Slavic Studies

Slavic studies (North America), Slavonic studies (Britain and Ireland) or Slavistics (borrowed from Russian славистика or Polish slawistyka) is the academic field of area studies concerned with Slavic areas, Slavic languages, literature, history, and culture. Originally, a Slavist (from Russian славист or Polish slawista) or Slavicist was primarily a linguist or philologist researching Slavistics, a Slavic (AmE) or Slavonic (BrE) scholar. Increasingly historians and other humanists and social scientists who study Slavic area cultures and societies have been included in this rubric.

Slavistics emerged in late 18th and early 19th century, simultaneously with national revivals among various nations of Slavic origins and with ideological attempts to establish a common sense of Slavic community, exemplified by the Pan-Slavist movement. Among the first scholars to use the term was Josef Dobrovský (1753-1829).

The history of Slavic studies is generally divided into three periods. Until 1876 the early Slavists concentrated on documentation and printing of monuments of Slavic languages, among them the first texts written in national languages. At this time the majority of Slavic languages received their first modern dictionaries, grammars and compendia. The second period, ending with World War I, featured the rapid development of Slavic philology and linguistics, most notably outside of Slavic countries themselves, in the circle formed around August Schleicher (1821-1868) and around August Leskien (1840-1916) at the University of Leipzig.

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