Sorbian languages
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Sorbian
Wendish, Lusatian
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| Geographic distribution: |
Lusatia | |
| Genetic classification: |
Indo-European Balto-Slavic Slavic West Slavic Sorbian |
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| Subdivisions: | ||
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The Sorbian languages are classified under the West Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages. They are the native languages of the Sorbs, a Slavic minority in eastern Germany. Historically the language has also been known as Wendish or Lusatian. Their collective ISO 639-2 code is wen.
There are two literary languages: Upper Sorbian (hornjoserbsce), spoken by about 40,000 people in Saxony, and Lower Sorbian (dolnoserbski) spoken by about 10,000 people in Brandenburg. The area where the two languages are spoken is known as Lusatia (Łužica in Upper Sorbian, Łužyca in Lower Sorbian, or Lausitz in German).
Both languages have the dual grammatical number; they are two of the only three living Indo-European languages to retain this feature (the other being Slovenian). The dual is used when exactly two people or things are meant and is in addition to singular and plural.
In Germany Upper and Lower Sorbian are officially recognized and protected as minority languages.
The city of Bautzen in Upper Lusatia is the centre of Upper Sorbian culture. Notable is the fact that bilingual signs can be seen around the city including the name of the city itself at the railway station given as 'Bautzen/Budyšin'.
The city of Cottbus (Chóśebuz) is considered the cultural centre of Lower Sorbian; here too bilingual signs are found.
Sorbian is also spoken in the small Wendish settlement of Serbin in Lee County, Texas, and until recently newspapers were published in Wendish there. It has been heavily influenced by surrounding speakers of German and English.
