Editing Czech language (section)

==Classification==
[[File:Slavic languages tree.svg|thumb|right|alt=Language-tree graph|Classification of Czech within the [[Balto-Slavic languages|Balto-Slavic]] branch of the Indo-European language family. Czech and Slovak make up a "Czech–Slovak" subgroup.]]
{{further|Czech-Slovak languages|West Slavic languages}}
Czech is a member of the [[West Slavic languages|West Slavic]] sub-branch of the [[Slavic languages|Slavic]] branch of the [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European]] language family. This branch includes [[Polish language|Polish]], [[Kashubian language|Kashubian]], [[Upper Sorbian|Upper]] and [[Lower Sorbian]] and [[Slovak language|Slovak]]. Slovak is the most closely related language to Czech, followed by Polish and [[Silesian language|Silesian]].<ref name="Sussex 2011 54–56">{{Harvnb|Sussex|Cubberley|2011|pp=54–56}}</ref>

The West Slavic languages are spoken in Central Europe. Czech is distinguished from other West Slavic languages by a more-restricted distinction between "hard" and "soft" consonants (see [[#Phonology|Phonology]] below).<ref name="Sussex 2011 54–56"/>