# Slovenian, Serbian (BCS): Slovak



## Tagarela

Ahoj,



TriglavNationalPark said:


> Czech/Slovak: slovenský (slovensk-) -- "Slovak"
> 
> Serbian: slovenski (slovensk-) -- "Slavic"
> 
> Slovene*: slovenski (slovensk-) -- "Slovene/Slovenian"
> 
> *And other Slavic languages (with minor spelling differences)



So, how can I say Slovak in Serbian and in Slovene?

Na shledanou.:


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## trance0

In Slovene we say "slovak" (accent on the last syllable) for a person whose nationality is "Slovak" and "slovaški" (accent on a) for adjective. For Slovakia we say "Slovaška". Also I would like to point out, that the vowel "e" in words like Slovenija, slovenec, slovenski,... is NOT pronounced widely (like lad [laed] in English)
as it is I believe(correct me if I am wrong) in Slovak, but more like the first "e" in German word "lesen". This is also probably the reason why Slovaks perceive our narrow(closed) "e" more like an "i" (or English letter "e") and pronounce the word Slovensko with a wide "e" (like "e" in German "Pferd") meaning Slovak, while pronouncing "Slovene" as Slovinsko.


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## TriglavNationalPark

To add to what trance0 wrote:

In Serbian, *Slovak (adj.)* is *"slovački"* and *Slovakia* is *"Slovačka"*. *Slovenian (adj.)* is *"slovenački"* in Serbian. Croatian, however, uses *"slovenski"* for *Slovenian (adj.)*, just like Slovene and most other Slavic languages.

BTW, the noun *"Slovenka"* means:

1.) A *Slovak* female in Czech/Slovak
2.) A *Slavic* female in Serbian (possibly Bosnian as well?)
3.) A *Slovenian* female in Slovene and most other Slavic languages

This only happens with the female form; the male forms are different.

I forgot to mention Macedonian; I believe it uses "slovenski" in the same sense as Serbian (i.e. to mean "Slavic").

Oh, and another thing I overlooked...



trance0 said:


> In Slovene we say "slovak" (accent on the last syllable) for a person whose nationality is "Slovak"


 
A *female Slovak* is *Slovakinja* in Slovene.


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## Duya

TriglavNationalPark said:


> BTW, the noun *"Slovenka"* means:
> 2.) A *Slavic* female in Serbian (possibly Bosnian as well?)



Not exactly. It means both, "a Slovenian female" and "a Slavic female". However, it's difficult to establish a context where one would naturally use the second meaning, so for all practical uses it means only the first.


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## TriglavNationalPark

Duya said:


> Not exactly. It means both, "a Slovenian female" and "a Slavic female". However, it's difficult to establish a context where one would naturally use the second meaning, so for all practical uses it means only the first.


 
Oh, I see. Thanks for the clarification! However, the adjective "slovenski" means only "Slavic" in Serbian, right?

BTW, do you know if Bosnian also uses "slovenski" in the Serbian sense (to mean "Slavic" rather than "Slovene")?


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## Duya

If we treat "Bosnian" to mean "as more commonly used in Bosnia in general" (i.e. leaving out political issues behind the term), I'd say that it uses "slovenački" far more often than "slovenski" (for Slovenia), but one can hear both "sloveni/slovenski" and "slaveni/slavenski" (for Slavs), with some preference for the first. 

There is, though, a post-war tendency to favor Croatian over Serbian variants among Bosnia*k*s, in some cases. For example, _općina, studij, dob_ rather than _opština, studije, doba. _For example, Bosnian Wikipedia has http://bs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slaveni.


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## TriglavNationalPark

If you want to get even more confused:

Slovak: *slovenčina = *Slovak (language)
Slovenian:* slovenš**čina* = Slovenian/Slovene (language)
Slovak: *slovinčina = *Slovenian/Slovene (language)
Slovenian: *slovinš**čina* = Slovincian (language)
Slovak: *severná slovinčina = *Slovincian (language)
Slovak: *slovienčina *= Old Slavic (language)
Slovenian: *slovanš**čina = *(Old) Slavic (language)
Slovenian: *slovaš**čina = *Slovak (language)


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## TriglavNationalPark

I know I'm reviving a relatively old thread, but this map, which illustrates what the root *Slovensk--* means in various Slavic languages, does an nice job summarzing what we discussed above:

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/False_Friends_of_the_Slavist/Map_slovensk

However, note that the shading for Bosnia-Herzegovina contradicts what Duya told us above. The map probably refers to standard literary Bosnian, while Duya spoke about what is "commonly used in Bosnia in general."


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## texpert

I remember bathing on *Slovenska plaža* in *Budva *(*Montenegro*). The link and your previous discussion would attribute the meaning to "Slavic", the version I find more unlikely.


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## Transatlantic

Serbian and Croatian:

*slovački = *Slovak (language) 
*slovenački *= Slovenian/Slovene (language)(Croatian: *slovenski*)
*slovenski = *Slavic, Slavonic (Croatian: *slavenski*)
*staroslovenski *= Old Church Slavonic (language) (Croatian: *staroslavenski*)


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