From where this similarity came?

[Lithium]

I always wondered why the languages called slavic today are so similar. If there isn't genetic conection between the slavic nations why there is linguistic conection? Anything in school, that I learn can't answer to this question. So I'm interested to know your opinions. I do not support any theory for the slavic origin and etc, I just find It interesting...:rolleyes:

[Osweo]

I always wondered why the languages called slavic today are so similar. If there isn't genetic conection between the slavic nations why there is linguistic conection? Anything in school, that I learn can't answer to this question. So I'm interested to know your opinions. I do not support any theory for the slavic origin and etc, I just find It interesting...:rolleyes:

But there IS a genetic connection between the original colonists who brought the languages!

It's just that lots of non-Slavs were absorbed in each direction the original Slavs went. Simple as that!

Russians Slavonicised a lot of Finnics, Balts and even Turkics, South Slavs a lot of Illyrians, Thracians, Celts, Goths etc, those in the far west absorbed Germanics and Celtic remnants.

But this was all so much more recent than for any other major IE family, so the languages are still pretty similar. And there were few divisions between Slavonic regions, so the links were maintained...

[Anthropos]

I always wondered why the languages called slavic today are so similar. If there isn't genetic conection between the slavic nations why there is linguistic conection? Anything in school, that I learn can't answer to this question. So I'm interested to know your opinions. I do not support any theory for the slavic origin and etc, I just find It interesting...:rolleyes:

I can see how a strong linguistic connection suggests cultural contact and/or common 'origin', but I do not see how a genetic connection could help explain language similarities. On the contrary, we know that language is not in the genes like that.

[Lithium]

I'm really confused... I think that in each slavic country there are different theories.

[Monolith]

I always wondered why the languages called slavic today are so similar.
Like Osweo said, the Slavic languages split fairly recently, hence the similarities. The Slavs themselves inhabited vast territory after their expansion, making it possible for the split to occur.


If there isn't genetic conection between the slavic nations why there is linguistic conection?
Oh, but there is. Well, except for one part of South Slavs, who had absorbed more indigenous elements through time.

As to why would the indigenous populations of this part of Europe want to learn the language of the Slavic colonists, it was mostly due to organization and prestige.

The environment of the remaining Romanized and non-Romanized folk here was not exactly friendly, as their old societies were destroyed. After the fall of the western Roman empire, they were mostly rendered defenceless, with only some coastal cities and islands remaining under protection of the Byzantium. When the Slavs came, they brought their social structure, and organized themselves into duchies. Afterwards, they created kingdoms and even empires. Having that the indigenous peoples now lived in Slavic states, it became prestigious for them to learn Slavic language.