| Standard | Etymological | Pronunciation | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Latin | Cyrillic | ||
| A | А | A | [ɑ] ~ [a] |
| Å | [ɒ] | ||
| B | Б | B | [b] |
| C | Ц | C | [t͡s] |
| Č (CZ, CX) | Ч | Ć | [t͡ɕ] |
| Č | [t͡ʃ] ~ [t͡ʂ] | ||
| D | Д | D | [d] |
| D́ (Ď) | [dʲ] ~ [ɟ] | ||
| DŽ | ДЖ | Đ | [d͡ʑ] |
| DŽ | [d͡ʒ] ~ [d͡ʐ] | ||
| E | Е | E | [ɛ] ~ [e] |
| Ė (È) | [ɛ] ~ [ǝ] | ||
| Ę | [ʲæ] | ||
| Ě (E) | Є (Е) | Ě | [ʲɛ] |
| F | Ф | F | [f] |
| G | Г | G | [g] ~ [ɦ] |
| H | Х | H | [x] |
| I | И | I | [i] ~ [ɪ] |
| J | Ј (Й) | J | [j] |
| K | К | K | [k] |
| L | Л | L | [l] ~ [ɫ] |
| Ĺ (Ľ) | [ʎ] ~ [l] | ||
| LJ | Љ (ЛЬ) | LJ | [ʎ] ~ [l] |
| M | М | M | [m] |
| N | Н | N | [n] |
| Ń | [n] ~ [ɲ] | ||
| NJ | Њ (НЬ) | NJ | [nʲ] ~ [ɲ] |
| O | О | O | [ɔ] ~ [o] |
| Ȯ (Ò) | [ə] ~ [ʌ] | ||
| P | П | P | [p] |
| R | Р | R | [r] [ǝr] (syllabic) |
| Ŕ | [rʲ] ~ [r̝] [ʲǝr] (syllabic) | ||
| S | С | S | [s] |
| Ś | [sʲ] ~ [ɕ] | ||
| Š (SZ, SX) | Ш | Š | [ʃ] ~ [ʂ] |
| T | Т | T | [t] |
| T́ (Ť) | [tʲ] ~ [c] | ||
| U | У | U | [u] |
| Ų | [o] ~ [ʊ] | ||
| V | В | V | [v] ~ [ʋ] |
| Y (I) | Ы (И) | Y | [i] ~ [ɨ] |
| Z | З | Z | [z] |
| Ź | [zʲ] ~ [ʑ] | ||
| Ž (Ż, ZS, ZX) | Ж | Ž | [ʒ] ~ [ʐ] |
Guidelines (Směrnice)
- -To summarise, there are several possibilities for writing the same word. The general guideline is: the more understandable the better. However, there are a few things to keep in mind: -
-
-
- To avoid confusion among newcomers, try to follow the standard Latin and/or Cyrillic orthography as much as possible. Interslavic keyboard layouts can be downloaded here. -
- For the same reason, do not use the etymological alphabet (formerly known as Naučny medžuslovjansky) in ordinary conversations. Whenever you use it anyway, please mention explicitly why you use it. -
- Avoid using Cyrillic letters that are no longer used (such as ѣ, ѩ, ѫ, ѱ) and do not attempt to cyrillicise the etymological alphabet in any other way either, as both would seriously hamper intelligibility. -
- If you have problems writing certain characters, please use one of the suggested alternatives. -
- Be consistent in your choices. If, for example, you decide to use sz for representing š, keep it that way in the whole text or conversation, otherwise you will only create confusion. For the same reason, if you use sz, then don't use č or cx at the same time. -
- Do not use non-letter characters (^ ' etc.) as a means to replace diacritics. They will not make your text more readable and most people find them ugly. -
- Never mix Latin with Cyrillic. -
- When addressing a members of a particular Slavic nation (for example, when you are travelling), you might consider flavourising your Interslavic. However, do not use flavorisation in multi-Slavic environments. -
ORTHOGRAPHY
+Pravopisanje
+ ++Standard alphabet • +Representation of problematic characters • +Etymological alphabet • +Overview • +Capitalization • +Guidelines +
Standard alphabet (Standardny alfabet)
+ +The question how Interslavic should be written has always been subject to discussion. Ideally, every Slav should be able to write it on their own keyboard, but this would rule out the possibility of a single standard orthography. The various national orthographies are simply too divergent to find a solution that is convenient for everybody. Making any of them „official” or „standard” would be unfair, because all other possibilities would automatically be rendered „inofficial”, „non-standard” and therefore „incorrect”. But on the other hand, a situation with too many different writing standards has the disadvantage of being confusing and potentially discouraging for people hoping to learn Interslavic.
+ +Since the border between Latin and Cyrillic runs straight through the middle of Slavic territory, Interslavic has standard alphabets for both. Neither of them is based on any national orthography in particular. Instead, they were designed as a compromise, intended to be intuitively understandable and to enable easy transliteration between them. Users are strongly encouraged to use these standard alphabets, but those who have problems writing certain characters are offered some alternative solutions, too.
+ +The Interslavic Latin alphabet uses 27 letters: 23 letters from the base Latin alphabet (all except q, w and x) plus four consonants with a haček (š, ž, č and ě), as well as three digraphs (dž, lj, nj):
+ +| A B C Č D DŽ E Ě F G H I J K L LJ M N NJ O P R S Š T U V Y Z Ž |
The Interslavic Cyrillic alphabet has 29 letters: all characters that the various Cyrillic orthographies have in common, with the addition of є, ы, ј, љ, њ, as well as one digraph (дж):
+ +| А Б В Г Д ДЖ Е Є Ж З И Ы Ј К Л Љ М Н Њ О П Р С Т У Ф Х Ц Ч Ш |
Both orthographies are equal, and in published texts, it deserves recommendation to provide versions in both Latin and Cyrillic, so that they can be understood on both sides of the frontier.
+ +Interslavic keyboard layouts can be downloaded here.
+ + + +Representation of problematic characters (Pisanje problematičnyh bukv)
+ +As noted above, both the Latin and Cyrillic alphabets include characters that cannot be written on every Slavic keyboard. Those who cannot write a character on their own keyboard have several alternatives at their disposal. Here are a few recommendations:
+ +Latin Č Š Ž
+ +These letters are very important in Slavic. Leaving out the haček (as is often done by native speakers in SMS language) has a negative impact on the understandability of Interslavic, because c s z are entirely different phonemes.
+ +Because Poles do not have the letters on their keyboard, the suggested alternative for them is cz sz ż. Those who do not have ż on their keyboard either can use cz sz zs instead. An alternative solution is cx sx zx, which has the advantage of being consistent and unambiguous, but the disadvantage of being unnatural (and in the eyes of many people, ugly). Other options are better avoided. For example, English-based ch sh zh has the disadvantage that West Slavs would read ch as h [x], while solutions involving non-letter characters (like c^, c*, c') make it look like computer code. At last, do not use characters like q or w (the so-called Volapük encoding) as substitutes, as this would only create confusion.
+ +Latin Ě and Cyrillic Є
+ +The importance of ě (the so-called yat) lies in its pronunciation. Whereas in most languages e does not soften its preceding consonant, ě softens it in all languages except Slovene, Serbian and Macedonian, amounting for 96% of the speakers. It is therefore logical that this rather considerable distinction is made in Interslavic as well. In the Latin alphabet, the traditional representation of this phoneme is ě, which also makes for a good compromise between, for example, Serbian e and Croatian ije/je. A disadvantage of ě is that only Czech and Sorbian have it in their alphabets.
+ +The Cyrillic counterpart of ě is the letter є, borrowed from Ukrainian, where its pronunciation is similar. It was chosen because of its visual similarity to е, and also for the lack of any other good alternative in Cyrillic. Theoretically, the archaic letter ѣ (the traditional yat) is historically more correct, but since it is not used in any living Slavic language nowadays (in 1945, Bulgarian and Rusyn were the last to abolish it) and few people can recognise it, using it in Interslavic texts would seriously impede intelligibility.
+ +For those who cannot write ě / є and those who don't know when to write it, the best alternative is Latin e / Cyrillic е. This is a legitimate simplification that puts ě in a position similar to the letter ё in Russian, in other words: the diacritic represents a different pronunciation, but may remain unwritten.
+ +Latin Y and Cyrillic Ы
+ +The letter y / ы is helpful mostly to Russians, Belarussians and Poles. In South Slavic, Ukrainian and spoken Czech and Slovak, it has merged with i. Those who don't know when to make the distinction, as well as those who are targeting a predominantly South Slavic audience, are advised to use i / и in all cases.
+ +Cyrillic Ј
+ +Interslavic uses the letter ј from Serbian and Macedonian Cyrillic as the equivalent of Latin j, because й (Russian, Ukrainian, Belarussian and Bulgarian) is too restrictive regarding its surrounding vowels and consonants. For those who have problems writing ј, the logical substitute is й, but when it is followed by a vowel, a iotated vowel will be used instead in most cases: +
-
+
- йа and йу can be written я and ю respectively; this is definitely the most natural solution, but it should be remembered that not all Serbs and Macedonians know these characters, also because their shapes are not particularly suggestive; +
- йо is never a problem; Russian ё should be avoided though, because it is used in different situations and may not be clear to those who don't know Russian; +
- йе is more problematic; the best solution is probably е after a vowel, ье after a consonant and йе at the beginning of a word; +
- йи can be written as ьи after a consonant and и in other positions, since there is no fundamental distinction with syllable-initial и anyway. +
Cyrillic Љ and Њ
+ +The Cyrillic counterparts of lj and nj are љ and њ, taken from Serbian and Macedonian Cyrillic as well. Those who do not have these letters on their keyboard can always write ль and нь instead.
+ + + +Etymological alphabet (Etimologičny alfabet)
+ +In addition to the standard Latin alphabet, Interslavic also contains a number of optional letters that refer specifically to Proto-Slavic/Old Church Slavonic phonemes that have diverged or disappeared in most modern languages:
+ +| Ę Ų Å Ė Ȯ Ć Đ Ĺ Ń Ŕ T́ D́ Ś Ź |
-
+
- The vowels ę and ų match the nasal vowels ѧ and ѫ in Old Church Slavonic (little yus and big yus respectively, usually transliterated as ę and ǫ). +
- The vowel å occurs in the combinations rå and lå followed by a consonant, where Polish has ro/ró and ło/łó and East Slavic has (o)ro and (o)lo. +
- The vowels ė and ȯ represent strong yers: ь (ĭ) and ъ (ŭ). +
- The consonants ć and đ refer to Proto-Slavic tj and dj, which in Old Church Slavonic became щ (št) and жд (žd). +
- The soft consonants ĺ ń ŕ t́ d́ ś ź refer to consonants followed by a weak ь. +
The aforementioned letters are merely optional extensions of the standard Latin alphabet. For that reason, there is never any need to represent them in some other way than by simply leaving out the diacritic; the only exceptions are ć and đ, which in standard orthography should be replaced with č and dž.
+ +The letters ĺ and ń occur only before a consonant. Phonetically, they are identical to lj and nj, the only difference being that they are not usually written in Interslavic.
+ +Note that the Interslavic etymological alphabet does not include length or tone markers, nor does is include special letters for borrowings from non-Slavic languages (such as OCS ѳ and ѵ, used only for Greek words, or ü for German or French words).
+ +Rationale
+ +The basic Latin and Cyrillic alphabets of Interslavic consist of letters whose pronunciation is similar in all Slavic languages. However, Proto-Slavic and Old Church Slavonic also had a number of phonemes that developed in different directions. In most modern languages, these sound changes have been remarkably predictable. By assigning a special character to these phonemes, each one of them can be linked to a particular phoneme in any of the modern Slavic languages, thus covering the main phonological differences between the latter. In other words, this extended alphabet can serve as bridge between Old Church Slavonic and the modern Slavic languages, but also as an intermediary orthography between Old Church Slavonic and Interslavic.
+ +In contrast to alphabets such as the International Phonetic Alphabet and the Slavistic Alphabet, this orthography is not meant to give information about the pronunciation of individual languages, but to show the relationship between them. It can be compared to the orthography of English: although there are vast differences in pronunciation between British English, Scottish English and American English, all are written in practically the same way, using spelling conventions that represent the spoken language of the 14th century. If the Slavs would use a similar alphabet instead of their pronunciation-based national orthographies, the word for „five” could be written as pęt́ in all Slavic languages, instead of пять, pięć, piãc, pjeć, pět, päť, pet etc.
+ +This etymology-based alphabet (previously known as Naučny medžuslovjansky „Scientific Interslavic”) also serves as the source code for Interslavic. It was designed in such way that it differs from standard Interslavic only by additional diacritics, so that a reader who is unfamiliar with those diacritics can simply ignore them. Using this orthography in Interslavic can serve the following purposes: +
-
+
- conveying etymological information, +
- supporting the learning process by making Interslavic words easier to link to their counterparts in other Slavic languages, +
- giving more precise information about the ideal (most central) pronunciation, +
- enabling users to adapt („flavourise”) written and spoken Interslavic for speakers of particular languages (see flavourisation), +
- making it possible to transcribe text from any Slavic language into Interslavic orthography. +
Usage
+ +Text with a lot of diacritics may appear intimidating to newcomers, whose first contact with Interslavic is probably not this explanation. For people learning the language, it is confusing when different participants in a conversation use different orthographies. They might incorrectly believe that these diacritical marks are mandatory, or that Interslavic written with these extensions is superior to Interslavic written without them. At last, letters like ę and ų may be helpful to Poles and perhaps East Slavs, but especially South Slavs are not helped by using this orthography at all: for them, it only makes things needlessly complicated. Therefore, please refrain from using this orthography in everyday conversations, unless you use it with a particular purpose in mind. In that case, please explain why you are using them, and that these diacritics are merely optional additions.
+ +Those who use these extended characters anyway are by no means required to use the entire set: users can pick from it whatever they like and leave out whatever they don't. There are only two restrictions. First of all, once you decide to use a certain character from the extended set, use it consistently. Secondly, some letters come in pairs (ę/ų, ė/ȯ, t́/d́, ś/ź), and it wouldn't make sense to use one item from a pair while omitting the other.
+ +Because these extensions are optional, alternative representations are not strictly needed. However, since the letters t́ and d́ do not occur in any language (even in Unicode they can only be written with the help of a combining diacritic), they may be written with a haček as well: ť and ď; note that in most fonts the haček appears as an apostroph. Likewise, ĺ can be written as ľ. At last, instead of ė and ȯ it is also possible to write è and ò.
+ +Cyrillic
+ +In the Latin alphabet, additional etymological information is conveyed by means of diacritical marks only. Thus, passive intelligibility is not hampered, and a reader who is not familiar with them can understand the text anyway. A similar approach for Cyrillic (using characters like ӑ, ԙ, ө, ұ, ӣ, ҷ, ӝ, etc.) would not only make a text look extremely artificial, it would also be little helpful, since the modifications would be far from self-explaining. An extended Cyrillic alphabet using historical (ѣ, ѩ, ѫ) and regional (ћ, ђ) characters would be very hard to understand for people unfamiliar with Old Church Slavonic orthography and therefore conflict with the purpose of Interslavic. For that reason, the Interslavic etymological alphabet has no Cyrillic equivalent.
+ + + +Overview (Prěgled)
+ +The following table shows the correspondences between the letters mentioned above (suggested alternative spellings are shown in grey between brackets). The transliterator makes it possible to transliterate between Latin and Cyrillic.
+ +| Standard | Etymological | Pronunciation | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Latin | Cyrillic | ||
| A | А | A | [ɑ] ~ [a] |
| Å | [ɒ] | ||
| B | Б | B | [b] |
| C | Ц | C | [t͡s] |
| Č (CZ, CX) | Ч | Ć | [t͡ɕ] |
| Č | [t͡ʃ] ~ [t͡ʂ] | ||
| D | Д | D | [d] |
| D́ (Ď) | [dʲ] ~ [ɟ] | ||
| DŽ | ДЖ | Đ | [d͡ʑ] |
| DŽ | [d͡ʒ] ~ [d͡ʐ] | ||
| E | Е | E | [ɛ] ~ [e] |
| Ė (È) | [ɛ] ~ [ǝ] | ||
| Ę | [ʲæ] | ||
| Ě (E) | Є (Е) | Ě | [ʲɛ] |
| F | Ф | F | [f] |
| G | Г | G | [g] ~ [ɦ] |
| H | Х | H | [x] |
| I | И | I | [i] ~ [ɪ] |
| J | Ј (Й) | J | [j] |
| K | К | K | [k] |
| L | Л | L | [l] ~ [ɫ] |
| Ĺ (Ľ) | [ʎ] ~ [l] | ||
| LJ 1) | Љ (ЛЬ) | LJ | [ʎ] ~ [l] |
| M | М | M | [m] |
| N | Н | N | [n] |
| Ń (Ň) | [n] ~ [ɲ] | ||
| NJ 1) | Њ (НЬ) | NJ | [nʲ] ~ [ɲ] |
| O | О | O | [ɔ] ~ [o] |
| Ȯ (Ò) | [ə] ~ [ʌ] | ||
| P | П | P | [p] |
| R | Р | R | [r] [ǝr] (syllabic) |
| Ŕ (Ř) | [rʲ] ~ [r̝] [ʲǝr] (syllabic) | ||
| S | С | S | [s] |
| Ś | [sʲ] ~ [ɕ] | ||
| Š (SZ, SX) | Ш | Š | [ʃ] ~ [ʂ] |
| T | Т | T | [t] |
| T́ (Ť) | [tʲ] ~ [c] | ||
| U | У | U | [u] |
| Ų | [o] ~ [ʊ] | ||
| V | В | V | [v] ~ [ʋ] |
| Y (I) | Ы (И) | Y | [i] ~ [ɨ] |
| Z | З | Z | [z] |
| Ź | [zʲ] ~ [ʑ] | ||
| Ž (Ż, ZS, ZX) | Ж | Ž | [ʒ] ~ [ʐ] |
1 In Interslavic, the digraphs lj and nj (in Cyrillic: љ and њ) represent one single sound, and therefore have their own place in the alphabet. However, there are two situations, in which lj and nj represent two separate sounds:
+– when the n is part of a Latin or Greek prefix, in rare words like konjunktura, injekcija, panjevrějsky. These should be written конјунктура, инјекција and панјеврєјскы in Cyrillic.
+– when the j is part of a suffix or ending (-je, -ji, -ju). Ideally, they should be written писанје, усилје in Cyrillic, but since automated transliteration is unable to predict whether nj should be become њ or нј, писање and усиље are considered valid alternatives.
Capitalization (Velike i male bukvy)
+ +Always capitalized are:
+-
+
- the first letter of a sentence; +
- proper nouns: names of persons, countries, cities, towns, villages, oceans, seas, rivers, mountains, celestial bodies, etc.: Anglija, Tihy okean; +
- possessive adjectives derived from proper names: Petrovo dělo „Peter’s work”; +
- the first letter of the name of an organisation: Organizacija sjedinjenyh narodov, Komunistična partija Sovětskogo Sojuza; +
- the first letter of a title: Vojna i mir „War and Peace”; +
- names of holidays: Rodženje „Christmas”; +
- names of divine creatures, personifications, etc.: Děd Mraz „Father Christmas”; +
- abbreviations in which every letter represents a separate word: SŠA „USA”. +
Not capitalized are: +
-
+
- adjectives derived from geographical names, f.ex. russky, londonsky; +
- names of languages and language families, f.ex. anglijsky, medžuslovjansky, esperanto; +
- names of weekdays, months and seasons; +
- directions: sěver, zapad etc. +
In some situations, it is up to the author’s preferences whether or not to capitalize a word. This goes, for example, for: +
-
+
- inhabitants of countries, regions, cities etc.: Slovjanin and slovjanin „Slav”, Ukrajinec and ukrajinec „Ukrainian” are equally correct; +
- other words that are part of the name of a country, organisation etc.: Sjedinjene Arabske Emiraty or Sjedinjene arabske emiraty; +
- second person pronouns may be capitalized as a sign of respect, although this is by no means necessary: Ty, Vy, Tvoj etc. +
Guidelines (Směrnice)
+ +To summarise, there are several possibilities for writing the same word. The general guideline is: the more understandable the better. However, there are a few things to keep in mind: +
-
+
- In order not to confuse newcomers, follow the standard Latin and/or Cyrillic orthography as much as possible. Interslavic keyboard layouts can be downloaded here. +
- For the same reason, try not to use the etymological alphabet in ordinary conversations. Whenever you use it anyway, please mention explicitly why you use it. +
- Avoid using ancient Cyrillic letters (such as ѣ, ѩ, ѫ, ѱ) and do not attempt to cyrillicise the etymological alphabet in any other way either, as both would seriously hamper intelligibility. +
- If you have problems writing certain characters, use one of the suggested alternatives. +
- Be consistent in your choices. If, for example, you decide to use sz for representing š, keep it that way in the whole text or conversation, otherwise you will only create confusion. For the same reason, if you use sz, then don't use č or cx at the same time. +
- Do not use non-letter characters (^ ' etc.) as a means to replace diacritics. They will not make your text more readable and most people find them ugly. +
- Never mix Latin with Cyrillic. +
- When addressing a member of a particular Slavic nation (for example, when you are travelling), you might consider flavourising your Interslavic. However, do not use flavourisation in multi-Slavic environments. +
PHONOLOGY
-Fonologija
- --Phoneme inventory - (vowels, consonants) • -Hard and soft consonants • -Phonotactics
-Morphophonemic alternations • -Palatalisation • -Iotation • -O > E • -Y > I/E • -Ě > I • -Fleeting o/e -
Phoneme inventory (Zvukosbor)
- -Interslavic is neither a national language, nor does it try to emulate one. Instead, it is based on twelve national languages, each of them having its own phonology and its own corresponding orthography, tailored to fit its particular characteristics. In general, it can be said that the further South you go, the smaller the phoneme (sound) inventory becomes. Both spoken and written Interslavic should be in the very middle of them as much as possible.
- -A high number of phonemes makes intuitive writing and pronouncing Interslavic harder for those who are used to fewer phonemes. A low number, on the other hand, makes it harder to link a particular character or sound to a phoneme in one's own language, and therefore has a negative effect on intelligibility. For example, the ideal pronunciation of the word for „five” would be something like [pjætʲ]. If we write this as pęt́, a Russian can easily recognise his own pjať, a Serb his own pet and a Pole his own pięć; but for a Serb, there is no way of knowing when his own e and t become ę and t́ without consulting a dictionary. On the other hand, in a simplified scheme pet could also be misunderstood as Russian peť „to sing” or Polish pet „cigarette butt”. In short: the easier we make it for the speaker/writer, the harder it becomes for the listener/reader, and vice versa.
- -To solve this dilemma, Interslavic has a basic set of phonemes that are present in all or a vast majority of the Slavic languages, more or less with the same phonetic values. In addition, Interslavic also has a set of optional phonemes that link directly to Old Church Slavonic and refer to particular phonetic differences between languages. Using the aforementioned word pęt́ as an example, Russian [pjætʲ] and South Slavic [pɛt] are simply two ways of pronouncing the very same word: the letters ę and t́ indicate that their pronunciation varies among languages. These additional phonemes can be written by means of an additional set of optional letters, part of the Interslavic etymological alphabet (previously known as „Naučny Medžuslovjansky”).
- -The following charts give an overview of phonemes in Interslavic, based on their most average pronunciation. The basic phonemes are shown in black, optional variations in gray.
- - - -Vowels
- -Basic Interslavic has 7 vowel phonemes, five of which (a e i o u) have a rather uniform pronunciation, whereas the remaining two (ě y) have a pronunciation that may differ between speakers.
- -In addition, there are 5 optional vowels (å ė ę ȯ ų) whose pronunciation may vary. The diacritical marks are usually not written. In flavourised versions of Interslavic however, å can be written and pronounced as o, ę as ja, ȯ as e and y as i.
- -| - | Front | -Near- front | -Central | -Near- back | -Back | -|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Close | -
-
-
-
| |||||
| Near-close | ||||||
| Close-mid | ||||||
| Mid | ||||||
| Open-mid | ||||||
| Near-open | ||||||
| Open | ||||||
Interslavic also has syllabic r and ŕ (the latter belonging to the non-mandatory set). This is the case when it is preceded by a consonant and not followed by a vowel. It is pronounced with a schwa before it: trg [tərg], mŕtvy [mjərtvɪ], cukr [ʦukər].
- - - -Consonants
- -There are 23 basic consonants (including 3 affricates and 2 palatalised alveolars) with a more or less fixed pronunciation, as well as 7 optional consonants with a variable pronunciation:
-| labial/ labiodental | dental/alveolar | postalveolar/ palatal | velar | -||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| hard | soft | -||||
| Voiceles stops | p [p] | t [t] | t́ [tʲ] ~ [c] | k [k] | |
| Voiced stops | b [b] | d [d] | d́ [dʲ] ~ [ɟ] | g [g] | |
| Voiceless fricatives | f [f] | s [s] | ś [sʲ] ~ [ɕ] | š [ʃ] ~ [ʂ] | h [x] |
| Voiced fricatives | v [v] | z [z] | ź [zʲ] ~ [ʑ] | ž [ʒ] ~ [ʐ] | |
| Voiceless affricates | c [t͡s] | ć [t͡ɕ] | č [t͡ʃ] ~ [t͡ʂ] | ||
| Voiced affricates | đ [d͡ʑ] | dž [d͡ʒ] ~ [d͡ʐ] | |||
| Trills | r [r] | ŕ [rʲ] ~ [r̝] | |||
| Nasals | m [m] | n [n] | nj [nʲ] ~ [ɲ] | ||
| Laterals | l [ɫ] ~ [l] | lj [l] ~ [ʎ] | |||
| Approximants | j [j] | ||||
Hard and soft consonants (Tvrde i mekke suglasky)
- -Like all Slavic languages, Interslavic distinguishes between hard and soft consonants: -
-
-
- The hard consonants are: the labials p b f v m, the hard dentals/alveolars t d s z n r l, and the velars k g h. -
- The soft consonants are: the postalveolars š ž č dž, the soft dentals/alveolars lj nj ŕ t́ d́ ś ź ć đ, and the palatal approximant j. -
- The affricate c [t͡s] is pronounced hard, but in grammar it behaves like a soft consonant. Its voiced counterpart [d͡z] does not occur in Interslavic. -
Softening is the process of adding [ʲ] to a consonant, resulting in a more palatal pronunciation. The number of soft equivalents of hard consonants in the phoneme inventory varies greatly from one language to another. In Interslavic only lj and nj are mandatory, the etymological alphabet also has t́ d́ ś ź ŕ (normally written t d s z r): the acute accent replaces Cyrillic ь, which nowadays is used as a softener but used to be a vowel in the old days: an ultrashort ĭ.
- -As can be seen from the table above, pronunciation of soft consonants varies. East Slavic speakers are likely to pronounce them as softened dental or alveolar consonants, West Slavic speakers rather as palatal consonants. Both pronuciations are equally correct, although the former is probably easier to understand for South Slavs.
- -The soft consonants also include postalveolar š, ž, č and dž, as well as the affricates ć and đ. The latter two are usually written and pronounced č and dž, too; the difference is of an etymological nature: ć and đ are the iotated counterparts of t and d (see below).
- -Before i, ě, ę, ė and ŕ, a hard consonant can be softened or palatalised. That is why a word like buditi is pronounced either [buditi], [budʲitʲi] or [buɟici].
- -Phonotactics (Fonotaktika)
- -Interslavic orthography is based on etymology and not on pronunciation, so that consonant clusters can arise that may appear inpronouncable for English speakers, for example vozvršenje. The only limitations are related to combining certain vowels with certain consonants.
- -It is important to know the following:
--
-
- Every syllable contains one of the following vowels: a å e ę ė ě i o ȯ u ų y or syllabic r ŕ -
- å ę ė ě ȯ ų y and syllabic r ŕ: never occur word-initially or after a vowel -
- y: can never follow a soft consonant -
- ě ŕ: always follow a hard consonant or c (they are redundant in cases like jěsti and čŕny), but can be pronounced in such way that they soften it -
- o ȯ: rarely follow a soft consonant, except in loanwords like majonez and čokolada -
- å is always preceded by a liquid (r or l) and followed by a consonant -
- geminate consonants occur only as a result of prefixing (od-dati, v-voz) or suffixing (kon-ny, rus-sky), in rare cases in loanwords (motto). -
Morphophonemic alternations (Morfofonemične alternacije)
- -Inflection is kept as regular as possible. However, alternations like palatalisation and iotisation of consonants are an omnipresent phenomenon in Slavic. They play a crucial role in both inflection and the world building process, and thus cannot be avoided even in the most simplified form of Interslavic—at least, if we want to avoid forms that come across as heavily artificial and unnatural.
- - - -Palatalisation
- -Palatalisation means that under certain conditions the velar consonants k g h (as well as the dental affricate c) are changed to the postalveolar consonants č ž š. This happens in the following cases: -
-
-
- before -e in the vocative singular of masculine nouns: Bog „God” > Bože, hlåpėc „boy” > hlåpče -
- before -e, -eš etc. in the present tense of verbs: pek-ti „to bake” > pečeš, mog-ti „can” > možeš -
- before -i- in derived verbs: muka „torment” > mučiti „to torment”, sluga „servant” > služiti „to serve” -
- before the suffixes -an(in), -ba, -ec, -ica, -ina, -išče, -je, -ji, -nik, -ny, -ok/-ka/-ko, -sky, -stvo, etc.: rųka „hand” > rųčny „manual”, muha „fly” > muška „small fly” -
Apart from the aforementioned vocative, palatalisation never occurs in the declension of nouns, adjectives and pronouns. Thus: sg. Čeh „Czech” > pl. Čehi „Czechs”; sg. dȯlgy „long” > pl. dȯlgi (animate) or dȯlge (inanimate).
- - - -Iotation
- -A different thing happens when a hard consonant is followed by j. The result is called iotation, which is not the same thing as softening. The patterns according to which consonants interact with this j vary from one language to another. Sometimes, the result is the same as in the case of a softened consonant, sometimes it is different:
--
-
- The labials p b m f v are always hard. Before j, East and South Slavic insert an l (kuplju, sostavljenie), but in Interslavic we simply write pj, vj etc., both for reasons of clarity and regularity. -
- The velars k g h, when followed by j, palatalise into č ž š. -
- In the case of l n r, iotation gives the same result as softening: lj nj rj. -
- The combinations s+j and z+j become š ž. -
- The combinations t+j and d+j become ć đ (normally written č dž). -
- In the sequences sk st zg zd, the s and z are iotated along with the following consonant, thus: st+j > šć, etc. - -
Iotation occurs mostly in -i- class verbs: -
-
-
- in the first person singular: prositi > pros-jų > prošų (prošu) -
- in the perfect passive participle: tratiti > trat-jeny > traćeny (tračeny) -
- in the case of imperfective verbs derived from perfective verbs on -iti: nagråditi > nagrad-jati > nagrađati (nagradžati) -
Iotation does not occur when a word with initial j is preceded by a prefix: s+jesti becomes sjesti, not *šesti.
- -Palatalisation + iotation
- -When a soft consonant is followed by j, both the consonant and the glide remain untouched. Any changes are blocked by the softener, so to speak. In etymological orthography ljj, njj etc. are written as ľj ńj, to avoid gemination of j. Likewise, we write ŕj t́j d́j śj źj šj žj čj as well. In standard orthography we simply write lj nj rj tj dj sj zj šj žj čj in these cases. If the stem ends in -j, the following j- is simply swallowed: dvojiti > dvoj-jų > dvojų.
- -This occurs in the following situations: -
-
-
- with the palatalising suffix -’je (indicating a place, for example): morje > pri+mor+’je > primoŕje (normally written primorje) -
- in verbal nouns, where the ending -y of the perfect passive participle is replaced with (palatalising) -’je: dělati > dělańje (normally written dělanje) -
- with the palatalising possessive suffix -ji: Bog+’ji > Božji, kot + ’ji > kot́ji (normally written kotji) -
- in the instrumental singular of nouns of the kost type: kost-’jų > kost́jų (normally written kostju) -
Complicated as this may seem, all this means in writing is that the suffixes -je, -ji and the instrumental ending -jų do not cause iotation, but only palatalisation of k g h c.
- - - -Overview
- -The differences between softened, patalalised and iotated consonants are demonstrated in the following table (again, phonemes in gray are optional):
- -| labial | dental/alveolar | velar | palatal | clusters | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hard | p | b | f | v | m | s | z | t | d | r | n | l | c | k | g | h | — | st | zd | sk | zg | Soft (’) | -— | ś | ź | t́ | d́ | -ŕ | nj | lj | č | ž | š | j | st́ | zd́ | — | — | -Hard + j | -pj | bj | fj | vj | mj | š | ž | č (ć) | dž (đ) | rj | šč (šć) | ždž (žđ) | šč | ždž | -Cons. + ’ + j | -sj (śj) | zj (źj) | -tj (t́j) | dj (d́j) | -rj (ŕj) | nj (ńj) | -lj (ĺj) | čj | žj | šj | stj (st́j) | zdj (zd́j) | ščj | ždžj | -
O > E
- -Old Slavic used to have a peculiar intolerance of o following a soft consonant, and whenever such a sequence occurred because of an ending or a suffix, the o was changed to e. This development has left its marks in all Slavic languages, although nowadays they differ as to the degree in which the is still applied. For example, in Russian soft consonant + o sequences are a rarity, while Polish has only some lexicalised remnants of the rule (f.ex. królewski „royal”, but: królowa „queen”).
- -This rule applies in Interslavic as well. Thus, endings like -o, -ov, -om, -ogo and -oj become -e, -ev, -em, -ego and -ej after a soft consonant. Because of the o/e rule, we have morje versus okno, krajev versus gradov, and čego versus kogo. The same mechanism also works in combination with suffixes like -ost, -ovati and -ovy, for example: svěžest́, nočevati.
- - - -Y > I/E
- -In South Slavic and Ukrainian, as well as in spoken Czech and Slovak, i and y have merged into one vowel. In Interslavic, the pronunciation of y may therefore be [i], [ɪ], [ɨ] or anything in between. What matters, though, is that y can only occur after a hard consonant, and therefore not after a soft consonant (š ž č dž c lj nj j), after a vowel or word-initially. Because y plays an prominent role in Interslavic inflection, most declensions have a hard and a soft version because of this limitation.
- -In the declension of adjectives and pronouns, case endings in y become i after a soft consonant. For that reason, we have adjectives like svěž-i along with adjectives like dobr-y, and pronominal forms like moj-ih along with forms like jegov-yh.
- -In noun declension, however, the soft counterpart of y is always e. For example: m.pl. dom-y versus kraj-e, f.pl. žen-y versus zemj-e.
- -Because several Slavic languages do not distinguish between i and y at all, substituting all occurrences of y with i is an acceptable simplification in written Interslavic.
- - - -Ě > I
- -Just like y, the phoneme ě always follows a hard consonant. In the dative and locative singular of feminine nouns, it becomes i after a soft consonant, i.e. it follows a pattern opposite to y > e: žen-ě, but zemj-i.
- - - -Fleeting o/e
- -A characteristic feature of the Slavic languages is the existence of "fleeting" or "movable" vowels, referring to the phenomenon of vowels appearing and disappearing in a seemingly random manner, especially in certain inflected forms of nouns. This is a result of different reflexes of the Common Slavic jers ъ and ь, which were lost in weak positions and vocalised to o and e in strong positions. In most cases this vowel appears in words that would otherwise end in a consonant cluster, and disappears when this cluster is followed by an ending.
- -Fleeting o and e (in the etymological alphabet marked with a dot: ȯ and ė) appear especially in the following cases: -
-
-
- in the nominative (and, in the case of inanimate nouns, the accusative) singular of masculine nouns, particularly those ending in -ec and -ok, as well as a few other nouns:
-nom.sg. otėc „father” > gen.sg. otca
-nom.sg. pěsȯk „sand” > gen.sg. pěska
-nom.sg. pės „dog” > gen.sg. psa
-nom.sg. sȯn „dream” > gen.sg. sna
-nom.sg. krȯv „blood” > gen.sg. krvi
- - in the genitive plural of feminine and neuter nouns that would otherwise end in a consonant cluster:
-nom.sg. okno „window” > gen.pl. okėn
-nom.sg. miska „bowl” > gen.pl. misȯk
- - in the nominative singular masculine forms of certain pronouns:
-m.nom.sg. vėś „all, entire”, f.nom.sg. vśa
- - before certain suffixes:
-piśmo „letter, script” > pisėmny „written, in writing”
- - the prepositions s and v when preceding certain pronouns or consonant clusters, or when used as a prefix before a vowel or a consonant cluster:
-s „with” + mnojų „me (instr.sg.)” > sȯ mnojų
-v „in” + vsih „all (loc.pl.)” > vȯ vsih
-s- + držati > sȯdržati „to contain”
-v- + idti > vȯjdti „to enter”
-
PHONOLOGY
+Fonologija
+ ++Phoneme inventory + (vowels, consonants) • +Hard and soft consonants • +Phonotactics
+Morphophonemic alternations • +Palatalisation • +Iotation • +O > E • +Y > I/E • +Ě > I • +Fleeting o/e +
Phoneme inventory (Zvukosbor)
+ +Interslavic is neither a national language, nor does it try to emulate one. Instead, it is based on twelve national languages, each of them having its own phonology and its own corresponding orthography, tailored to fit its particular characteristics. In general, it can be said that the further South you go, the smaller the phoneme (sound) inventory becomes. Both spoken and written Interslavic should be in the very middle of them as much as possible.
+ +A high number of phonemes makes intuitive writing and pronouncing Interslavic harder for those who are used to fewer phonemes. A low number, on the other hand, makes it harder to link a particular character or sound to a phoneme in one's own language, and therefore has a negative effect on intelligibility. For example, the ideal pronunciation of the word for „five” would be something like [pjætʲ]. If we write this as pęt́, a Russian can easily recognise his own pjať, a Serb his own pet and a Pole his own pięć; but for a Serb, there is no way of knowing when his own e and t become ę and t́ without consulting a dictionary. On the other hand, in a simplified scheme pet could also be misunderstood as Russian peť „to sing” or Polish pet „cigarette butt”. In short: the easier we make it for the speaker/writer, the harder it becomes for the listener/reader, and vice versa.
+ +To solve this dilemma, Interslavic has a basic set of phonemes that are present in all or a vast majority of the Slavic languages, more or less with the same phonetic values. In addition, Interslavic also has a set of optional phonemes that link directly to Old Church Slavonic and refer to particular phonetic differences between languages. Using the aforementioned word pęt́ as an example, Russian [pjætʲ] and South Slavic [pɛt] are simply two ways of pronouncing the very same word: the letters ę and t́ indicate that their pronunciation varies among languages. These additional phonemes can be written by means of an additional set of optional letters, part of the Interslavic etymological alphabet (previously known as „Naučny Medžuslovjansky”).
+ +The following charts give an overview of phonemes in Interslavic, based on their most average pronunciation. The basic phonemes are shown in black, optional variations in gray.
+ + + +Vowels
+ +Basic Interslavic has 7 vowel phonemes, five of which (a e i o u) have a rather uniform pronunciation, whereas the remaining two (ě y) have a pronunciation that may differ between speakers.
+ +In addition, there are 5 optional vowels (å ė ę ȯ ų) whose pronunciation may vary. The diacritical marks are usually not written. In flavourised versions of Interslavic however, å can be written and pronounced as o, ę as ja, ȯ as e and y as i.
+ +| + | Front | +Near- front | +Central | +Near- back | +Back | +|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Close | +
+
+
+
| |||||
| Near-close | ||||||
| Close-mid | ||||||
| Mid | ||||||
| Open-mid | ||||||
| Near-open | ||||||
| Open | ||||||
Interslavic also has syllabic r and ŕ (the latter belonging to the non-mandatory set). This is the case when it is preceded by a consonant and not followed by a vowel. It is pronounced with a schwa before it: trg [tərg], mŕtvy [mjərtvɪ], cukr [ʦukər].
+ + + +Consonants
+ +There are 23 basic consonants (including 3 affricates and 2 palatalised alveolars) with a more or less fixed pronunciation, as well as 7 optional consonants with a variable pronunciation:
+| labial/ labiodental | dental/alveolar | postalveolar/ palatal | velar | +||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| hard | soft | +||||
| Voiceles stops | p [p] | t [t] | t́ [tʲ] ~ [c] | k [k] | |
| Voiced stops | b [b] | d [d] | d́ [dʲ] ~ [ɟ] | g [g] | |
| Voiceless fricatives | f [f] | s [s] | ś [sʲ] ~ [ɕ] | š [ʃ] ~ [ʂ] | h [x] |
| Voiced fricatives | v [v] | z [z] | ź [zʲ] ~ [ʑ] | ž [ʒ] ~ [ʐ] | |
| Voiceless affricates | c [t͡s] | ć [t͡ɕ] | č [t͡ʃ] ~ [t͡ʂ] | ||
| Voiced affricates | đ [d͡ʑ] | dž [d͡ʒ] ~ [d͡ʐ] | |||
| Trills | r [r] | ŕ [rʲ] ~ [r̝] | |||
| Nasals | m [m] | n [n] | ń [nʲ] ~ [ɲ] | nj [nʲ] ~ [ɲ] | |
| Laterals | l [ɫ] ~ [l] | ĺ [l] ~ [ʎ] | lj [l] ~ [ʎ] | ||
| Approximants | j [j] | ||||
Hard and soft consonants (Tvrde i mekke suglasky)
+ +Like all Slavic languages, Interslavic distinguishes between hard and soft consonants: +
-
+
- The hard consonants are: the labials p b f v m, the hard dentals/alveolars t d s z n r l, and the velars k g h. +
- The soft consonants are: the postalveolars š ž č dž, the soft dentals/alveolars lj nj ŕ t́ d́ ś ź ć đ, and the palatal approximant j. +
- The affricate c [t͡s] is pronounced hard, but in grammar it behaves like a soft consonant. Its voiced counterpart [d͡z] does not occur in Interslavic. +
Softening is the process of adding [ʲ] to a consonant, resulting in a more palatal pronunciation. The number of soft equivalents of hard consonants in the phoneme inventory varies greatly from one language to another. In Interslavic only lj and nj are mandatory, the etymological alphabet also has t́ d́ ś ź ŕ ĺ ń (normally written t d s z r l n): the acute accent replaces Cyrillic ь, which nowadays is used as a softener but used to be a vowel in the old days: an ultrashort ĭ.
+ +As can be seen from the table above, pronunciation of soft consonants varies. East Slavic speakers are likely to pronounce them as softened dental or alveolar consonants, West Slavic speakers rather as palatal consonants. Both pronuciations are equally correct, although the former is probably easier to understand for South Slavs.
+ +The soft consonants also include postalveolar š, ž, č and dž, as well as the affricates ć and đ. The latter two are usually written and pronounced č and dž, too; the difference is of an etymological nature: ć and đ are the iotated counterparts of t and d (see below). The remaining cases of dž are always loanwords, like budžet, džaz, menedžer, etc.
+ +Before i, ě, ę, ė and ŕ, a hard consonant can be softened or palatalised. That is why a word like buditi is pronounced either [buditi], [budʲitʲi] or [buɟici].
+ +Phonotactics (Fonotaktika)
+ +Interslavic orthography is based on etymology and not on pronunciation, so that consonant clusters can arise that may appear inpronouncable for English speakers, for example vozvršenje. The only limitations are related to combining certain vowels with certain consonants.
+ +It is important to know the following:
+-
+
- Every syllable contains one of the following vowels: a å e ę ė ě i o ȯ u ų y or syllabic r ŕ +
- å ę ė ě ȯ ų y and syllabic r ŕ: never occur word-initially or after a vowel +
- y: can never follow a soft consonant +
- ě ŕ: always follow a hard consonant or c (they are redundant in cases like jěsti and čŕny), but can be pronounced in such way that they soften it +
- o ȯ: rarely follow a soft consonant, except in loanwords like majonez and čokolada +
- å is always preceded by a liquid (r or l) and followed by a consonant +
- geminate consonants occur only as a result of prefixing (od-dati, v-voz) or suffixing (kon-ny, rus-sky), in rare cases in loanwords (motto). +
Morphophonemic alternations (Morfofonemične alternacije)
+ +Inflection is kept as regular as possible. However, alternations like palatalisation and iotisation of consonants are an omnipresent phenomenon in Slavic. They play a crucial role in both inflection and the world building process, and thus cannot be avoided even in the most simplified form of Interslavic—at least, if we want to avoid forms that come across as heavily artificial and unnatural.
+ + + +Palatalisation
+ +Palatalisation means that under certain conditions the velar consonants k g h (as well as the dental affricate c) are changed to the postalveolar consonants č ž š. This happens in the following cases: +
-
+
- before -e in the vocative singular of masculine nouns: Bog „God” > Bože, hlåpėc „boy” > hlåpče +
- before -e, -eš etc. in the present tense of verbs: pek-ti „to bake” > pečeš, mog-ti „can” > možeš +
- before -i- in derived verbs: muka „torment” > mučiti „to torment”, sluga „servant” > služiti „to serve” +
- before the suffixes -an(in), -ba, -ec, -ica, -ina, -išče, -je, -ji, -nik, -ny, -ok/-ka/-ko, -sky, -stvo, etc.: rųka „hand” > rųčny „manual”, muha „fly” > muška „small fly” +
Apart from the aforementioned vocative, palatalisation never occurs in the declension of nouns, adjectives and pronouns. Thus: sg. Čeh „Czech” > pl. Čehi „Czechs”; sg. dȯlgy „long” > pl. dȯlgi (animate) or dȯlge (inanimate).
+ + + +Iotation
+ +A different thing happens when a hard consonant is followed by j. The result is called iotation, which is not the same thing as softening. The patterns according to which consonants interact with this j vary from one language to another. Sometimes, the result is the same as in the case of a softened consonant, sometimes it is different:
+-
+
- The velars k g h, when followed by j, palatalise into č ž š. +
- In the case of l n, iotation gives the same result as softening: lj nj. +
- The labials p b m f v are always hard. Before j, East and South Slavic insert an l (kuplju, sostavljenie), but in Interslavic we simply write pj, vj etc., both for reasons of clarity and regularity. +
- Likewise, r becomes rj. +
- The combinations s+j and z+j become š ž. +
- The combinations t+j and d+j become ć đ (normally written č dž). +
- In the sequences sk st zg zd, the s and z are iotated along with the following consonant, thus: sk+j > šč, st+j > šć, etc. + +
Iotation occurs mostly in -i- class verbs: +
-
+
- in the first person singular: prositi > pros-jų > prošų (prošu) +
- in the perfect passive participle: tratiti > trat-jeny > traćeny (tračeny) +
- in the verbal noun: uměst-jeńje > uměšćeńje (umeščenje) +
- in the case of imperfective verbs derived from perfective verbs on -iti: nagråditi > nagrad-jati > nagrađati (nagradžati) +
Iotation does not occur when a word with initial j is preceded by a prefix: s+jesti becomes sjesti, not *šesti.
+ +Palatalisation + iotation
+ +When a soft consonant is followed by j, both the consonant and the glide remain untouched. Any changes are blocked by the softener, so to speak. In etymological orthography ljj, njj etc. are written as ľj ńj, to avoid gemination of j. Likewise, we write ŕj t́j d́j śj źj šj žj čj as well. In standard orthography we simply write lj nj rj tj dj sj zj šj žj čj in these cases. If the stem ends in -j, the following j- is simply swallowed: dvojiti > dvoj-jų > dvojų.
+ +This occurs in the following situations: +
-
+
- with the palatalising suffix -’je (indicating a place, for example): morje > pri+mor+’je > primoŕje (normally written primorje) +
- in verbal nouns, where the ending -y of the perfect passive participle is replaced with (palatalising) -’je: dělati > dělańje (normally written dělanje) +
- with the palatalising possessive suffix -ji: Bog+’ji > Božji, kot + ’ji > kot́ji (normally written kotji) +
- in the instrumental singular of nouns of the kost type: kost-’jų > kost́jų (normally written kostju) +
Complicated as this may seem, all this means in writing is that the suffixes -je, -ji and the instrumental ending -jų do not cause iotation, but only palatalisation of k g h c.
+ + + +Overview
+ +The differences between softened, patalalised and iotated consonants are demonstrated in the following table (again, phonemes in gray are optional):
+ +| labial | dental/alveolar | velar | palatal | clusters | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hard | p | b | f | v | m | s | z | t | d | r | n | l | c | k | g | h | — | st | zd | sk | zg | Soft (’) | +— | ś | ź | t́ | d́ | +ŕ | nj | lj | č | ž | š | j | st́ | zd́ | — | — | +Hard + j | +pj | bj | fj | vj | mj | š | ž | č (ć) | dž (đ) | rj | šč (šć) | ždž (žđ) | šč | ždž | +Cons. + ’ + j | +sj (śj) | zj (źj) | +tj (t́j) | dj (d́j) | +rj (ŕj) | nj (ńj) | +lj (ĺj) | čj | žj | šj | stj (st́j) | zdj (zd́j) | ščj | ždžj | +
O > E
+ +Old Slavic used to have a peculiar intolerance of o following a soft consonant, and whenever such a sequence occurred because of an ending or a suffix, the o was changed to e. This development has left its marks in all Slavic languages, although nowadays they differ as to the degree in which the is still applied. For example, in Russian soft consonant + o sequences are a rarity, while Polish has only some lexicalised remnants of the rule (f.ex. królewski „royal”, but: królowa „queen”).
+ +This rule applies in Interslavic as well. Thus, endings like -o, -ov, -om, -ogo and -oj become -e, -ev, -em, -ego and -ej after a soft consonant. Because of the o/e rule, we have morje versus okno, krajev versus gradov, and čego versus kogo. The same mechanism also works in combination with suffixes like -ost, -ovati and -ovy, for example: svěžest́, nočevati.
+ + + +Y > I/E
+ +In South Slavic and Ukrainian, as well as in spoken Czech and Slovak, i and y have merged into one vowel. In Interslavic, the pronunciation of y may therefore be [i], [ɪ], [ɨ] or anything in between. What matters, though, is that y can only occur after a hard consonant, and therefore not after a soft consonant (š ž č dž c lj nj j), after a vowel or word-initially. Because y plays an prominent role in Interslavic inflection, most declensions have a hard and a soft version because of this limitation.
+ +In the declension of adjectives and pronouns, case endings in y become i after a soft consonant. For that reason, we have adjectives like svěž-i along with adjectives like dobr-y, and pronominal forms like moj-ih along with forms like jegov-yh.
+ +In noun declension, however, the soft counterpart of y is always e. For example: m.pl. dom-y versus kraj-e, f.pl. žen-y versus zemj-e.
+ +Because several Slavic languages do not distinguish between i and y at all, substituting all occurrences of y with i is an acceptable simplification in written Interslavic.
+ + + +Ě > I
+ +Just like y, the phoneme ě always follows a hard consonant. In the dative and locative singular of feminine nouns, it becomes i after a soft consonant, i.e. it follows a pattern opposite to y > e: žen-ě, but zemj-i.
+ + + +Fleeting o/e
+ +A characteristic feature of the Slavic languages is the existence of "fleeting" or "movable" vowels, referring to the phenomenon of vowels appearing and disappearing in a seemingly random manner, especially in certain inflected forms of nouns. This is a result of different reflexes of the Common Slavic jers ъ and ь, which were lost in weak positions and vocalised to o and e in strong positions. In most cases this vowel appears in words that would otherwise end in a consonant cluster, and disappears when this cluster is followed by an ending.
+ +Fleeting o and e (in the etymological alphabet marked with a dot: ȯ and ė) appear especially in the following cases: +
-
+
- in the nominative (and, in the case of inanimate nouns, the accusative) singular of masculine nouns, particularly those ending in -ec and -ok, as well as a few other nouns:
+nom.sg. otėc „father” > gen.sg. otca
+nom.sg. pěsȯk „sand” > gen.sg. pěska
+nom.sg. pės „dog” > gen.sg. psa
+nom.sg. sȯn „dream” > gen.sg. sna
+nom.sg. krȯv „blood” > gen.sg. krvi
+ - in the genitive plural of feminine and neuter nouns that would otherwise end in a consonant cluster:
+nom.sg. okno „window” > gen.pl. okėn
+nom.sg. miska „bowl” > gen.pl. misȯk
+ - in the nominative singular masculine forms of certain pronouns:
+m.nom.sg. vėś „all, entire”, f.nom.sg. vśa
+ - before certain suffixes:
+piśmo „letter, script” > pisėmny „written, in writing”
+ - the prepositions s and v when preceding certain pronouns or consonant clusters, or when used as a prefix before a vowel or a consonant cluster:
+s „with” + mnojų „me (instr.sg.)” > sȯ mnojų
+v „in” + vsih „all (loc.pl.)” > vȯ vsih
+s- + držati > sȯdržati „to contain”
+v- + idti > vȯjdti „to enter”
+
Publikacije o medžuslovjanskom
: . , 2020. ---> +
Андреев, А. (2011): Руските славянски комитети и идеята за общ «славяно-руски език». Станчев, М.Г.: Дриновський Збірник, том IV (Харківський національний університет імені В. Н. Каразіна, ISBN 978-954-322-410-4), pp. 92–101.Publikacije o medžuslovjanskom
Поговорим на межславянском: зачем придумали язык, понятный только славянам? ЭКСКЛЮЗИВ. Mir24.tv, 24-05-2021.
+Понимают 10 стран: в соцсетях активно продвигают межславянский язык. EurAsia Daily, 19-08-2024.
Poznajcie język międzysłowiański. Joe Monster, 31-10-2019.Publikacije o medžuslovjanskom
Barlovac, Bojana: Creation of 'One Language for All Slavs' Underway. BalkanInsight.com, 18-02-2010.
+Bělská, Lenka: Kvíz: Čeští vědci vyvíjejí jazyk, kterému budou rozumět všichni Slované. Zkuste uhádnout 10 slov. Dotyk.cz, 12-08-2024.
Beyer, Greg: 5 of the Most Famous Constructed Languages. The Collector, 15-01-2024.Publikacije o medžuslovjanskom
Чарский, Вячеслав: Как славяне создали свой собственный эсперанто. dzen.ru, 08-07-2022.
+Челышева, Оксана: Участники экскурсии в Хельсинки протестировали новый искусственный язык – межславянский. Satakieli, 27-08-2024.
+Chelysheva, Oksana: Fifty people experienced Helsinki in Interslavic – a language a Slavic speaker understands without studying. Satakieli, 27-08-2024.
Дамаскинова, Жанна: Межславянский язык. Flarus, 21-06-2018.Publikacije o medžuslovjanskom
Филатова, Анна: В Южноморавском крае прошли традиционные славянские фестивали. 36on.ru, 17-06-2018.
+Филимонов, Андрей: "Добрыми книгами открывать славянам очи". Судьба изобретателя всеславянского языка. Сибирь.Реалии, 08-08-2024.
Franta, Vladimír: Chcete být za extrémistu? Řekněte, že jste Slovan! Názor. Sputnik Česká republika, 20-06-2017.Publikacije o medžuslovjanskom
diff --git a/steen.free.fr/interslavic/syntax.html b/steen.free.fr/interslavic/syntax.html index 7d7b030..251186b 100644 --- a/steen.free.fr/interslavic/syntax.html +++ b/steen.free.fr/interslavic/syntax.html @@ -1,62 +1,95 @@ - - - - - - - - - -SYNTAX
-Sintaksa
- -Word order is basically free, but the preferred (and stylistically most neutral) word order is subject – verb – object (SVO). It is not mandatory, but note that placing the object before the subject will not help in making clear the meaning. This is not the case of sentences where either a personal pronoun or the pronoun kto is either subject or object, because personal pronouns and kto have their own accussative forms, so the meaning is always clear.
- -Modifiers usually precede the noun. This is not mandatory either, but it is the most neutral and the clearest way of building a sentence.
- -There are two types of questions:
--
-
- Yes-no questions can be made in three different ways:
-
-
-
- either it differs from a normal declarative sentence only by intonation:
– Otec kupil knigu? „Has father bought a book?” - - or this sentence is preceded by the particle či:
– Či otec kupil knigu? - - or it is marked by the question particle li placed right after the focus point of the question, usually the verb:
– Kupil li otec knigu? -
- either it differs from a normal declarative sentence only by intonation:
- Other questions start with an interrogative pronoun or adverb, placed at the beginning of the sentence:
-– Koju knigu kupil otec? „Which book has father bought?”
-– Gde otec kupil tu knigu? „Where did father buy that book?”
-In this type of sentences, the meaning is usually made clear by the case that's been used:
-– Koja žena ljubi togo muža? „Which woman loves that man?” (woman = subject, man = object)
-– Koju ženu ljubi toj muž? „Which woman does that man love?” (man = subject, woman = object) - - If necessary, it is possible to use passive sentences that are always clear:
-– Koja žena jest ljubjena od togo muža? „Which woman is loved by that man?” -
Final clauses are translated by means of že or da followed by the conditional:
--
-
- Turisti posětet Niderlandiju, že by fotografovali tulipany. „Tourists visit the Netherlands to take photos of the tulips.” -
- Turisty posětili Niderlandiju, že by fotografovali tulipany. „Tourists visited the Netherlands to take photos of the tulips.” -
- Ona prinosi jabloka, da by děti byli zdrave. „She brings apples so that the kids will be healthy.” -
- Ona prinosila jabloka, da by děti byli zdrave. „She brought apples so that the kids would be healthy.” -
The passive voice can be used, but if so, it should be done with caution. A sentence like: „Pica je dělana” or „Pica je dělajema” „Pizza is being made” is grammatically completely correct. Still, it can better be avoided, because a construction like that sounds clumsy to those Slavs who are not accustomed to using the verb „to be” very often, especially in the present tense. Besides, while it is perfectly natural for part of the Slavic speakers, for others the past passive participle cannot be used for a present tense construction at all. Therefore, if the subject is known, it is better to utilise a normal active sentence. And if the subject isn't known, as in the case of our pizza, it is possible to use third person plural form without the subject: „Dělajut picu” „They make pizza, one makes pizza, pizza is being made”. Even more common is a reflexive construction: Pica dělaje se, which literally means „Pizza is making itself” and should be translated as „One makes pizza, pizza is being made”.
- - - - + + + + + + + + + +SYNTAX
+Sintaksa
+ +Word order
+Word order is basically free, but the clearest (and stylistically most neutral) word order is subject — verb — object (SVO). Placing the verb of object before the subject is possible when special emphasis is needed, but when neither subject nor object differentiate between the nominate and accusative, this is better avoided for clarity.
+ +Modifiers usually precede the noun. This is not mandatory either, but it is the most neutral and the clearest way of building a sentence.
+ +Questions
+ +There are two types of questions:
+-
+
- Yes/no questions can be made in three different ways:
+
-
+
- either it differs from a normal declarative sentence only by intonation:
– Otec kupil knigu? „Has father bought a book?” + - or this sentence is preceded by the particle či:
– Či otec kupil knigu? + - or it is marked by the question particle li placed right after the focus point of the question, usually the verb:
– Kupil li otec knigu? +
- either it differs from a normal declarative sentence only by intonation:
- Other questions start with an interrogative pronoun or adverb, normally placed at the beginning of the sentence:
+ – Koju knigu kupil otec? „Which book has father bought?”
+ – Kde otec kupil tu knigu? „Where did father buy that book?”
+In this type of sentences, the meaning is usually made clear by the case that's been used:
+ – Koja žena ljubi togo muža? „Which woman loves that man?” (woman = subject, man = object)
+ – Koju ženu ljubi toj muž? „Which woman does that man love?” (man = subject, woman = object) + - If necessary, it is possible to use passive sentences that are always clear:
+ – Koja žena jest ljubjena od togo muža? „Which woman is loved by that man?” +
Negation
+ +Negation in Interslavic can always be recognized by the particle ne „not” preceding the word being negated, usually the verb:
+ – Ja ne hoču idti v kino. „I don't want to go to the cinema.”
+ – Tuto avto ne jest drago. „This car is not expensive.”
This particle is also used in conjunction with other words used for expressing negation, such as nikogda „never”, nikto „nobody”, nikde „nowhere”, etc.:
+ – Ja nikogda ne jem čokoladu. „I never eat chocolate.”
+ – Nikto ne prijehal na zabavu. „Nobody came to the party.”
+ – Otec nikde ne mogl najdti svoje ključi. „Father couldn't find his keys anywhere.”
Unlike in English, all negatable words are being negated in Interslavic, for example:
+ – Ja uže nikogda ne budu čitati nijednu knigu! „I am never going to read a single book anymore!” (lit. „I will never not read no book anymore”)
Ne- can also be used as a prefix: nedobry „not good”, nedragy „inexpensive, cheap”, ne-Slovjanin „a non-Slavic person”. Note the slight difference in meaning:
+ – Tutoj hlěb jest nedragy. „This bread is inexpensive.”
+ – Tutoj hlěb ne jest dragy. „This bread is not expensive.”
A peculiarity of the Slavic languages is that the direct object of a negation is often in the genitive, in cases when the positive sentence would have the accusative. This is common in Russian and even mandatory in Polish and Slovene, but considered archaic in Czech and Serbo-Croatian. In Interslavic, both options can be used:
+ – Moj brat ne je hlěb. (accusative), and
+ – Moj brat ne je hlěba. (genitive) have exactly the same meaning: "My brother doesn't eat bread.”
+Although some might feel a subtle difference in meaning (hlěb meaning „bread in general”, hlěba meaning „that particular bread”), the choice for either option is probably related to the speaker or writer’s nationality instead.
Final clauses
+ +Final clauses are translated by means of že or da followed by the conditional:
+-
+
- Turisti posětet Niderlandiju, že by fotografovali tulipany. „Tourists visit the Netherlands to take photos of the tulips.” +
- Turisty posětili Niderlandiju, že by fotografovali tulipany. „Tourists visited the Netherlands to take photos of the tulips.” +
- Ona prinosi jabloka, da by děti byli zdrave. „She brings apples so that the kids will be healthy.” +
- Ona prinosila jabloka, da by děti byli zdrave. „She brought apples so that the kids would be healthy.” +
Passive constructions
+ +Passive constructions are used less frequently in the Slavic languages than in (for example) English. That does not mean they should by be avoided by any means, but using them should be done with some caution. Although a sentence like: „Pica jest dělana” or „Pica jest dělajema” „Pizza is being made” is grammatically completely correct, it sounds clumsy to those Slavs who are not accustomed to using the verb „to be” in the present tense, whereas for others the past passive participle cannot be used for a present tense construction at all. Therefore, if the subject is known, it is better to utilise a normal active sentence: „Picu dělajut studenti” „Pizza is being made by students”. And if the subject isn't known, as in the case of our pizza, it is possible to use third person plural form without the subject: „Dělajut picu” „They make pizza, one makes pizza, pizza is being made”. Even more common is a reflexive construction: Pica dělaje se, which literally means „Pizza is making itself” and should be translated as „One makes pizza, pizza is being made”.
+ +The agent in passive construction is either in the instrumental case or preceded by the preposition od with the genitive: „pica sdělana studentami” or „pica sdělana od studentov” „Pizza made by students”.
+ + + + \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/steen.free.fr/interslavic/the_painted_bird.html b/steen.free.fr/interslavic/the_painted_bird.html index 71245e2..ba45ddd 100644 --- a/steen.free.fr/interslavic/the_painted_bird.html +++ b/steen.free.fr/interslavic/the_painted_bird.html @@ -158,6 +158,9 @@Dušo moja
+Emelyne Six: Deze adembenemende oorlogsfilm heb je waarschijnlijk nooit gezien: 'The Painted Bird'. Filmtotaal.nl, 6 June 2024:
+The Painted Bird is de eerste film waarin de interslavische taal wordt gebruikt. Marhoul verklaarde dat hij ervoor koos om interslavisch te gebruiken zodat geen enkele Slavische natie zich nationaal met het verhaal zou identificeren.
+Daniel Farriol: Crítica de ‘El pájaro pintado’: Una alegoría sobre la inmundicia humana. Noescinetodoloquereluce.com, 10 June 2023:
Al igual que sucedía en la citada Masacre: Ven y mira es sorprendente el maduro trabajo que realiza el joven protagonista que contaba con tan solo 11 años cuando finalizó el rodaje. Junto a él, encontramos un reparto excelente donde destaca la presencia de Harvey Keitel, Julian Sands, Udo Kier o Stellan Skarsgård, algunos de ellos tuvieron que ser doblados al estar El pájaro pintado hablada en medžuslovjansky, idioma intereslavo creado en 2006 a partir de varias lenguas eslavas, es decir, una especie de esperanto propio de la zona que obviamente ninguno de los actores conocía.
@@ -820,7 +823,7 @@