Slovak language
| Slovak | |
|---|---|
| slovenčina, slovenský jazyk / словенчина, словенскы язык | |
| Pronunciation | [ˈslɔʋentʂina], [ˈslɔʋenskiː ˈjazik] ⓘ |
| Native to | Slovakia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Carpathian Ruthenia, Slavonia, and Vojvodina |
| Ethnicity | Slovaks, Pannonian Rusyns |
| Speakers | L1: 5 million (2012–2021) L2: 2.1 million (2012) |
| Dialects |
|
| Latin/Cyrillic (Slovak alphabet) Slovak Braille Cyrillic (Pannonian Rusyn alphabet) | |
| Official status | |
Official language in | Slovakia European Union Vojvodina (Serbia) |
Recognised minority language in | |
| Regulated by | Ministry of Culture of the Slovak Republic |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-1 | sk |
| ISO 639-2 | slo (B) slk (T) |
| ISO 639-3 | slk |
| Glottolog | slov1269 |
| Linguasphere | 53-AAA-db < 53-AAA-b...–d (varieties: 53-AAA-dba to 53-AAA-dbs) |
The Slovak-speaking world:
regions where Slovak is the language of the majority regions where Slovak is the language of a significant minority | |
Slovak (/ˈsloʊvæk, -vɑːk/ SLOH-va(h)k; endonym: slovenčina [ˈslɔʋent͡ʂina] or slovenský jazyk [ˈslɔʋenskiː ˈjazik] ⓘ), is a West Slavic language of the Czech–Slovak group, written in Latin script and formerly in Cyrillic script. It is part of the Indo-European language family, and is one of the Slavic languages, which are part of the larger Balto-Slavic branch. Spoken by approximately 5 million people as a native language, primarily ethnic Slovaks, it serves as the official language of Slovakia and one of the 24 official languages of the European Union.
Slovak is closely related to Czech, to the point of very high mutual intelligibility, as well as to Polish. Like other Slavic languages, Slovak is a fusional language with a complex system of morphology and relatively flexible word order. Its vocabulary has been extensively influenced by Latin and German, as well as other Slavic languages.