Kashubian language
| Kashubian | |
|---|---|
| kaszëbsczi, pòmòrsczi | |
| Native to | Poland, Canada |
| Region | Pomerania |
Native speakers | 50,000 |
| Official status | |
Official language in | in official use in some communes of Pomeranian Voivodship, Poland |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-2 | csb |
| ISO 639-3 | csb |
| ELP | Kashubian |
Kashubian or Cassubian (Kashubian: kaszëbsczi jãzëk, pòmòrsczi jãzëk, kaszëbskò-słowińskô mòwa; Polish: język kaszubski, gwara kaszubska) is one of the Lechitic languages, which are a group of Slavic languages.
It is assumed that it 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.
It is closely related to Slovincian, and both of them are Pomeranian language dialects. Although Kashubian language hardly can be understood by Polish speakers, until recently, many Polish linguists considered it a dialect of Polish.
Similarly to Polish, Kashubian includes numerous loanwords from Low Saxon, such as kùńszt (art) from German Kunst. Other sources of loanwords include Baltic languages, Russian and Polish.
First printed documents in Kashubian originate from the end of 16th century. Modern spelling was first proposed in 1879.
In 2002 census, 53,000 people in Poland declared that they mainly use Kashubian at home. Research shows that many Kashubian-speaking parents use Polish rather than Kashubian at home, because they believe that if they spoke Kashubian, their children would find it more difficult to learn Polish.[citation needed] A number of schools in Poland teach in Kashubian as a lecture language and it is used as an official alternative language for local administration purposes in parts of Pomorze Voivodship. Kashubian is also spoken by Kashubians living in Canada.
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Gallery
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Bilingual sign in Polish and Kashubian in Puck, Poland
See also
- Pomeranian language
- Kashubian alphabet
- Kashubian-Pomeranian Association
- Gdańsk Pomerania
- Old Prussian language