Derivation of words

Proto-Slavic

Words are based on the living Slavic languages, and when the latter are not in agreement with each other, we basically follow the majority by applying a voting system. To avoid inconsistencies, we have to make sure that words using the same root always use it in the same form. Because all Slavic languages derive their forms from Common Slavic in a fairly predictable way, we never borrow from them directly. Instead, we follow a model for simple derivation from Common Slavic. This makes the language both easier to recognise and easier to use for everybody. Just by reading a few texts, a person will automatically learn quickly how a given sound in his own language is represented in Interslavic.

The following table shows how various Common Slavic sounds and sequences are dealt with in Interslavic. Please note that in some cases it is possible to distinguish between a North and a South Slavic version (see flavourisation).

Proto-Slavic	OCS	Slavic	Interslavic		Examples
			Etymological alphabet	Standard alphabet	Etymological alphabet	Standard alphabet
y	ꙑ, ъи	ESl./WSl. y, SSl. i	y	y	byti, dobry	byti, dobry
ě	ѣ	RU/BE 'e, UK i, PL ie/ia, CZ ě/e/a, SKie/e/a, SL/SR/MK e, HR (i)je, BG e/ja	ě	ě	svět, rěka	svět, rěka
ę	ѧ	ESl. ja, PL ią/ię, CZ a/ě, SK ä/a/ia, SSl.e	ę	e	język, svęty	jezyk, svety
ǫ	ѫ	PL ą/ę, CZ u/ou/i, SL o, MK a, BG ă/a, otherwise u	ų	u	pųt́, rųka	put, ruka
initial ǫ-	ѫ-	RU/CZ/SK u-, PL wą-, SB wu-; other languages are less consistent	vų-	vu-	vųtroby, pavųk	vutroby, pavuk
strong ь	ь	BCMS a, otherwise e	ė	e	otėc, pės	otec, pes
strong ъ	ъ	ESl./SK/MK o, PL/CZ/SL e, BCMS a, BG ă	ȯ	o	sȯn, pěsȯk	son, pěsok
(C)orC (C)olC	ра ла	ESl. (o)ro/(o)lo, PL ro/ło, SSl./CZ/SK ra/la	rå lå	ra la	gråd, kråva glåva, mlådy	grad, krava glava, mlady
(C)erC (C)elC	рѣ лѣ	ESl. (e)re/(o)lo, PL rze/le, CZ ře/lě, SKre/lie, SL/SR/MK re/le, HR rije/lije, BGrja/lja	rě lě	rě lě	brěg, prěd mlěko	brěg, prěd mlěko
CъrC	ръ	ESl. or, PL ar, BG ъr, otherwise r	r	r	trg, krčma	trg, krčma
CьrC	рь	ESl. er, PL ar/ierz, BG ъr, otherwise r	ŕ	r	dŕžati, smŕt́	držati, smrt
CъlC	lъ	RU/SL/MK ol, BE/UK ou, PL oł/łu/eł, CZ/SKl/lu, BCMS u, BG ъl	ȯl	ol	dȯlg, kȯlbasa	dolg, kolbasa
CьlC	ль	RU/SL/MK ol, BE/UK ou, PL oł/łu/eł/il, CZ/SKl/lu, BCMS u, BG ъl	ȯl	ol	tȯlsty, vȯlk	tolsty, volk
pj, bj, mj, vj	пль, бль...	ESl./SSl. plj, blj..., WSl. p, b...	pj, bj, mj, vj	pj, bj, mj, vj	kupjų, zemja	kupju, zemja
lь, lj nь, nj	ль нь	ESl./PL ľ/ń, otherwise ľ/l, ń/n	lj nj	lj nj	ljubiti, hvaljeńje denj, hrånjeńje	ljubiti, hvaljenje denj, hranjenje
rь, rj	рь	RU/PL/CZ/SL ŕ, otherwise r	ŕ, rj	r, rj	caŕ, tvorjeńje	car, tvorjenje
tь dь	ть дь	RU/UK/SK t́/d́, PL/BE ć/dź, CZ/SSl. t/d	t́ d́	t d	kost́ dóžd́	kost dožd
sь zь	сь зь	ESl./PL ś/ź, otherwise s/z	ś ź	s z	loś knęź	los knez
sj zj	ш ж	everywhere š/ž	š ž	š ž	prošų tęžeńje	prošu teženje
tj, kt́ dj, gd́	щ жд	ESl./SL č, WSl. c, BCMS ć, MK kj, BGšt ESl. ž, PL dz, CZ/SK z, SL d/j, BCMSđ, MK gj, BG žd	ć đ	č dž	svěća, noć među	svěča, noč medžu
šč	щ	CZ/SK/SSl. št, otherwise šč	šč	šč	ščetka	ščetka
tl, dl	л	ESl./SSl. l, WSl. tl/dl	l	l	moliti, grlo	moliti, grlo
g	г	UK/BY/CZ/SK h, otherwise g	g	g	glåva, jego	glava, jego
lьje, nьje tьje, dьje sьje, zьje rьje	льѥ, ньѥ тьѥ, дьѥ сьѥ, зьѥ рьѥ	RU lije/nije, UK llja/nnja, PL le/nie, CZlí/ní, SK lie/nie, SL/SH/MK lje/nje, BGl(i)e/n(i)e	ĺje, ńje ŕje t́je, d́je śje, źje	lje, nje rje tje, dje sje, zje	usiĺje, dělańje, primoŕje, žit́je, orųd́je, podlěśje	usilje, dělanje, primorje, žitje, orudje, podlěsje

International vocabulary

The Slavs do not live on an island, and over the centuries their languages have borrowed many non-Slavic words as well. Part of those words were taken from their direct neighbours (German, Romance, Turkish). Vocabulary of this type has rarely found its way to the entire language family. For example, German loans are much more frequent in West Slavic than in Russian or Bulgarian, while words of Turkish descent can be found in South Slavic more abundantly than in the other Slavic languages. As a result, most of this vocabulary is not commonly understood and therefore not used in Interslavic.

Another category is international vocabulary, mostly from Latin and Greek, but later also from French and more recently English. Words of this type tend to be similar throughout Europe and other parts of the world. They constitute an integral part of every Slavic language and can be of great help in achieving mutual intelligibility, especially among the more educated. International words are practically identical in every language, and there are hardly any variations in meaning. When we borrow international vocabulary, we stay as close as possible to spelling of the original word, adapting it only as far as orthography requires. However, especially for Graeco-Latin vocabulary goes the following:

• Geminated consonants are avoided: gramofon, grupa.
• The Greek consonants th (θ) and ph (φ) are simplified to t and f: teatr, fenomen
• Greek y (υ) is written i, which is closer to both spelling and pronunciation in most Slavic languages: sistem, fizika
• The k sound is always written k and never c: kontakt
• The x sound (often represented by ch) is written h: psiholog.
• The y sound (in German written ü, in French u) becomes ju: bjuro.
• Between vowels, the z sound (written -s-) becomes z: baza.
• Between vowels, the s sound (written -ss-) becomes s: masa.

Besides, endings are adapted in a predictable way to what is most common in the Slavic languages:

• Verbs of Latin descent (often -ate, -fy, -ise/-ize in English, -ieren in German) have -ovati: organizovati, komunikovati.
• Latin -ia (rendered in English as -ia or -y) becomes -ija: ekonomija.
• English -sis (from Greek) becomes -za: kriza.
• Names of chemical elements etc. on -ium become -ij: helij, kriterij.
• Words on -um and -us generally keep these endings: forum, korpus.
• English -ty (Latin -tas, -tatis) becomes -tet: universitet.
• English -ics becomes -ika: ekonomika.
• English -ism becomes -izm: komunizm.
• English -ist becomes -ist: komunist.
• English -sion becomes -zija: televizija.
• English -ssion becomes -sija: diskusija.
• English -tion becomes -cija: akcija.
• Adjectives derived from these nouns have the ending -ijny: televizijny, tradicijny.
• English adjectives in -al (Latin -alis) end in -alny: neutralny.
• English adjectives in -ic, -ical (Latin -icus) have the ending -ičny: specifičny, komičny.
• English adjectives in -ive (Latin -ivus) have the ending -ivny: pozitivny.
• English adjectives in -ous (Latin -osus) have the ending -ozny: seriozny.

More problematic are words borrowed from English. When writing in the Latin alphabet, we can keep the original spelling („bypass”, „knockout”, „jazz”, „teenager”). However, many texts in Interslavic are written in Cyrillic or in both orthographies parallelly, often with the help of a transliteration program, and one should of course avoid writing быпасс or кноцкоут in Cyrillic! In most cases, we would therefore rather apply a more phonetical approach: bajpas, nokaut, džaz, tinejdžer, budžet, biznes, mjuzikl, futbol, koktejl, etc.

Legal information

This article has been republished with the permission of its original author, Jan van Steenbergen.