East Slavic languages and their features

The 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, in Asia, America and other parts of the world.

Classification

Eastern and Slavic languages include both living and already dead languages and various dialects. As for the first group, this includes:

• Belorussian.
• Russian.
• Ukrainian.
• Rusinsky, who is sometimes regarded as a dialect of Ukrainian.

As for the dead languages, this refers to the Old Russian language, which existed before the 14th century, the Western Russian language, which was used by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, as well as the Old Norse dialect with its own characteristics.

History

Belarusian, Russian and Ukrainian - 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 the Proto-Slavic language. In connection with various historical circumstances, the Old Russian people divided into three large branches - the Belarusian, Russian and Ukrainian, each of which went its own way of development.

The East Slavic group of languages developed for a long time. Some of the differences appeared in languages quite late - in the 14th century, while others differed many centuries earlier. All three languages are characterized by a similar morphology, grammar and vocabulary, but they also have significant differences. Some grammatical categories are inherent only in Ukrainian and Belarusian, and are absent in Russian. The same applies to vocabulary, since a significant number of lexical units in Ukrainian and Belarusian languages are of Polish origin.

Features

Eastern-Slavic languages have their own distinctive features that distinguish them among others:

• Phonetics. It is characterized by the presence of the Proto-Slavic combinations-oro-, -olo-, -ere-, -elo, that is not characteristic of the southern and western Slavs, and also the presence of consonants: h, j, which in other Slavic languages have been simplified.
• Vocabulary. The East Slavic subgroup of languages has inherited most of its lexical units from the Proto-Slavic language, but it has its own peculiarities that distinguish them from other Slavs. The group is also characterized by borrowing, in particular from Finno-Ugric, Baltic, Turkic, Iranian, Caucasian, and Western European languages.

Eastern Slavic languages use the alphabet based on the Cyrillic alphabet, which came from Bulgaria, but each language of the group has its own features and letters that are absent in others.

Belarusian language

It is the national language of the Belarusians and the official language of the Republic of Belarus. In addition, it is spoken in Russia, Lithuania, Latvia, Ukraine, Poland, etc. Like other Eastern Slavic languages, the Belarusian originates from the Old Russian and was formed approximately in the 13th and 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 the lands in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. At this time the Belarusian language becomes official and practically all state and legal documentation is kept on it. Also the development of language was promoted by the schools of the communities that arose on the territory of Belarus in the 15th century.

The Lithuanian Statute, the annals of Avraamka and Bykhovets, the Psalter, the Little Road Book, the Grammar of the Slovenian, etc., are notable memorabilia of the written language of the Belarusian language. The revival of the language began in the 19-20th century and is connected with Yanka Kupala, Yakob 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 owned by several million people around the world. The basis of the nationality of Russians were the tribes inhabiting the territory of Veliky Novgorod and the interfluve of the Volga and the Oka.

The formation of a nationalized state was promoted by the development of a centralized state that fought against the Tatars and Mongols. An important role in this was played by the reforming activities of Peter I, as well as the work of M.V. Lomonosov, G.R. Derzhavin, N.I. Novikova, N.I. Karamzin, etc. The founder of the national Russian language is A.S. Pushkin. Its feature is a strict syllabic principle and the dual meaning of many letters. The basis of the lexicon is formed by Old Slavic lexical units, as well as various borrowings.

Ukrainian language

One of the most common Slavic languages. It is spoken in Ukraine, Byelorussia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Poland, Moldova, etc. The peculiarities of the Ukrainian language began to appear as far back as the 12th century, and from the 14th century the Ukrainians acted as a separate nation with distinctive features.

The emergence of the Ukrainian nation is connected 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 Grigory Skovoroda, T.G. Shevchenko, I.Ya. Franco, Lesya Ukrainka, I.P. Kotlyarevsky, G.R. Kvitka-Osnovyanenko, etc. For the lexicon of the Ukrainian language is characterized by the availability of loans from Polish, Turkic and German.

Rusyn language

It is a set of heterogeneous literary and linguistic and dialectal formations that are characteristic of Rusyns. This nationality lives in the Transcarpathian region of Ukraine, in Slovakia, Poland, Croatia, Serbia, Hungary, as well as in the theories of Canada and the United States. To date, the number of people who speak this language, there are about 1.5 million people.

There are different opinions as to whether to consider Ruthenian as a separate language, or as a dialect of Ukrainian. The modern Ukrainian legislation considers the Ruthenian as the language of the national minority, whereas, for example, in Serbia, it is considered official.

Characteristic for this language is the presence of a large number of Church Slavicisms, as well as numerous polonizms, Germanisms, mannerisms and other features that are not inherent in the Ukrainian language. It is also characterized by the presence of a multitude of lexical units that are of Hungarian origin. In addition to this, there is a huge layer of Slavic vocabulary in the language, which undoubtedly links it with other Eastern 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 southern 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 also in other parts of the world.