A principal
branch of the
Indo-European family of
languages spoken in most of eastern
Europe, much of the
Balkans, parts of central
Europe, and the northern part of
Asia.
The Slavic languages are generally divided into three branches. East Slavic includes Russian, Ukrainian, and Belorussian, spoken in Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus. South Slavic is further divided into Western and Eastern subgroups. The Western subgroup is composed of the Serbo-Croatian languages (Serbian, Bosnian, and Croatian), and Slovenian, spoken in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Yugoslavia, Slovenia, and adjacent regions. The Eastern subgroup consists of Bulgarian, spoken in Bulgaria and adjacent regions, and Macedonian, spoken in Macedonia and the adjacent part of Greece. West Slavic includes Czech in the Czech Republic, Slovak in Slovakia, Lusatian in Germany, and Lekhitic, which consists of Polish and related dialects.
Slavic languages in the east and southeast are written in the Cyrillic alphabet. In the west, Roman Catholic Slavs use the Roman alphabet. Serbo-Croatian is written in Cyrillic by Serbs and Montenegrins and in Roman by Croats.
Slavic is most closely related to the Baltic languages as both are descended from Proto-Balto-Slavic.