Lechitic languages: Difference between revisions
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== See also == |
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* [[Lech (Bohemian prince)]] |
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* [[Lech, Czech and Rus]] |
* [[Lech, Czech and Rus]] |
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Revision as of 15:52, 22 February 2012
| Lechitic | |
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| Geographic distribution | Poland |
| Linguistic classification | Indo-European
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| Subdivisions | |
| Language codes | |
The Lechitic (or Lekhitic) languages are a language group consisting of Polish and several other languages which are or were spoken in areas of modern Poland and northeastern parts of modern Germany.[1] It is one of the branches of the larger West Slavic language family; the other branches of this family are the Czech-Slovak languages and the Sorbian languages.
Languages
The most significant and widely spoken Lechitic language is Polish (ISO 639-1 code: pl, ISO 639-2 code: pol), which has approximately 40 million native speakers in Poland and elsewhere. Polish is considered to have several dialects, including Greater Polish, Lesser Polish and Masovian.
The other Lechitic languages are:
- Kashubian (ISO 639-2 code: csb), used today by about 50,000 people in the Polish part of Pomerania;
- Slovincian, extinct since the early 20th century, a language formerly spoken in parts of Pomerania, sometimes identified with Kashubian as a single Pomeranian language (which may also be considered a dialect of Polish);
- (Upper) Silesian (ISO 639-3 code: szl), used by about 60,000 people in Silesia (sometimes considered a dialect of Polish);
- Polabian (SIL code: pox), extinct since the mid 18th century, a language formerly spoken by Slavic peoples in areas around the Elbe river in what is now the northeast of Germany.
Features
Characteristics of Lechitic languages include:[2]
- Preservation of nasal vowels.
- Development of proto-Slavic ě, e, ę into a, o, ǫ before hard consonants (or other similar differentiations of these vowels depending on dialect). This gives rise to alternations such as modern Polish lato ("summer", nominative) vs. lecie (locative), pięć ("five") vs. piąty ("fifth").
- Vocalization of the syllabic consonants r, r', l', l. Compare modern Polish gardło ("throat") with Czech hrdlo.
- Transposition of or, ol, er, el into ro etc. in many words between consonants. Compare Polish mleko "milk".
- Continuation of Proto-Slavic dj, gě2, gi2 as d͡z, d͡zě, d͡zi.
- Lack of the g → ɣ transition. Compare Polish góra, Czech hora ("mountain").
- The so-called fourth palatalization of velars in Polish and Kashubian.
Etymology
The term Lechitic derives from the name of the legendary Polish forefather Lech (apparently a distorted form of *lęch).
Slavic people using the Lechitic languages are also known as Lechites.
Notes
- ^ Lekhitic languages, Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved July 2008
- ^ Zenon Klemensiewicz, Historia języka polskiego, 7th edition, Wydawnictwo naukowe PWN, Warsaw 1999. ISBN 83-01-12760-0
See also
External links
- Lechitic language tree at Ethnologue