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Czechoslovakia LANGUAGE
The correct American English adjective for the language,
people, and culture of Slovakia is Slovak; Slovak belongs
to the Slavic group of languages. British usage employs
Slovakian for the American Slovak and uses
Slavonic where the American usage is Slavic. The
adjective for the Czech people, language, and culture is
Czech. The form Czechoslovak is used when referring
to the government or a person's or thing's official function,
e.g., Czechoslovak citizenship.
Czech and Slovak, the two official languages of
Czechoslovakia (as of 1918), are similar but separate languages.
They are actually so close as to be mutually intelligible, and
Czechoslovak media use both languages, knowing that they will be
understood by both Czechs and Slovaks. Czech is spoken by
approximately 10 million people, primarily in the Czech Socialist
Republic (Bohemia and Moravia); about 5 million people, primarily
in Slovakia, speak Slovak. Both are West Slavic languages and are
closely related to Polish (also a West Slavic language). Czech
and Slovak are more distantly related to Russian (an East Slavic
language), with which they share a number of features, although
they are not mutually intelligible. Despite the similarities
between Czech and Slovak, their literary languages emerged at
different times. Both languages use the Roman alphabet, but the
alphabets differ slightly.
In addition to the two literary languages, a number of
dialects are spoken throughout the country. Everyday speech among
villagers (especially older people), for example, will usually be
in dialect, whereas in urban areas the dialects are losing their
foothold, especially among the educated.
The Slovak literary language as it is known today was not
established until the nineteenth century, although Slovak in its
different dialects had been spoken for many centuries. At various
times, Latin (the official language of Hungary for a time),
Hungarian, and Czech had been used as the literary language of
the Slovaks. As with Czech, it was the mid-nineteenth century
surge of nationalism that finally saw the widespread adoption
(earlier efforts had limited success) of what is today's literary
language, based on the central dialects.
Change in Slovak, as in all other languages, is an ongoing
process. Words, phrases, and idioms fall out of use, while others
come in to replace them. Some of today's new words are formed
from Slovak elements, but many are borrowed, primarily from
English and Russian. The Russian words are part and parcel of the
political and economic systems and serve to reinforce connections
between the two government systems. English words come into the
language mostly in the fields of science and technology
(display for a computer display), but also in everyday
speech (sexbomba for sex symbol). These are most often
words for which there are no terms in Slovak. What worries some
purists is that foreign words are replacing some perfectly good
Slovak words, e.g., generacia (generation) for
pokolenie.
The oldest written records of the Czech language are found in
eleventh-century texts. After the tumultuous historical events of
the early seventeenth century and the resulting
Counter-Reformation, German took precedence over Czech as Prague
became a provincial capital. It was only with the upsurge of
nationalism throughout Europe in the nineteenth century that
Czech came back into its own.
It is often said that the "best" Czech is spoken in Moravia.
Various dialects exist, but the most prestigious is that of
Prague. As is the case with German in German-speaking countries,
there are actually several versions of Czech. This presents
difficulties for foreigners wishing to learn to speak Czech. The
standard written literary language, spisovna cestina,
carries the greatest prestige. It is based on the Czech spoken in
fourteenth-century Prague during the days of the Czech Golden
Age. Today, the written language is the language used in
education, the government, the press, most literature, television
and radio, industry, and science. It is also the language that
foreigners learn. However, outside of university lectures,
television and radio, and official meetings, no one really speaks
it. Most people, even those who are highly educated, speak a
colloquial version of Czech among themselves known variously as
obecna, hovorova, or bezne mluvena cestina.
Although local dialects produce variations from place to place,
this living language is characterized by certain simplifications
of the archaic, written literary language. Many modern writers
have experimented with it in their writings, and not only in
dialogue. Some members of the KSC have proposed dropping the
established literary form of the language in favor of a
simplified written version of the spoken language, as it is "the
language of the masses." But this idea has met with strong
opposition, especially in academia. One peculiarity of the spoken
language is that it often retains German words that have been
purged from the written language.
Today, because of close ties with the Soviet Union, Russian
has become the major influence on modern Czech. Many English
words have also made headway, including vikend (weekend),
kempink (camping, campground), and diskzokej (disc
jockey). Articles occasionally appear in the press criticizing
such "foreignisms." In an attempt to avoid foreign vocabulary,
many old Czech words have been revived or new Czech words formed
from old roots.
Data as of August 1987
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