the language began in the 19-20th century and is associated with Yanka Kupala, Jacob Kolos and other names.
Russian language
Russian is one of the East Slavic languages. It is considered one of the world's diplomatic languages and is spoken by several million people around the world. The basis of the nationality of the Russians was the tribes that inhabited the territory of Veliky Novgorod and the interfluve of the Volga and Oka.
Formation of nationalitycontributed to the development of a centralized state, which fought the Tatars and Mongols. An important role in this was played by the reform activities of Peter I, as well as the work of M. V. Lomonosov, G. R. Derzhavin, N. I. Novikova, N. I. Karamzin and others. The founder of the national Russian language is A. S. Pushkin. Its feature is a strict syllabic principle and the double meaning of many letters. The basis of the vocabulary is formed by Old Slavonic lexical units, as well as various borrowings.
Ukrainian language
One of the most widespread Slavic languages. It is spoken in Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, Kazakhstan, Poland, Moldova, etc. The features of the Ukrainian language began to appear as early as the 12th century, and since the 14th century, Ukrainians have acted as a separate nation with their own distinctive features.
The emergence of the Ukrainian nation is associated with the struggle of the people against the Polish and Tatar aggression. An important role in the development of Ukrainian writing was played by the works of Hryhoriy Skovoroda, T. G. Shevchenko, I. Ya. Franko, Lesya Ukrainka, I. P. Kotlyarevsky, G. R. Kvitka-Osnovyanenko and others. The vocabulary of the Ukrainian language is characterized by the presence of borrowings from Polish, Turkic and German.
Rusinian language
Is a collection of heterogeneous literary, linguistic and dialectal formations that are characteristic of Rusyns. This nationality lives on the territory of the Transcarpathian region of Ukraine, in Slovakia, Poland, Croatia, Serbia, Hungary,as well as on the theory of Canada and the USA. To date, the number of people who speak this language is about 1.5 million people.
There are different opinions on whether to consider Ruthenian a separate language, or a dialect of Ukrainian. Modern Ukrainian legislation considers Ruthenian as the language of national minorities, while, for example, in Serbia, it is considered official.
Characteristic for this language is the presence of a large number of Church Slavonicisms, as well as numerous Polonisms, Germanisms, Mannerisms and other features that are not inherent in the Ukrainian language. It is also characterized by the presence of many lexical units that are of Hungarian origin. In addition to this, the language has a huge layer of Slavic vocabulary, which undoubtedly connects it with other East Slavic relatives.
The East Slavic group of languages is part of the Slavic branch of the Indo-European family and has features and differences in comparison with the languages of the Western and South Slavs. This group includes Belarusian, Russian, Ukrainian and Ruthenian languages, as well as a number of languages and dialects that are now dead. This group is common in Eastern Europe, Asia, America and other parts of the world.
