Slovak
Language · official in 1 country
Ľudovít Štúr codified the modern Slovak alphabet and written standard in the mid-19th century, and Martin Hattala reformed it. Slovenčina belongs to the Czech and Slovak group of West Slavic languages and is so close to Czech that most dialects of the two are mutually intelligible. Article 6 of Slovakia's constitution makes it the state language, and it is an official language of the European Union.
The language on record
- Own name
- slovenčina
- ISO 639-1
- SK
- ISO 639-3
- SLK
- Script
- Latin
- Family
- West Slavic
- Official in
- 1 country
Where Slovak is official
Slovakia is the single record, where Slovak is the state language under the constitution. Serbia's province of Vojvodina also makes it official at regional level.
About Slovak
How Slovak separated from Czech
The Czech and Slovak group took shape within West Slavic in the high Middle Ages, and the two written standards emerged from one dialect continuum in the early modern period. The Moravian dialects along the Czech border work as a bridge between them. Eastern Slovak dialects are harder for Czechs to follow and sit closer to Polish and East Slavic. Czechoslovakia joined the two languages in one state from 1918 to 1993, and literary Slovak still shares spelling features and technical vocabulary from that period. Since the split, Czech has been allowed in Slovak television and in court proceedings.
Who decides what standard Slovak is
A law on the state language sets out the standard. The Ministry of Culture approves the codified form on the advice of linguists, traditionally those of the Ľudovít Štúr Institute of Linguistics in the Slovak Academy of Sciences, and publishes a codification handbook naming the authoritative reference books. The current list, published on 15 March 2021, names rules of spelling from 2013, a dictionary from 2020, rules of pronunciation from 2009 and a morphology from 1966. National minorities have explicit permission to use their own languages.
Why Slovak writes both i and y
Slovak spelling follows sound first, then word structure, then etymology. The etymological rule is why i follows some consonants and y others, although the two letters are usually pronounced alike. A rarer grammatical rule writes pekný, "nice" in the singular, and pekní in the plural with no difference in sound, a remnant of a Proto-Slavic distinction that Polish still pronounces. Four diacritics, among them the caron of č and the circumflex of ô, sit above the letters. Loanwords are respelled: weekend is víkend and quality kvalita.
Common questions
Questions about Slovak
Can Slovaks and Czechs understand each other?
Mostly. The majority of Czech and Slovak dialects are mutually intelligible, although eastern Slovak dialects are harder for Czech speakers.
Who codified the Slovak language?
Ľudovít Štúr in the mid-19th century, with a later reform by Martin Hattala. The linguistics institute of the Slovak Academy of Sciences bears Štúr's name.
Where is Slovak official besides Slovakia?
In the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina in Serbia, where it is one of the official languages, and in the European Union. There is also a Slovak diaspora across Europe, the Americas and Australia.