West Slavic languages

West Slavic
Geographic distribution:	Central Europe
Linguistic classification:	Indo-European Balto-Slavic Slavic West Slavic
Subdivisions:	Czech–Slovak Lechitic Sorbian
ISO 639-5:	`zlw`
Glottolog:	`west2792`^[1]
Countries where a West Slavic language is the national language

Balto-Slavic languages.

The West Slavic languages are a subdivision of the Slavic language group that includes Czech, Polish, Slovak, Kashubian, Lower Sorbian and Upper Sorbian.

Groups and dialects

Classification according to the traditional model:^[2]

Indo-European
- Balto-Slavic
  - Slavic
    - West Slavic
      - Czech–Slovak languages
        
        Czech
        
        Slovak
      - Lechitic
        
        Polish
        
        Pomeranian (†)
        
        Kashubian
        
        Slovincian (†)
        
        Polabian (†)
      - Sorbian languages
        
        Upper Sorbian
        
        Lower Sorbian

Distinctive features

Some distinctive features of the West Slavic languages, as from when they split from the East Slavic and South Slavic branches around the 3rd to 6th centuries AD, are as follows:^[3]

development of proto-Slavic tj, dj into palatalized ts, (d)z, as in modern Polish/Czech noc ("night"; compare Russian ночь);
retention of the groups kv, gv as in Polish gwiazda ("star"; compare Russian звезда; but note also Russian цвет vs. Ukrainian квіт, "flower");
retention of tl, dl, as in Polish/Czech radlo/rádlo ("ard"; compare Russian рало);
palatized h (ich-Laut) developed into š, as in Polish musze (locative case of mucha, "fly");
the groups pj, bj, mj, vj developed into (soft) consonant forms without the epenthesis of l, as in Polish kupię ("I shall buy"; compare Russian куплю);
a tendency towards fixed stress (on the first or penultimate syllable);
use of the endings -ego, -emu for the genitive and dative singular of the adjectival declension;
use of the pronoun form tъnъ rather than tъ, leading to Polish/Czech ten ("this" (masc.); compare Russian тот);
extension of the genitive form čьso to nominative and accusative in place of čь(to), leading to Polish/Czech co ("what", compare Russian что).

References

^ Nordhoff, Sebastian; Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2013). "West Slavic".
^ chapter 12
^ Zenon Klemensiewicz, Historia języka polskiego, 7th edition, Wydawnictwo naukowe PWN, Warsaw 1999. ISBN 83-01-12760-0

Slavic languages

History	Proto-Balto-Slavic up to Proto-Slavic Proto-Slavic (accent) Old Church Slavonic modern languages Cyril and Methodius Cyrillic script Glagolitic script

West	Czech Kashubian Knaanic Polabian Middle Polish Old Polish Polish Pomeranian Slovak Slovincian Lower Sorbian Upper Sorbian

East	Belarusian Iazychie Old East Slavic Old Novgorodian Russian Rusyn Ruthenian Ukrainian

South	Bulgarian Macedonian Serbo-Croatian Bosnian Croatian Montenegrin Serbian Slovene

Constructed languages	Church Slavonic Pan-Slavic language Interslavic Slovio

Separate dialects and Slavic microlanguages	Balachka Banat Bulgarian Burgenland Croatian Carpathian Rusyn Canadian Ukrainian Chakavian Cieszyn Silesian Czechoslovak Eastern Slovak Kajkavian Lach Lesser Polish Masovian Masurian Moravian Molise Croatian Pannonian Rusyn Podhale Prekmurian Resian Shtokavian Silesian Slavic dialects of Greece Surzhyk Torlakian Trasianka West Polesian

Linguistics	Slavic first palatalization Slavic second palatalization Slavic liquid metathesis and pleophony Dybo's law Havlík's law Hirt's law Illič-Svityč's law Ivšić's law Meillet's law Pedersen's law Ruki sound law Winter's law

Italics indicate extinct languages.

Categories

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West Slavic languages