Slovak language
Slovak (/ˈsloʊvæk, -vɑːk/ SLOH-va(h)k; endonym: slovenčina [ˈslɔʋentʂina] or slovenský jazyk [ˈslɔʋenskiː ˈjazik]) is a West Slavic language of the Czech–Slovak group, written in Latin 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 | |
|---|---|
| slovenčina, slovenský jazyk | |
| Pronunciation | [ˈslɔʋentʂina], [ˈslɔʋenskiː ˈjazik] |
| Native to | Slovakia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Carpathian Ruthenia and Vojvodina |
| Ethnicity | Slovaks |
| Speakers | Native: 5 million (2011–2021) L2: 2 million |
| Dialects |
|
| Latin (Slovak alphabet) Slovak Braille | |
| 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 |
The Slovak-speaking world:
regions where Slovak is the language of the majority regions where Slovak is the language of a significant minority | |
Slovak is closely related to Czech, to the point of very high mutual intelligibility, as well as 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.