Silesian language

This article is about the West Slavic language. For the Germanic language, see Silesian German. For ethnic group/nation, see Silesians.

Silesian
Ślůnsko godka
Spoken in	Silesian Voivodeship and Opole Voivodeship in Poland, Moravian-Silesian Region and Olomouc Region (only Jeseník District) in Czech Republic, Germany and USA
Region	Upper Silesia / Silesia
Native speakers	60,000  (2002 census)
Language family	Indo-European Balto-Slavic Slavic West Slavic Lechitic Polish (disputed) Silesian
Language codes
ISO 639-3	szl
Linguasphere	53-AAA-cck & 53-AAA-dam

Range of Silesian language on map of East-Central Europe (marked as G1, G2)

Silesian or Upper Silesian (Silesian: Ślůnsko godka, Czech: slezský jazyk, Polish: język śląski) is considered either a dialect of the Polish language (apart from the Lach dialects, which are usually regarded as a branch of the Czech language), or a separate Slavic language of the Lechitic group spoken in the region of Silesia. The ISO 639-3 language code is szl.

Distribution

Silesian speakers currently live in the region of Upper Silesia, which is split between southwestern Poland and the northeastern Czech Republic. At present Silesian is commonly spoken in the area between historical border of Silesia on the east, and a line from Syców to Prudnik on the west, as well as in the Rawicz area. Until 1945 Silesian was also spoken in enclaves in Lower Silesia, as Lower Silesian, a German dialect, was spoken by the ethnic German majority population of that region at the time.

According to the last official census in Poland (2002), above 56,000 people declared Silesian as their native language, and over 173,000 people declared Silesian nationality (mainly in the Silesian Voivodeship). There are also about 100,000 Silesian (Cieszyn Silesian) speakers living in the Czech Republic; Cieszyn Silesian is also commonly spoken in the Polish part of Cieszyn Silesia. Speakers of Cieszyn Silesian dialect usually identify themselves on the nationality level as Poles. According to the last official census in Czech Republic, 10,878 Czechs declared Silesian nationality.^{[citation needed]}

Recognition

In 2003, the National Publishing Company of Silesia (Narodowa Oficyna Śląska) commenced operations. This publisher was founded by the Alliance of People of the Silesian Nation (Związek Ludności Narodowości Śląskiej) and it prints books about Silesia and books in Silesian language.

In July 2007, the Slavic Silesian language was recognized by an ISO Joint Advisory Committee, Library of Congress, International Information Centre for Terminology and SIL International. Language was attributed ISO code: SZL.

On 6 September 2007, 23 politicians of the Polish parliament notified about a project of a new law to give the Silesian language the official status of a regional language.

The first official National Dictation contest of the Silesian language (Ogólnopolskie Dyktando Języka Śląskiego) took place in August 2007.

On 30 January 2008 and in June 2008, two organizations promoting Silesian language were established: Pro Loquela Silesiana and "Tôwarzistwo Piastowaniô Ślónskij Môwy "Danga".

On 26 May 2008, Silesian Wikipedia was founded.

On 30 June 2008 in the edifice of the Silesian Parliament in Katowice, a conference took place on the status of Silesian language. This conference was a forum for politicians, linguists, representatives of interested organizations, and persons who deal with the Silesian language. The conference was titled "Silesian - still a dialect or already a language?" ("Śląsko godka - jeszcze gwara czy jednak już język"?).

Writing system

Steuer's Silesian alphabet

The attempts at codification of Silesian are numerous. One of the first alphabets created specifically for Silesian was Steuer's Silesian alphabet, used by Feliks Steuer to write his poems in Silesian. The alphabet consists of 30 graphemes and eight digraphs.

Letters: A, B, C, Ć, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, Ł, M, N, Ń, O, P, R, S, Ś, T, U, Ů, W, Y, Z, Ź, Ż

Digraphs: Au, Ch, Cz, Dz, Dź, Dż, Rz, Sz

Tadzikowy muster

This alphabet came into being in the 1990s. It was created by Ted Jeczalik (Tadzik Jeczalik, Tadeusz Jaczalik) from the USA (one of jurors of National Dictation contest of the Silesian language / Ogólnopolskie Dyktando Języka Śląskiego). This alphabet is based on the ISO basic Latin alphabet and consists of 26 letters and 15 digraphs. Instead of diacritics, an apostrophe after a letter is used.

Majuscule Forms (also called uppercase or capital letters)
A	B	C	D	E	F	G	H	I	J	K	L	M	N	O	P	Q	R	S	T	U	V	W	X	Y	Z
Minuscule Forms (also called lowercase or small letters)
a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h	i	j	k	l	m	n	o	p	q	r	s	t	u	v	w	x	y	z
Digraphs
c'	ci	l'	n'	ni	oo	rz	s'	si	z'	zi	dz	dz'	dzi	drz

Phonetic Silesian alphabet

In 2006 a new Silesian alphabet was proposed. It consists of 32 graphemes and four digraphs.

Letters: A, B, C, Ć, Č, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, Ń, O, P, R, Ř, S, Ś, Š, T, U, Ů, W, Y, Z, Ź, Ž

Digraphs: Ch, Dz, Dź, Dž.

Polish alphabet for Silesian

Silesian is also written in an adaptation of the Polish alphabet. It contains 30 graphemes and 7 digraphs.

Letters: A, B, C, Ć, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, Ł, M, N, Ń, O, Ó, P, R, S, Ś, T, U, W, Y, Z, Ź, Ż

Digraphs: Ch, Cz, Dz, Dź, Dż, Rz, Sz

It is widely used, as Silesians in Poland are taught in Polish schools and they know only the Polish way of writing. This method is used in approximately half of Silesian-language web pages and books.

Writing in this alphabet is rather problematic, since there are many ways to write one sound, e.g. ź ([ʑ]) from the "phonetic alphabet" used inter alia on the Silesian Wikipedia can be written as ź or zi, but zi in the phonetic script stands for [zi]. There is also the risk of losing the characteristic Silesian pronunciation - there is not one method of writing ů ([o]) - the word Ślůnsk can be written as Ślonsk, Ślónsk, Ślunsk and even Śląsk (although there are no phonemic nasal vowels in Silesian).

The same thing is with the diphthong uo ([wɔ]). According to the Polish orthography it must be transcribed unetymologically as ło, which is wrong, because it destroys the rule that "ł" comes from a velarized l. This alphabet is criticised by supporters of radical writings.

Grammar

In contrast with Polish, Silesian retains the pluperfect ("joech śe była uobaliyła" - "I had slipped") and separate past conditional ("jo bych śe była uobaliyła" - "I would have slipped").

Another major difference is in question-forming. In Polish, questions that do not contain interrogative words are formed either by using intonation or the interrogative particle "czy." In Silesian, questions that do not contain interrogative words are formed by using intonation (with a markedly different intonation pattern than in Polish) or inversion (e.g. "je to na mapie?"); there is no interrogative particle.

Example

The Lord's Prayer in Silesian, Polish and Czech.

Silesian (Steuer spelling)	Polish	Czech
Uojcze nasz, kery jeżeś we ńebje, bydź pośwjyncůne mjano Twoje. Przińdź krůlestwo Twoje, bydź wola Twoja, jako we ńebje, tak tyż na źymji. Chlyb nasz kożdodźynny dej nům dźiśej. A uodpuść nům nasze winy, jako a my uodpuszczůmy naszym wińńikům. A ńy wůdź nos na pokuszyńy, nale zbow nos uode złygo. Amyn.	Ojcze nasz, któryś jest w niebie, święć się imię Twoje, przyjdź królestwo Twoje, bądź wola Twoja jako w niebie tak i na ziemi. Chleba naszego powszedniego daj nam dzisiaj. I odpuść nam nasze winy, jako i my odpuszczamy naszym winowajcom. I nie wódź nas na pokuszenie, ale zbaw nas ode złego. Amen.	Otče náš, jenž jsi na nebesích, posvěť se jméno Tvé Přijď království Tvé. Buď vůle Tvá, jako v nebi, tak i na zemi. Chléb náš vezdejší dej nám dnes A odpusť nám naše viny, jako i my odpouštíme naším viníkům a neuveď nás v pokušení, ale zbav nás od zlého. Amen.

Dialects of Silesian ethnolect

Grave inscription at Lutheran cemetery in Střítež (Frýdek-Místek District) near Český Těšín. The inscription, which says "Rest in Peace", is in the Cieszyn Silesian Dialect.

The Silesian language has many local dialects:

• Dialects spoken in areas which are now part of the Czech Republic:
  • Cieszyn Silesian dialect
  • Opava (Troppau) Silesian dialect
  • Jabłonków Silesian dialect
  • Lach Silesian dialect
• Dialects spoken in areas which are now part of Poland:
  • Niemodlin Silesian dialect
  • Gliwice Silesian dialect
  • Kluczbork Silesian dialect
  • Prudnik Silesian dialect
  • Opole Silesian dialect
  • Sulkovian Silesian dialect

Dialect vs language

Opinions are divided between linguists whether Silesian is a distinct language or simply another dialect of Polish. The issue can be contentious as some Silesians consider themselves to be a nationality within Poland. Some linguists from Poland, for example; Jan Niecisław Baudouin de Courtenay (19th-20th century) Jolanta Tambor, Tomasz Wicherkiewicz and sociolinguist Tomasz Kamusella support its status as a language, some others don't, eg. Jan Miodek (Silesian roots) and Edward Polański.

International linguists and other scholars such as Reinhold Olesch from Germany, Ewald Osers (1949), Norman Davies from the United Kingdom, and Czech Óndra Łysohorsky also support the status of Silesian as a Slavic language^{[citation needed]}.

Gerd Hentschel wrote "Das Schlesische ... kann somit ... ohne Zweifel als Dialekt des Polnischen beschrieben werden" (engl.: Silesian ... can thus ... without doubt be described as a dialect of Polish.). Also in his book "Das Schlesische – eine neue (oder auch nicht neue) slavische Sprache? (engl.: The Silesian - a new (or not new) Slavic language?) he conclude that it's a dialect.

Encyclopædia Britannica defines it as a dialect of Polish. However, Lach dialects are considered part of the Czech language.

Culture

The Silesian language has recently seen an increased use in culture, for example:

• TV and radio stations (for example: TV Silesia, Sfera TV, Slonsky Radio, Radio Piekary);
• music groups (for example: Hasiok, Dohtor Miód, FEET);
• theatre (for example: "Polterabend" in Silesian Theatre);
• film (for example: Grzeszny żywot Franciszka Buły (Sinful Life of Franciszek Buła)
• books (for example, the so-called Silesian's Bible; poetry: "Myśli ukryte" by Karol Gwóźdź)
• teaching aids (for example, a Silesian basal reader)

History

The oldest known Silesian sentence

The Book of Henryków (1270) is the earliest document to include a sentence written in the Silesian language, although the sentence has also been recognised as being in ether Polish or Czech. The Book of Henrykow itself calls it "polish" ("Hoc est in polonico").

See also

• Lower Silesian language
• Texas Silesian
• Vilamovian language

External links

• Silesian language at Ethnologue (16th ed., 2009)
• (English) Silesian Dictionary
• (Silesian) Pů našymu
• (Silesian) Slonsko Lauba
• (Silesian) Slunskoeka
• (Silesian) Jynzyk S'loonski