Czech–Slovak languages
The Czech–Slovak languages (or Czecho-Slovak) are a subgroup within the West Slavic languages comprising the Czech and Slovak languages.
| Czech–Slovak | |
|---|---|
| Geographic distribution | Central Europe |
| Linguistic classification | Indo-European
|
Early forms | Proto-Indo-European
|
| Subdivisions | |
| Glottolog | czec1260 |
Czech–Slovak dialects in yellow and gold (A/C), within West Slavic | |
Most varieties of Czech and Slovak are mutually intelligible, forming a dialect continuum (spanning the intermediate Moravian dialects) rather than being two clearly distinct languages; standardised forms of these two languages are, however, easily distinguishable and recognizable because of disparate vocabulary, orthography, pronunciation, phonology, suffixes and prefixes. The eastern Slovak dialects are more divergent and form a broader dialect continuum with the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic, most notably Polish.
The name "Czechoslovak language" is mostly reserved for an official written standard devised in the 19th century that was intended to unify Czech and Slovak. It was proclaimed an official language of Czechoslovakia and functioned de facto as Czech with slight Slovak input.