Lower Sorbian
| Lower Sorbian | |
|---|---|
| Dolnoserbski, Dolnoserbšćina | |
| Pronunciation | [ˈdɔlnɔˌsɛrskʲi] |
| Native to | Germany |
| Region | Brandenburg |
| Ethnicity | Sorbs |
|
Native speakers
|
6,900 (2007) |
|
Indo-European
|
|
| Latin (Sorbian alphabet) | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-2 | |
| ISO 639-3 | |
| Glottolog | lowe1385 |
| Linguasphere | 53-AAA-ba < 53-AAA-b < 53-AAA-b...-d (varieties: 53-AAA-baa to 53-AAA-bah) |
Lower Sorbian (Dolnoserbski) is a Slavic minority language spoken in eastern Germany in the historical province of Lower Lusatia, today part of Brandenburg. It is one of the two literary Sorbian languages, the other being Upper Sorbian.
Lower Sorbian is spoken in and around the city of Cottbus in Brandenburg. Signs in this region are usually bilingual, and Cottbus has a Gymnasium where one language of instruction is Lower Sorbian. It is a heavily endangered language. Most native speakers are in the oldest generation today.
The phonology of Lower Sorbian has been greatly influenced by contact with German, especially in Cottbus and larger towns. For example, German-influenced pronunciation tends to have a voiced uvular fricative [ʁ] instead of the alveolar trill [r]. In villages and rural areas German influence is less marked, and the pronunciation is more "typically Slavic".
Lower Sorbian has both final devoicing and regressive voicing assimilation:
The retroflex fricative /ʂ/ is assimilated to [ɕ] before /t͡ɕ/:
The vowel inventory of Lower Sorbian is exactly the same as that of Upper Sorbian. It is also very similar to the vowel inventory of Slovene.
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Wikipedia