Army Slav

Developed to help with language barriers in Austria-Hungary, Army Slav (German Armee-Slawisch) was a rump language consisting of about eighty key words. It was in use until the end of the Great War.

Part of the reason for the existence of this specialized language was the fact that while German and Hungarian were official languages, half of the soldiery was called from areas that spoke various Slavic languages. In all, there were eleven different official languages and many more dialects to contend with. While efforts were made to keep soldiers grouped according to language, mixed language units still occurred.