Eastern Slovak dialects
| Eastern Slovak | |
|---|---|
| východoslovenské nárečia, východniarčina | |
| Native to | Slovakia |
| Region | Spiš, Šariš, Zemplín and Abov |
|
Indo-European
|
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
slk-esl |
|
| Glottolog | None |
Map showing the distribution of the Western, Central and Eastern dialects of Slovak
|
|
Eastern Slovak or Slovjak dialects (Slovak: východoslovenské nárečia, východniarčina), are dialects of the Slovak language spoken natively in the historical regions of Spiš, Šariš, Zemplín and Abov, in the east of Slovakia. In contrast to other dialects of Slovak, Eastern dialects are less intelligible with Czech and more with Polish and Rusyn, as well as using a higher number of Hungarian loanwords. The name Slovjak, now somewhat archaic, is derived from the common East Slovak ethnonym.
Features of the dialects vary greatly from region to region, but features that are common throughout all dialects include the lack of long vowels, stress on the penultimate syllable, as in Polish and Rusyn, as opposed to the first syllable stress normal in standard Slovak, and variation in noun declension endings. Eastern Slovak dialects also share many features of Western Slovak dialects that are absent from Central dialects and standard Slovak, supporting the idea that Central Slovakia was colonized more recently than the east and west of the country.
Attempts to create an East Slovak literary standard have been varied and unsuccessful. Several Slovak newspapers founded in the United States in the late 19th century, including Slovák v Amerike ("Slovak in America") and Amerikánsko-Slovenské Noviny (The American-Slovak News), were initially written in Eastern Slovak dialects.
The Slovak language, as codified by Ľudovít Štúr in the 1840s, was based largely on Central Slovak dialects spoken at the time. Eastern dialects are considerably different from Central and Western dialects in their phonology, morphology and vocabulary, set apart by a stronger connection to Polish and Rusyn. At the beginning of the 20th century, there was an unsuccessful attempt to standardise an East Slovak, or Slovjak language.
...
Wikipedia