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| Silesian | |
|---|---|
| Silesian German language | |
| Schläsche Sproache | |
| Native to | Germany,Poland,Czech Republic |
| Region | Silesia; also spoken inCzech Republic and GermanSilesia (area that was part of PrussianProvince of Silesia, more or less aroundHoyerswerda, now inSaxony) |
| Ethnicity | Silesians |
Native speakers | (undated figure of 12,000 in Poland)[1] 11,000 in the Czech Republic (2001 census) |
Early forms | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | sli |
| Glottolog | lowe1388 |
| ELP | Lower Silesian |
Silesian (Silesian:Schläsisch, Schläs’sch, Schlä’sch, Schläsch,German:Schlesisch),Silesian German, orLower Silesian is a nearly extinctGerman dialect spoken inSilesia. It is part of theEast Central German language area with someWest Slavic andLechitic influences. Silesian German emerged as the result of Late Medieval German migration to Silesia,[2] which had been inhabited byLechitic orWest Slavic peoples in theEarly Middle Ages.
Until 1945, variations of the dialect were spoken by about seven million people in Silesia and neighboring regions of Bohemia and Moravia.[3] AfterWorld War II, when the province of Silesia was incorporated intoPoland, with small portions remaining in northeasternCzech Republic and in former central Germany, which henceforth became easternGermany, the localcommunist authoritiesexpelled the German-speaking population and forbade the use of the language.
Silesian German continued to be spoken only by individual families, only few of them remaining in their home region, but most of them expelled to the remaining territory of Germany. Most descendants of the Silesian Germans expelled toWest andEast Germany no longer learned the dialect, and the cultural gatherings were less and less frequented.[citation needed]
A remaining German minority inOpole Voivodeship continues use of German inUpper Silesia, but only the older generation speaks the Upper Silesian dialect of Silesian German in today's Poland.[citation needed]
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In origin, Silesian German appears to derive from 12th-century dialects ofMiddle High German, including medieval forms ofUpper Saxon German,East Franconian German andThuringian. The German-speaking inhabitants of Silesia are thought to be descendants of settlers fromUpper Lusatia,Saxony,Thuringia andFranconia who first arrived in Silesia (back then part ofPiast Poland) in the 13th century.[2]
By migration over the Sudetes, the language spread to neighboring regions of Bohemia. In the 13th century, German-speaking settlers from Silesia arrived at the region aroundTrautenau (Trutnov), and the region aroundFreiwaldau (Jeseník), often founding settlements in previously uninhabited mountainous areas.[4]
AfterWorld War II, localcommunist authorities forbade the use of the language. After the forcibleexpulsion of the Germans from Silesia, German Silesian culture and language nearly died out when most ofSilesia became part ofPoland in 1945. Polish authorities banned the use of the German language. There are still unresolved feelings on the sides of both Poles and Germans, largely because of Nazi Germany's war crimes on Poles and the forced expulsion andethnic cleansing of native Germans fromformer German territories that were transferred to Poland in the wake of thePotsdam Agreement.
The German Silesian dialect is not recognized by the Polish State in any way, although the status of theGerman minority in Poland has improved much since the 1991 communist collapse and Polish entry into theEuropean Union.
Silesian can be grouped like this:[5]
A rough division can be made into:Nord- oder Reichsschlesisch andSüd- oder Sudetenschlesisch (influenced by Central Bavarian).[6]
Silesian German was the language in which thepoetry ofKarl von Holtei andGerhart Hauptmann was written, during the 19th century.[citation needed]
| 1st Person Singular | 2nd Person Singular | 3rd Person Singular | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | ||||||||
| Nominative | ć͜h [NL, minimal-emphasised], ić͜h, eć͜h [Südglatz] | ić͜h, īć͜h, aić͜h [NL], ẹ̄ć͜h [NL, south-eastern], ić͜hə [most-emphasised, rarer inside of sentences and more commonly standing alone; LS] | d [before voiced sounds], də | du, dū, dūe [most-emphasised, rarer inside of sentences and more commonly standing alone] | a, ar | hā, hār, ār, ę̄r | ſə [ſ̌ə after r; sə after voiceless p, t, k, s, f, ch] | ſī [GS, LS], ſẹ̄, ſai [both NL], ſīə, ſīne [denoting female animals, prolonged forms] | s [becomes š after r], əs | |
| Genitive | [ maint, mainst, mẹ̄nt, mẹ̄nst, menərt ] | [ daint-, denərt ] | ər, er | īr, ẹ̄r, air | s | |||||
| Dative | mr̥, mer | mīr [GS, LS], mẹ̄r, mę̄r, mair [all three NL] | dr̥, der | dīr [GS, LS], dẹ̄r, dę̄r, dair [all three NL] | m̥, n̥ | īm, ẹ̄m [NL, also], aim [NL, more common], īn [LS, northern], ain [NL, northern] | ər, er | īr [GS, LS], ẹ̄r, air [both NL] | m̥, n̥ [northern] | |
| Accusative | məć͜h, mić͜h, meć͜h, mīć͜h | mić͜h, mīć͜h, maić͜h, mẹ̄ć͜h | ć͜h, dəć͜h, deć͜h, dić͜h, dīć͜h | dīć͜h, daić͜h, dẹ̄ć͜h | n̥ [NL, LS], a [GS] | īn [LS, GS], ẹ̄n [NL, also; Südglätzisch], ain [NL, more common] | = Nom. | = Nom. | ||
| 1st Person Plural | 2rd Person Plural | 3rd Person Plural | ||||||||
| Nominative | mr̥, mer [both GS, LS near to GS], br̥, ber [both LS near to NL, NL] | mīr [GS, LS near to GS], bīr [LS near to NL], bẹ̄r [NL, mostly], bair [NL, rarer (Festenberg, Trachenberg)] | r̥, er | īr [GS, LS], ẹ̄r [NL, mostly], air [NL, rarer] | ſə | ſī, ſẹ̄, ſai | ||||
| Genitive | inser, ọnſər, ọ̄inſr̥ | oi-ər, aiər | ər | īr, īər, air | ||||||
| Dative | s, es [both Glätzisch], [ſes], ins, ọns, ọ̄ins [both Glätzisch] | ins, ons | ć͜h [NL], ić͜h [Glätzisch], oić͜h, aić͜h | oić͜h, aić͜h [Glätzisch] | n̥, a | īn | ||||
| Accusative | = Dat. | = Dat. | = Nom. | |||||||
Notes:
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