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Sorbian language)
The Sorbian languages are members of the West Slavic branch of languages spoken in eastern Germany. They are also known as Wendish or Lusatian. Their collective ISO 639-2 code is wen.
There are two literary languages: Upper Sorbian (hornjoserbsce), spoken by about 55,000 people in Saxony, and Lower Sorbian (dolnoserbski) spoken by about 14,000 people in Brandenburg. The area where the two languages are spoken is known as Lusatia (Łužica in Upper Sorbian, Łužyca in Lower Sorbian, or Lausitz in German).
Both languages have dual grammatical number; they are among the very few living Indo-European languages to retain this feature (the other being Slovenian). The dual is used when exactly two people or things are meant and is in addition to singular and plural.
In Germany Upper and Lower Sorbian are officially recognized and protected as minority languages.
The city of Bautzen near Dresden is a centre of Upper Sorbian culture. Notable is the fact that bilingual signs can be seen around the city including the name of the city itself at the railway station given as 'Bautzen/Budyšin'.
The city of Cottbus (Chóśebuz) is considered the cultural centre of Lower Sorbian; here too bilingual signs are found.
Sorbian is also spoken in the small Wendish settlement of Serbin in Lee County, Texas, and until recently newspapers were published in Wendish there. It has been heavily influenced by surrounding speakers of German and English.
See also: Sorbs, Wends, Sorbian alphabet
External links
Last updated: 07-31-2005 03:29:04
