Wiki Languages: Lower Sorbian language (Dolnoserbski)

Updated: 14-02-2025 by Wikilanguages.net
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Display language: English (en)
Language: Lower Sorbian (Lower Sorbian language)Local name: Dolnoserbski
Language code: dsb
Speak area: GermanyClassification: Slavic
Country: GermanySecond language:
Usage: regionalWiki language for Lower Sorbian language

Dictionary for Lower Sorbian (Dolnoserbski) in English

EnglishLower Sorbian
DolnoserbskiEnglish
Lower Sorbian
dolnoserbšćina, dolnoserbski
Pronunciation[ˈdɔlnɔˌsɛrskʲi]
Native toGermany
RegionBrandenburg
EthnicitySorbs
Native speakers
6,900 (2007)[1]
Language family
Indo-European
  • Balto-Slavic
    • Slavic
      • West Slavic
        • Sorbian
          • Lower Sorbian
Writing system
Latin (Sorbian alphabet)
Language codes
ISO 639-2
ISO 639-3dsb
Glottologlowe1385
ELPLower Sorbian
Linguasphere53-AAA-ba < 53-AAA-b < 53-AAA-b...-d (varieties: 53-AAA-baa to 53-AAA-bah)
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.

Lower Sorbian (dolnoserbšćina) is a West Slavicminority language spoken in eastern Germany in the historical province of Lower Lusatia, today part of Brandenburg.

Standard Lower Sorbian is one of the two literary Sorbian languages, the other being the more widely spoken standard[clarify]Upper Sorbian. The Lower Sorbian literary standard was developed in the 18th century, based on a southern form of the Cottbus dialect.[2] The standard variety of Lower Sorbian has received structural influence from Upper Sorbian.[2]

Lower Sorbian is spoken in and around the city of Cottbus in Brandenburg. Signs in this region are typically bilingual, and Cottbus has a Lower Sorbian Gymnasium where one language of instruction is Lower Sorbian. It is a heavily endangered language.[3] Most native speakers today belong to the older generations.

Phonology

wikilanguages.net
Bilingual road sign in Cottbus, Germany

The phonology of Lower Sorbian has been greatly influenced by contact with German, especially in Cottbus and larger towns. For example, German-influenced pronunciation tends to have a voiced 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

Consonant phonemes[4][5]
LabialDental/
Alveolar
PostalveolarDorsalGlottal
hard softhard soft hard soft
Nasalmn
Plosivevoicelessptk
voicedbdɡ
Affricatet͡st͡ʃt͡ɕ
Fricativevoicelessfsʃɕxh
voicedvzʒʑ
Trillr
Approximantwlj
  • /m, mʲ, p, pʲ, b, bʲ, w, wʲ/ are bilabial,[are /w, wʲ/ bilabial or labialized velar?] whereas /f, v/ are labiodental.[4]
  • /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[6][7] and ⟨t͡ʂ, ʂ, ʐ⟩.[8] Their actual phonetic realization is flat postalveolar [t͡ʃ˖, ʃ˖, ʒ˖][9] in all of the Lower Sorbian-speaking area. This is unlike in standard Upper Sorbian, where these are palato-alveolar[t͡ʃ, ʃ, ʒ].[10][11]
  • /h/ is voiceless [h], unlike Upper Sorbian, where it is voiced [ɦ].[12][13]

Final devoicing and assimilation

Lower Sorbian has both final devoicing and regressive voicingassimilation:[14]

  • dub/dub/ "oak" is pronounced [dup]
  • susedka/ˈsusedka/ "(female) neighbor" is pronounced [ˈsusetka]
  • licba/ˈlit͡sba/ "number" is pronounced [ˈlʲid͡zba]

The hard postalveolar fricative /ʃ/ is assimilated to [ɕ] before /t͡ɕ/:[15]

  • šćit/ʃt͡ɕit/ "protection" is pronounced [ɕt͡ɕit]

Vowels

The vowel inventory of Lower Sorbian is exactly the same as that of Upper Sorbian.[16] It is also very similar to the vowel inventory of Slovene.

Vowel phonemes[16]
FrontCentralBack
Closeiu
Close-mideo
Open-midɛɔ
Opena
  • /i/ is retracted to [ɨ][is it really [ɨ]? It is [ɪ] in Upper Sorbian.] after hard consonants.
  • /e, o/ are diphthongized to [i̯ɛ, u̯ɔ] in slow speech.[16]
  • The /e–ɛ/ and /o–ɔ/ distinctions are weakened or lost in unstressed syllables.[17]
  • /a/ is phonetically central [ä].[16]

Stress

Stress in Lower Sorbian normally falls on the first syllable of the word:[18]

  • Łužyca[ˈwuʒɨt͡sa] "Lusatia"
  • pśijaśel[ˈpɕijaɕɛl] "friend"
  • Chóśebuz[ˈxɨɕɛbus] "Cottbus"

In loanwords, stress may fall on any of the last three syllables:[18]

  • internat[intɛrˈnat] "boarding school"
  • kontrola[kɔnˈtrɔla] "control"
  • september[sɛpˈtɛmbɛr] "September"
  • policija[pɔˈlʲit͡sija] "police"
  • organizacija[ɔrɡanʲiˈzat͡sija] "organization"

Most one-syllable prepositions attract the stress to themselves when they precede a noun or pronoun of one or two syllables:[18]

  • na dwórje[ˈna dwɨrʲɛ] "on the courtyard"
  • pśi mnjo[ˈpɕi mnʲɔ] "near me"
  • do města[ˈdɔ mʲɛsta] "into the city" (note that the [iɪ̯] of město[ˈmʲiɪ̯stɔ] becomes [ɛ] when unstressed)

However, nouns of three or more syllables retain their stress:

  • pśed wucabnikom[pɕɛd ˈut͡sabnʲikɔm] "in front of the teacher"
  • na drogowanju[na ˈdrɔɡowanʲu] "on a journey"

Orthography

The Sorbian alphabet is based on the Latin script but uses diacritics such as the acute accent and caron.

Sample

Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Lower Sorbian:

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]

See also

  • Upper Sorbian language

References

  1. ^Lower Sorbian at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ abBjörn Rothstein, Rolf Thieroff (2010). Mood in the Languages of Europe. John Benjamins Publishing. pp. 376–377. ISBN 9789027205872.
  3. ^Moseley, Christopher, ed. (2010). Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger (3rd ed.). Paris: UNESCO Publishing. ISBN 978-92-3-104096-2.
  4. ^ abcStone (2002), p. 605.
  5. ^Zygis (2003), pp. 180–181.
  6. ^Hannusch (1988).
  7. ^Stone (2002).
  8. ^Zygis (2003).
  9. ^This transcription follows Laver (1994:251–252). Other scholars may transcribe these sounds differently.
  10. ^Zygis (2003), pp. 180–181, 190–191.
  11. ^Šewc-Schuster (1984), pp. 40–41.
  12. ^Stone (2002), pp. 600, 605.
  13. ^Šewc-Schuster (1984), pp. 43, 46.
  14. ^Hannusch (1998), p. 12.
  15. ^Hannusch (1998), p. 13.
  16. ^ abcdStone (2002), p. 600.
  17. ^Stone (2002), pp. 606–607.
  18. ^ abcHannusch (1998), p. 14.
  19. ^Omniglot

Bibliography

  • Hannusch, Erwin (1998), Niedersorbisch praktisch und verständlich, Bautzen: Domowina-Verlag, ISBN 3-7420-1667-9
  • Laver, John (1994), Principles of Phonetics, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-45655-X
  • Šewc-Schuster, Hinc (1984), Gramatika hornjoserbskeje rěče, Budyšin: Ludowe nakładnistwo Domowina
  • 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, ISBN 9780415280785
  • Zygis, Marzena (2003), "Phonetic and Phonological Aspects of Slavic Sibilant Fricatives"(PDF), ZAS Papers in Linguistics, 3: 175–213, archived from the original(PDF) on 2017-10-11, retrieved 2015-04-21

External links

  • Online course for Lower and Upper Sorbian (English, Sorbian, German)
  • Dolnoserbski radio program (RealAudio) (in German and Lower Sorbian)
  • Lower Sorbian Vocabulary List (from the World Loanword Database)

Dictionaries

Czech-Lower Sorbian and Lower Sorbian-Czech

  • Slovník DolnoLužická Srbština <=> Čeština(in Czech and Lower Sorbian)

German–Lower Sorbian

  • Deutsch-Niedersorbisches Wörterbuch at dolnoserbski.de (in German and Lower Sorbian)
  • Korpus GENIE – GEsprochenes NIEdersorbisch/Wendisch(in German and Lower Sorbian)

Lower Sorbian–German

  • Dolnoserbsko-nimske słowniki at dolnoserbski.de] (in German and Lower Sorbian)
  • Lexikalische Übungen und Terminologie at the Universität Leipzig (in German and Lower Sorbian)

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