thumb|right|240px|Range of Silesian language on map of East-Central Europe (marked as
G1,
G2)
Silesian or
Upper Silesian (Silesian:
Ślůnsko godka, , ) is a
Slavic language 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 language was spoken by the ethnic German majority population of that region at the time.
According to the last
official census in Poland (2002), about 60,000 people declared Silesian as their
native tongue, and over 173,000 people declared
Silesian nationality. 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 people in declared Silesian nationality.
The recognition of Silesian
In 2003, the National Publishing Company of Silesia (
Narodowa Oficyna Śląska) commenced operations. This publisher was started 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 started:
Pro Loquela Silesiana and "Tôwarzistwo Piastowaniô Ślónskij Môwy "Danga".
On
26 May 2008,
Silesian Wikipedia was started.
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
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,
ŻDigraphs:
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 standard
Latin alphabet/
English alphabet (compatible with
ISO) and consists of 26 graphemes and 15 digraphs. Instead of special diacritics, an
apostrophe after a letter is used.
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,
ŽDigraphs: 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.
Example
The
Lord's Prayer in Silesian, Polish and Czech.
Dialects of Silesian language
The Silesian language has many local dialects:
Dialect vs language
Opinions are divided between Polish
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. Linguists from Poland, for example;
Jan Niecisław Baudouin de Courtenay (19th-20th century) Jolanta Tambor, Tomasz Wicherkiewicz and
Tomasz Kamusella support its status as a language.
International linguists and other scientists such as
Reinhold Olesch from
Germany,
Ewald Osers (1949) and
Norman Davies from
United Kingdom, Czech
Óndra Łysohorsky also support the status of Silesian as a
Slavic language.
Gerd Hentschel from Germany dissents. He wrote "(...) ohne Zweifel als Dialekt des Polnischen beschrieben werden" (
engl.: is without doubt a dialect of Polish.). Encyclopaedia Britannica defines as a dialect of Polish.
Culture
The Silesian language has recently seen an increased use in culture, for example:
Trivia
The oldest known Silesian sentence
(1270) is the earliest document to include a sentence written in the Silesian language, though it is also recognised as Polish or Czech.
See also
