From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The
Sorbian languages
are
Slavic languages
, a branch of the
Indo-European languages
.
They are the
Sorbs
' native languages, who are a Slavic minority in eastern
Germany
. The languages used to be known as
Wendish
or
Lusatian
.
There are two languages:
Upper Sorbian
(
hornjoserbsce
), spoken by about 40,000 people in
Saxony
, and Lower Sorbian (
dolnoserbski
), spoken by about 10,000 people in
Brandenburg
. Both languages are spoken is an area known as
Lusatia
(
Łu?ica
in Upper Sorbian,
Łu?yca
in Lower Sorbian and
Lausitz
in
German
).
In Germany, Upper and Lower Sorbian are officially recognized and protected as minority languages by the
European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages
. In the home areas of the Sorbs, both languages are officially equal to German.
A bilingual sign in
Bautzen
The city of
Bautzen
,
Upper Lusatia
, is the centre of Upper Sorbian culture. Bilingual signs can be seen around the city, including the name of the city, "Bautzen/
Budy?in
".
The city of
Cottbus
(
Cho?ebuz
) is considered the cultural centre of Lower Sorbian. Cottbuss also has bilingual signs.
Sorbian is also spoken in the small Sorbian (“Wendish”) settlement of
Serbin
in
Lee County, Texas
. Until recently newspapers were published in Sorbian there. The local dialect has been heavily influenced by surrounding speakers of
German
and
English
.
American and Australian communities often prefer to call themselves “Wends” or “Wendish” since think that “Sorb” and “Sorbian” are bad words.