Recognition of the Silesian language

On April 26, the Polish Sejm voted to grant the Silesian language official status as a regional language.

Of the 427 Sejm deputies who took part in the voting, 236 voted for the recognition of Silesian, 186 against and five abstained. The bill is opposed by the main opposition party Law and Justice, as well as the Kukiz'15 movement and the coalition of far-right parties Confederation of Freedom and Independence. Now the amendment to the law on national minorities concerning the Silesian language must be considered by the Senate of the Polish Republic, and then a final decision by the country's president will be required . The amendment would introduce dual local and street names in places where at least 20% of the population speaks Silesian, introduce voluntary Silesian language teaching in schools and fund regional language development initiatives. “This is not separatism, but a feeling that we are different,” says Lukasz Kohut, a candidate for the European Parliament from the Civic Coalition. “We are proud to be citizens of Poland.”

The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages ​​was adopted by the Council of Europe in 1992. Poland signed the charter and ratified it in 2009. The Charter applies only to languages ​​traditionally used by citizens of signatory states, thus excluding the languages ​​of recent immigrants, even if the number of their speakers is quite large. Regional languages ​​may have a "territorial basis" or are used by linguistic minorities within the country as a whole, for example languages ​​such as Yiddish, Romani and Lemko , which are spoken over a wide geographical area. It is also important that the charter recognizes languages ​​that differ significantly from the majority language or the official language of the country. The degree of difference sufficient for recognition is determined by the country's authorities, and they are sometimes in no hurry to recognize the special status of any regional language, considering it part of the official language. This happens, in particular, in Poland, but not only.

So far, Poland has one officially recognized regional language - Kashubian. Polish legislation also allocates the status of an “auxiliary language” ( j ęzyk pomocniczy). Support for auxiliary language is limited primarily to the official sphere. In administrative units (gminas) of Poland where there is a recognized auxiliary language, public authorities are obliged to accept written and oral requests and give answers in this language if the citizen so desires. State and municipal employees in such communes receive a salary bonus for knowing an auxiliary language. For a language to receive auxiliary status, its speakers must make up at least 20% of the population of the commune. Since 2014, the country has five communes with a Belarusian auxiliary language, five with Kashubian and twenty-two with German. Although in reality there are 51 communes in the country that could claim to have an auxiliary language (according to the 2011 census).

The Silesian language is one of the languages ​​that are known in Slavic studies as “small literary languages” or “literary microlanguages”. Such languages ​​are written, have a greater or lesser degree of standardization and are used in a number of areas typical of literary languages, but not in full and always in parallel with another language. In the Slavic world there are several such languages, with varying degrees of independence. They are formed either among ethnic groups living in a foreign-language environment (such, for example, the Rezian language - a variety of Slovenian, used in the Rezia Valley in Italy, or the Vichi language - based on the Polish dialects of Lithuania), or on the periphery of the “large” Slavic nations (for example, Premuk-Slovenian, Carpatho-Russian or Silesian). With a purely dialectological approach, which does not take into account the social functions of languages ​​and the self-awareness of speakers, microlanguages ​​appear as dialects of one of the “big languages” or transitional dialects between two languages. For example, Silesian in this case is considered as a group of dialects of the Polish language or transitional between Polish and Czech.

What is known about the Silesian language? Native speakers call it ślōnskŏ gŏdka or ślůnsko godka (depending on the choice between spelling systems), in Polish it is called język śląski (of course, opponents of the independence of Silesian will say: dialekt śląski or narzecze śląskie ), in Czech it is called slezština. The first evidence of Silesian dates back to the 16th century, when documents in it appeared, and the first literary works with Silesian linguistic features date back to the 17th century. Speakers of the Silesian language currently live in the Upper Silesia region, which is divided between southwestern Poland and northeastern Czech Republic. Until 1945, Silesian was also spoken in certain parts of Lower Silesia, where the majority of the population spoke German Silesian, one of the Central German dialects. Long-term contacts with the German-speaking population have led to the fact that there are a large number of German loanwords in Silesian.

Distribution of the Silesian language in the Silesian and Opole voivodeships of Poland and adjacent territories of the Czech Republic

Bilingual sign in the city of Katowice. Polish Kwiaciarnia (“Flower Shop”) and Silesian Blumy i Geszynki (“Flowers and Gifts”). Both Silesian nouns are Germanisms (cf. German Blumen und Geschenke)

According to the latest official census in Poland (2021), about 460,000 people named Silesian as their mother tongue, while according to the 2011 census there were about 510,000. Moreover, in 2021, 596,000 Polish citizens called themselves Silesian by nationality, and 54 thousand people reported that they do not speak any language other than Silesian (this fact can be suspect a kind of “protest vote”, that is, people could deliberately declare that they do not speak Polish, protesting against the infringement of the linguistic rights of Silesians).

The differences between the Silesian, Polish and Czech languages ​​are demonstrated by the beginning of the Lord's Prayer:

Silesian: Ôjcze nŏsz, kery jeżeś we niebie, bydź poświyncōne miano Twoje. Przińdź krōlestwo Twoje, bydź wola Twoja, jako we niebie, tak tyż na ziymi.

Polish: Ojcze nasz, któryś jest w niebie, święć się imię Twoje, przyjdź królestwo Twoje, bądź wola Twoja jako w niebie tak i na ziemi.

Czech: Otče náš, jenž jsi na nebesích, posvěť se jméno Tvé Přijď království Tvé. Buď vůle Tvá, jako v nebi, tak i na zemi.

One of the first alphabets of the Silesian language was created in the interwar period by the Silesian teacher and Slavic scholar Felix Steuer. The Stoeir alphabet consists of 30 graphemes and eight digraphs: A, B, C, Ć, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, Ł, M, N, Ń, O, P, R, S, Ś, T, U, Ů, W, Y, Z, Ź, Ż, Au, Ch, Cz, Dz, Dź, DZ, Rz, Sz. Based on the Steuer alphabet, the Silesian phonetic alphabet was proposed in 2006: 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. This alphabet replaces digraphs with single letters (Sz with Š, etc.) and lacks the letter Ł, the sound of which can be phonetically represented by the letter U. Although it is the most phonetically logical, it has gained only limited popularity because it contains too many letters with "haček", a diacritic characteristic of the Czech alphabet. In 2010, the Pro Loquela Silesiana organization proposed its own version of the alphabet, called Ślabikŏrzowy szrajbōnek: A, Ã, B, C, Ć, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, Ł, M, N, Ń, O, Ŏ, Ō, Ô, Õ, P, R, S, Ś, T, U, W, Y, Z, Ź, Ż. Now both the 2006 and 2010 alphabet are used, even in the Silesian Wikipedia (founded in 2008) you can find articles in different alphabets. Sometimes other alphabet variants are used.

The Silesian language is divided into several territorial dialects/dialects. There is also a “Texas dialect of the Silesian language.” Speakers of the dialect came to America from the areas of Pluznica Wielka, Strzelce Opolskie and Toszek in Opole Silesia. The dialect developed in the communities of Panna Maria and Cestochowa in Karnes County, Texas. Texan Silesian shows significantly fewer traces of German influence because its speakers emigrated before the Kulturkampf, the Germanization campaign carried out by the German Empire, during which the number of Germanisms in Silesian increased significantly (recall that Upper Silesia was transferred to Poland in parts in 1921 and in 1945). But some English borrowings penetrated into the Texas version.

The Texas dialect differs from Upper Silesian in a number of phonetic features. For example, if in Upper Silesian the Polish nasal vowel [ɛ̃] corresponds to [ɨn], then in Texan this place sounds [ɛ] or [an]. Another difference is the transition of sibilant consonants to whistling consonants (in Polish dialectology this phenomenon is called “mazurenie”). Both characteristic features of the Texas dialect are visible in the name Cestohowa, which is given in honor of the Polish city of Częstochowa.

Instead of fest ("very"), Texan Silesians will say cieżko, instead of luft ("air") - wiater, instead of kukurzica - korn, instead of gipsdeka ("ceiling") - pokłoud, instead of po polsku ("in Polish") - po warszawsku, instead of fliger ("plane") - furgocz. As of 2000, 96 people owned Texas Silesian.

Residents of the village of Panna Maria welcome guests (inscription on the grain elevator)

In modern Poland, the Silesian language is used by modern musical groups and performers, such as Jan Skrzek , Hasiok , Dohtor Miód . Some plays are staged on it at the Silesian Theater in Katowice, and films are shot, for example “The Sinful Life of Franciszek Bula” (1980). The modern poet Karol Gwóźdź writes poetry in Silesian. Since 2018, the Silesian news portal Wachtyrz.eu has been operating.

Books in Silesian, including Dickens' A Christmas Carol, Tolkien's The Hobbit and Saint-Exupery's The Little Prince

An announcement in the Cieszyn dialect of Silesian and in standard Czech stating that alcohol is not sold to customers under 18 years of age. Cultural festival Gorolski Święto in the Czech town of Jablunków

Special mention should be made of Silesian poetry, since it was with it that the first attempt to create a literary language on a Silesian dialect basis was associated. This was done by the poet Ondra Łysohorsky ( 1905–1989 ). He lived in Austria-Hungary, spent the years of World War II in the USSR, and later lived in Czechoslovakia. The poet spoke the Upper Ostrava dialect of Silesian, also known as “Lash”, so he called the language of his works the “Lash” language. The first collection of his poems in this language was published in 1934 and was called Spiwajuco piasc ("The Singing Fist"). Initially, Ondra Lysogorsky hoped to create a full-fledged literary language for the Lyash people and even founded the Lašsko perspektywa society to spread this language. Ondra Łysogorski's initiative was supported by several other writers: poets Jan Stunavský, Jura Hanys, prose writer Jozef Šinovský, who published the novel Hałdy na roli (Trainlands in the Field) in 1945. The idea of ​​the Lyash language did not gain wide popularity, and since the 1950s, Ondra Lysogorsky abandoned the idea of ​​​​distributing it, but he himself continued to publish collections of poems in Lyash, becoming the only speaker of the Lyash literary language. In 1988, the final collection of Lysogorsky's poetry (Lašsko poezyja 1931–1977) was published. Among Lysogorsky's translators into Russian were Boris Pasternak, Marina Tsvetaeva, Samuil Marshak, Nikolai Tikhonov, and into English - W. Hugh Auden.

Book covers by Ondra Lysogorsky

A new series of attempts to obtain official status for the Silesian language began already in the 21st century in Poland, where more Silesian speakers live. In 2003, the National Publishing Company of Silesia (Narodowa Oficyna Śląska), founded by the Union of the Silesian People (Związek Ludności Narodowości Śląskiej), began its activities to publish books about Silesia and in the Silesian language. On September 6, 2007, 23 members of the Polish parliament made a statement on the need to grant Silesian the official status of a regional language. In August of the same year, the first official dictation competition in the Silesian language (Ogólnopolskie Dyktando Języka Śląskiego) was held. The following year, two organizations promoting the Silesian language emerged: Pro Loquela Silesiana and Tôwarzistwo Piastowaniô Ślónskij Môwy "Danga". On June 30, 2008, a conference was held in the building of the Silesian Parliament in Katowice on the status of the Silesian language. It became a forum for politicians, linguists, representatives of interested organizations and people involved in the Silesian language. The conference was called “Is Silesian still a dialect or already a language?” (Śląsko godka - jeszcze gwara czy jednak już język?).

However, among Polish politicians the idea of ​​​​an official status for the Silesian language is by no means unanimously supported. The position of the conservative Law and Justice party, which held the majority of seats in the Sejm and Senate from 2005 to 2023, is that the real differences between Silesian and Polish are not so great, and attempts to change its status are politically motivated. Since 2007, eight similar proposals have been put forward, none of which have been approved by the Diet or even included on the agenda. In the elections in October 2023, Law and Justice, although it won more seats than any other party, failed to achieve a decisive advantage, the government was formed by a coalition of centrists and leftists, and the results of voting in both houses of parliament began to depend on the distribution of votes of individual factions. This is the first time since the current vote that Silesian language activists have made it this far in their efforts. However, this cannot be considered a final victory. Successful passage of the amendment through the upper house is by no means guaranteed; the main obstacle may be the position of President Andrzej Duda, a former member of the Law and Justice party.