slovak

Slovak is a West Slavic language spoken primarily in Slovakia. The term Slovak can also refer to the people who identify as ethnic Slovaks or to things relating to Slovakia. The language is closely related to Czech, and together with Czech forms part of the Czech–Slovak linguistic cluster.

Slovak uses the Latin alphabet with diacritics and has a rich system of vowels and consonants that distinguish sounds such as palatalized and postalveolar variants. Standard Slovak was codified in the 19th century, with the efforts of linguistic reformers led by Ľudovít Štúr. Today it is the official language of Slovakia and is used in education, government, media and public life. Slovak has several dialect groups, including Western, Central and Eastern Slovak, which differ in pronunciation and some vocabulary.

Historically, Slovak developed from local dialects within the broader Czech–Slovak linguistic area. It was influenced by Latin, German and Hungarian through centuries of contact. In the 20th century, Slovak and Czech were standardized within Czechoslovakia; following Slovakia's independence in 1993, Slovak became the sole official language of the country.

Geographically, Slovak is spoken primarily in Slovakia, with small communities abroad in the Czech Republic, United States, Canada, Serbia, Hungary and other countries, largely due to migration and diaspora. In Slovakia, Slovak is the main language in administration, education and media; minority languages such as Hungarian and Romani receive recognized language rights in areas with significant populations.

Slovak plays a central role in national identity and culture, and it is used by ethnic Slovaks both within Slovakia and in diaspora communities.