Standard Lower Sorbian is one of the two literarySorbian languages, the other being the more widely spokenUpper Sorbian. The Lower Sorbian literary standard was developed in the 18th century, based on a southern form of the Cottbus dialect.[2] Thestandard variety of Lower Sorbian has received structural influence from Upper Sorbian.[2]
Lower Sorbian is spoken in and around the city ofCottbus inBrandenburg. Signs in this region are typically bilingual, and Cottbus has aLower Sorbian Gymnasium where one language of instruction is Lower Sorbian. It is a heavilyendangered language.[3] Most native speakers today belong to the older generations.
The phonology of Lower Sorbian has been greatly influenced bycontact withGerman, especially in Cottbus and larger towns. For example, German-influenced pronunciation tends to have avoiced uvular fricative[ʁ] instead of the alveolar trill[r]. In villages and rural areas, German influence is less marked, and the pronunciation is more "typically Slavic".
Consonants in parentheses are allophones of another consonant before another consonant or vowel, for example/m/ maypalatalize to/mʲ/ before front vowels or/j/, and/n/ mayassimilate to/ŋ/ beforevelar consonants.
TheProto-Slavic contrasts between/m,p,b,v/ and their palatalized counterparts has been lost phonetically in Lower Sorbian, with the marginal phonemes occurring only before certain vowels. The contrasts between/t,d/ and their palatalized counterparts has evolved into a contrast between/t,d/ and/ɕ,ʑ/. The contrast between/l/ and its palatalized counterpart has evolved into a contrast between/w,l/ while the contrasts between/n,r/ and their palatalized counterparts has remained intact and the contrasts between/s,z/ and their palatalized counterparts no longer exists.[7]
/n,nʲ,l,r,rʲ/ are alveolar[n,nʲ,l,r,rʲ], whereas/t,d,t͡s,s,z/ are dental[t̪,d̪,t̪͡s̪,s̪,z̪].[4]
/t͡ʃ,ʃ,ʒ/ have been variously transcribed with ⟨t͡ʃ,ʃ,ʒ⟩[8][9] and ⟨t͡ʂ,ʂ,ʐ⟩.[10] Their actual phonetic realization is flat postalveolar[t͡ʃ˖,ʃ˖,ʒ˖][11] in all of the Lower Sorbian-speaking area. This is unlike in standard Upper Sorbian, where these arepalato-alveolar[t͡ʃ,ʃ,ʒ].[12][13]
Wšykne luźe su lichotne roźone a jadnake po dostojnosći a pšawach. Woni maju rozym a wědobnosć a maju ze sobu w duchu bratšojstwa wobchadaś.(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]
Stone, Gerald (2002), "Sorbian (Upper and Lower)", in Comrie, Bernard; Corbett, Greville G. (eds.),The Slavonic Languages, London and New York: Routledge, pp. 593–685,ISBN9780415280785
Lower Sorbian DoReCo corpus compiled by Hauke Bartels and Marcin Szczepański. Audio recordings of narrative texts, with transcriptions time-aligned at the phone level and translations.
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