Kashubian language

Kashubian
Kaszëbsczi jãzëk
Native to	Poland
Region	Pomerania
Ethnicity	Kashubians/Poles
Native speakers	108,000 (2011 census)
Language family	Indo-European Balto-Slavic Slavic West Slavic Lechitic Pomeranian Kashubian
Writing system	Latin (Kashubian alphabet)
Official status
Official language in	Officially recognized as of 2005, as a regional language, in some communes of Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland
Recognised minority language in	Poland
Regulated by	Kashubian Language Council
Language codes
ISO 639-2	csb
ISO 639-3	csb
Glottolog	kash1274
ELP	Kashubian
Linguasphere	53-AAA-cb

Kashubian or Cassubian (Kashubian: kaszëbsczi jãzëk, pòmòrsczi jãzëk, kaszëbskò-słowińskô mòwa; Polish: język kaszubski, język pomorski, język kaszubsko-słowiński) is a West Slavic language belonging to the Lechitic subgroup along with Polish and Silesian. Although it is often considered a language in its own right, it is sometimes considered a dialect of Pomeranian. In Poland, it has been an officially recognized ethnic-minority language since 2005. Approximately 106,000 people use mainly Kashubian at home. It is the only remnant of the Pomeranian language. It is close to standard Polish with influence from Low German and the extinct Polabian and Old Prussian.

Kashubian language (2011 census)

Origin

Kashubian is assumed to have evolved from the language spoken by some tribes of Pomeranians called Kashubians, in the region of Pomerania, on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea between the Vistula and Oder rivers. The Pomeranians were said to arrive before the Poles and certain tribes managed to maintain their language and traditions despite German and Polish settlements. It first diverged as its own language in the early 14th century.

In the 19th century, Florian Ceynowa became Kashubian's first known activist. He undertook tremendous efforts to awaken Kashubian self-identity through the establishment of Kashubian language, customs, and traditions. He felt strongly that Poles were born brothers and that Kashubia was a separate nation.

The Young Kashubian movement followed in 1912, led by author and doctor Aleksander Majkowski, who wrote for the paper "Zrzësz Kaszëbskô" as part of the "Zrzëszincë" group. The group contributed significantly to the development of the Kashubian literary language.

The earliest printed documents in Kashubian date from the end of the 16th century. The modern orthography was first proposed in 1879.

Related languages

Many scholars and linguists debate whether Kashubian should be recognized as a Polish dialect or separate language. From the diachronic view it is a Lechitic West Slavic language but from the synchronic point of view it is a Polish dialect. Kashubian is closely related to Slovincian, while both of them are dialects of Pomeranian. Many linguists, in Poland and elsewhere, consider it a divergent dialect of Polish. Dialectal diversity is so great within Kashubian that a speaker of southern Kashubian has considerable difficulty in understanding a speaker of the northernmost dialects. The spelling and grammar of Polish words written in Kashubian (most of its vocabulary) is highly unusual making it difficult to comprehend in written text also by native Polish speakers.

Like Polish, Kashubian includes about 5% loanwords from German (such as kùńszt "art"). Unlike Polish, these are mostly from Low German and only occasionally from High German. Other sources of loanwords include the Baltic languages, Russian, and Polish. Due to soft pronunciation, the language is fairly similar to Belarusian.

Speakers

The number of speakers of Kashubian varies widely from source to source, ranging from as low as 4,500 to the upper 300,000. In the 2011 census, 106,000 people in Poland declared that they mainly use Kashubian at home. Of these only 10 percent consider Kashubian to be their mother tongue, with the rest considering themselves to be native speakers of both Kashubian and Polish. All Kashubian speakers are also fluent in Polish. A number of schools in Poland use Kashubian as a teaching language. It is an official alternative language for local administration purposes in Gmina Sierakowice, Gmina Linia, Gmina Parchowo, Gmina Luzino and Gmina Żukowo in the Pomeranian Voivodeship. Most respondents say that Kashubian is used in informal speech among family members and friends. This is most likely because Polish is the official language and spoken in formal settings.

The Kashubian language in America

During the Kashubian diaspora of 1855-1900, 115,700 Kashubians emigrated to North America, with around 15,000 emigrating to Brazil. Among the "Polish" community of Renfrew County, Ontario, the Kashubian language is widely spoken to this day, despite generations of Polonization at the hands of Polish parish priests. In Winona, Minnesota, which Ramult termed the "Kashubian Capital of America", Kashubian was regarded as "poor Polish" as opposed to the "good Polish" of the parish priests and teaching sisters. Consequently, the use of the Kashubian language failed to survive the Polonization process, and died out shortly after the middle of the 20th century.

Kashubian literature

Important for Kashubian literature was Xążeczka dlo Kaszebov by Doctor Florian Ceynowa (1817–1881). Hieronim Derdowski (1852–1902 in Winona, Minnesota) was another significant author who wrote in Kashubian, as was Doctor Aleksander Majkowski (1876–1938) from Kościerzyna, who wrote the Kashubian national epic The Life and Adventures of Remus. Jan Trepczyk was a poet who wrote in Kashubian, as was Stanisław Pestka. Kashubian literature has been translated into Czech, Polish, English, German, Belarusian, Slovene and Finnish. A considerable body of Christian literature has been translated into Kashubian, including the New Testament, much of it by Fr. Adam Ryszard Sikora (OFM). Rev. Franciszek Grucza graduated from a Catholic seminary in Pelplin. He was the first priest to introduce Catholic liturgy in Kashubian language.

Works

The earliest recorded artifacts of Kashubian date back to the 15th century and include a book of spiritual psalms that were used to introduce Kashubian to the Lutheran church:

• 1586 Duchowne piesnie (Spiritual songs) D. Marcina Luthera y ynßich naboznich męzow. Zniemieckiego w Slawięsky ięzik wilozone Przes Szymana Krofea... w Gdainsku: przes Jacuba Rhode, Tetzner 1896: translated from pastorks. S. Krofeja, Słowińca (?) rodem z Dąbia.

The next few texts are also religious catechisms but this time from the Catholic church because of majority of Kashubians were Roman Catholic and these texts helped them become more unified in faith:

• 1643 Mały Catechism (Little Catechism) D. Marciná Lutherá Niemiecko-Wándalski ábo Slowięski to jestá z Niemieckiego języká w Słowięski wystáwiony na jáwnosc wydan..., w Gdaińsku przes Jerzego Rhetá, Gdansk 1643. Pastor smołdziński ks. Mostnik, rodem ze Slupska.
• Perykopy smołdzinskie (Smoldzinski Pericope), published by Friedhelm Hinze, Berlin (East), 1967
• Śpiewnik starokaszubski (Old Kashubian songbook), published by Friedhelm Hinze, Berlin (East), 1967

Education

Throughout the communist regime in Poland, Kashubian along with the native Polish language greatly suffered in its spread and education. Kashubian was represented as folklore and prevented from being taught in schools. Following the collapse of Communism in Poland, attitudes on the status of Kashubian have been gradually changing. It has been included in the program of school education in Kashubia although not as a language of teaching nor as a required subject for every child, but as a foreign language taught 3 hours per week at parents' explicit request. Since 1991, it is estimated that there have been around 17,000 students in over 400 schools who have learned Kashubian. Kashubian has some limited usage on public radio and had on public television. Since 2005 Kashubian has enjoyed legal protection in Poland as an official regional language. It is the only language in Poland with this status, which was granted by the Act of 6 January 2005 on National and Ethnic Minorities and on the Regional Language of the Polish Parliament. The act provides for its use in official contexts in ten communes where Kashubian speakers constitute at least 20 percent of the population. Due to this recognition, heavily populated Kashubian localities have been able to put of road signs and other amenities with Polish and Kashubian translations on them.

Dialects

Kashubian dialects area in the early 20th century

Friedrich Lorentz wrote in the early 20th century that there were three Kashubian dialects. These include the

• Northern Kashubian Dialect
• Middle Kashubian DIalect
• Southern Kashubian Dialect

Other researches would argue that each tiny region of the Kaszuby has its own dialect. In Dialects and Slang of Poland

• bylacki dialect
• slowinski dialect
• Kabatkow dialect
• zaborski dialect
• Tucholski and Krajniacki dialect (although these two dialects would be considered a transitional form of the Wielkopolski dialect and are included as official Wielkopolskie dialects.

Components of Kashubian

A "standard" Kashubian language does not exist despite several attempts to create one, rather a diverse range of dialects takes its place. The vocabulary is heavily influenced by German and Polish and utilizes the Latin alphabet.

There are several similarities between Kashubian and Polish. For some linguists they consider this a sign that Kashubian is a dialect of Polish but others believe that this is just a sign that the two originate from the same location. They are nevertheless related to a certain degree and due to their close proximity of each other, Kashubian has definitely been influenced by Polish and its various dialects, specifically from its northern ones.

Some examples of similarities between languages:

• softening of the consonant ar inflections of northern Kashubian dialects: ex: Northern Kashubian: cwiardi, czwiôrtk/Polish: twardy, czwartek
• the disappearance of a movable e in the nominative case: ex: pòrénk, kùńc 'poranek', 'koniec'
• vowel ô takes the place of long a as it did for Early Slavs, similar changes took place in early dialects of Polish
• transition of -jd- to -ńd- just like the Masurian dialect: ex: przińdą 'przyjdą'

Phonology and morphology

Kashubian makes use of simplex and complex phonemes with secondary place articulation /pʲ/, /bʲ/, /fʲ/, /vʲ/ and /mʲ/. They follow the Clements and Hume (1995) constriction model, where sounds are represented in terms of constriction. They are then organized according to particular features like anterior, implying the activation of features dominating it. Due to this model, the phonemes above are treated differently than the phonemes /p/, /b/, /f/, /v/ and /m/. The vocalic place node would be placed under the C-place node and V-place nodes interpolated to preserve well-forwardness.

Vowels

Kashubian vowel phonemes

	Front	Central		Back
	unrounded	unrounded	rounded	rounded
Close	i			u
Close-mid	e	ə		o
Open-mid	ɛ		ɞ	ɔ
Open		a

• The exact phonetic realization of the close-mid vowels /e, o/ depends on the dialect.
• Apart from these, there are also nasal vowels /ɛ̃, ã/. Their exact phonetic realization depends on the dialect.

Consonants

Kashubian has simple consonants with a secondary articulation along with complex ones with secondary articulation.

Kashubian consonant phonemes

		Labial	Dental	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar
Nasal		m	n		ɲ
Plosive	voiceless	p	t			k
	voiced	b	d			ɡ
Affricate	voiceless		ts	tʃ	(tɕ)
	voiced		dz	dʒ	(dʑ)
Fricative	voiceless	f	s	ʃ	(ɕ)	x
	voiced	v	z	ʒ	(ʑ)
	trill			(r̝)
Approximant				l	j	w
Trill				r

• /tʃ, dʒ, ʃ, ʒ/ are palato-alveolar.
• /ɲ, tɕ, dʑ, ɕ, ʑ/ are alveolo-palatal; the last four appear only in some dialects.
• The fricative trill /r̝/ is used only by some northern and northeastern speakers; other speakers realize it as flat postalveolar [ʐ].
• The labialized velar central approximant /w/ is realized as a velarized denti-alveolar lateral approximant [ɫ̪] by older speakers of southeastern dialects.

Kashubian alphabet

case	Lower case	Name of letters [3]	Pronunciation
A	a	a	[a]
Ą	ą	ą	[õ], [ũ]
Ã	ã	ã	[ã][ɛ̃] (Puck County, Wejherowo County)
B	b	bé	[b]
C	c	cé	[ts]
D	d	dé	[d]
E	e	e	[ɛ]
É	é	é	[e][ɨj] in some dialects [i]/[ɨ] from Puck to Kartuzy [ɨ] at the end of a word
Ë	ë	szwa	[ə]
F	f	éf	[f]
G	g	gé	[ɡ]
H	h	ha	[x]
I	I	i	[i]
J	j	jot	[j]
K	k	ka	[k]
L	l	él	[l]
Ł	ł	éł	[w]
M	m	ém	[m]
N	n	én	[n]
Ń	ń	éń	[ɲ][n]
O	o	o	[ɔ]
Ò	ò	ò	[wɛ]
Ó	ó	ó	[o][u] (southern dialects)
Ô	ô	ô	[ɞ][ɛ] (western dialects) [ɔ] (Wejherowo County) [o]/[u] (southern dialects)
P	p	pé	[p]
R	r	ér	[r]
S	s	és	[s]
T	t	té	[t]
U	u	u	[u]
Ù	ù	ù	[wu]
W	w	wé	[v]
Y	y	igrek	[i]
Z	z	zet	[z]
Ż	ż	żet	[ʒ]

The following digraphs and trigraphs are used:

Digraph	Phonemic value(s)	Digraph/trigraph (before a vowel)	Phonemic value(s)
ch	/x/	ci	/tɕ/
cz	/tʃ/	dzi	/dʑ/
dz	/dz/ (/ts/)	gi	/ɡʲ/
dź	/dʑ/ (/tɕ/)	(c)hi	/xʲ/
dż	/dʒ/ (/tʃ/)	ki	/kʲ/
rz	/ʐ/ (/r̝/) (/ʃ/)	ni	/ɲ/
sz	/ʃ/	si	/ɕ/
		zi	/ʑ/

Samples

• Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Kashubian:

Wszëtczi lëdze rodzą sã wòlny ë równy w swòji czëstnoce ë swòjich prawach. Mają òni dostóne rozëm ë sëmienié ë nôlégô jima pòstãpòwac wobec drëdzich w dëchù bracënotë.

(All people are born free and equal in their dignity and rights. They are given reason and conscience and they shall create their relationships to one another according to the spirit of brotherhood.)

• The Lord's Prayer in Kashubian:

Òjcze nasz, jaczi jes w niebie, niech sã swiãcy Twòje miono, niech prziṅdze Twòje królestwò, niech mdze Twòja wòlô jakno w niebie tak téż na zemi. Chleba najégò pòwszednégò dôj nóm dzysô i òdpùscë nóm naje winë, jak i më òdpùszcziwómë naszim winowajcóm. A nie dopùscë na nas pòkùszeniô, ale nas zbawi òde złégò. Amen.

Gallery

• 
  Percentage of people that speak Kashubian at home (2002)
• 
  Two bilingual signs in Garcz in Kashubia with the Polish name above and the Kashubian name below
• 
  Bilingual sign in Polish and Kashubian in Pogórze, Puck County, Poland, on road from Gdynia to Rewa
• 
  Page of Stefan Ramult Pomeranian (Kashubian language) Dictionary 1893
• 
  Map showing regions in Poland where Kashubian is recognized as a regional language (orange) and where it could qualify in the upcoming years (yellow)

See also

• Ł–l merger
• Bilingual communes in Poland
• Gdańsk Pomerania
• Kashubia
• Kashubian alphabet
• Kashubian-Pomeranian Association
• Kashubian studies
• Old Prussian language
• Masurian dialect
• Pomerelia
• Pomeranian language
• Kashubians
• Gdansk

References

• Comrie, Bernard; Corbett, Greville. G. (2002). The Slavonic Languages. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-28078-8
• Gyula Décsy, Die linguistische Struktur Europas, Vergangenheit — Gegenwart — Zukunft, Otto Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1973
• Friedhelm Hinze, Wörterbuch und Lautlehre der deutschen Lehnwörter im Pomoranischen (Kaschubischen), Berlin 1965
• Język kaszubski. Poradnik encyklopedyczny. ed. J. Treder, Rev. 2. corrected and expanded UG, Oficyna Czec, Gdańsk, 2006
• J. Borzyszkowski, J. Mordawski, J. Treder: Historia, geografia, język i piśmiennictwo Kaszubów; J. Bòrzëszkòwsczi, J. Mòrdawsczi, J. Tréder: Historia, geògrafia, jãzëk i pismienizna Kaszëbów, Wëdowizna M. Rôżok przë wespółrobòce z Institutã Kaszëbsczim, Gduńsk 1999, p. 128
• Aleksander Labuda, Słowôrz kaszëbsko-polsczi. Słownik polsko-kaszubski, Gdańsk 1982
• Friedrich Lorentz, Geschichte der Pomoranischen (Kaschubischen) Sprache, Berlin and Leipzig, 1925
• Nestor, N. & Hickey, T. (2009). Out of the Communist frying pan and into the EU fire? Exploring the case of Kashubian [4].
• Nomachi Motoki, On the recipient passive in the Kashubian Language: Annex to Milka Ivić's syntactic inventory for Slavonic dialectology [5]
• Stefan Ramułt, Słownik języka pomorskiego, czyli kaszubskiego, Kraków, 1893 i.e. "Dictionary of the Pomeranian (Seacoast) or Kashubian language" (Kraków, 1893)
• Stefan Ramułt, Słownik języka pomorskiego czyli kaszubskiego. Scalił i znormalizował Jerzy Treder, Gdańsk, 2003
• C. F. i F. N. Voegelin, Classification and Index of the World's Languages. Elsevier, New York 1977

Further reading

• Grabowska, A., & Ladykowski, P. The Change of the Cashubian Identity before Entering the EU.
• Toops, G. H.. (2007). [Review of Das Kaschubische: Sprachtod oder Revitalisierung? Empirische Studien zur ethnolinguistischen Vitalität einer Sprachminderheit in Polen. Slavistische Beiträge, 452].Canadian Slavonic Papers / Revue Canadienne Des Slavistes, 49(1/2), 160–162.
• KURCZEWSKI, J.. (2007). Self-Identification Structure in Opole Silesia and the Kashubia: A Comparative Analysis. Polish Sociological Review, (157), 87–104.
• Perkowski, J. L.. (1966). The Kashubs: Origins and Emigration to the U. S.. Polish American Studies,23(1), 1–7.
• Gregory MacDonald. (1939). The Kashubs on the Baltic. The Slavonic and East European Review,19(53/54), 265–275.
• Stone, G.. (1972). The Language of Cassubian Literature and the Question of a Literary Standard. The Slavonic and East European Review, 50(121), 521–529.
• Ager, S. (1998-2016). Kashubian (kaszëbsczi jãzëk). Retrieved February 12, 2016, from http://www.omniglot.com/writing/kashubian.htm
• W. (2016). Krótka historia języka kaszubskiego (Short History of the Kashubian Language). Retrieved February 12, 2016, from http://www.kaszubi.pl/o/reda/artykulmenu?id=395
• Dawid Szulest (2012).Kashubian Identity. Kashubs in Canada and Kashubia/Kaszebe Retrieved from http://kaszebsko.com/uploads/KASHUBIAN%20IDENTITY.pdf
• Topolinska, Z. (1974). A Historical Phonology of the Kashubian Dialects of Polish. General Information on the Kashubians and Kashubian Dialects. Retrieved from https://books.google.com/books?id=iZggAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA15&lpg=PA15&dq=A Historical Phonology of the Kashubian Dialects of Polish&source=bl&ots=9krwFsO5ru&sig=dzLJ-TzM9Iv_lMD6nRFOIV2EhbU&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjSjprt-fLKAhVDFT4KHc3DBCkQ6AEIIzAC#v=onepage&q=A Historical Phonology of the Kashubian Dialects of Polish&f=false.
• Stanulewicz, D. (n.d.). The Use of the Kashubian Language from the Perspective of Young People Aged 16–19: Settings and Participants. 191-203. Retrieved February 12, 2016, from www.wilkuer.de/forschung/191-204_stanulewicz_final_js_wk_js.rtf.

External links

• LC
• The World Atlas of Language Structures - WALS
• BnF
• Omniglot
• COE 2011
• Kashubian language
• UNESCO
• Following the trail of manor houses and castles of the Northern Kashubian Region
• Kashubian resources; include phrasebooks
• dictionary
• Endangered languages