Upper Sorbian language - Wikipedia

Upper Sorbian language - Wikipedia
Jump to content
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
West Slavic language of eastern Germany
"Upper Sorbian" redirects here. For the people, see
Upper Sorbs
Not to be confused with
Serbian language
Upper Sorbian
hornjoserbšćina, hornjoserbsce
Pronunciation
[ˈhɔʁnʲɔˌsɛʁpʃtʃina]
Native to
Germany
Region
Saxony
Ethnicity
Sorbs
Native speakers
13,000 (2007)
Language family
Indo-European
Balto-Slavic
Slavic
West Slavic
Sorbian
Upper Sorbian
Writing system
Latin
Sorbian alphabet
Official status
Official language in
Regional language
in
Saxony
Regulated by
Upper Sorbian Language Commission (
Hornjoserbska rěčna komisija
Language codes
ISO 639-2
hsb
ISO 639-3
hsb
Glottolog
uppe1395
ELP
Upper Sorbian
Linguasphere
53-AAA-bb <
53-AAA-b
53-AAA-b...-d
(varieties: 53-AAA-bba to 53-AAA-bbf)
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
Upper Sorbian
endonym
hornjoserbšćina
), occasionally referred to as
Wendish
German
Wendisch
),
is a minority language spoken by
Sorbs
in the historical province of
Upper Lusatia
, today part of
Saxony
Germany
. It is a
West Slavic
language, along with
Lower Sorbian
Czech
Polish
Silesian
Slovak
, and
Kashubian
. It is now spoken by fewer than 10,000 people,
mostly in
Budyšin
and its immediate countryside.
Upper Sorbian differs from its closest relative,
Lower Sorbian
(with which it forms the Sorbian subgroup), at all levels of the language system: in phonetics, morphology, and vocabulary. At the same time, the two languages share a number of features that distinguish them from other West Slavic languages—in particular, the preservation of the dual number, the retention of simple past tense forms of verbs, and an especially large number of lexical borrowings from
German
. Several linguistic features link Upper Sorbian with the
Lechitic languages
while in a number of other features it is similar to the
Czech-Slovak
subgroup.
At present, in addition to everyday use (in dialectal or colloquial form), Upper Sorbian is used as a literary language in education, the mass media, science, and so on. Compared to Lower Sorbian, it has a larger number of speakers, a stricter literary norm, and greater stylistic differentiation.
Nevertheless, the number of Upper Sorbian speakers is constantly declining, with the main speakers of the language generally being older members of the Sorbian community, whose main means of communication is not the literary language but dialects (which are best preserved in the areas of
Upper Lusatia
with a Catholic population). The writing system is based on the Latin alphabet; the earliest written records in Upper Sorbian date back to the 16th century.
Upper Sorbian is one of the minority languages in Germany that are officially recognized under the
European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages
In the officially designated
settlement area
in
Upper Lusatia
, there are therefore, on the basis of the Saxon Sorbs Act, among other things, bilingual street and place name signs as well as state schools with Upper Sorbian as the language of instruction or Sorbian as a foreign language.
History
edit
The history of the Upper Sorbian language in
Germany
began with the
Slavic
migrations during the 6th century AD. Beginning in the 12th century, there was a massive influx of rural Germanic settlers from
Flanders
Saxony
Thuringia
and
Franconia
. This so-called "
Ostsiedlung
" (eastern settlement or expansion) led to a slow but steady decline in use of the Sorbian language. In addition, in the Saxony region, the Sorbian language was legally subordinated to the German language. Language prohibitions were later added: In 1293, the Sorbian language was forbidden in Berne castle before the courts; in 1327 it was forbidden in
Zwickau
and
Leipzig
, and from 1424 on it was forbidden in
Meissen
. Further, there was the condition in many guilds of the cities of the area to accept only members of German-language origin.
However, the central areas of the
Milzener
and
Lusitzer
, in the area of today's
Lusatia
, were relatively unaffected by the new
German language
settlements and legal restrictions. The language therefore flourished there. By the 17th century, the number of Sorbian speakers in that area grew to over 300,000. The oldest evidence of written Upper Sorbian is the
Burger Eydt Wendisch
document, which was discovered in the city of
Bautzen
and dates to the year 1532.
Linguistic geography
edit
bilingual sign
in Germany; German in first place and Upper Sorbian in second
There are an estimated 18,000 speakers of Upper Sorbian.
Almost all of these live in the state of
Saxony
, chiefly in the district of
Bautzen
(Budyšin). The stronghold of the language is the village of
Crostwitz
(Chrósćicy) and the surrounding municipalities, especially to the west of it. In this core area, Upper Sorbian remains the predominant vernacular. In this area, Sorbian is an official language and children are taught Sorbian in schools and day cares. Other concerted efforts to preserve the language through media, club, and related resources have continued into the 21st century.
In spite of these efforts, numbers of Upper Sorbian speakers were still considered to be dwindling. It has been suggested
by whom?
that this may be in part because of a lack of understanding of the benefits of bilingualism.
Sociolinguistic information
edit
Bilingual sign at a shop on Karl-Marx-Straße in Bautzen, reading: “Bakery products. Meat and sausage. Fruits and vegetables” in Upper Sorbian
The language situation in modern Upper Lusatia is characterized by complete German–Sorbian bilingualism, with a growing tendency toward German monolingualism. The domain of Upper Sorbian, unlike that of German, is significantly limited. German is practically the universal means of communication for all Sorbs, while Upper Sorbian (in dialectal or colloquial form) is used mainly in everyday communication—in the family, with friends and acquaintances; the literary form of Upper Sorbian is used in public life mainly in Sorbian organizations and in the church.
The functions of Upper Sorbian also include Sorbian or bilingual groups in kindergartens, teaching of some subjects in schools providing special education as provided for by Saxony state law, the periodic press and publishing, and use in certain fields of art, culture, and science supported by the
Foundation for the Sorbian People
, which is funded by the federal government of Germany and the governments of Saxony and Brandenburg. At the same time, due to the small number of pupils, Sorbian schools are under threat of closure; language development is hindered by the administrative fragmentation of Sorbian-inhabited areas, the mass outmigration of young people (which began in the 1990s) to
western Germany
, the industrial development of the region, and the expansion of brown coal mining, which forces Sorbs to relocate and disrupts the compactness of their settlement area.
10
The low prestige of Sorbian, the existence of mixed Sorbian–German marriages, and the dominant role of German in all areas of life in Upper Lusatia contribute to the constant decline in the number of Upper Sorbian speakers.
Upper Sorbian exists in several forms: the supraregional form, which includes the literary written and spoken varieties as well as the colloquial form (there is also a written form of colloquial speech); and the regional form, represented by Upper Sorbian dialects. A distinctive feature of the relationship between the different forms is the relatively large gap between the literary language and the developing dialectal
koine
, which influences the colloquial form of Upper Sorbian.
The use of Upper Sorbian varies in different regions of Upper Lusatia, particularly between Catholic and Protestant (Lutheran) areas.
Among Catholics in the far west of the Upper Sorbian-speaking area, natural language transmission (initially at the dialect level) from the older and middle generations to the younger generation is preserved. In Catholic communities located in the triangle Bautzen–Hoyerswerda–Kamenz, 60–65% of the population speak Upper Sorbian, and in some places this figure reaches 80–90%.
11
Members of the younger generation here typically have equally good command of both Upper Sorbian and German; the German population may understand Sorbian passively or even speak it actively. In the Catholic church, services are conducted in Upper Sorbian; in some schools, teaching is carried out in Upper Sorbian, while in others it is taught as a subject. These areas are characterized by more active use of the literary language (both written and spoken), due to the concentration of scientific and cultural Sorbian organizations. In everyday communication, speakers from this dialect area often use a colloquial form of the language that ranges from strongly dialectal to semi-literary with dialectal coloring. The language situation in Catholic communities is somewhat similar to that in Bautzen, the cultural center of the Sorbs.
12
For most other Upper Sorbian speakers, natural language transmission from the older generation has been broken; members of the middle and younger generations have learned their native language in its literary form only at school. Sorbs here are a minority compared to the German population, and German is the main language of communication; Germans generally do not speak Sorbian. The use of Upper Sorbian in public life is limited; in schools, it is taught as a special elective subject. The role of the literary language compared to dialects is very low. The language situation among Sorbs in the Protestant areas of Upper Lusatia is largely similar to that observed in Lower Lusatia.
12
Sorbian school
Jurij Chěžka
in
Crostwitz/Chrósćicy
, Bautzen district, Upper Lusatia.
As of 2009, there were 12 Sorbian kindergartens in Saxony, three of them following the
Witaj
program; in addition, 11 kindergartens had
Witaj
program groups.
13
Sorbian schoolchildren attended six Sorbian and three bilingual primary schools, four Sorbian and one bilingual secondary school; in the 2009/2010 school year there were 2,232 Sorbian pupils. Bautzen also has a Sorbian gymnasium, and in two other gymnasiums Upper Sorbian is taught as a subject.
13
Upper Sorbian is taught at the Institute for Sorbian Studies at
Leipzig University
13
Cover of
Płomjo
(2024)
Upper Sorbian-language periodicals include the newspaper
Serbske Nowiny
, the cultural monthly
Rozhlad
(also with Lower Sorbian materials), the children’s magazine
Płomjo
, and religious publications—the Catholic
Katolski Posoł
and the Lutheran
Pomhaj Bóh
. Radio programs are broadcast by
Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk
(MDR).
14
As of 2017, MDR produces 21.5 hours of radio programming per week. MDR also produces a half-hour Upper Sorbian television program
Wuhladko
15
There are also online publications, such as
Runjewonline.info
(available in both Sorbian languages).
The preservation and development of Sorbian language and culture is overseen by
Domowina
—a union of scientific, cultural, religious, student, and other Sorbian organizations.
Domowina
also operates
a publishing house
producing books in the Sorbian languages. The current regulator of the literary language is the Upper Sorbian Language Commission (
Hornjoserbska rěčna komisija
, HRK).
16
Bilingual sign on the Reichenturm in Bautzen
Bilingual signboard on one of the government institutions in
Niesky
Bilingual street sign in Bautzen
Bilingual name of the river
Spree
on the bridge in Bautzen
Dialect
edit
Map of the Sorbian dialects
For most speakers of the Sorbian languages—primarily rural residents—dialects are the main means of communication. Only a relatively small portion of the Sorbian population, mainly the rural and urban intelligentsia, speak the literary languages, including literary Upper Sorbian. In the peripheral areas of the Sorbian language territory, dialects are disappearing relatively quickly (except in the Catholic areas of Upper Lusatia), while in the central regions they are better preserved. Overall, the dialects have been more heavily influenced by the German language compared to the literary Upper Sorbian language.
In Upper Lusatia, the Upper Sorbian group of dialects is spoken; the modern literary Upper Sorbian language developed on the basis of several of these dialects. The area of this dialect group is located in the southern part of the Sorbian-speaking territory and contrasts with the Lower Sorbian dialect area in the north. Upper Sorbian dialects are separated from Lower Sorbian dialects by a zone of transitional (border) dialects, through which broad bundles of isoglosses of major Sorbian linguistic features pass.
Despite covering a relatively small area, the Upper Sorbian territory is characterized by considerable dialectal diversity. The following main dialects are distinguished:
Western dialects
, including:
Kulow
dialect
Kulowska narěč
, German
Wittichenauer Dialekt
).
Catholic dialect
Katolska narěč
, German
Katholischer Dialekt
).
Central dialects
, including:
Bautzen dialect
Budyska narěč
, German
Bautzener Dialekt
).
Golan dialect
Holanska narěč
, German
Heidedialekt
).
Eastern dialects
, including:
Eastern Golan dialect
Wuchodna holanska narěč
, German
Östlicher Heidedialekt
).
According to the Sorbian Linguistic Atlas, there is also the Lubij or
Löbau
dialect, among others.
The Bautzen dialect, which formed the basis of the literary language, is spoken in the area surrounding the town of Bautzen. The Catholic dialect is spoken in Catholic parishes west of Bautzen up to the town of Kamenz. The Kulow dialect, closely related to the Catholic dialect, is spoken by Sorbs in the vicinity of Kulow (Wittichenau). To the north and northeast of the Bautzen dialect area lie the regions where the Golan and Eastern Golan dialects are spoken.
17
Writing system
edit
The Sorbs use the Latin alphabet, supplemented with letters created by means of the diacritical marks ˇ (
hóčka
) and ´ (
smužka
).
Following the orthographic reform of December 1, 1948, the Upper Sorbian alphabet contains 34 letters. The letters
Qq
Vv
, and
Xx
are used only in foreign proper names. The orthography follows an etymological–phonetic principle.
Letter
dź
ch
Name
bei̯
ʦei̯
ʧei̯
ʨɛt
dei̯
ʥei̯ / ʥɛt
ei̯
ʲɨt
ɛf
ɡei̯
ha
xa / kʰa
i̯ɔt / i̯ʊt
ka
ɛu̯
ɛl
Letter
Name
ɛm
ɛn
eʲn
​ɔ​
​ʊ​
pei̯
ɛʀ
ɛɾ̠
ɛs
ɛʃ
tei̯
u̯ei̯
ɨ / ɨpsilɔn
zɛt
ʒɛt
When alphabetically sorting, no distinction is made between the letters
and
or between
and
. For example,
nósk
(“little nose”) is sorted before
nosorohač
(“rhinoceros”). If two words differ only in these letters, their alphabetical order is still taken into account, as in
won
(“out, away”) –
wón
(“he”) –
wóń
(“scent”).
The letters Ě, Ń, Ó, and Ř never occur at the beginning of a word; therefore, their uppercase forms are very rare and are only used when the entire word is written in uppercase (for example,
RÓŽEŃ
= “grill rack; spit”).
Phonology
edit
Vowels
edit
The vowel inventory of Upper Sorbian is exactly the same as that of
Lower Sorbian
18
Vowel phonemes
19
Front
Central
Back
Close
Near-close
Mid
Open
Word-initial vowels are rare, and are often preceded by a non-phonemic glottal stop
, or sometimes
/i,
u,
ɛ,
ɔ/
appear in word-initial position only in recent borrowings, whereas the diphthongs never occur in this position.
20
The near-close
/ɪ,
ʊ/
can also be analyzed as diphthongs
/iɪ,
uʊ/
19
Here, they are analyzed as monophthongs.
The diphthongal allophones of
/ɪ,
ʊ/
are falling:
[iɪ̯,
uʊ̯]
[iɪ]
occurs only under strong sentence stress in monosyllabic words. Conversely,
[uʊ]
is a more common realization of
/ʊ/
than
19
/ɛ/
has three allophones:
Open-mid
between hard consonants and after a hard consonant;
21
Mid
ɛ̝
between soft consonants and after a soft consonant (excluding
/j/
in both cases);
21
Diphthong with a mid onset
[ɛ̝i̯]
before
/j/
21
/ɔ/
has two allophones:
Diphthong with a mid onset
[ɔ̝u̯]
before labial consonants;
22
Open-mid
in all other cases.
22
Additional diphthongs arise from r-vocalization, as in German. For instance,
uniwersita
'University' may be pronounced
[unʲiˈwɛɐ̯sita]
23
The distinction between
/ɛ,
ɔ/
on the one hand and
/ɪ,
ʊ/
on the other is weakened or lost in unstressed syllables.
24
/a/
is phonetically central
18
25
It is somewhat higher
after soft consonants.
26
Consonants
edit
Consonant phonemes
18
27
Labial
Dental
Alveolar
Palatal
Velar
Uvular
Glottal
hard
soft
hard
soft
soft
hard
soft
hard
Nasal
mʲ
nʲ
Plosive
voiceless
pʲ
voiced
bʲ
Affricate
voiceless
t͡s
t͡sʲ
t͡ʃ
voiced
d͡z
d͡ʒ
Fricative
voiceless
voiced
zʲ
ʁʲ
Approximant
wʲ
/m,
mʲ,
p,
pʲ,
b,
bʲ,
w,
wʲ/
are
bilabial
, whereas
/f,
v/
are
labiodental
28
/mʲ,
pʲ,
bʲ/
are strongly palatalized.
29
/w/
is a somewhat velarized bilabial approximant
β̞ˠ
, whereas
/wʲ/
is a strongly palatalized bilabial approximant
30
/v/
is very rare. Apart from loanwords, it occurs only in two Slavonic words:
zełharny
/ˈzɛvarnɨ/
'deceitful' and
zełharnosć
/ˈzɛvarnɔst͡ʃ/
'deceitfulness', both of which are derivatives of
łhać
/ˈfat͡ʃ/
'to lie'. Usage of these words is typically restricted to the
Bautzen
dialect, as speakers of the Catholic dialect use
łžeć
/ˈbʒɛt͡ʃ/
and its derivatives.
31
32
/n,
l/
are alveolar
n͇
l͇
/nʲ/
is
alveolo-palatal
n̠ʲ
, whereas
/t,
d,
t͡s,
d͡z,
t͡sʲ,
s,
z,
zʲ/
are dental
t̪
d̪
t̪͡s̪
d̪͡z̪
t̪͡s̪ʲ,
s̪
z̪
z̪ʲ]
18
33
34
/t,
d,
l/
before
/i/
(in the case of
/l/
also before
/ɛ,
ɪ/
) are weakly palatalized
[tʲ,
dʲ,
lʲ]
Šewc-Schuster (1984)
also reports palatalized
[fʲ,
vʲ,
kʲ
ɡʲ
xʲ
hʲ]
as allophones of
/f,
v,
k,
ɡ,
x,
h/
35
Among these, the labiodental
[fʲ,
vʲ]
are extremely rare.
20
/n,
nʲ/
are velar
ŋʲ
in front of velar consonants.
36
/d͡z/
is very rare. In many cases, it merges with
/z/
into
37
38
/t͡sʲ,
zʲ/
are very rare.
37
38
According to
Stone (2002)
, the phonemic status of
/t͡sʲ/
is controversial.
20
In most dialects,
/t͡ʃ,
d͡ʒ,
ʃ,
ʒ/
are
palato-alveolar
. This is unlike Lower Sorbian, where these consonants are laminal retroflex (flat postalveolar)
t͡ʂ
(Lower Sorbian
/t͡ʂ/
does not have a voiced counterpart).
39
40
Laminal retroflex realizations of
/ʃ,
ʒ/
what about the affricates /tʃ, dʒ/?
also occur in Upper Sorbian dialects spoken in some villages north of
Hoyerswerda
29
41
/k,
ɡ,
x/
are velar, whereas
/r,
rʲ/
are uvular.
42
43
An aspirated
[kʰ]
is a morpheme-initial allophone of
/x/
in some cases, as well as a possible word-initial allophone of
/k/
44
/x/
is typically accompanied with trilling of the uvula
ʀ̝̊
, so that
brach
/ˈbrax/
'fault' is typically pronounced
[bʁaʀ̝̊]
45
/x/
does not occur word-initially, whereas
/h/
does not occur word-finally.
46
/r,
rʲ/
are typically realized as fricatives
ʁʲ]
or approximants
ʁ̞
ʁ̞ʲ]
. They can be trilled
ʀʲ]
in clear and careful pronunciation. Furthermore,
/r/
can also be realized as a voiceless fricative
. It can also be vocalized in the syllable coda, as in
uniwersita
[unʲiˈwɛɐ̯sita]
'University'.
47
They are never alveolar
rʲ]
, which is an archaic pronunciation.
48
Soft
/rʲ/
is strongly palatalized.
29
An epenthetic
/j/
is inserted before a post-vocalic soft consonant, yielding a diphthong. If the soft consonant occurs before
/ɛ/
or
/ɪ/
, it is often realized as hard, and the vowels merge to
ɛ̝
20
example needed
In literary language, the contrast between hard and soft consonants is neutralized in word-final position. For instance, the letter
⟨ń⟩
represents the
/jn/
sequence in this position (as in
dźeń
/ˈd͡ʒɛjn/
'day'), not a single phoneme
/nʲ/
20
Final devoicing and assimilation
edit
This section
needs expansion
. You can help by
adding missing information
April 2015
Upper Sorbian has both
final devoicing
and regressive
voicing
assimilation
, both word-internal and across word boundaries.
20
49
In the latter context,
/x/
is voiced to
. Regressive voicing assimilation does not occur before
sonorants
and
/h/
49
Stress
edit
This section
needs expansion
. You can help by
adding missing information
April 2015
Words consisting of up to three syllables are stressed on the first syllable.
50
Foreign words, such as
student
/stuˈdɛnt/
'student', preserve their original accent.
51
Prosody
edit
Stress in Upper Sorbian is expiratory and falls mainly on the first syllable. In four-syllable or longer words, a secondary stress appears on the penultimate syllable (
ˈdźiwaˌdźelnik
“actor”). In compound words, the secondary stress falls on the first syllable of the second element (
ˈzapadoˌslowjanski
“West Slavic”). In the superlative forms of adjectives, the main stress is placed on the prefix
naj-
, and the secondary stress is on the first syllable of the root (though the reverse placement of stress is also possible). In preposition + noun combinations, the preposition draws the stress onto itself from monosyllabic and disyllabic nouns and pronouns (
ˈke mni
“to me,”
ˈdo města
“into the city”), but if the noun carries logical emphasis, it also receives the phonetic stress. Upper Sorbian also has enclitics, i.e., words that cannot bear stress. In loanwords, the stress falls on the same syllable as in the source language (
literaˈtura
“literature,”
šoˈfer
“chauffeur”).
citation needed
Morphology
edit
In Upper Sorbian grammar, the following parts of speech are distinguished: noun, adjective, numeral, pronoun, adverb, verb, conjunction, preposition, particle, and interjection.
Nouns and pronouns in Upper Sorbian have the grammatical categories of gender, number, case, animacy, and person. As in other Slavic languages, masculine, feminine, and neuter genders are distinguished. The category of animacy applies to masculine nouns and the words agreeing with them in the singular. The category of person applies to masculine nouns and their agreeing words in the dual and plural. In the category of number, the archaic dual has been preserved — it also survives in modern Lower Sorbian and Slovene (although in Proto-Slavic the locative dual form coincided with the genitive dual, in Upper Sorbian it has come to coincide with the dative-instrumental dual form).
Nouns and pronouns have six cases: nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, instrumental, and locative, as well as a special vocative form (used for masculine animate nouns, except those ending in
-a
, and for the feminine noun
mać
“mother”).
Singular
edit
In the singular, the declension of nouns (
wěcownik, substantiw
) of the masculine and neuter genders differs from that of the feminine gender. Before the ending
-e
in feminine nouns in the dative case, and in nouns of all genders in the locative case, alternations occur between a hard stem consonant and its palatalized counterpart, as well as the following specific alternations:
d — dź, t — ć, ł — l, h — z, ch — š, k — c, g — z.
Masculine and neuter nouns in the locative case, if they have a soft or hardened final consonant, as well as in most cases when ending in
g, h, ch, k, ł
(and some other consonants), take the ending
-u
instead of
-e
. In masculine and neuter nouns ending in
h, ch, k
, when the rare ending
-e
occurs, the following alternations take place:
h — z, ch — š, k — c.
Feminine nouns with stems ending in
z, c, s
take the ending
-y
in the dative and locative. Feminine nouns with stems ending in
k, g, ch, h
take the ending
-i
in the genitive.
Masculine gender
— Examples of declension of masculine nouns:
nan
(“father”),
jež
(“hedgehog”),
dub
(“oak”), and
ćerń
(“thorn”).
Case
Animate
Inanimate
Stem ending in hard consonant
Stem ending in soft consonant
Stem ending in hard consonant
Stem ending in soft consonant
Nominative
nan
jěž
dub
ćerń
Genitive
nana
jěža
duba
ćernja
Dative
nanej
jěžej
dubej
ćernjej
Accusative
nana
jěža
dub
ćerń
Instrumental
nanom
jěžom
dubom
ćernjom
Locative
nanje
jěžu
dubje
ćernju
Some monosyllabic inanimate nouns in the genitive case can have, along with the ending -a, also the ending
-u
hroda/hrodu
(“of the fortress”, “of the castle”),
doma
domu
(“of the house”),
loda
lodu
(“of the ice”),
mjeda
mjedu
(“of the honey”), and so on. In the dative case in some nouns the ending -
occurs along with -
ej
ludu
(“to/for the people”),
měru
(“to/for the world/peace”),
wozu
(“to/for the cart”), and so on,
bóh
(“God”) ends in the dative case only with -
. In the accusative case the endings of animate nouns coincide with the endings of the genitive case, the endings of inanimate nouns — with the endings of the nominative case. Special paradigms of nouns ending in -a and personal names ending in -
: predsyda (“chairman”),
predsydy
predsydźe
predsydu
predsydu
predsydźe
; ćěsla (“carpenter”),
ćěsle
ćěsli
ćěslu
ćěslu
ćěsli
; Beno,
Bena
Benej
Bena
Benom
Benje
Feminine and neuter gender. Examples of declension of neuter nouns:
słowo
(“word”),
morjo
(“sea”),
ranje
(“morning”), and feminine gender:
žona
(“woman”, “wife”),
kólnja
(“shed”) and
hródź
(“cowshed”).
Case
Neuter
Feminine
Stem on a hard consonant
Stem on a soft consonant
Stem on a hard consonant
Stem on a soft consonant
Nominative
słowo
morjo
ranje
žona
kólnja
hródź
Genitive
słowa
morja
žony
kólnje
hródźe
Dative
słowu
morju
žonje
kólni
hródźi
Accusative
słowo
morjo
ranje
žonu
kólnju
hródź
Instrumental
słowom
morjom
žonu
kólnju
hródźu
Locative
słowje
morju
žonje
kólni
hródźi
In the nominative and accusative cases the noun
knjeni
(“lady”) ends in -i, in the other cases it declines like the word
kólnja
(“shed”, “canopy”). Nouns of the type
kuchnja
(“kitchen”),
bróžnja
(“barn”, “shed”) have parallel forms
kucheń
bróžeń
. Nouns of the type
spěwanje
(“singing”),
drěnje
(“pulling”),
ranje
(“morning”) have the ending -e, in the other cases they decline like the word
morjo
(“sea”). In the genitive case the forms of the nouns
škla
(“bowl”, “dish”) and
woš
(“louse”):
šklě
and
wši
. In the dative and locative cases the nouns
stwa
(“room”) and
hra
(“game”) have the ending -ě.
Dual number
The endings of masculine nouns in the nominative and accusative cases of the dual number differ from the endings of feminine and neuter nouns. Depending on whether masculine nouns in the accusative case denote a person or not, they have different endings. For nouns denoting paired objects, instead of dual forms, plural forms can be used:
nohi
instead of
noze
(“legs”),
ruki
instead of
ruce
(“hands”). Before the ending -e in the nominative and accusative cases for feminine and neuter nouns, alternation of a hard consonant of the stem with a soft one occurs, as well as alternations
d — dź, t — ć, ł — l, h — z, ch — š, k — c, g — z
. After soft consonants in the nominative and accusative cases, alternation a — e occurs. Neuter and feminine nouns with a stem ending in z, c, s in the nominative and accusative cases have the ending -y.
Examples of the declension of masculine nouns:
nanaj
(“two fathers”),
mužej
(“two husbands”, “two men”),
psykaj
(“two dogs”) and
ježej
(“two hedgehogs”); feminine gender:
žonje
(“two wives”, “two women”); and neuter gender:
mori
(“two seas”):
Case
Masculine gender
Non-masculine gender
Denoting persons
Not denoting persons
Stem ending in a hard consonant
Stem ending in a soft consonant
Stem ending in a hard consonant
Stem ending in a soft consonant
Stem ending in a hard consonant
Stem ending in a soft consonant
Nominative
nanaj
mužej
psykaj
ježej
žonje
mori
Genitive
nanow
mužow
psykow
ježow
žonow
morjow
Dative
nanomaj
mužomaj
psykomaj
ježomaj
žonomaj
morjomaj
Accusative
nanow
mužow
psykaj
ježej
žonje
mori
Instrumental
nanomaj
mužomaj
psykomaj
ježomaj
žonomaj
morjomaj
Locative
nanomaj
mužomaj
psykomaj
ježomaj
žonomaj
morjomaj
In the nominative and accusative cases, the nouns
stwa
(“room”) and
hra
(“game”) have the ending
-ě
. The nominative and accusative forms of the nouns
wucho
(“ear”) and
woko
(“eye”) are:
wuši
and
woči
Special paradigms of nouns in
-a
[148]:
predsydaj
(“both chairmen”),
predsydow
predsydomaj
predsydow
predsydomaj
predsydomaj
ćěslej
(“both carpenters”),
ćěslow
ćěslomaj
ćěslow
ćěslomaj
ćěslomaj
Plural
Depending on the endings that occur in the nominative and accusative cases of the plural, all nouns are divided into three groups: masculine nouns denoting persons (
personal masculine
), other masculine nouns and feminine nouns (
non-personal masculine
), and neuter nouns.
Examples of declension of personal masculine nouns:
nanojo
(“fathers”),
mužojo
(“husbands”, “men”); non-personal masculine nouns:
duby
(“oaks”); and feminine nouns:
kólnje
(“sheds”, “canopies”); as well as neuter nouns:
słowa
(“words”) and
morja
(“seas”):
Case
Masculine and feminine gender
Neuter gender
Personal masculine nouns
Non-personal masculine nouns
Stem ending in a hard consonant
Stem ending in a soft consonant
Stem ending in a hard consonant
Stem ending in a soft consonant
Stem ending in a hard consonant
Stem ending in a soft consonant
Nominative
nanojo
mužojo
duby
kólnje
słowa
morja
Genitive
nanow
mužow
dubow
kólnjow
słowow
morjow
Dative
nanam
mužam
dubam
kólnjam
słowam
morjam
Accusative
nanow
mužow
duby
kólnje
słowa
morja
Instrumental
nanami
mužemi
dubami
kólnjemi
słowami
morjemi
Locative
nanach
mužach
dubach
kólnjach
słowach
morjach
Non-personal masculine nouns of masculine and feminine gender in the nominative and accusative cases with a stem ending in
k, g, ch, h
have the ending
-i
. In the instrumental case, after soft consonants, alternation
a — e
occurs. In the nominative case, nouns denoting a male person mostly end in
-ojo
. Nouns with the suffixes
-ar-, -er-, -el-, -ol-, -an-
have the ending
-jo
(before which in the suffix
-an-
the alternation
a — e
occurs). Nouns ending in
-c
and
-k
end in
-y
(with the alternation
k — c
before this ending). Some nouns have endings
-i
and
-a
, before which alternation of a hard stem consonant with a soft one occurs, as well as alternations
t — ć, d — dź, ł — l, ch — š
and others:
bratřa
(“brothers”),
kmótřa
(“godfathers”),
susodźa
(“neighbors”),
husići/husića
(“
Hussites
”),
studenći/studenća
(“students”), etc. Forms of the nouns
škla
and
woš
in the nominative and accusative cases:
šklě
and
wši
In the genitive case, nouns with a soft stem or with a stem ending in
-ł
have, alongside the ending
-ow
, also the ending
-i
(for the nouns
dźěći
“children” and
ludźi
“people” only the ending
-i
is used); in the nouns
husy
(“geese”) and
kury
(“hens”) the ending
-y
is found alongside
-ow
. Some nouns have no ending in the genitive case:
pjenjez
(“money”),
Drježdźan
(“of Dresden”), and others.
In the dative case, for a number of nouns denoting living beings, alongside the ending
-am
the ending
-om
is also found:
wołam/wołom
(“to oxen”),
kruwam/kruwom
(“to cows”),
husam/husom
(“to geese”), etc.; some nouns have only the ending
-om
dźěćom
(“to children”),
ludźom
(“to people”), etc.
In the instrumental case, alongside the ending
-ami (-emi)
, the ending
-imi (-ymi)
is also found:
konjemi/konimi
(“with horses”),
kruwami/kruwymi
(“with cows”), etc.; some nouns have only the ending
-imi (-ymi)
dźěćimi
(“with children”),
ludźimi
(“with people”), etc.
In the locative case, alongside the ending
-ach
, the ending
-och
is also found:
konjach/konjoch
(“on horses”),
kruwach/kruwoch
(“on cows”),
swinjach/swinjoch
(“on pigs”), etc.; some nouns have only the ending
-och
dźěćoch
(“about children”),
ludźoch
(“about people”), etc.
Special paradigms of nouns ending in
-a
predsydojo
(“chairmen”),
predsydow
predsydam
predsydow
predsydami
predsydach
ćěslojo
(“carpenters”),
ćěslow
ćěslam
ćěslow
ćěslemi
ćěslach
Peculiarities of the declension of some nouns.
For nouns denoting young creatures, in the singular and dual numbers, the suffix
-eć-
is added to the stem (except in the nominative and accusative forms); in the plural — the suffix
-at-
ćelo
(“calf”),
ćeleća
(singular),
ćeleći
(dual),
ćelata
(plural).
For some nouns with a stem ending in a soft consonant, it is characteristic to add the suffix
-en-
to the stem (except in the nominative and accusative forms):
znamjo
(“sign”),
znamjenja
(singular),
znamjeni
(dual),
znamjenja
(plural).
To the stem of the noun
mać
in all forms except the nominative and accusative, the suffix
-er-
is added (in the accusative, both
mać
and
maćer
are possible).
To the noun
dźěćo
(“child”), in the singular and dual numbers, the suffix
-s-
is added to the stem (except in the nominative and accusative forms):
dźěćo
dźěsća
(singular),
dźěsći
(dual). The plural paradigm:
dźěći
dźěći
dźěćom
dźěći
dźěćimi
dźěćoch
Adjective
Adjectives (
adjektiwy
kajkostniki
) are divided into three categories:
qualitative (
kajkostne
kwalitatiwne
):
stary
“old”,
młody
“young”,
wuski
“narrow”,
šěroki
“wide”,
wysoki
“tall”,
niski
“low”,
němy
“mute”,
slepy
“blind”,
žiwy
“alive”,
mortwy
“dead”;
relative (
poćahowe
relaciske
), expressing the quality of an object through another object:
hórski
“mountain”,
dobroćiwy
“benevolent”,
wěriwy
“believing”, “trusting”;
possessive (
přiswojace
posesiwne
), expressing possession:
nanowy
“father’s”, “paternal”,
maćerny
“mother’s”, “maternal”.
Adjectives have two types of declension — soft (which includes adjectives whose stem ends in
or soft
and
) and hard (which includes all the rest). A number of adjectives are indeclinable:
ryzy
(“red-haired”),
bosy
(“barefoot”),
nabruń
(“brownish”),
načorń
(“blackish”),
nazeleń
(“greenish”),
sćicha
(“quiet”, “calm”),
zhorda
(“proud”),
zwulka
(“arrogant”, “haughty”), and others.
Declension of hard-type adjectives using the example
mały
“small”:
Case
Singular
Dual
Plural
Masculine
Neuter
Feminine
Nominative
mały
małe
mała
małej
małaj
małe
mali
Genitive
małeho
małeho
małeje
małeju
małych
Dative
małemu
małemu
małej
małymaj
małym
Accusative
mały
małeho
52
małe
mału
małej
małeju
małe
małych
Instrumental
małym
małym
małej
małymaj
małymi
Locative
małym
małym
małej
małymaj
małych
Declension of soft-type adjectives using the example
tuni
(“cheap”):
Case
Singular
Dual
Plural
Masculine
Neuter
Feminine
Nominative
tuni
tunje
tunja
tunjej
tunje
tuni
Genitive
tunjeho
tunjeho
tunjeje
tunjeju
tunich
Dative
tunjemu
tunjemu
tunjej
tunimaj
tunim
Accusative
tuni
tunjeho
tunje
tunju
tunjej
tunjeju
tunje
tunich
Instrumental
tunim
tunim
tunjej
tunimaj
tunimi
Locative
tunim
tunim
tunjej
tunimaj
tunich
In the masculine gender, the form of the accusative singular coincides with the form of the genitive if the adjective agrees with an animate noun. In the dual and plural, the form of the accusative coincides with the genitive if the adjective agrees with a noun denoting a male person. In personally masculine forms of the nominative plural, consonant alternations occur: ch — š, t — ć, d — dź, l — ł before the ending -i; with similar alternations k — c, h — z, this ending itself is replaced with -y:
wulki
(“big”) →
wulcy
(“big” plural),
nahi
(“naked”) →
nazy
(“naked” plural), etc. In Upper Sorbian, there are no short forms of adjectives.
Forms of the comparative (
komparatiw
) and superlative (
superlatiw
) degrees are formed only from relative-qualitative adjectives. The comparative form is made using the suffixes -ši and -iši/-yši (-yši appears after the consonants
c, z, s
). Some comparative forms are formed suppletively:
wulki
“big” →
wjetši
mały
“small” →
mjeńši
dobry
“good” →
lěpši
zły
“bad” →
hórši
dołhi
“long” →
dlěši
. The superlative form is made by adding the prefix naj- to the comparative form. In addition to the synthetic method of forming degrees of comparison, there is also an analytic one, in which the comparative form is made by adding to the positive form the adverb
bóle
, and the superlative —
najbóle
Numeral
Upper Sorbian numerals (
ličbniki
numerale
) are divided into the following categories:
cardinal
kardinalne
zakładne
);
ordinal
ordinalne
rjadowe
);
collective
kolektiwne
) — used with
pluralia tantum
nouns:
jedne
dwoje
troje
štwore
pjećore
šesćore
species
diferinciske
) — indicating qualitative differentiation:
jenaki
dwojaki
trojaki
štworaki
pjećoraki
multiplicative
multiplikatiwne
):
dwójny
“double”,
trójny
“triple”;
adverbial numerals
numerale wobstejenja
):
jónu
“once”,
dwójce
“twice”,
trójce
“thrice”.
Numerals from one to twenty-one:
Cardinal
Personal masculine forms
Ordinal
Collective
Non-personal masculine forms
jedyn
(masc.),
jedna
(fem.),
jedne
(neu.)
prěni
dwaj
(masc.),
dwě
(fem., neu.)
druhi
dwoje
tři
třo
třeći
troje
štyri
štyrjo
štwórty
štwore
pjeć
pjećo
pjaty
pjećore
šěsć
šěsćo
šěsty
šěsćory
sydom
sydmjo
sydmy
sydmore
wosom
wosmjo
wosmy
wosmory
dźewjeć
dźewjećo
dźewjaty
dźewjećore
10
dźesać
dźesaćo
dźesaty
dźesaćore
11
jědnaće
jědnaćo
jědnaty
jědnaćore
12
dwanaće
dwanaćo
dwanaty
dwanaćore
13
třinaće
třinaćo
třinaty
14
štyrnaće
štyrnaćo
štyrnaty
15
pjatnaće
pjatnaćo
pjatnaty
16
šěsnaće
šěsnaćo
šěsnaty
17
sydomnaće
sydomnaćo
sydomnaty
18
wosomnaće
wosomnaćo
wosomnaty
19
dźewjatnaće
dźewjatnaćo
dźewjatnaty
20
dwaceći
dwacećo
dwacety
dwacećore
21
jedynadwaceći
jedynadwacećo
jedynadwacety
Numerals from thirty to a billion:
Cardinal
Ordinal
Collective
Non-personal masculine forms
Personal masculine forms
30
třiceći
třicećo
třicety
40
štyrceći
štyrcećo
štyrcety
50
pjećdźesat
pjećdźesaćo
pjećdźesaty
60
šěsćdźesat
šěsćdźesaćo
šěsćdźesaty
70
sydomdźesat
sydomdźesaćo
sydomdźesaty
80
wosomdźesat
wosomdźesaćo
wosomdźesaty
90
dźewjećdźesat
dźewjećdźesaćo
dźewjećdźesaty
100
sto
stoty
stotory
101
sto a jedyn
sto a prěni
200
dwě sćě
dwustoty
300
tři sta
třistoty
400
štyri sta
štyristoty
500
pjeć stow
pjećstoty
600
šěsć stow
šěsćstoty
700
sydom stow
sydomstoty
800
wosom stow
wosomstoty
900
dźewjeć stow
dźewjećstoty
1000
tysac
tysacty
tysacore
1 000 000
milion
milionty
2 000 000
dwaj milionaj
dwumilionty
1 000 000 000
miliarda
miliardny
Declension of the numeral “one”:
Case
Singular number
Plural number
Masculine
Neutral
Feminine
Personal masculine forms
Non-personal masculine forms
Nominative
jedyn
jedne
jedna
jedni
jedne
Genitive
jednoho
jedneje
jednych
Dative
jednomu
jednej
jednym
Accusative
inanimate
jedyn
jedne
jednu
jednych
jedne
animate
jednoho
Instrumental
jednym
jednej
jednymi
Locative
jednym
jednej
jednych
Under the influence of the German language, in colloquial Upper Sorbian, the numeral
jedyn
is often used in the function of an indefinite article.
Declension of the numerals
two
three
four
five:
Case
Two
Three
Four
Five
Personally masculine forms
Non-personally masculine forms
Neuter and feminine
Personally masculine forms
Non-personally masculine forms
Personally masculine forms
Non-personally masculine forms
Personally masculine forms
Non-personally masculine forms
Nominative
dwajo
dwaj
dwě
třo
tři
štyrjo
štyri
pjećo
pjeć
Genitive
dwejoch
dweju
třoch
štyrjoch
pjećoch
Dative
dwejom
dwěmaj
třom
štyrjom
pjećom
Accusative
dweju (dwejoch)
dweju
dwě
třoch
tři
štyrjoch
štyri
pjećoch
pjeć
Instrumental
dwejomi
dwěmaj
třomi
štyrjomi
pjećomi
Locative
dwejoch
dwěmaj
třoch
štyrjoch
pjećoch
The personally masculine forms of the numeral “two”, except for the accusative case form
dweju
, are colloquial in nature. Numerals from 6 to 99 decline like
five
Thousand
million
, and
billion
decline like nouns. Numerals starting from
five
decline only when used independently; when used in a phrase, they do not decline.
Pronoun
edit
Pronouns (
naměstniki
pronomeny
) in Upper Sorbian are divided into the following categories:
Personal (
wosobowe
personalne
Basic (
zakładne
):
ja
mój
my
ty
wój
wy
wón
wona
wono
Possessive (
přiswojowace
posesiwne
):
mój
naju
naš
twój
waju
waš
jeho
jeje
Demonstrative (
pokazowace
demonstratiwne
):
tón
tutón
wony
tamny
tamón
Reflexive (
wróćace
refleksiwne
Basic:
sebje/so
Possessive:
swój
Interrogative (
prašace
interrogatiwne
):
štó
što
čeji
kotry
kajki
hdy
kak
hdźe
kelko
Relative (
poćahowe
relatiwne
):
kiž
kotryž
čejiž
Negative (
zaprěwace
negatiwne
): formed with the prefix ni- from interrogatives:
nichtó
“nobody,”
ničo
“nothing,”
ničeji
“no one’s,”
nikajki
“no kind of,”
nihdy
“never,”
nihdźe
“nowhere”
Indefinite (
bjezmězne
indefinitne
): formed with the prefix ně- from interrogatives:
něchtó
“someone,”
něšto
“something,”
něčeji
“someone’s,”
někajki
“some kind of,”
něhdy
“sometime,”
něhdźe
“somewhere”
Generalizing (
spowšitkowujiwace
):
wšón
wšitkón
kóždy
Emphatic / Exclusive (
limitatiwne
):
sam
samy
samón
Defining / Qualifying (
hódnoćace
):
samsny
jenaki
Declension of personal pronouns of the first and second person:
Case
First person
Second person
We
We two (dual)
You (singular)
You (plural)
You both
Nominative
ja
my
mój
ty
wy
wój
Genitive
mje, mnje
nas
naju
tebje, će
was
waju
Dative
mi, mni
nam
namaj
tebi, ći
wam
wamaj
Accusative
mje, mnje
nas
naju
tebje, će
was
waju
Instrumental
mnu
nami
namaj
tobu
wami
wamaj
Locative
mni
nas
namaj
tebi
was
wamaj
Declension of personal pronouns of the third person:
Case
Singular number
Dual number
Plural number
Masculine
Neuter
Feminine
Personal-masculine forms
Non-personal-masculine forms
Personal-masculine forms
Non-personal-masculine forms
Nominative
wón
wono, wone
wona
wonaj
wonej
woni
wone
Genitive
jeho, njeho
jeje, njeje
jeju, njeju
jich, nich
Dative
jemu, njemu
jej, njej
jimaj, nimaj
jim, nim
Accusative
inanimate
jón, njón
je, jo, nje, njo
ju, nju
jeju, njeju
jej, njej
jich, nich
je, nje
animate
jeho, njeho
Instrumental
nim
njej
nimaj
nimi
Locative
nim
njej
nimaj
nich
After prepositions, the forms of third-person pronouns beginning with n- are used:
bjez njeho
— “without him.”
Adverbs
edit
Adverbs (
adwerby, přisłowjesniki
) in the Upper Sorbian language are divided into determinative (
determinatiwne
) and circumstantial (
adwerby wobstejenja
). The former are further divided into qualitative (
kwalitatiwne
), which define an action or state from the point of view of quality (
krasnje
— “beautifully,”
derje
— “hard,”
ćicho
— “quietly”), and quantitative (
kwantitatiwne
).
Adverbs are formed from adjectives using the suffixes
-e
-o
, and
-i
. The most productive suffix is
-e
słabje
(“weakly”),
hrubje
(“roughly”),
wědomje
(“consciously”),
měrliwje
(“peacefully”),
nahle
(“suddenly,” “sharply”),
mile
(“gently,” “kindly”),
twjerdźe
(“firmly,” “strictly”),
rjenje
(“beautifully,” “well”),
čisće
(“cleanly,” “brightly”), etc. The suffix
-o
predominates in the position after velar consonants:
ćicho
(“quietly”),
sucho
(“dryly”),
rědko
(“thinly,” “rarely”),
droho
(“expensively”),
lochko
(“easily”),
šěroko
(“widely”), etc. Less often after velar consonants appears the suffix
-e
hłuboce
(alongside
hłuboko
) (“deeply”),
wusce
(alongside
wusko
) (“narrowly,” “tightly”),
słódce
(alongside
słódko
) (“sweetly”), etc. Unlike the forms with
-e
, the forms with
-o
can have a predicative function.
Determinative adverbs can form degrees of comparison — comparative (
komparatiw
) and superlative (
superlatiw
). The comparative degree is usually formed by adding the suffix
-(i)šo/-(y)šo
to the base:
słabje
słabšo
sylnje
sylnišo
. From adverbs ending in
-ko
and
-sko
, comparative forms are formed using the suffixes
-e
and
-šo
blisko
bliže/blišo
hłuboko
hłubje/hłubšo
. The forms with
-e
have an archaic flavor. From some adverbs, the comparative degree is suppletive:
derje
lěpje
(“hard” — “better”),
zlě
hórje
(“bad” — “worse”),
dołho
dlěje
(“long” — “longer”),
mało
mjenje
(“little” — “less”),
wjele/mnoho
wjace
(“much” — “more”). The superlative degree is formed by attaching the prefix
naj-
to the comparative form:
słabšo
najsłabšo
sylnišo
najsylnišo
Verb
The Upper Sorbian language is characterized by verb categories (
werb, słowjeso
) such as tense (
tempus, čas
), mood, aspect (
aspekt, wid
), voice, person (
wosoba
), number, and gender. Within the tense category, besides present and future forms, there are forms of several past tenses: perfect, synthetic preterite, pluperfect, and iterative preterite. The preterite is a historical past tense used in narration. The pluperfect indicates an action that occurred before some moment in the past. The iterative preterite indicates repeated actions in the past. Upper Sorbian has a peculiar implementation of aspect (perfective or imperfective), and like many Slavic languages, has active and passive voices, three moods (indicative, imperative, and subjunctive), forms for first, second, and third person in singular, dual, or plural; grammatical gender is expressed only in some verb forms.
Depending on the stem vowel in the present tense form (
-e-
-i-
, and
-a-
), verbs in Upper Sorbian are divided into three conjugation classes. Verb forms are formed from infinitive or present tense stems, except for a small number of preterite forms and nominal forms with special stems. In personal verb forms, corresponding personal pronouns are usually omitted (they are used only to emphasize person and number). When addressing a single person formally (“you” polite), the verb form in analytical constructions is used in the plural, while the nominal components remain singular.
Present tense
Present tense (
prezent
) forms in Upper Sorbian are formed synthetically. Perfective verbs may express an action performed constantly or at the current moment, sometimes repeatedly and each time completed, and also an action in the future if additionally expressed by lexical means, or in the past (also with imperfective verbs — the so-called “historical present”).
Examples of verb conjugations:
njesć
(“to carry”) —
-conjugation,
warić
(“to boil”) —
-conjugation,
dźěłać
(“to work”) —
-conjugation:
Person
Singular
Dual
Plural
-e-
-i-
-a-
-e-
-i-
-a-
-e-
-i-
-a-
1st
njesu
warju
dźěłam
njesemoj
warimoj
dźěłamoj
njesemy
warimy
dźěłamy
2nd
njeseš
wariš
dźěłaš
njesetaj/-tej
waritaj/-tej
dźěłataj/-tej
njeseće
wariće
dźěłaće
3d
njese
wari
dźěła
njesetaj/-tej
waritaj/-tej
dźěłataj/-tej
njesu/njeseja
warja
dźěłaja
Besides the verbs of the three conjugation classes, there also exist specially conjugated so-called irregular verbs, such as
być
(“to be”) —
ja sym
ty sy
wón, wone (wono), wona je
mój smój
wój staj/stej
wonaj/wonej staj/stej
my smy
wy sće
woni/wone su
měć
(“to have”),
chcyć
(“to want”),
dać
(“to give”),
hić
(“to go”),
jěć
(“to ride/go by vehicle”),
jěsć
(“to eat”),
směć
(“to dare”),
spać
(“to sleep”),
wědźeć
(“to know”)
Future tense
Excluding the synthetically formed future tense forms of the verbs
być
budu
budźeš
…,
měć
(“to have”) —
změju
změješ
…, verbs of directed motion (
hić
(“to go”) —
póńdu
póńdźeš
…,
njesć
(“to carry”) —
ponjesu
ponjeseš
…,
lězć
(“to climb”),
wjezć
(“to drive/transport”),
běžeć
(“to run”),
ćahnyć
(“to pull”)), etc., all future tense forms of verbs are formed analytically by combining the personal forms of the auxiliary verb
być
in the future tense (
budu
budźeš
budźe
, etc.) with the infinitive of the main verb. In the literary language, analytic forms are formed only from imperfective verbs —
budu warić
(“I will cook”), while in colloquial speech analytic forms can also be formed from perfective verbs —
budu zwarić.
Examples of conjugation of the verb
pić
(“to drink”) in the future tense:
Person
Singular
Dual
Plural
1st
budu pić
budźemoj pić
budźemy pić
2nd
budźeš pić
budźetaj/budźetej pić
budźeće pić
3rd
budźe pić
budźetaj/budźetej pić
budu/budź(ej)a pić
Perfect tense
Perfect forms are formed using the personal forms of the verb
być
in the present tense and the -l- participle of the main verb. The perfect denotes an action in the past that still retains a connection to the present. The perfect is obligatorily used when the time of the action occurs before the described situation; in other cases, the perfect is used alongside the synthetic preterite. The perfect can also express an action that will be completed by some point in the future.
Examples of conjugation of the perfect forms of the verb
dźěłać
(“to work”):
Person
Singular
Dual
Plural
1st
sym dźěłał/-ła/-ło
smój dźěłałoj
smy dźěłali/-łe
2nd
sy dźěłał/-ła/-ło
staj/stej dźěłałoj
sće dźěłali/-łe
3rd
je dźěłał/-ła/-ło
staj/stej dźěłałoj
su dźěłali/-łe
A number of participles have stems with
-d-
-t-
-s-
-st-
-k-
, and
-h-
jědł
from
jěsć
(“to eat”),
mjetł
from
mjesć
(“to sweep”),
pasł
from
pasć
(“to pasture/graze”),
rostł
from
rosć
(“to grow”),
pjekł
from
pjec
(“to bake”),
móhł
from
móc
(“to be able to/can”), etc.
From the verb
hić
(“to go”), participles are formed from a special stem:
šoł
šla
šłoj
šli
šłe.
Synthetic preterite
The forms of the synthetic preterite express the completion of an action in the past, the connection of which with the present is not felt. In the 2nd and 3rd person singular, perfective verbs take endings of the old aorist, while imperfective verbs take imperfect endings. These forms may be formed from different stems — from the infinitive, from the present tense stem, and from a special stem with the formative
-(j)a
. In colloquial speech, perfect forms are often used instead of them..
Examples of conjugation of the verbs
wuknyć
(“to study, learn”) and
nawuknyć
(“to learn/completely study”) in the synthetic preterite:
Person
Singular
Dual
Plural
1st
wuknjech
nawuknych
wuknjechmoj
nawuknychmoj
wuknjechmy
nawuknychmy
2nd
wuknješe
nawukny
wuknještaj/-štej
nawuknyštaj/-štej
wuknješe
nawuknyše
3rd
wuknješe
nawukny
wuknještaj/-štej
nawuknyštaj/-štej
wuknjechu
nawuknychu
Pluperfect
The pluperfect (past perfect) is formed analytically using the verb
być
in the preterite form and the
-l-
participle of the main verb, indicating a completed action that preceded some situation in the past
Examples of conjugation of the pluperfect forms of the verb
dźěłać
(“to work”):
Person
Singular
Dual
Plural
1st
běch dźěłał/-ła/-ło
běchmoj dźěłałoj
běchmy dźěłali/-łe
2nd
bě(še) dźěłał/-ła/-ło
běštaj/štej dźěłałoj
běšće dźěłali/-łe
3rd
bě(še) dźěłał/-ła/-ło
běštaj/štej dźěłałoj
běchu dźěłali/-łe
Iterative preterite
Forms of the iterative preterite, which denote repeated events in the past, coincide with the forms of the subjunctive mood,
Subjunctive mood
Forms of the verb in the subjunctive mood are formed using the aorist forms of the auxiliary verb
być
and the
-l-
participle of the main verb. In colloquial Upper Sorbian, the verb
być
in the subjunctive mood loses its personal endings, and the form
by
is the same for all persons. Modal verbs can form subjunctive forms even without the personal forms of
być
Examples of conjugation of the verb
dźěłać
(“to work”) in the subjunctive mood:
Person
Singular
Dual
Plural
1st
bych dźěłał/-ła/-ło
bychmoj dźěłałoj
bychmy dźěłali/-łe
2nd
by dźěłał/-ła/-ło
byštaj/štej dźěłałoj
byšće dźěłali/-łe
3rd
by dźěłał/-ła/-ło
byštaj/štej dźěłałoj
bychu dźěłali/-łe
Previously, forms of the subjunctive mood in the past tense were also used, formed with the verb
być
in the imperfect from the stem
bud-
budźech
budźeše
budźechmoj
budźeštaj
budźeštej
budźechmy
budźešće
budźechu.
Imperative mood
Forms of the verb in the imperative mood are formed from the present tense stem. Examples of conjugation of the verb
wzać
(“to take”) in the imperative mood:
wozmi
(“take!”) with the ending
-i
after groups of consonants, and also a zero ending is possible —
kupuj
(“buy”) (2nd person singular);
wozmimoj
wozmitaj/-tej
(1st and 2nd person dual, where in the 2nd person masculine personal forms mostly end with
-taj
, and others with
-tej
);
wozmimy
wozmiće
(1st and 2nd person plural).
When forming imperative verb forms, consonant changes occur in the stem:
-d-
-t-
-k-
change to
-dź-
-ć-
-č-
-n-
changes to
-ń-
-s-
and
-z-
change to
-š-
and
-ž-
. Some verbs have irregular imperative forms:
jěs
(“eat”),
daj
(“give”), and others. Indicative mood forms with the particle
njech
replace nonexistent 1st person singular and 3rd person imperative forms in all numbers.
Person
Singular
Dual
Plural
1st
buch přeprošeny/-a/-e
buchmoj přeprošenaj
buchmy přeprošene/-ni
2nd
bu přeprošeny/-a/-e
buštaj/štej přeprošenaj/-ej
bušće přeprošene/-ni
3rd
bu přeprošeny/-a/-e
buštaj/štej přeprošenaj/-ej
buchu přeprošene/-ni
Direct passive
forms
compete with, on one hand, constructions of the same participles with
-n-/-t-
combined with forms of the verb
być
in any tense (including past — from the stem
bě-
běch přeprošeny
(“I was invited”), but also
sym přeprošeny
(“I am invited”),
budu přeprošeny
(“I will be invited”)), which express a state; and on the other hand — active voice forms with the reflexive particle
so
, e.g.:
z uniwersity Lwow na Ukrainje přeprosy so delegacija na ekskursiju do Łužicy
(“A delegation was invited from the University of Lviv in Ukraine for an excursion to Lusatia”). The passive or active meaning of such forms is determined by context.
Indirect passive forms are formed with personal forms of the verbs
dóstać
(“to receive”),
dóstawać
(“to be receiving”) and the participle of the main verb with
-n-/-t-
. In colloquial speech, the passive voice is expressed by constructions with the German loan verb
wordować
("to become").
Verb aspects
Alongside imperfective and perfective verbs forming aspectual pairs, Upper Sorbian has verbs without aspectual pairs (single-aspect verbs) and verbs whose imperfective and perfective meanings are expressed by one lexeme (double-aspect verbs). Aspectual pairs are mostly formed by prefixes and suffixes.
Most non-prefixed verbs are imperfective:
dźěłać
(“to work”),
warić
(“to boil”),
słyšeć
(“to hear”), etc. Only a small part are perfective. Perfective verbs are mainly formed from imperfective non-prefixed verbs by prefixation:
rězać
(“to cut”) —
zarězać
(“to cut down, slaughter”),
stajeć
(“to put”) —
zestajeć
(“to compose, put together”), etc. Paired imperfective verbs can be formed from prefixed perfective verbs by suffixes
-owa-/-uj
-wa-
or
-a- (-ě-)
zapisać
(“to write down”) —
zapisować
(“to be writing down”),
wubrać
(“to choose”) —
wuběrać
(“to be choosing”), etc. Secondary prefixation is also possible:
zabić
(“to kill”) —
dozabić
(“to finish killing”).
Under German influence in colloquial Upper Sorbian, present tense forms of perfective verbs may be used with an actual present meaning, which is not permitted in the literary language.
Participles and gerunds
Upper Sorbian includes the following participial forms:
Active present participle: formed from the short present stem with suffix
-ac(y)
or from the infinitive stem with suffix
-c(y)
(rarely
-uc(y)
):
pisacy
(“writing”),
słyšacy
(“hearing”), etc.
Present gerund: formed from the short or extended present stem of imperfective verbs with suffix
-o
, rarely
-(i)cy
-ucy
njeso
(“leading”),
kopajo/kopajcy
(“digging”), etc.
Passive participle: formed from the infinitive stem or full present stem with suffixes
-n(y)
or
-t(y)
wuknjeny
(“being studied”),
nawuknjeny
(“studied”),
wupity
(“drunk”), etc.
Past gerund: formed from the infinitive stem of perfective verbs with ending
-wši
or from the present stem with ending
-ši
rozkopawši
(“having dug”),
zdźěławši
(“having worked out”),
zamjetši
(“having swept”), etc.
In colloquial Upper Sorbian and dialects, present gerunds are very rarely used or absent, and past gerunds are not used at all.
Infinitive
The infinitive in Upper Sorbian is formed with the suffix
-ć
, except verbs with stems ending in
-k
-h
pjec
(“to bake”),
rjec
(“to say”),
móc
(“to be able”). Like in most other Slavic languages, the supine (preserved in Lower Sorbian) has been replaced by the infinitive in Upper Sorbian.
Verbal noun
Verbal nouns are formed with the suffix
-(j)e
from the participle stem with
-n-/-t-
wuknjenje
(“learning”),
słyšenje
(“hearing”).
Prepositions
Prepositions (
prepozicije
předłóžki
) in Upper Sorbian are divided into primary and secondary:
Primary prepositions (
prěnjotne
primarne
) used exclusively as prepositions:
bjez
(“without”),
dla
(“because of, for”),
do
(“to, until, behind, before”, etc.),
(“to, for”),
mjez
(“between”),
na
(“on, about, for, at”),
nad
(“above”),
po
(“after, along”),
pod
(“under, near”),
podłu
(“along”),
pola
(“near”),
porno
(“next to, alongside”),
pře
(“against, because of”),
před
(“before, until, from”),
při
(“at”),
spod
(“from under”),
(“in, into”),
wo
(“about”),
wob
(“through, during”),
wot
(“from”),
(“from, out of”),
za
(“behind, instead of, for”),
zeza
(“because of”), etc.
Secondary prepositions (
druhotne
sekundarne
), derived from full words and not yet fully detached from them:
blisko
(“nearby”),
dale
(“beyond”),
nimo
(“except”),
niže
(“below”),
njedaloko
(“nearby”),
spody
(“under”),
srjedź
(“among”),
wyše
(“above”),
zady
(“behind”),
zboka
(“beside”),
zespody
(“from below”).
Primary prepositions ending with consonants (e.g.,
bjez
přez
wot
nad
pod
mjez
před
) may vocalize — add a vowel
-e
(or
-y
for
mjez
) at the end if the following word starts with a consonant cluster or a consonant of the same place of articulation, e.g.
ze wšeho
(“from all”),
wote dnja
(“from the day”),
we wodźe
(“in water”),
ke choremu
(“to the sick one”).
Particles
Like prepositions or conjunctions, particles (
časćicy
partikle
) in Upper Sorbian are divided into primary and secondary.
Functionally, particles are divided into word-forming, form-building, and modal particles.
F. Michalk divides Upper Sorbian particles into:
intensifiers:
ha
(“just”),
da
(“well, just”),
pak
(“and, just”),
no
(“well, here”) etc.,
semantic modifiers:
wjace
(“more”),
hišće
(“still”),
hižo
(“already”),
hakle
(“barely, only”),
jenož
(“only”),
hač
(“until, if”),
wšak
(“however, still”),
nic
(“not, no, none”) etc.,
grammatical: forming reflexive verbs
so
(“-self”), negative
-nje
(“not”), interrogative
-li
(“if, how, whether”), and words for negation —
ně
(“no”) — and affirmation —
haj
(“yes”).
Interjections
Interjections (
interjekcije
wukřičniki
) in Upper Sorbian are divided into:
expressive (
začućowe
), expressing emotions:
aha
ach
(“ah, oh”),
aj
(“ouch”),
aw
(“ouch”),
fuj
hehe
jej
(“oh no”),
vocative (
wolowe
apelowe
), expressing will or desire and used for addressing the listener:
hop
pst
hej
(“hey”),
onomatopoeic (
zwukinapodobnjowace
onomatopetiske
), imitating natural sounds:
bac
buc
bim
bom
buch
gigagak
kikeriki.
Syntax
Upper Sorbian syntax has the following features:
A characteristic feature distinguishing Upper Sorbian from most other Slavic languages is the order of main components in a simple sentence: Subject – Object – Verb (S–O–V):
Naš dźěd drjewo kała
(“Our grandfather chops wood”);
Ludźo so wjelkow boja
(“People are afraid of wolves”). If the predicate is compound, the auxiliary verb follows the subject, and the nominal part is at the end:
Dobru chwilu bě hišće jich hołk a dźiwi spěw słyšeć
(where
bě
is auxiliary,
słyšeć
is nominal part — “For quite a while their wild shouting and strange singing were still heard”). This syntactic construction is called frame construction.
Presence of a copula in sentences with nominal predicate:
Nan je doma
(“Father is at home”);
Ja sym strowy
(“I am healthy”).
The second position (after the first stressed word or phrase) in a sentence is often occupied by short forms of reflexive and personal pronouns:
mje
mi
će
ći
jón
je
ju
so
sej
, as well as some conjunctions and particles:
drje
(“really”),
pak
(“just”),
wšak
(“however”), etc. For example:
Hač drje waša mać bórze přińdźe?
(“Will your mother really come soon?”). The reflexive particle
so
can also occupy the second position, with the main verb at the sentence end:
Ja so přez tón dar wjeselu
(“I am happy about this gift”). Or immediately after the main verb:
Ja wjeselu so přez tón dar
(“I am happy about this gift”).
When a modifier consists of a noun in genitive singular followed by an adjective or possessive pronoun agreeing with it and placed after the modified noun (
Dźěći mojeho bratra
— “My brother’s children”;
Drasta stareje žony
— “The old woman’s dress”), changing the modifier to be before the modified noun causes the genitive noun to become a possessive adjective with suffixes
-owy-/-iny-
Mojeho bratrowe dźěći
(literally “my brother’s children”);
Stareje žonina drasta
(“old woman’s dress”). Possessive adjectives with these suffixes are considered a separate part of speech — possessives — in modern Upper Sorbian grammar (G. Faska).
The nominal part of compound predicates expressed by a noun in instrumental case is very rare; expressed by an adjective it never stands in the instrumental:
Wowka so wróći strowa
(“Grandmother returned healthy”).
Use of constructions with accusative noun + infinitive:
Wutrobu čuješe spěšnje kłapać
(“He felt his heart beating fast”). Verbs like
stać
(“stand”),
ležeć
(“lie”),
sedźeć
(“sit”),
spać
(“sleep”),
tčeć
(“be located, stick out”) do not occur in such constructions with infinitive; instead, present gerund is used.
Genitive case forms with negation are very rare, mainly used in colloquial Upper Sorbian after the particle
ani
Ani slowa wón njepraji
(“He did not say a word”).
Negation of the copula uses nominative case forms:
Wón tu njeje
(“He is not here”, literally “He here not is”).
Nouns take nominative case if two or more adjectives modify them:
Serbski a ruski lud
(“The Sorbian and Russian peoples”).
Family names in the genitive of possession precede the modified word:
Markec swójba
(“The Markec family”).
When the modifier follows the modified noun (
Wuměnjenja, přijomne za nas
— “Conditions pleasant for us”), changing the modifier to precede the noun reverses the word order inside the modifier group:
Za nas přijomne wuměnjenja
(“For us pleasant conditions”).
The relative pronoun
kotryž
kotrež
kotraž
(“which”) in the genitive stands before the modified noun:
To je ta stwa, kotrejež wokna do zahrodki hladaja
(“This is the room whose windows look into the garden”).
Vocabulary
As a result of long contacts with the German language (for about 1000 years), Upper Sorbian has borrowed a large number of Germanic lexical items, with their number being higher in dialectal speech than in the literary language. At the same time, the core lexical stock of Upper Sorbian remains Slavic — H. Bilfeldt counts no more than 2000 German words among the most common borrowings. Besides direct borrowings, the literary language also contains calques from German words —
ćah
(“train”) < German
Zug
stawizny
(“history”) < German
Geschichte
wócny kraj
(“fatherland”) < German
Vaterland
, and so on. Some German borrowings often differ significantly from words in contemporary German, as they entered Upper Sorbian relatively early; for example, the verb
cwiblować
(“to doubt”) was borrowed from
Middle High German
zwivelen
, which differs from the modern German
zweifeln
, changed after the diphthongization of
. There are also borrowings from other Slavic languages, primarily from
Czech
strój
(“machine”) < Czech
stroj
basnik
(“poet”) < Czech
básník
dźiwadło
(“theatre”) < Czech
divadlo
hudźba
(“music”) < Czech
hudba
, etc.), though these are generally restricted to the literary language.
Examples of lexical differences between spoken and literary language:
Spoken language
Literary language
German
glasses
bryla
brle
nawoči
Brille
thousand
tawzynt
tysac
Tausend
to become
wordować
stać so
werden
clock/watch
zejger
časnik
Seiger
armchair
zesl
křesło
Sessel
money
fenki
pjenjezy
Pfennige
Samples
edit
Serbskej zemi
by J. Bart-Čišinski
O zemja serbska! twoju nož chcu chwalić rolu,
chcu chroble sławić twoje městna starodawne
a wožiwjować twojich synow mjena sławne,
njech wutroba tež rozkoći so z dźiwjej bolu.
O zemja serbska! z kuzłom swojim moju wolu
bróń, zo bych wotkrył starych časow slědy krwawne
a słyšał, kak so z njebjes woła myto sprawne
na cuzu złósć přez twoje hory, hona, holu.
O zemja serbska! chwalić twoje płódne hona
chcu, hory módre, spěwow cunjozrudne hrona
a sławić ćichu nadobnosć chcu twojoh' ludu.
O zemja serbska! nihdy tebje njezabudu!
Twój wobraz widźu w myslenju a wosrjedź sona
mi twoje mjeno klinci kaž zwuk jasnoh' zwona.
O Sorb land! Your fields I want to praise,
boldly to honor your ancient towns,
and to revive the glorious names of your sons,
even if my heart breaks from wild pain.
O Sorb land! With your magic defend my will,
that I may uncover bloody traces of old times,
and hear how from the heavens calls the just reward
against the enemy’s malice across your mountains, fields, and forests.
O Sorb land! I want to praise your fertile fields,
blue mountains, the sad melodies of songs,
and to glorify the quiet nobility of your people.
O Sorb land! I will never forget you!
I see your image in thoughts and in the midst of dreams,
your name sounds to me like the clear ringing of a bell.
The
Lord's Prayer
in Upper Sorbian:
Wótče naš, kiž sy w njebjesach. Swjeć so Twoje mjeno. Přińdź Twoje kralestwo. Stań so Twoja wola, kaž na njebju, tak na zemi. Wšědny chlěb naš daj nam dźens. Wodaj nam naše winy, jako my tež wodawamy swojim winikam. A njewjedź nas do spytowanja, ale wumóž nas wot złeho. Amen.
Article 1 of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
in Upper Sorbian:
Wšitcy čłowjekojo su wot naroda swobodni a su jenacy po dostojnosći a prawach. Woni su z rozumom a swědomjom wobdarjeni a maja mjezsobu w duchu bratrowstwa wobchadźeć.
(All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.)
53
A text in
colloquial
Upper Sorbian:
Text
54
German
Translation
54
Alzo, po nas we swójbe dawe jen nałožk, kotryž my kóžde lěto jutre činimy, a to na jutrownej póndźeli. Po tym zo běchu nedźelu naše křižerjo po puću, so naša cóła swójba zetka jutre póndźelu šiponu. Alzo to rěka wowka, dźědo, šě wuje ha ćete, kuzine, kuzenki. A mó so pon šě hrómadźe na puć podamo do jedno blisko lěsa, to jo někak dwacci mejnšiny pěši zdalene wot našej wowki. A tam mamo mó jenu tajku małku hórku srejdź lěsa, hdźež žane štómu nejsu. Ha tam sej mó pon šece naše deki połožimo, ha mó dźěći hale tež te dorosćene so do lěsa podamo ha tam te dariki, kotrež jo jutrowne zajac, kwazi naš dźěd, do to schował, te mó pon šece pótamo. Nanajhušćišo su to někajke [malič...] maličkosće ha słódkosće, warene jeja. Ha pon mó tam šě hrómadźe sejdźimo ha te jeja do so tykamo ha cyle jednore hrómadźe rěčimo, to jo jemo jen zes tych małoch wókomikow, zo šě hrómadźe šińdu. Ha ći křižerjo z našeje swójby su wězo tej wesoło, zo móža wone kusk wotpočnć po tym, haj, napinacym jutrownym jěchanju. Ha to zno moja wowka zes jeje staršimi činiła, moje starši su to čineli, hdyž su wone mało bóli, ha něk mó to zno tež činimo, ha to bě šece na tón samsny blak, ha mó budźemo to zawěsće tež šće šec tak dale wešć, haj. To jo poprawom šo
Also, bei uns in der Familie gibt es einen Brauch, den wir jedes Jahr an Ostern machen, und das am Ostermontag. Nachdem am Sonntag unsere Osterreiter unterwegs waren, trifft sich unsere ganze Familie am Ostermontag mittags. Also das heißt Großmutter, Großvater, alle Onkel und Tanten, Cousinen, Cousins. Und wir begeben uns dann alle zusammen auf den Weg in einen nahen Wald, das ist etwa zwanzig Minuten zu Fuß entfernt von unserer Großmutter. Und dort haben wir so einen kleinen Hügel mitten im Wald, wo keine Bäume sind. Und dort legen wir uns dann immer unsere Decken hin, und wir Kinder, aber auch die Erwachsenen, begeben uns in den Wald, und dort die Geschenke, die der Osterhase, das heißt unser Großvater, vorher versteckt hat, die suchen wir dann immer. Am aller häufigsten sind es irgendwelche Kleinigkeiten und Süßigkeiten, gekochte Eier. Und dann sitzen wir dort alle zusammen und stopfen die Eier in uns hinein und reden ganz einfach miteinander, das ist mal einer der wenigen Augenblicke, daß alle zusammen kommen. Und die Osterreiter aus unserer Familie sind natürlich auch froh, daß sie sich ein bißchen ausruhen können nach dem, ja, anstrengenden Osterreiten. Und das hat schon meine Großmutter mit ihren Eltern gemacht, meine Eltern haben das gemacht, als sie klein waren, und jetzt machen wir es auch schon, und es war immer zu demselben Fleck, und wir werden es bestimmt auch noch immer so weiterführen, ja. Das ist eigentlich alles.
See also
edit
Lower Sorbian language
Notes
edit
Verb forms ending with -li are personal masculine forms
References
edit
Upper Sorbian
at
Ethnologue
(18th ed., 2015)
(subscription required)
"9780781807807: Sorbian (Wendish)-English English-Sorbian (Wendish) Concise Dictionary (Concise Dictionaries) (English and Sorbian Languages Edition) – AbeBooks – Strauch, Mercin: 0781807808"
Bleakly (2023)
, p. 20.
Howson (2017)
, p. 359.
"Лужи́цкий язы́к"
tapemark.narod.ru
. Retrieved
9 August
2025
"Upper Sorbian"
Ethnologue
. Retrieved
9 August
2025
"Reservations and Declarations for Treaty No.148 - European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (ETS No. 148)"
coe.int
. Retrieved
9 August
2025
"Who are the Sorbs? And where is Sorbian being spoken?"
Language Diversity – English
(in German). 2013-08-21
. Retrieved
2024-12-05
Ermakova, M. I.
"ФУНКЦИОНИРОВАНИЕ СЕРБОЛУЖИЦКОГО ЯЗЫКА"
philology.ru
. Retrieved
9 August
2025
Lapteva, L. P.; Kunze, P.
"ИСТОРИЯ СЕРБОЛУЖИЦКОГО НАРОДА"
(PDF)
slavcenteur.ru
. pp.
29–
30. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on 22 August 2020
. Retrieved
9 August
2025
"Idiosyncratic Factors in Language Endangerment: The Case of Upper Sorbian"
journals.dartmouth.edu
. Retrieved
9 August
2025
"ИССЛЕДОВАНИЕ СЛАВЯНСКИХ ЯЗЫКОВ В РУСЛЕ ТРАДИЦИЙ СРАВНИТЕЛЬНО-ИСТОРИЧЕСКОГО И СОПОСТАВИТЕЛЬНОГО ЯЗЫКОЗНАНИЯ"
(PDF)
philol.msu.ru
. Retrieved
9 August
2025
Budarjowa, Ludmila.
"Aktualna analyza serbskeho šulstwa"
(PDF)
sorbischer-schulverein.de
. Retrieved
9 August
2025
"Aktualne prinosk"
mdr.de
. Retrieved
9 August
2025
"Das Frühprogramm des SORBISCHEN RUNDFUNKS"
mdr.de
. Retrieved
9 August
2025
"Hornjoserbska rěčna komisija (HRK)"
domowina.de
. Retrieved
9 August
2025
"Серболужицкий язык"
(PDF)
slavcenteur.ru
. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on 24 December 2013
. Retrieved
9 August
2025
Stone (2002)
, p. 600.
Howson (2017)
, pp. 363–634.
Stone (2002)
, p. 604.
Šewc-Schuster (1984)
, p. 32.
Šewc-Schuster (1984)
, p. 33.
Howson (2017)
, p. 365.
Stone (2002)
, pp. 601, 606–607.
Šewc-Schuster (1984)
, p. 20.
Šewc-Schuster (1984)
, p. 31.
Šewc-Schuster (1984)
, p. 46.
Šewc-Schuster (1984)
, pp. 35–37, 41, 46.
Šewc-Schuster (1984)
, p. 41.
Šewc-Schuster (1984
:36–37, 41, 46). On page 36, the author states that Upper Sorbian
/w/
is less velar than Polish
/w/
. The weakness of the velarization is confirmed by the corresponding image on page 37.
Šewc-Schuster (1984)
, p. 36.
Stone (2002)
, pp. 603–604.
Šewc-Schuster (1984)
, pp. 37–41, 46.
Zygis (2003)
, pp. 190–191.
Šewc-Schuster (1984)
, pp. 37, 39, 46.
Šewc-Schuster (1984)
, pp. 39, 46.
Šewc-Schuster (1984)
, p. 38.
Zygis (2003)
, p. 191.
Šewc-Schuster (1984)
, pp. 40–41.
Zygis (2003)
, pp. 180–181, 190–191.
Zygis (2003)
, p. 180.
Stone (2002)
, pp. 600, 602.
Šewc-Schuster (1984)
, pp. 42–44, 46.
Šewc-Schuster (1984)
, pp. 26–27, 42–43.
Howson (2017)
, p. 362.
Šewc-Schuster (1984)
, p. 43.
Howson (2017)
, pp. 362, 365.
Stone (2002)
, p. 602.
Šewc-Schuster (1984)
, p. 26.
Šewc-Schuster (1984)
, p. 27.
Šewc-Schuster (1984)
, p. 28.
Form of the adjective that agrees with an animate noun
Sorbian
at Omniglot.com
"Pangloss Collection | Colloquial Upper Sorbian corpus - Sorbische Ostern"
pangloss.cnrs.fr
. Retrieved
2025-12-21
Bibliography
edit
Bleakly, Evan W. (2023),
"Upper Sorbian in Budyšin / Bautzen: Examples from Bautzen's Linguistic Landscape"
Мова Кодифікація Компетенція Комунікація
1–
6–
7):
20–
39,
doi
10.2478/lccc-2022-0002
Howson, Phil (2017),
"Upper Sorbian"
Journal of the International Phonetic Association
47
(3):
359–
367,
doi
10.1017/S0025100316000414
S2CID
232350142
Ross, Malcom. 2020. Syntax and contact-induced language change. In A. Grant (ed.)
The Oxford Handbook of Language Contact
. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 123–154. [Upper Sorbian and German contact, with resulting changes in Sorbian]
Šewc-Schuster, Hinc (1984),
Gramatika hornjo-serbskeje 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
175–
213,
doi
10.21248/zaspil.32.2003.191
, archived from
the original
(PDF)
on 2017-10-11
, retrieved
2015-04-20
Further reading
edit
Rubach, Jerzy (2008), "Palatal nasal decomposition in Slovene, Upper Sorbian and Polish",
Journal of Linguistics
44
(1):
169–
204,
doi
10.1017/S0022226707004987
JSTOR
40058031
S2CID
146558564
Wölkowa, Sonja (2008).
"Hornjoserbska frazeologija w interneće"
[Upper Sorbian Language Use in the Internet].
Lětopis
(in Upper Sorbian) (1):
36–
47.
External links
edit
Wikimedia Commons has media related to
Upper Sorbian language
Wikisource has several original texts related to
Upper Sorbian language
Upper Sorbian edition
of
Wikipedia
, the free encyclopedia
Online course for Upper and Lower Sorbian
(English, Sorbian, German)
Course in Upper Sorbian
Kurs serbskeje rěče
, introductory texts of the lessons included in the Sorbian language textbook
Curs practic de limba sorabă
Dictionaries
edit
(in Czech and Upper Sorbian)
Upper Sorbian dictionary with common phrases
(in German and Upper Sorbian)
Upper Sorbian phraseology dictionary
(in German and Upper Sorbian)
SorbWord
(in German and Upper Sorbian)
Sorbian 'language practice' page
at
Leipzig University
(in German and Upper Sorbian)
Sorbian information page
at
Leipzig University
(in German and Upper Sorbian)
Wortschatz.de
Czech-Sorbian and Sorbian-Czech
edit
at
slovnik.vancl.eu
Mudra 2.0
German-Sorbian
edit
at
sibz.whyi.org
at
Boehmak.de
Sorbian-German
edit
at
Boehmak.de
Archived
2021-01-20 at the
Wayback Machine
at
sibz.whyi.org
Languages of Germany
Official language
German
Standard High German
Regional/minority
languages
Recognized
Danish
Frisian
North
Saterland
Low German
Romani
Sorbian
Upper Sorbian language
Lower Sorbian language
Unrecognized
Central German
Ripuarian
Moselle Franconian
Upper Saxon
Upper German
Alemannic
Swabian
Bavarian
Low Franconian
Limburgish
German Sign Language
Slavic languages
History
Proto-Balto-Slavic
Up to Proto-Slavic
Proto-Slavic
Accent
Church Slavonic
Old Church Slavonic
Cyrillic script
Glagolitic script
Modern languages
East Slavic
Belarusian
Simple speech
Old East Slavic
Old Novgorodian
Old Pskovian
Ruthenian
Russian
dialects
Alaskan Russian
Doukhobor Russian
Odesan Russian
Siberian dialects
Rusyn
Ukrainian
dialects
Canadian Ukrainian
Simple speech
South Slavic
Eastern
Bulgarian
Church Slavonic
Old Church Slavonic
Macedonian
Transitional
Torlakian
Gorani
Western
ru
Alpine Slavic
Serbo-Croatian
Bosnian
Croatian
Montenegrin
Serbian
Slavomolisano
Slovene
West Slavic
Czech–Slovak
Czech
Biblical Czech
Czechoslovak
Knaanic
Moravian
Slovak
Camaldolese Slovak
Eastern Slovak
Pannonian Rusyn
Lechitic
East Lechitic
Polish
Masurian
dialects
Old Polish
Middle Polish
Silesian
Lach
Pomeranian
Kashubian
Slovincian
West Lechitic
Marcho-Magdeburgian
Polabian
Rani
Sorbian
Upper Sorbian
Lower Sorbian
Schleifer
Microlanguages
and dialects
East Slavic
Carpathian Rusyn
Lemko
Podlachian
West Polesian
South Slavic
Banat Bulgarian
Chakavian
Burgenland Croatian
Kajkavian
Pomak
Prekmurje Slovene
Resian
Shtokavian
Slavomolisano
Bunjevac
Šokac
Slavic dialects of Greece
West Slavic
Eastern Slovak
Pannonian Rusyn
Goral
Knaanic
Lach
Silesian
Cieszyn Silesian
Mixed languages
Balachka
20th century
Bohemian Romani
Kyakhta Russian–Chinese Pidgin
Mednyj Aleut
Ponaschemu
Quelia
Romano-Serbian
Runglish
Russenorsk
Solombala English
Surzhyk
Taimyr Pidgin Russian
Trasianka
Constructed
languages
Pan-Slavic language
Interslavic
Lydnevi
Army Slavic
Iazychie
Slavonic-Serbian
Historical
phonology
Slavic first palatalization
Slavic second palatalization
Slavic liquid metathesis and pleophony
Monophthongization
Dybo's law
Havlík's law
Hirt's law
Illič-Svityč's law
Ivšić's law
Meillet's law
Pedersen's law
ruki
sound law
Van Wijk's law
Winter's law
Italics
indicate
extinct languages
Authority control databases
International
GND
National
United States
France
BnF data
Israel
Other
Yale LUX
Retrieved from "
Categories
Upper Sorbian language
Sorbian languages
Languages of Germany
Endangered Slavic languages
Culture of Saxony
Upper Lusatia
Slavic languages written in Latin script
Hidden categories:
Pages containing links to subscription-only content
Language articles citing Ethnologue 18
CS1 German-language sources (de)
Pages with plain IPA
Articles with short description
Short description is different from Wikidata
Articles containing Upper Sorbian-language text
Pages with Upper Sorbian IPA
Language articles with Linguasphere code
Languages with ISO 639-2 code
Articles containing German-language text
Articles with specifically marked weasel-worded phrases from August 2025
All articles needing examples
Articles needing examples from August 2017
Articles to be expanded from April 2015
All articles to be expanded
All articles with unsourced statements
Articles with unsourced statements from August 2025
CS1 foreign language sources (ISO 639-2)
Commons category link is on Wikidata
Articles with Czech-language sources (cs)
Articles with Upper Sorbian-language sources (hsb)
Articles with German-language sources (de)
Webarchive template wayback links
Upper Sorbian language
Add topic