Language Diversity - Language Diversity - Map of Minorities & Regional and Minority Languages of Europe for and about linguistic and cultural diversity in Europe.

Language

Upper Sorbian (Hornjoserbsce)

Description

Upper Sorbian belongs to the group of West-Slavic languages in the Slavic branch of the Indo-European language family.

Upper Sorbian is spoken by the Sorbs in Germany, who live in the region of Lusatia. The Sorbs are the smallest West-Slavic people and do not have a state of their own. In Lusatia, Sorbian is an official language, next to German. According to estimates of Ethnologue, the number of speakers of Upper Sorbian is 18,000.

Two different written languages are distinguished: Upper Sorbian in Upper Lusatia and Lower Sorbian in Lower Lusatia. Both languages retained some particularities from the old-Slavic languages. In the border region of Upper and Lower Lusatia some transitional dialects have developed. Upper Sorbian is closely related to Czech and Slovak and developed on the basis of the dialect that was spoken in the area around the city of Bautzen.

Important Words

  • Hello - Witaj
  • Thank you - dźakuju
  • Cheers - K strowosći!
  • Use your tongue not just for kissing - Njewužiwaj swój jazyk jenož za hubkowanje!
  • You are not alone - Ty njejsy sam(a)

Language families

  1. Indo-European
  2. Slavic
  3. West-Slavic
  4. Sorbian
  5. Upper Sorbian