slovenina

Slovenina is a term sometimes used in non-Slovene contexts to refer to the Slovenian language or to things associated with Slovenia; however, it is not the standard term in linguistic usage. In Slovenian and most international references, the language is called slovenščina in Slovenian, and Slovene or Slovenian in English.

Slovenian is a South Slavic language spoken by about 2.5 million people, primarily in Slovenia, with smaller communities in Italy, Austria, and Hungary, and through diaspora worldwide. It is written in the Latin alphabet, using diacritics such as č, š, ž, and digraphs lj and nj. The standard form, used in education and media, is based largely on central Slovene dialects.

Scholarly classification places Slovenian among the South Slavic languages, closely related to other western group languages such as Croatian; mutual intelligibility varies by dialect.

History: The first printed Slovene texts appeared in the 16th century during the Protestant Reformation. The language began to be standardized in the 18th and 19th centuries, aided by writers and philologists. Following Slovenia's independence in 1991, Slovenian became the official language of the Republic of Slovenia, with protections for minority languages such as Italian and Hungarian within the country.

Slovenia recognizes Slovene as the official language in education, governance, and public life, while minority languages are used in specific regions and communities.