Sorbian languages


The Sorbian languages are the Upper Sorbian language and Lower Sorbian language, two closely related and partially mutually intelligible languages spoken by the Sorbs, a West Slavic ethno-cultural minority in the Lusatia region of Eastern Germany. They are classified under the West Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages and are therefore closely related to the other two West Slavic subgroups: Lechitic and Czech–Slovak. Historically, the languages have also been known as Wendish or Lusatian. Their collective ISO 639-2 code is.
The two Sorbian languages, each having its own literary standard, are Upper Sorbian, spoken by about 20,000–25,000 people in Saxony, and Lower Sorbian, spoken by about 7,000 people in Brandenburg. The area where the two languages are spoken is known as Lusatia.

History

After the settlement of the formerly Germanic territories by the Slavic ancestors of the Sorbs in the 5th and 6th centuries CE, the Sorbian language had been in use in much of what was the southern half of Eastern Germany for several centuries. The language still had its stronghold in Lusatia, where it enjoys national protection and fostering to the present day. For people living in the medieval Northern Holy Roman Empire and its precursors, especially for the Saxons, the Wends were heterogeneous groups and tribes of Slavic peoples living near Germanic settlement areas, in the area west of the River Oder, an area later entitled Germania Slavica, settled by the Polabian Slav tribes in the north and by others, such as the Sorbs and the Milceni, further south.
The exact origin of the Sorbian language is uncertain. While some linguists consider it to be a transitory language between Lechitic and other non-Lechitic languages of West Slavic languages, others like Heinz Schuster-Šewc consider it a separate dialectical group of Proto-Slavic which is a mixture of Proto-Lechitic and South Slavic languages. According to him, "Sorbian spoken today in Upper and Lower Lusatia is what remains of an earlier extensive Old Sorbian dialect area between the Elbe/Saale rivers in the west and the Bober/Queis rivers in the east".
Furthermore, while some consider it a single language which later diverged to two major dialects, others consider these dialects two separate languages. There exist significant differences in phonology, morphology, and lexicon between them. Several characteristics in Upper Sorbian language indicate a close proximity to Czech language which again are absent in Lower Sorbian language. The Upper Sorbian is considered as representative of the old "Sorbian proper", while the Lower Sorbian would be a transitional hybrid language more akin to the Lechitic languages. According to some researchers the archaeological data cannot confirm the thesis about a single linguistic group yet supports the claim about two separated ethno-cultural groups with different ancestry whose respective territories correspond to Tornow-type ceramics and Leipzig-type ceramics, both derivations of Prague culture.
Outside Lusatia, the Sorbian language has been superseded by German. From the 13th century on, the language suffered official discrimination. Bible translations into Sorbian provided the foundations for its writing system.
Today, around 60,000 Sorbs live in Germany, about 40,000 in Saxony and 20,000 in Brandenburg. Since national affiliation is not officially recorded in Germany, and identification with the Sorbian nationality is voluntary, the exact number is only an estimate. The number of active Sorbian speakers is likely lower. Unlike Upper Sorbian, Lower Sorbian is considered critically endangered. According to projections, around 7,000 people actively speak Lower Sorbian, which could become extinct within 20 to 30 years, while around 13,000 speak Upper Sorbian. According to language experts, Upper Sorbian is expected to survive into the 21st century.
Currently, Sorbian is taught at 25 primary schools and several secondary schools. At the Lower Sorbian Gymnasium in Cottbus and the Upper Sorbian Gymnasium in Bautzen, it is compulsory. In many primary and Sorbian schools, lessons are held in the Sorbian language. The daily newspaper Serbske Nowiny is published in Upper Sorbian, and the weekly Nowy Casnik in Lower Sorbian. In addition, the religious weekly journals Katolski Posoł and Pomhaj Bóh are published. The cultural magazine Rozhlad appears monthly, along with one children's magazine each in Upper and Lower Sorbian, as well as the educational magazine Serbska šula.
Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk and Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg also broadcast monthly half-hour TV magazines in Sorbian, as well as several hours of daily radio programming—the Sorbian radio. Wikipedia editions exist in both written forms of the Sorbian language.

Geographic distribution

In Germany, Upper and Lower Sorbian are officially recognized and protected as minority languages. In the officially defined Sorbian settlement area, both languages are recognized as second official languages next to German.
The city of Bautzen in Upper Lusatia is the centre of Upper Sorbian culture. Bilingual signs can be seen around the city, including the name of the city, "Bautzen/Budyšin".
To the north, the city of Cottbus/Chóśebuz is considered the cultural centre of Lower Sorbian; there, too, bilingual signs are found.
Sorbian was also spoken in the small Sorbian settlement of Serbin in Lee County, Texas, however no speakers remain there. Until 1949, newspapers were published in Sorbian. The local dialect was heavily influenced by surrounding speakers of German and English.
The German terms "Wends" and "Wendish" once denoted "Slav" generally; they are today mostly replaced by "Sorbs" and "Sorbian" with reference to Sorbian communities in Germany.

Endangered status

The use of Sorbian languages has been contracting for a number of years. The loss of Sorbian language use in emigrant communities, such as in Serbin, Texas, has not been surprising. But within the Sorbian homelands, there has also been a decrease in Sorbian identity and language use. In 2008, Sorbs protested three kinds of pressures against Sorbs: " the destruction of Sorbian and German-Sorbian villages as a result of lignite mining; the cuts in the network of Sorbian schools in Saxony; the reduction of financial resources for the Sorbian institutions by central government."
A study of Upper Sorbian found a number of trends that go against language vitality. There are policies that have led to "unstable diglossia". There has been a loss of language domains in which speakers have the option to use either language, and there is a disruption of the patterns by which the Sorbian language has traditionally been transmitted to the next generation. Also, there is no strong written tradition and there is not a broadly accepted formal standardized form of the language. There is a perception of the loss of language rights, and there are negative attitudes towards the languages and their speakers.

Linguistic features

Both Upper and Lower Sorbian have the dual for nouns, pronouns, adjectives, and verbs; very few living Indo-European languages retain this as a productive feature of the grammar. For example, the word ruka is used for one hand, ruce for two hands, and ruki for more than two hands. As with most Slavic languages, Sorbian uses no articles.

Grammar

The Sorbian languages are declined in six or seven cases:
  1. Nominative
  2. Accusative
  3. Genitive
  4. Dative
  5. Locative
  6. Instrumental
  7. Vocative
In Lower Sorbian, the vocative is preserved only in a few fossilized forms.
Notably, in addition to the singular and plural, the dual number, inherited from Old Slavic, has also been preserved.
  • Singular: ruka
  • Dual: ruce
  • Plural: ruki
In contrast to other West Slavic languages, Upper Sorbian literary language and some dialects have preserved the synthetic past tense to this day. This form was also common in Lower Sorbian literary language, but over the course of the 20th century, it has become increasingly rare and is hardly used today.
Lower Sorbian, however, has retained the supine, e.g.: njok spaś versus źi spat
Less demanding written texts in Sorbian can generally be understood by speakers of West Slavic languages.

Vocabulary comparison

The following is selected vocabulary from the two Sorbian languages compared with other Slavic languages.
EnglishLower SorbianUpper SorbianSerbo-CroatianMacedonianBulgarianSloveneCzechPolishPolabianKashubianSilesianSlovakRussianUkrainianBelarusian
personclowek/luźčłowjekчовек / човјек
човек човек
človekčlověkczłowiekclawakczłowiekczowiekčlovekчеловек
чоловік чалавек
eveningwjacorwječorвече / вечер
вечер вечер
večervečerwieczórvicerwieczórwieczōrvečerвечер
вечір
вечар
brotherbratšbratrбрат
брат брат
bratbratrbratbrotbratbratbratбрат
брат
брат
dayźeńdźeńдан
ден ден
dandendzieńdôndzéńdziyńdeňдень
день
дзень
handrukarukaрука
рака ръка
rokarukarękarękarãkarynkarukaрука
рука
рука
snowsněgsněhснег / снијег
снег сняг
snegsníhśniegsnegsniégśniygsnehснег
сніг
снег
summerlěśelěćoлето / љето
лето лято / лето
poletjelétolatoljutülatolatoletoлето
літо
лета
sistersotšasotraсестра
сестра сестра
sestrasestrasiostrasestrasostraszwestrasestraсестра
сестра
сястра
fishrybarybaриба
риба риба
ribarybarybaraiborëbarybarybaрыба
риба
рыба
firewogeńwoheńогањ
оган огън
ogenjoheňogieńwidinòdżinôgyńoheňогонь
вогонь
агонь
waterwódawodaвода
вода вода
vodavodawodawôdawòdawodavodaвода
вода
вада
windwětšwětrветар / вјетар
ветер вятър / ветер
vetervítrwiatrwjôterwiaterwiatervietorветер
вітер
вецер
winterzymazymaзима
зима зима
zimazimazimazaimazëmazimazimaзима
зима
зіма