Silesian language:

Silesian or Upper Silesian (Silesian: Ślůnsko godka, Czech: Slezský jazyk, Polish: Język śląski) is a Slavic language spoken in the region of Silesia. The ISO 639-3 language code is szl^[1].

Distribution

Silesian speakers currently live in the region of Upper Silesia, which is split between southwestern Poland and the northeastern Czech Republic. At present Silesian is commonly spoken in the area between historical border of Silesia on the east, and a line from Syców to Prudnik on the west, as well as in the Rawicz area. Until 1945 Silesian was also spoken in enclaves in Lower Silesia, as Lower Silesian language was spoken by the ethnic German majority population of that region at the time.

According to the last official census in Poland (2002), about 60,000 people declared Silesian as their native tongue, and over 173,000 people declared Silesian nationality^[2]. There are also about 100,000 Silesian (Cieszyn Silesian) speakers living in the Czech Republic; Cieszyn Silesian is also commonly spoken in the Polish part of Cieszyn Silesia. Speakers of Cieszyn Silesian dialect usually identify themselves on the nationality level as Poles^[3]. According to the last official census in Czech Republic, 10,878 people in declared Silesian nationality^{[citation needed]}.

The recognition of Silesian

In 2003, the National Publishing Company of Silesia (Narodowa Oficyna Śląska) commenced operations^[4]. This publisher was started by the Alliance of People of the Silesian Nation (Związek Ludności Narodowości Śląskiej) and it prints books about Silesia and books in Silesian language.

On 6 September 2007, 23 politicians of the Polish parliament notified about a project of a new law to give the Silesian language the official status of a regional language^[13].

The first official National Dictation contest of the Silesian language (Ogólnopolskie Dyktando Języka Śląskiego) took place in August 2007^[14].

On 30 January 2008 and in June 2008, two organizations promoting Silesian language were started: Pro Loquela Silesiana and "Tôwarzistwo Piastowaniô Ślónskij Môwy "Danga"^[15].

On 30 June 2008 in the edifice of the Silesian Parliament in Katowice, a conference took place on the status of Silesian language. This conference was a forum for politicians, linguists, representatives of interested organizations, and persons who deal with the Silesian language. The conference was titled "Silesian - still a dialect or already a language?" ("Śląsko godka - jeszcze gwara czy jednak już język"?)^[17].

Writing

Steuer's Silesian alphabet

The attempts at codification of Silesian are numerous. One of the first alphabets created specifically for Silesian was Steuer's Silesian alphabet, used by Feliks Steuer to write his poems in Silesian. The alphabet consists of 30 graphemes and eight digraphs.

Tadzikowy muster

This alphabet came into being in the 1990s. It was created by Ted Jeczalik (Tadzik Jeczalik, Tadeusz Jaczalik)^[18] from the USA (one of jurors of National Dictation contest of the Silesian language / Ogólnopolskie Dyktando Języka Śląskiego). This alphabet is based on the standard Latin alphabet/English alphabet (compatible with ISO) and consists of 26 graphemes and 15 digraphs. Instead of special diacritics, an apostrophe after a letter is used.

Phonetic Silesian alphabet

In 2006 a new Silesian alphabet was proposed. It consists of 32 graphemes and four digraphs.

Letters: A, B, C, Ć, Č, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, Ń, O, P, R, Ř, S, Ś, Š, T, U, Ů, W, Y, Z, Ź, Ž

Polish alphabet for Silesian

Silesian is also written in an adaptation of the Polish alphabet.^[18] It contains 30 graphemes and 7 digraphs.

Letters: A, B, C, Ć, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, Ł, M, N, Ń, O, Ó, P, R, S, Ś, T, U, W, Y, Z, Ź, Ż

It is widely used, as Silesians in Poland are taught in Polish schools and they know only the Polish way of writing. This method is used in approximately half of Silesian-language web pages and books.^[18]

Writing in this alphabet is rather problematic, since there are many ways to write one sound, e.g. ź ([ʑ]) from the "phonetic alphabet" used inter alia on the Silesian Wikipedia can be written as ź or zi, but zi in the phonetic script stands for [zi]. There is also the risk of losing the characteristic Silesian pronunciation - there is not one method of writing ů ([o]) - the word Ślůnsk can be written as Ślonsk, Ślónsk, Ślunsk and even Śląsk (although there are no phonemic nasal vowels in Silesian).

The same thing is with the diphthong uo ([wɔ]). According to the Polish orthography it must be transcribed unetymologically as ło, which is wrong, because it destroys the rule that "ł" comes from a velarized l. This alphabet is criticised by supporters of radical writings.

Example

Dialects of Silesian language

Dialect vs language

Opinions are divided between Polish linguists whether Silesian is a distinct language or simply another dialect of Polish. The issue can be contentious as some Silesians consider themselves to be a nationality within Poland. Linguists from Poland, for example; Jan Niecisław Baudouin de Courtenay (19th-20th century)^[19] Jolanta Tambor^[20], Tomasz Wicherkiewicz^[21] and Tomasz Kamusella^[22]^[23] support its status as a language.

Gerd Hentschel from Germany dissents. He wrote "(...) ohne Zweifel als Dialekt des Polnischen beschrieben werden" (engl.: is without doubt a dialect of Polish.)^[29]. Encyclopaedia Britannica defines as a dialect of Polish.^[30]

Culture

The Silesian language has recently seen an increased use in culture, for example:

Trivia

Book of Henryków (1270) is the earliest document to include a sentence written in the Silesian language, though it is also recognised as Polish or Czech.^[35]