Native to Poland Ethnicity Kashubians | Region Pomerania Native speakers 108,000 (2011 census) | |
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Language family Indo-European
Balto-Slavic
Slavic
West Slavic
Lechitic
Pomeranian
Kashubian Writing system Latin (Kashubian alphabet) | ||
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 Pomeranian. In Poland, it has been an officially recognized ethnic-minority language since 2005. 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.
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Origin
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 Pomeranians were said to arrive before the Poles and certain tribes managed to maintain their language and traditions despite German and Polish settlements. It first diverged as its own language in the early 14th century.
In the 19th century, Florian Ceynowa became Kashubian's first known activist. He undertook tremendous efforts to awaken Kashubian self-identity through the establishment of Kashubian language, customs, and traditions. He felt strongly that Poles were born brothers and that Kashubia was a separate nation.
The Young Kashubian movement followed in 1912, led by author and doctor Aleksander Majkowski, who wrote for the paper "Zrzësz Kaszëbskô" as part of the "Zrzëszincë" group. The group contributed significantly to the development of the Kashubian literary language.
The earliest printed documents in Kashubian date from the end of the 16th century. The modern orthography was first proposed in 1879.
Related languages
Many scholars and linguists debate whether Kashubian should be recognized as a Polish dialect or separate language. From the diachronic view it is a Lechitic West Slavic language but from the synchronic point of view it is a Polish dialect. 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 its 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. Due to soft pronunciation, the language is fairly similar to Belarusian.
Speakers
The number of speakers of Kashubian varies widely from source to source, ranging from as low as 4,500 to the upper 300,000. In the 2011 census, 106,000 people in Poland declared that they mainly use Kashubian at home. Of these only 10 percent consider Kashubian to be their mother tongue, with the rest considering themselves to be native speakers of both Kashubian and Polish. 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. Most respondents say that Kashubian is used in informal speech among family members and friends. This is most likely because Polish is the official language and spoken in formal settings.
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.
Works
The earliest recorded artifacts of Kashubian date back to the 15th century and include a book of spiritual psalms that were used to introduce Kashubian to the Lutheran church:
The next few texts are also religious catechisms but this time from the Catholic church because of majority of Kashubians were Roman Catholic and these texts helped them become more unified in faith:
Education
Throughout the communist regime in Poland, Kashubian along with the native Polish language greatly suffered in its spread and education. Kashubian was represented as folklore and prevented from being taught in schools. 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. Since 1991, it is estimated that there have been around 17,000 students in over 400 schools who have learned Kashubian. 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. Due to this recognition, heavily populated Kashubian localities have been able to put of road signs and other amenities with Kashubian and Polish translations on them.
Dialects
Friedrich Lorentz wrote in the early 20th century that there were three Kashubian dialects. These include the
Other researches would argue that each tiny region of the Kaszuby has its own dialect. In Dialects and Slang of Poland
Components of Kashubian
A "standard" Kashubian language does not exist despite several attempts to create one, rather a diverse range of dialects takes its place. The vocabulary is heavily influenced by German and Polish and utilizes the Latin alphabet.
There are several similarities between Kashubian and Polish. For some linguists they consider this a sign that Kashubian is a dialect of Polish but others believe that this is just a sign that the two originate from the same location. They are nevertheless related to a certain degree and due to their close proximity of each other, Kashubian has definitely been influenced by Polish and its various dialects, specifically from its northern ones.
Some examples of similarities between languages:
Phonology and morphology
Kashubian makes use of simplex and complex phonemes with secondary place articulation /pʲ/, /bʲ/, /fʲ/, /vʲ/ and /mʲ/. They follow the Clements and Hume (1995) constriction model, where sounds are represented in terms of constriction. They are then organized according to particular features like anterior, implying the activation of features dominating it. Due to this model, the phonemes above are treated differently than the phonemes /p/, /b/, /f/, /v/ and /m/. The vocalic place node would be placed under the C-place node and V-place nodes interpolated to preserve well-forwardness.
Vowels
Consonants
Kashubian has simple consonants with a secondary articulation along with complex ones with secondary articulation.
Kashubian alphabet
The following digraphs and trigraphs are used: