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

Language

Lower Sorbian (dolnoserbski)

Description

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

Lower Sorbian is spoken by the Sorbs in Germany, who live in the region of Lower 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 Lower Sorbian is 7,000.

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 developed. Lower Sorbian is closely related to Polish and is based on the dialect that was spoken in the area around the city of Cottbus.

Important Words

  • Hello - Witaj
  • Thank you - dźakuju
  • Use your tongue not just for kissing - Njewužywaj swój jězyk jano za póškanje!
  • You are not alone - TY NJEJSY SAM(A)

Language families

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