Editing Old Novgorod dialect (section)

{{Short description|Extinct Slavic language spoken in medieval Novgorod}}
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{{Infobox language
| name         = Old Novgorodian
| altname      = Old Novgorod dialect
| states       = [[Novgorod Republic]]
| era          = [[High Middle Ages]] and [[Late Middle Ages]]
| familycolor      = Indo-European
| fam2             = [[Balto-Slavic languages|Balto-Slavic]]
| fam3             = [[Slavic languages|Slavic]]
| fam4             = [[East Slavic languages|East Slavic]]
| ancestor         = [[Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European]]
| ancestor2        = [[Proto-Balto-Slavic language|Proto-Balto-Slavic]]
| ancestor3        = [[Proto-Slavic language|Proto-Slavic]]
| script           = [[Early Cyrillic alphabet|Old Cyrillic]], [[Glagolitic script|Glagolitic]]
| isoexception = historical
| glotto       = none
}}
The '''Old Novgorod''' or '''Old Novgorodian dialect''' ({{langx|ru|древненовгородский диалект|drevnenovgorodskiy dialekt}}, {{lit|ancient Novgorodian dialect}}) was the [[East Slavic languages|East Slavic]] variety used in the city of [[Veliky Novgorod]] and its surrounding area. It is mainly known from medieval [[birch bark writing]]s dating to the 11th to 15th centuries.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Зализняк - Значение берестяных грамот для истории русского языка|url=http://philology.ru/linguistics2/zaliznyak-03.htm|access-date=2020-07-18|website=philology.ru}}</ref>{{sfn|Schallert|2024|p=604}}{{sfn|Vinokur|1971|p=36}} [[Andrey Zaliznyak]] distinguished it from "supra-dialectal Old Russian".{{sfn|Dekker|2018|p=11|loc=Chapter 1.5}} Other manuscripts have also shown distinct [[Northern Russian dialects|north Russian dialect]] forms, in addition to the birch bark letters.{{sfn|Vinokur|1971|p=36}}{{sfn|Greenberg|2017|p=519}}

Old Novgorodian is of particular interest in that it has retained some archaic features which were lost in other Slavic dialects. For example, the birch bark letters from the [[Novgorod]]-[[Pskov]] area attest that the [[Slavic second palatalization|second palatalization]] failed to reach this area.{{sfn|Greenberg|2017|p=531}} Furthermore, the letters provide unique evidence of the Slavic vernacular, as opposed to the [[Church Slavonic]] which dominated the written literature of the period. Most of the letters feature informal writing such as personal correspondence, instructions, complaints, news, and reminders. Such widespread usage indicates a high level of literacy, even among women and children. The preserved notes display the original spelling of the time; unlike some texts, they were not copied, rewritten or edited by later scribes.<ref name=":0" />

Today, the study of Novgorodian birch bark letters is an established scholarly field in Russian [[historical linguistics]], with far-ranging historical and archaeological implications for the study of the Russian Middle Ages.