Upper Sorbian language explained
Upper Sorbian language should not be confused with Serbian language.
Upper Sorbian (Upper Sorbian: label=[[endonym]]|hornjoserbšćina), occasionally referred to as Wendish,[1] is a minority language spoken by Sorbs, in the historical province of Upper Lusatia, which is today part of Saxony, Germany. It is grouped in the West Slavic language branch, together with Lower Sorbian, Czech, Polish, Silesian, Slovak, and Kashubian.
History
The history of the Upper Sorbian language in Germany began with the Slavic migrations during the 6th century AD. Beginning in the 12th century, there was a massive influx of rural Germanic settlers from Flanders, Saxony, Thuringia and Franconia. This so-called "German: [[Ostsiedlung]]" (eastern settlement or expansion) led to a slow but steady decline in use of the Sorbian language. In addition, in the Saxony region, the Sorbian language was legally subordinated to the German language. Language prohibitions were later added: In 1293, the Sorbian language was forbidden in Berne castle before the courts; in 1327 it was forbidden in Zwickau and Leipzig, and from 1424 on it was forbidden in Meissen. Further, there was the condition in many guilds of the cities of the area to accept only members of German-language origin.
However, the central areas of the Milzener and Lusitzer, in the area of today's Lusatia, were relatively unaffected by the new German language settlements and legal restrictions. The language therefore flourished there. By the 17th century, the number of Sorbian speakers in that area grew to over 300,000. The oldest evidence of written Upper Sorbian is the Burger Eydt Wendisch document, which was discovered in the city of Bautzen and dates to the year 1532.
Upper Sorbian in Germany
There are an estimated 20,000 to 25,000 speakers of Upper Sorbian. Almost all of these live in the state of Saxony, chiefly in the district of Bautzen (Budyšin). The stronghold of the language is the village of Crostwitz (Chrósćicy) and the surrounding municipalities, especially to the west of it. In this core area, Upper Sorbian remains the predominant vernacular.
Phonology
Vowels
The vowel inventory of Upper Sorbian is exactly the same as that of Lower Sorbian.
Vowel phonemes!! Front! Central! Back| Close | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ |
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| Near-close | pronounced as /link/ | | pronounced as /link/ |
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| Mid | pronounced as /link/ | | pronounced as /link/ |
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| Open | | pronounced as /link/ | | |
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- Word-initial vowels are rare, and are often preceded by a non-phonemic glottal stop pronounced as /link/, or sometimes pronounced as /link/. pronounced as //i, u, ɛ, ɔ// appear in word-initial position only in recent borrowings, whereas the diphthongs never occur in this position.
- The near-close pronounced as //ɪ, ʊ// can also be analyzed as diphthongs pronounced as //iɪ, uʊ//. Here, they are analyzed as monophthongs.
- The diphthongal allophones of pronounced as //ɪ, ʊ// are falling: pronounced as /[iɪ̯, uʊ̯]/. pronounced as /[iɪ]/ occurs only under strong sentence stress in monosyllabic words. Conversely, pronounced as /[uʊ]/ is a more common realization of pronounced as //ʊ// than pronounced as /link/.
- pronounced as //ɛ// has three allophones:
- Open-mid pronounced as /link/ between hard consonants and after a hard consonant;
- Mid pronounced as /link/ between soft consonants and after a soft consonant (excluding pronounced as //j// in both cases);
- Diphthong with a mid onset pronounced as /[ɛ̝i̯]/ before pronounced as //j//.
- pronounced as //ɔ// has two allophones:
- Diphthong with a mid onset pronounced as /[ɔ̝u̯]/ before labial consonants;
- Open-mid pronounced as /link/ in all other cases.
- Additional diphthongs arise from r-vocalization, as in German. For instance, Upper Sorbian: uniwersita 'University' may be pronounced pronounced as /[unʲiˈwɛɐ̯sita]/.
- The distinction between pronounced as //ɛ, ɔ// on the one hand and pronounced as //ɪ, ʊ// on the other is weakened or lost in unstressed syllables.
- pronounced as //a// is phonetically central pronounced as /link/. It is somewhat higher pronounced as /link/ after soft consonants.
Consonants
! colspan="2" | Labial | Dental/
Alveolar | Palatal | Velar/
Uvular | Glottal |
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| hard | soft | hard | soft | soft | hard | soft | hard |
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| Nasal | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /mʲ/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | | | | |
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| Plosive | | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /pʲ/ | pronounced as /link/ | | | pronounced as /link/ | | |
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| pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /bʲ/ | pronounced as /link/ | | | pronounced as /link/ | | |
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| Affricate | | | | pronounced as /link/ | (pronounced as /t͡sʲ/) | pronounced as /link/ | | | |
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| | | (pronounced as /link/) | | pronounced as /link/ | | | |
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| Fricative | | pronounced as /link/ | | pronounced as /link/ | | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | | pronounced as /link/ |
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| (pronounced as /link/) | | pronounced as /link/ | (pronounced as /zʲ/) | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |
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| Approximant | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | | pronounced as /link/ | | | |
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- pronounced as //m, mʲ, p, pʲ, b, bʲ, w, wʲ// are bilabial, whereas pronounced as //f, v// are labiodental.
- pronounced as //mʲ, pʲ, bʲ// are strongly palatalized.
- pronounced as //w// is a somewhat velarized bilabial approximant pronounced as /link/, whereas pronounced as //wʲ// is a strongly palatalized bilabial approximant pronounced as /link/.[2]
- pronounced as //v// is very rare. Apart from loanwords, it occurs only in two Slavonic words: zełharny pronounced as //ˈzɛvarnɨ// 'deceitful' and zełharnosć pronounced as //ˈzɛvarnɔst͡ʃ// 'deceitfulness', both of which are derivatives of łhać pronounced as //ˈfat͡ʃ// 'to lie'. Usage of these words is typically restricted to the Bautzen dialect, as speakers of the Catholic dialect use łžeć pronounced as //ˈbʒɛt͡ʃ// and its derivatives.
- pronounced as //n, l// are alveolar pronounced as /[{{IPAplink|n|n͇}}, {{IPAplink|l|l͇}}]/, pronounced as //nʲ// is alveolo-palatal pronounced as /link/, whereas pronounced as //t, d, t͡s, d͡z, t͡sʲ, s, z, zʲ// are dental pronounced as /[{{IPAplink|t̪}}, {{IPAplink|d̪}}, {{IPAplink|t̪͡s̪}}, {{IPAplink|d̪͡z̪}}, t̪͡s̪ʲ, {{IPAplink|s̪}}, {{IPAplink|z̪}}, z̪ʲ]/.
- pronounced as //t, d, l// before pronounced as //i// (in the case of pronounced as //l// also before pronounced as //ɛ, ɪ//) are weakly palatalized pronounced as /[tʲ, dʲ, lʲ]/. also reports palatalized pronounced as /[fʲ, vʲ, {{IPAplink|k̟|kʲ}}, {{IPAplink|ɡ˖|ɡʲ}}, {{IPAplink|x̟|xʲ}}, hʲ]/ as allophones of pronounced as //f, v, k, ɡ, x, h//. Among these, the labiodental pronounced as /[fʲ, vʲ]/ are extremely rare.
- pronounced as //n, nʲ// are velar pronounced as /[{{IPAplink|ŋ}}, {{IPAplink|ŋ˖|ŋʲ}}]/ in front of velar consonants.
- pronounced as //d͡z// is very rare. In many cases, it merges with pronounced as //z// into pronounced as /link/.
- pronounced as //t͡sʲ, zʲ// are very rare. According to, the phonemic status of pronounced as //t͡sʲ// is controversial.
- In most dialects, pronounced as //t͡ʃ, d͡ʒ, ʃ, ʒ// are palato-alveolar. This is unlike Lower Sorbian, where these consonants are laminal retroflex (flat postalveolar) pronounced as /[{{IPAplink|t͡ʂ}}, {{IPAplink|ʂ}}, {{IPAplink|ʐ}}]/ (Lower Sorbian pronounced as //t͡ʂ// does not have a voiced counterpart). Laminal retroflex realizations of pronounced as //ʃ, ʒ// also occur in Upper Sorbian dialects spoken in some villages north of Hoyerswerda.
- pronounced as //k, ɡ, x// are velar, whereas pronounced as //r, rʲ// are uvular.
- An aspirated pronounced as /[kʰ]/ is a morpheme-initial allophone of pronounced as //x// in some cases, as well as a possible word-initial allophone of pronounced as //k//.
- pronounced as //x// is typically accompanied with trilling of the uvula pronounced as /link/, so that Upper Sorbian: brach pronounced as //ˈbrax// 'fault' is typically pronounced pronounced as /[bʁaʀ̝̊]/.
- pronounced as //x// does not occur word-initially, whereas pronounced as //h// does not occur word-finally.
- pronounced as //r, rʲ// are typically realized as fricatives pronounced as /[{{IPAplink|ʁ}}, ʁʲ]/ or approximants pronounced as /[{{IPAplink|ʁ̞}}, ʁ̞ʲ]/. They can be trilled pronounced as /[{{IPAplink|ʀ}}, ʀʲ]/ in clear and careful pronunciation. Furthermore, pronounced as //r// can also be realized as a voiceless fricative pronounced as /link/. It can also be vocalized in the syllable coda, as in Upper Sorbian: uniwersita pronounced as /[unʲiˈwɛɐ̯sita]/ 'University'. They are never alveolar pronounced as /[{{IPAplink|r}}, rʲ]/, which is an archaic pronunciation.
- Soft pronounced as //rʲ// is strongly palatalized.
- An epenthetic pronounced as //j// is inserted before a post-vocalic soft consonant, yielding a diphthong. If the soft consonant occurs before pronounced as //ɛ// or pronounced as //ɪ//, it is often realized as hard, and the vowels merge to pronounced as /link/.
- In literary language, the contrast between hard and soft consonants is neutralized in word-final position. For instance, the letter represents the pronounced as //jn// sequence in this position (as in dźeń pronounced as //ˈd͡ʒɛjn// 'day'), not a single phoneme pronounced as //nʲ//.
Final devoicing and assimilation
Upper Sorbian has both final devoicing and regressive voicing assimilation, both word-internal and across word boundaries. In the latter context, pronounced as //x// is voiced to pronounced as /link/. Regressive voicing assimilation does not occur before sonorants and pronounced as //h//.
Stress
- Words consisting of up to three syllables are stressed on the first syllable.
- Foreign words, such as student pronounced as //stuˈdɛnt// 'student', preserve their original accent.
Samples
The Lord's Prayer in Upper Sorbian:
Upper Sorbian: Wótče naš, kiž sy w njebjesach. Swjeć so Twoje mjeno. Přińdź Twoje kralestwo. Stań so Twoja wola, kaž na njebju, tak na zemi. Wšědny chlěb naš daj nam dźens. Wodaj nam naše winy, jako my tež wodawamy swojim winikam. A njewjedź nas do spytowanja, ale wumóž nas wot złeho. Amen.
Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Upper Sorbian:
Upper Sorbian: Wšitcy čłowjekojo su wot naroda swobodni a su jenacy po dostojnosći a prawach. Woni su z rozumom a swědomjom wobdarjeni a maja mjezsobu w duchu bratrowstwa wobchadźeć.
(All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.)[3]
See also
Bibliography
- Ross, Malcom. 2020. Syntax and contact-induced language change. In A. Grant (ed.) The Oxford Handbook of Language Contact. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 123–154. [Upper Sorbian and German contact, with resulting changes in Sorbian]
External links
Dictionaries
Czech-Sorbian and Sorbian-Czech
German-Sorbian
Sorbian-German
Notes and References
- Web site: 9780781807807: Sorbian (Wendish)-English English-Sorbian (Wendish) Concise Dictionary (Concise Dictionaries) (English and Sorbian Languages Edition) – AbeBooks – Strauch, Mercin: 0781807808.
- . On page 36, the author states that Upper Sorbian pronounced as //w// is less velar than Polish pronounced as //w//. The weakness of the velarization is confirmed by the corresponding image on page 37.
- http://www.omniglot.com/writing/sorbian.htm Sorbian
