Some linguists include Upper and Lower Sorbian in the Lechitic branch, but other linguists regard it as a separate branch.[5] The reason for this is that 'the Sorbian dialects are extremely diverse, and there are virtually no linguistic features common to all Sorbian dialects which distinguish them as a group from the other Slavic languages' (Sussex & Cubberley 2006).[5] Czech and Slovak are more closely related to each other than to the other West Slavic languages, and also closer to each other than Polish and Sorbian are.[5] Czecho-Slovak (Slovak in particular) shares certain features with other Slavic languages, such as Slovene and BCMS.[5]
Distinctive features
Some distinctive features of the West Slavic languages, as from when they split from the East Slavic and South Slavic branches around the 3rd to 6th centuries AD (alternatively, between the 6th and 10th centuries[6]), are as follows:[7]
Development of Proto-Slavic*tj, *dj into palatalized ts, (d)z, as in modern Polish/Czech/Slovak noc ("night"; compare Russian ночь);
Retention of the groups kv, gv as in Polish kwiat ("flower"); gwiazda ("star") (Compare Russian цвет (cvet); звезда (zvezda));
Retention of tl, dl, as in Polish/Slovak/Czech radło/radlo/rádlo ("ard"; compare Russian рало);
Palatized h developed into š, as in Polish musze (locative case of mucha, "fly");
The groups pj, bj, mj, vj developed into (soft) consonant forms without the epenthesis of l, as in Polish kupię ("I shall buy"; compare Russian куплю);
A tendency towards fixed stress (on the first syllable in Czech and Slovak and on the penultimate syllable in Polish);
Use of the endings -ego or -ého for the genitive singular of the adjectival declension;
Use of the pronoun form *tъnъ rather than *tъ, leading to Slovak/Polish/Czech ten ("this" (masc.); compare Russian тот; Old Church Slavonicтъ);
Extension of the genitive form *čьso to nominative and accusative in place of čь(to), leading to Polish/Czech co ("what", compare Russian что; OCS чьто, genitive чьсо).
Although influences from other language families have contributed a lot of loanwords, and to a lesser extent to verb morphology and syntax, the Slavic languages retained a distinctly Slavic character, with clear roots in Indo-European.[6]
The West Slavic languages are all written in the Latin script, while the East Slavic branch uses Cyrillic[8] and the South Slavic branch is mixed.[6][9][10]
The Bohemians established the Duchy of Bohemia in the 9th century, which was incorporated into the Holy Roman Empire in the early 11th century. At the end of the 12th century the duchy was raised to the status of kingdom, which was legally recognized in 1212 in the Golden Bull of Sicily. Lusatia, the homeland of the remaining Sorbs, became a crown land of Bohemia in the 11th century, and Silesia followed suit in 1335. The Slovaks, on the other hand, never became part of the Holy Roman Empire, being incorporated into the Kingdom of Hungary. Hungary fell under Habsburg rule alongside Austria and Bohemia in the 16th century, thus uniting the Bohemians, Moravians, Slovaks, and Silesians under a single ruler. While Lusatia was lost to Saxony in 1635 and most of Silesia was lost to Prussia in 1740, the remaining West Slavic Habsburg dominions remained part of the Austrian Empire and then Austria-Hungary, and after that remained united until 1992 in the form of Czechoslovakia.[citation needed]