Taraskovyan Slavs
The Slavs (Greek: Σκλαβηνοί, Latin: Sclaveni, Russian: Славяне, Serbovian: Славени, Polavian: Słowianie/Сљов’ан’е,Moesian: Славяни, Moravian: Slované/Слованэ) form the majority of the Taraskovyan population. Out of all, the Ros are by far the largest not only amongst the Slavs, but amongst all Taraskovyans. This does not, however, mean that the other four major Taraskovyan Slavic peoples - Serbovians, Polavians, Moesians and Moravians - have been absorbed by the Ros. The four have their own rich cultural life and benefit from mass media in their own language.
Ros
For more information: Ros
The Ros are the most important of all Taraskovyan peoples and, together with Taraskath, lead the daily politics of the Grand Duchy and its numerous Dominions. The most prominent Ros Taraskovyans (or those Taraskovyans who identify themselves as Ros) include Vethara, Archduchess of Taraskovya, Duke Anatoly Orlov and others.
Serbovians
Serbovians (Serbovian: Србови) are a minority Slavic people inhabiting Taraskovya. They are closely related to the Serbian and Croatian peoples. It is hard to say to which the Serbovians are related the most: while both them and the Serbs belong to Eastern Orthodoxy, the Serbovians speak pretty much the same variant of Štokavian as the Croats.
The quasi-totality of Serbovians belong to the Taraskovyan Orthodox Church.
Serbovian Language
All Serbovians speak Russian, as it is spoken in Taraskovya. However, they also maintain their own separate Slavic language. The Serbovian language is a standard version of the Štokavian dialect, of which the Serbian and Croatian languages are separate standards. Interestingly enough, the Serbovian language is closer to the Ijekavian variant spoken in Croatia than to the Ekavian variant spoken in Serbia. The two variants are closely related and an Ijekavian speaker shall easily understand an Ekavian one.
The Serbovian uses a slightly modified Cyrillic script. The teaching of Serbovian is done mostly at private schools and at specialised institutions which offer lessons after school-hours for the families that want their children to speak the language. Mass media in Serbovian is widespread, ranging from newspapers to television channels.
