Upper Sorbian language

Upper Sorbian
hornjoserbšćina
Pronunciation [ˈhɔrnjɔˌsɛrpʃt͡ʃina]
Native to Germany
Region Saxony, Brandenburg
Ethnicity Sorbs
Native speakers
 13,000 (2007)[1]
Latin (Sorbian alphabet)
Official status
Official language in
 Regional language in Brandenburg and Saxony. Lost support after the reunification of Germany, with many Sorbian schools closing.[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-2 hsb
ISO 639-3 hsb
Glottolog uppe1395[2]
Linguasphere 53-AAA-bb < 53-AAA-b < 53-AAA-b...-d (varieties: 53-AAA-bba to 53-AAA-bbf)

Upper Sorbian (hornjoserbšćina, German: Obersorbisch) is a minority language spoken by Sorbs in Germany in the historical province of Upper Lusatia, which is today part of Saxony. It is grouped in the West Slavic language branch, together with Lower Sorbian, Czech, Polish, 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. The succeeding devastation of the country by military actions began the slow decrease of the Upper 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 the today's Lausitz, were relatively unaffected by the new German language settlements and legal restrictions. The language therefore flourished there. By the 17th century, the number of Upper Sorbian speakers in that area grew to over 300,000. The oldest evidence of written Upper Sorbian is the Burger Eydt Wendisch monument, which was discovered in the city of Bautzen and dated to the year 1532.

Upper Sorbian language in Germany

A bilingual sign in Germany; the lower part is in Upper Sorbian

There are estimated to be 40,000 speakers of Upper Sorbian, of whom almost all live in Saxony.

Phonology

Vowels

The vowel inventory of Upper Sorbian is exactly the same as that of Lower Sorbian.[3] It is also very similar to the vowel inventory of Slovene.

Vowel phonemes[3][4]
Front Central Back
Close i u
Close-mid e o
Open-mid ɛ ɔ
Open a

Consonants

Consonant phonemes[3][8]
Labial Dental/
Alveolar		 Palatal Velar/
Uvular		 Glottal
hard soft hard soft soft hard soft hard
Nasal m mʲ n ɲ
Plosive voiceless p pʲ t k
voiced b bʲ d ɡ
Affricate voiceless t͡s (t͡sʲ) t͡ʃ
voiced (d͡z) d͡ʒ
Fricative voiceless f s ʃ x
voiced (v) z zʲ ʒ ɦ
Trill ʀ ʀʲ
Approximant β ɥ l j

Sample

Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 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 people are born free and equal in their dignity and rights. They are given reason and conscience and they shall create their relationships to one another according to the spirit of brotherhood.)[19]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Upper Sorbian at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
  2. ↑ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian, eds. (2016). "Upper Sorbian". Glottolog 2.7. Jena: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Stone (2002), p. 600.
  4. ↑ Šewc-Schuster (1984), p. 20.
  5. ↑ Šewc-Schuster (1984:34). The author states that [ɪ] is less front and somewhat lower than [i], but unlike Russian [ɨ], it is front, not central.
  6. ↑ Šewc-Schuster (1984), pp. 32–33.
  7. ↑ Stone (2002), pp. 601, 606–607.
  8. ↑ Šewc-Schuster (1984), p. 46.
  9. ↑ Šewc-Schuster (1984), pp. 36, 38.
  10. ↑ Stone (2002), pp. 603–604.
  11. ↑ Zygis (2003), p. 191.
  12. ↑ Šewc-Schuster (1984:36–37, 41, 46). On page 36, the author states that Upper Sorbian /β/ is less velar than Polish /w/. The weakness of the velarization is confirmed by the corresponding image on page 37.
  13. ↑ Stone (2002), p. 602.
  14. ↑ Šewc-Schuster (1984), pp. 40–41.
  15. ↑ Zygis (2003), pp. 180–181, 190–191.
  16. ↑ Šewc-Schuster (1984), p. 41.
  17. ↑ Zygis (2003), p. 180.
  18. ↑ Šewc-Schuster (1984), pp. 26–27, 42–43.
  19. ↑ Omniglot

Bibliography

  • Šewc-Schuster, Hinc (1984), Gramatika hornjo-serbskeje rěče, Budyšin: Ludowe nakładnistwo Domowina 
  • Stone, Gerald (2002), "Sorbian (Upper and Lower)", in Comrie, Bernard; Corbett, Greville G., The Slavonic Languages, London and New York: Routledge, pp. 593–685, ISBN 9780415280785 
  • Zygis, Marzena (2003), "Phonetic and Phonological Aspects of Slavic Sibilant Fricatives" (PDF), ZAS Papers in Linguistics, 3: 175–213 

Dictionaries

Czech-Sorbian and Sorbian-Czech

German-Sorbian

Sorbian-German

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