Pronunciation [ˈdɔlnɔˌsɛrskʲi] Native speakers 6,900 (2007) | Ethnicity Sorbs | |
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Language family Indo-EuropeanBalto-SlavicSlavicWest SlavicSorbianLower Sorbian | ||
Lower Sorbian (Dolnoserbski) is a Slavic minority language spoken in eastern Germany in the historical province of Lower Lusatia, today part of Brandenburg. It is one of the two literary Sorbian languages, the other being Upper Sorbian.
Contents
Lower Sorbian is spoken in and around the city of Cottbus in Brandenburg. Signs in this region are usually bilingual, and Cottbus has a Gymnasium where one language of instruction is Lower Sorbian. It is a heavily endangered language. Most native speakers are in the oldest generation today.
Phonology
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
Final devoicing and assimilation
Lower Sorbian has both final devoicing and regressive voicing assimilation:
The retroflex fricative /ʂ/ is assimilated to [ɕ] before /t͡ɕ/:
Vowels
The vowel inventory of Lower Sorbian is exactly the same as that of Upper Sorbian. It is also very similar to the vowel inventory of Slovene.
Stress
Stress in Lower Sorbian normally falls on the first syllable of the word:
In loanwords, stress may fall on any of the last three syllables:
Most one-syllable prepositions attract the stress to themselves when they precede a noun or pronoun of one or two syllables:
However, nouns of three or more syllables retain their stress:
Orthography
The Sorbian alphabet is based on the Latin script but uses diacritics such as 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.)