Kashubian language

Kashubian or Cassubian (Kashubian: kaszëbsczi jãzëk, pòmòrsczi jãzëk, kaszëbskò-słowińskô mòwa; Polish: język kaszubski, język pomorski, język kaszubsko-słowiński) is a language variety of the Lechitic group, of the Slavic languages. Although it is often considered a language in its own right, it is sometimes considered a dialect of Polish. In Poland, it is an officially recognized ethnic-minority language. Approximately 106,000 people use mainly Kashubian at home. It is the only remnant of the Pomeranian language. It is close to standard Polish with influence from Low German and the extinct Polabian and Old Prussian.

Kashubian dialect areas (with ethnonyms)

Origins

Kashubian is assumed to have evolved from the language spoken by some tribes of Pomeranians called Kashubians, in the region of Pomerania, on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea between the Vistula and Oder rivers.

The earliest printed documents in Kashubian date from the end of the 16th century. The modern orthography was first proposed in 1879.

Related languages

Kashubian is closely related to Slovincian, while both of them are dialects of Pomeranian. Many linguists, in Poland and elsewhere, consider it a divergent dialect of Polish. Dialectal diversity is so great within Kashubian that a speaker of southern Kashubian has considerable difficulty in understanding a speaker of the northernmost dialects. The spelling and grammar of Polish words written in Kashubian (most of it vocabulary) is highly unusual making it difficult to comprehend in written text also by native Polish speakers.

Like Polish, Kashubian includes about 5% loanwords from German (such as kùńszt "art"). Unlike Polish, these are mostly from Low German and only occasionally from High German. Other sources of loanwords include the Baltic languages, Russian and Polish.

Speakers

In the 2011 census, 106,000 people in Poland declared that they mainly use Kashubian at home. All Kashubian speakers are also fluent in Polish. A number of schools in Poland use Kashubian as a teaching language. It is an official alternative language for local administration purposes in Gmina Sierakowice, Gmina Linia, Gmina Parchowo, Gmina Luzino and Gmina Żukowo in the Pomeranian Voivodeship.

Kashubian literature

Important for Kashubian literature was Xążeczka dlo Kaszebov by Doctor Florian Ceynowa (1817–1881). Hieronim Derdowski (1852–1902 in Winona, Minnesota) was another significant author who wrote in Kashubian, as was Doctor Aleksander Majkowski (1876–1938) from Kościerzyna, who wrote the Kashubian national epic The Life and Adventures of Remus. Jan Trepczyk was a poet who wrote in Kashubian, as was Stanisław Pestka. Kashubian literature has been translated into Czech, Polish, English, German, Belarusian, Slovene and Finnish. A considerable body of Christian literature has been translated into Kashubian, including the New Testament, much of it by Fr. Adam Ryszard Sikora (OFM). Rev. Franciszek Grucza graduated from a Catholic seminary in Pelplin. He was the first priest to introduce Catholic liturgy in Kashubian language.

Education

Following the collapse of Communism in Poland, attitudes on the status of Kashubian have been gradually changing. It has been included in the program of school education in Kashubia although not as a language of teaching nor as a required subject for every child, but as a foreign language taught 3 hours per week at parents' explicit request. Kashubian has some limited usage on public radio and had on public television. Since 2005 Kashubian has enjoyed legal protection in Poland as an official regional language. It is the only language in Poland with this status, which was granted by the Act of 6 January 2005 on National and Ethnic Minorities and on the Regional Language of the Polish Parliament. The act provides for its use in official contexts in ten communes where Kashubian speakers constitute at least 20 percent of the population.

Dialects

Kashubian dialects area in the early 20th century

Friedrich Lorentz wrote in the early 20th century that there were three Kashubian dialects.

Phonology

Vowels

Kashubian vowel phonemes

	Front	Central		Back
	unrounded	unrounded	rounded	rounded
Close	i			u
Mid	ɛ	ə	ɞ	ɔ
Open		a

• Apart from these, there are also nasal vowels /ɛ̃, ã/. Their exact phonetic realization depends on the dialect.
• /ɛ, ɞ, ɔ/ are phonetically open-mid.

Consonants

Kashubian consonant phonemes

		Labial	Dental	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar
Nasal		m	n		ɲ
Plosive	voiceless	p	t			k
	voiced	b	d			ɡ
Affricate	voiceless		ts	tʃ	(tɕ)
	voiced		dz	dʒ	(dʑ)
Fricative	voiceless	f	s	ʃ	(ɕ)	x
	voiced	v	z	ʒ	(ʑ)
	trill			(r̝)
Approximant				l	j	w
Trill				r

• /tʃ, dʒ, ʃ, ʒ/ are palato-alveolar.
• /ɲ, tɕ, dʑ, ɕ, ʑ/ are alveolo-palatal; the last four appear only in some dialects.
• The fricative trill /r̝/ is used only by some northern and northeastern speakers; other speakers realize it as flat postalveolar [ʐ].

Samples

• Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Kashubian:

Wszëtczi lëdze rodzą sã wòlny ë równy w swòji czëstnoce ë swòjich prawach. Mają òni dostóne rozëm ë sëmienié ë nôlégô jima pòstãpòwac wobec drëdzich w dëchù bracënotë.

(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.)

• The Lord's Prayer in Kashubian:

Òjcze nasz, jaczi jes w niebie, niech sã swiãcy Twòje miono, niech prziṅdze Twòje królestwò, niech mdze Twòja wòlô jakno w niebie tak téż na zemi. Chleba najégò pòwszednégò dôj nóm dzysô i òdpùscë nóm naje winë, jak i më òdpùszcziwómë naszim winowajcóm. A nie dopùscë na nas pòkùszeniô, ale nas zbawi òde złégò. Amen.

Gallery

• 

  Percentage of people that speak Kashubian at home (2002)

• 

  Two bilingual signs in Garcz in Kashubia with the Polish name above and the Kashubian name below

• 

  Bilingual sign in Polish and Kashubian in Pogórze, Puck County, Poland, on road from Gdynia to Rewa

• 

  Page of Stefan Ramult Pomeranian (Kashubian language) Dictionary 1893

See also

• Ł–l merger
• Bilingual communes in Poland
• Gdańsk Pomerania
• Kashubia
• Kashubian alphabet
• Kashubian-Pomeranian Association
• Kashubian studies
• Old Prussian language
• Pomerelia
• Pomeranian language

References

• Comrie, Bernard; Corbett, Greville. G. (2002). The Slavonic Languages. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-28078-8
• Gyula Décsy, Die linguistische Struktur Europas, Vergangenheit — Gegenwart — Zukunft, Otto Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1973
• Friedhelm Hinze, Wörterbuch und Lautlehre der deutschen Lehnwörter im Pomoranischen (Kaschubischen), Berlin 1965
• Język kaszubski. Poradnik encyklopedyczny. ed. J. Treder, Rev. 2. corrected and expanded UG, Oficyna Czec, Gdańsk, 2006
• J. Borzyszkowski, J. Mordawski, J. Treder: Historia, geografia, język i piśmiennictwo Kaszubów; J. Bòrzëszkòwsczi, J. Mòrdawsczi, J. Tréder: Historia, geògrafia, jãzëk i pismienizna Kaszëbów, Wëdowizna M. Rôżok przë wespółrobòce z Institutã Kaszëbsczim, Gduńsk 1999, p. 128
• Aleksander Labuda, Słowôrz kaszëbsko-polsczi. Słownik polsko-kaszubski, Gdańsk 1982
• Friedrich Lorentz, Geschichte der Pomoranischen (Kaschubischen) Sprache, Berlin and Leipzig, 1925
• Nestor, N. & Hickey, T. (2009). Out of the Communist frying pan and into the EU fire? Exploring the case of Kashubian [1].
• Nomachi Motoki, On the recipient passive in the Kashubian Language: Annex to Milka Ivić's syntactic inventory for Slavonic dialectology [2]
• Stefan Ramułt, Słownik języka pomorskiego, czyli kaszubskiego, Kraków, 1893 i.e. "Dictionary of the Pomeranian (Seacoast) or Kashubian language" (Kraków, 1893)
• Stefan Ramułt, Słownik języka pomorskiego czyli kaszubskiego. Scalił i znormalizował Jerzy Treder, Gdańsk, 2003
• C. F. i F. N. Voegelin, Classification and Index of the World's Languages. Elsevier, New York 1977

External links

• LC
• The World Atlas of Language Structures - WALS
• BnF
• Omniglot
• COE 2011
• Kashubian language
• UNESCO
• Following the trail of manor houses and castles of the Northern Kashubian Region
• Kashubian resources; include phrasebooks
• dictionary