Wymysorys language

File:Bielsko-Biała Language Island.png settlements from the Middle Ages and later.]]

In origin, Wymysorys is considered to derive from 12th-century Middle High German, with a strong influence from Polish, and presumably also some influence from Low German, Dutch, Old English and perhaps Frisian.{{cite thesis |last=Ritchie |first=Carlo J. W. |title=Some Considerations on the Origins of Wymysorys |date=November 2012 |degree=BA |publisher=University of Sydney |url=https://www.academia.edu/8290384}}{{citation |last=Andrason |first=Alexander |title=Zarys gramatyczny współczesnego języka wilamowskiego |url=http://www.malopolska.org/images/pliki/roczniki/rm_16_2014/rm_16_2014_p09.pdf |language=pl |trans-title=A grammatical outline of the contemporary Wymysorys language |journal=Małopolska |year=2014 |volume=16 |pages=119–135}} The inhabitants of Wilamowice are thought to be descendants of German, Flemish and Scottish settlers who arrived in Poland during the 13th century.{{citation |date=12 June 2014 |title=Język wilamowski pomoże zachować mowę Azteków |language=pl |trans-title=The Wymysorys language will help preserve the speech of the Aztecs |publisher=Polskie Radio |url=https://www.polskieradio.pl/7/179/Artykul/1150127,Jezyk-wilamowski-pomoze-zachowac-mowe-Aztekow |access-date=}} Many of the inhabitants claim that they are descended from the people of Flanders, Friesland, and Holland, with others claiming to be descended from the Anglo-Saxons.{{cite book |last1=Andrason |first1=Alexander |last2=Król |first2=Tymoteusz |title=A Grammar of Wymysorys |url=https://slaviccenters.duke.edu/sites/slaviccenters.duke.edu/files/wymysorys-grammar.original.pdf |year=2016 |publisher=Duke University |department=Slavic and East European Resource Center |publication-place=Durham, North Carolina}} Although historically derived from the German dialect continuum, Wymysorys is not mutually intelligible with Standard German.Wicherkiewicz, op. cit.{{rp|p=15}} Unlike in other West Germanic enclave communities in Polish-speaking territory, where closely related dialects (e.g. Halcnovian) were spoken, Wymysorys speakers did not self-identify as Germans and used Polish, not German, as Dachsprache.{{Cite book|last=Mętrak|first=Maciej|date=2019|chapter=Wymysorys (Vilamovicean) and Halcnovian: Historical and Present-Day Sociolinguistic Situation of Microlanguages in a Southern-Polish Language Island|chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/37917808|editor1=Rezoničnik, Lidija|editor2=Zavašnik, Nina|title=Slovani od preloma 19. in 20. stoletja do danes: jezikovne, zgodovinsko-politične spremembe in književni doprinos (The Slavs from the Turn of 19th and 20th Centuries Until Now: Linguistic, Historical and Political Changes and Literature)|url=http://www.dlib.si/stream/URN:NBN:SI:DOC-L5NNZ633/44e3ea47-c1fa-4945-afd8-3f991facf951/PDF|location=Ljubljana|publisher=Zveza društev Slavistično društvo Slovenije (Študentska sekcija)|language=en|pages=7–19}}{{rp|12}}

File:Bielitz-Bialaer Sprachinsel 1855.jpg

Wymysorys was the vernacular language of Wilamowice until World War II. However, it seems it has been in decline since the late 19th century. In 1880 as many as 92% of the town's inhabitants spoke Wymysorys (1,525 out of 1,662 people), in 1890 – only 72%, in 1900 – 67%, in 1910 – 73% again.{{rp|p=10}} Although Wymysorys was taught in local schools (under the name of "local variety of German"), since 1875 the basic language of instruction in most schools in Austro-Hungarian Galicia was Polish.{{rp|p=10}} During World War II and the German occupation of Poland, Wymysorys was openly promoted by the Nazi administration, but after the war the tables turned: local communist authorities forbade the use of Wymysorys in any form.{{rp|p=10}}{{citation |last=Żak |first=Andrzej |title=Wpływ języka polskiego na zagrożony wymarciem wilamowski etnolekt wymysiöeryś |language=pl |trans-title=The influence of the Polish language on the endangered Wymysorys ethnolect wymysiöeryś |page=3 |url=http://inne-jezyki.amu.edu.pl/Editor/files/AZak%20wymysioerys.pdf |access-date=}} The widespread bilingualism of the people saved most local residents from being forcibly resettled to Germany, but many of them stopped teaching their children their language or even using it in daily life.{{rp|p=12}} Although the ban was lifted after 1956, Wymysorys has been gradually replaced by Polish, especially among the younger generation. Most of the inhabitants have the same surnames (Mozler, Rozner, Figwer, Biba, Foks, Sznajder), which led to the use of nicknames (Fliöer-Fliöer, Hȧla-Mockja, i.e. Florian, son of Florian or Maciej, son of Elżbieta).

Nowadays, as part of saving the Wymysorys culture, new songs and lyrics are written in this language. The play {{lang|wym|Hobbit. Hejn ȧn cyryk}} was written in Wymysorys, based on the prose of J. R. R. Tolkien, and was staged, among others, at the Polish Theatre in Warsaw in February 2016.{{cite web |url=http://www.teatrpolski.waw.pl/pl/cykle_i_wydarzenia/wydarzenia/?id_act=539 |title=Cykle i wydarzenia – Wydarzenia – Teatr Polski im. Arnolda Szyfmana w Warszawie |date=26 February 2016 |language=pl |trans-title=Cycles and events – Events – Polish Theatre named after Arnold Szyfman in Warsaw |access-date=23 February 2016}}

File:Bezirk Bielitz Sprachinsel 1910.jpg

Acting on a proposal by Tymoteusz Król, the Library of Congress added the Wymysorys language to the register of languages on 18 July 2007.{{cite AV media |last=Golik |first=Darek |year=2010 |title=Wymysiöeryś – jeszcze mowa nie zginęła |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfg3jHV1TzE |trans-title=Wymysiöeryś – the language has not yet perished |publisher=Agencja Fotograficzna Fotorzepa, Rzeczpospolita |location=Warsaw |time=7:25 |language=pl}} It was also registered in the International Organization for Standardization, where it received the wym ISO 639-3 code.{{cite web |url=http://www.revitalization.al.uw.edu.pl/eng/Wymysorys/63/47/how-i-started-to-revitalize-my-language |title=How I started to revitalize my language |last=Król |first=Tymoteusz |website=Revitalizing Endangered Languages |date=27 January 2014 |access-date=14 August 2016}} In a 2009 UNESCO report Wymysorys has been reported as "severely endangered" and nearly extinct.

Members of the Wikimedia Polska association were also involved in saving this dying language. As part of the "Wilamowice" project,{{citation |title=Wilamowice – Wikimedia Polska|access-date=3 November 2018 |publisher=pl.wikimedia.org |url=https://pl.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wilamowice |language=pl}} Wymysorys words read by Józef Gara were recorded, and the Wymysorys dictionary in Wiktionary was supplemented (in 2018, the dictionary consisted of over 7,000 words).{{citation |last=Jarosz |first=Monika |title=Świąteczne kolędowanie |language=pl |trans-title=Christmas caroling |date=4 January 2013 |access-date=3 November 2018 |publisher=Website of the Municipal and Communal Cultural Centre in Wilamowice |url=https://mgok.wilamowice.pl/artykul/%C5%9Bwi%C4%85teczne-kol%C4%99dowanie}}{{citation |title=Józef Gara nagrodzony przez Wikimedia Polska – Blog Stowarzyszenia Wikimedia Polska |language=pl |trans-title=Józef Gara awarded by Wikimedia Polska – Wikimedia Polska Association Blog |magazine=Wikimedia Polska Association Blog |date=27 December 2012 |access-date=3 November 2018 |url=http://blog.wikimedia.pl/blog/2012/12/27/jozef-gara-nagrodzony-przez-wikimedia-polska/}}

File:02021 0499 Wymysorys language, Equality March 2021 in Bielsko-Biała.jpg Equality March 2021 with the conjugation of the word to love in Wymysorys]]

File:Skiöekumt in Wymysoü - Witamy w mieście Wilamowice.jpg

File:About the church in Wymysorys language - O kościele w języku wilamowskim.jpg

Some new revitalisation efforts were started in the first decade of the 21st century, led by speaker Tymoteusz Król, whose efforts include private lessons with a group of pupils as well as compiling language records, standardising written orthography and compiling the first ever dictionary of Wymysorys. Additionally, a new project called The Wymysiöeryśy Akademyj – Accademia Wilamowicziana or WA-AW was established under the "Artes Liberales" program at the University of Warsaw with the intention of creating a unified scholastic body for the study of the Wymysorys language.{{cite web |url=http://www.revitalization.al.uw.edu.pl/eng/Wymysorys?authorID=28 |title=Wymysorys Language |last=Ritchie |first=Carlos |year=2014 |website=Revitalizing Endangered Languages}}

• Voiced stops, sibilant fricatives and affricates are regularly devoiced or voiceless in final position.
• The sounds of {{IPA|/x/}} and {{IPA|/h/}} are interchangeable among different speakers. The use of {{IPA|[x]}} is typically heard at the beginning of a word, possibly due to the influence of Polish, even though historically in Germanic languages, the glottal fricative {{IPA|[h]}} is typically heard.
• The series of palato-alveolar {{IPA|/ʃ, ʒ, t͡ʃ/}} and alveolo-palatal {{IPA|/ɕ, ʑ, t͡ɕ/}} fricative and affricate sounds, are heard interchangeably among various speakers.
• {{IPA|[ç]}} is heard in word-final position, as an allophone of {{IPA|/x/}}.
• The voiced affricates {{IPA|/d͡z, d̠͡z̠, d͡ʒ, d͡ʑ/}} are only heard in Polish loanwords.
• A series of flat post-alveolar sibilants and affricates {{IPA|[s̠, z̠, t̠͡s̠, d̠͡z̠]}}, are also heard in Polish loanwords, interchangeably with alveolar-palatal sounds {{IPA|/ɕ, ʑ, t͡ɕ, d͡ʑ/}}.
• The labial-velar approximant {{IPA|/w/}} is pronounced with a lesser degree of lip rounding than in English, and is more similar to the Polish pronunciation of ł {{IPA|[w]}}.

• The close-mid sound {{IPA|/ɘ/}} is phonetically more fronted as {{IPA|[ɘ̟]}}.
• Mid central vowel sounds {{IPA|/ɘ, ə/}} are also heard close central sounds {{IPA|[ɨ, ʉ]}}, among speakers.

Wymysorys has been for centuries mostly a spoken language. It was not until the times of Florian Biesik, the first author of major literary works in the language, that a need for a separate version of a Latin alphabet arose. Biesik wrote most of his works in plain Polish alphabet, which he considered better-suited for the phonetics of his language.{{rp|p=24}} In recent times Józef Gara (1929–2013), another author of works in the local language, devised a distinct Wymysorys alphabet, consisting of 34 letters derived from the Latin script and mostly based on Polish as well:

Wymysorys orthography includes the digraph "AO", which is treated as a separate letter.

A sample of Wymysorys words with German, Dutch and English translations. Note that {{lang|wym|ł|italic=no}} is read in Wymysorys like English w (as in Polish), and {{lang|wym|w|italic=no}} like v (as in Polish and German):

Lord's Prayer in Wymysorys

{{col-begin}}

{{col-2}}

{{lang|wym|Ynzer Foter[https://www.wordproject.org/bibles/resources/our_father/w/Ynzer%20Foter_wymysoris.html Ynzer Foter]

Ynzer Foter, dü byst ym hymuł,

Daj noma zuł zajn gywajt;

Daj Kyngrajch zuł dö kuma;

Daj wyła zuł zajn ym hymuł an uf der aot;

dos ynzer gywynłichys brut go yns hojt;

an fercaj yns ynzer siułda,

wi wir oj fercajn y ynzyn siułdigia;

ny łat yns cyn zynda;

zunder konst yns reta fum nistgüta.

[Do Dajs ej z Kyngrajch an dy mocht, ans łowa uf inda.]

Amen}}

{{col-2}}

Our Father; English translation

Our Father, thou (who) art in heaven,

Thy name shall be hallowed;

Thy kingdom shall come here;

Thy will shall be in heaven and on earth;

give our daily bread to us today;

and forgive us our debts/sins,

as we, too, forgive our debtors/sinners;

don't lead us to sin;

but save us from evil.

[For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.]

Amen.

{{col-end}}

A lullaby in Wymysorys with English translation:

{{col-begin}}

{{col-2}}

{{lang|wym|Śłöf maj buwła fest!

Skumma fremdy gest,

Skumma muma ana fettyn,

Z' brennia nysła ana epułn,

Śłöf maj Jasiu fest!}}

{{col-2}}

Sleep, my boy, soundly!

Foreign guests are coming,

Aunts and uncles are coming,

Bringing nuts and apples,

Sleep, my Johnny, soundly!

{{col-end}}

{{Wikisourcelang|pl|Narzecze wilamowickie|Wymysorys language}}

{{Wikisource|Zbiór wierszy o wilamowskich obrzędach i obyczajach|A collection of poems about Wymysorys' rituals and customs}}

• Alzenau dialect
• Silesian language
• Silesian German
• Vilamovians

{{reflist}}

• {{Cite book|last=Wicherkiewicz|first=Tomasz|author-link=Tomasz Wicherkiewicz|title=The Making of a Language: The Case of the Idiom of Wilamowice, Southern Poland|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LuPGek6L4gIC|publisher=De Gruyter|location=Berlin|year=2003|isbn=9783110170993|oclc=811407652}}
• Andrason, Alexander. Complexity of endangered minority languages: The sound system of Wymysiöeryś. Coler, Matt, and Andrew Nevins, eds. Contemporary research in minoritized and diaspora languages of Europe, p. 213-260. Vol. 6. Language Science Press, 2023. Open Access online.
• {{Citation|last=Andrason|first=Alexander|title=Where Germanic and Slavic Meet – New Polish-based Tenses in the Vilamovicean Language|url=https://www.academia.edu/31072487|journal=Germanoslavica|year=2016|volume=27|issue=1|pages=1–17|publisher=Institute of Slavonic Studies of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic and Euroslavica|issn=1210-9029|format=PDF}}
• {{Citation|last1=Andrason|first1=Alexander|last2=Król|first2=Tymoteusz|title=A Grammar of Wymysorys|url=https://slaviccenters.duke.edu/sites/slaviccenters.duke.edu/files/wymysorys-grammar.original.pdf|year=2016|publisher=Duke University|department=Slavic and East European Resource Center|publication-place=Durham, North Carolina}}
• {{Citation|last=Andrason|first=Alexander|editor1-last=Willim|editor-first1=Ewa|editor2-last=Urban|editor-first2=Mateusz|title=Vilamovicean – A Germanic-Slavic Mixed Language?|url=https://www.academia.edu/18195531|journal=Studies in Polish Linguistics|year=2015|volume=10|issue=2|pages=57–85|publisher=Stellenbosch University|department=Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences|publication-place=Stellenbosch, South Africa|issn=1732-8160|doi=10.4467/23005920SPL.15.003.3560|format=PDF}}
• {{Cite book|last=Lasatowicz|first=Maria Katarzyna|author-link=:de:Maria Katarzyna Lasatowicz|year=1992|title=Die deutsche Mundart von Wilamowice zwischen 1920 und 1987|trans-title=The German dialect of Wilamowice between 1920 and 1987|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kBToAAAAIAAJ|language=de|publisher=University of Opole|department=Higher Pedagogical School of Silesian Insurgents in Opole|location=Opole|isbn=9788385012948}}
• {{Citation|last=Mojmir|first=Hermann|author-link=:de:Hermann Mojmir|year=1930–1936|title=Wörterbuch der deutschen Mundart von Wilamowice|trans-title=Dictionary of the German dialect of Wilamowice|language=de|publisher=Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences|publication-place=Kraków|url=https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Hermann_Mojmir_-_Słownik_niemieckiej_gwary_Wilamowic}}
• {{Citation|last=Młynek|first=Ludwik|author-link=:pl:Ludwik Młynek|year=1907|title=Narzecze wilamowickie|trans-title=Wymysorys language|language=pl|publisher=Nakładem Autora, Drukiem J Pisza|publication-place=Tarnów|url=https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Narzecze_wilamowickie_(Wilhelmsauer_Dialekt._Dy_wymmysuaschy_Gmoansproch)}}
• {{Cite book|last=Latosiński|first=Józef|author-link=:pl:Józef Latosiński|title=Monografia miasteczka Wilamowic: na podstawie źródeł autentycznych: z ilustracyami i mapką|trans-title=Monograph of the town of Wilamowice: based on authentic sources: with illustrations and a map|language=pl|url=http://dlibra.umcs.lublin.pl/dlibra/doccontent?id=7463&from=FBC=false|publisher=Drukarnia Literacka under the management of L. K. Górskiego|location=Kraków|year=1909}}
• {{Cite book|last=Kleczkowski|first=Adam|author-link=:pl:Adam Kleczkowski|title=Dialekt Wilamowic w zachodniej Galicji. Fonetyka i fleksja|trans-title=The dialect of Wilamowice in western Galicia. Phonetics and inflection|language=pl|url=https://polona.pl/item/dialekt-wilamowic-w-zachodniej-galicji-fonetyka-i-fleksja,OTgwNzY4NjU/4/#info:metadata=false|publisher=Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences|location=Kraków|year=1920}}
• {{Cite book|last=Kleczkowski|first=Adam|author-link=:pl:Adam Kleczkowski|title=Dialekt Wilamowic w zachodniej Galicji. Składnia|trans-title=The dialect of Wilamowice in western Galicia. Syntax|language=pl|url=https://polona.pl/item/dialekt-wilamowic-w-zachodniej-galicji-skladnia-szyk-wyrazow,OTgwNzcwMDk/4/#info:metadata=false|publisher=Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań|location=Poznań|year=1921}}
• {{Cite book|editor-last=Barciak|editor-first=Antoni|editor-link=:pl:Antoni Barciak|title=Wilamowice: przyroda, historia, język, kultura, oraz społeczeństwo miasta i gminy|trans-title=Wilamowice: nature, history, language, culture and society of the town and commune|language=pl|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uNkPYAAACAAJ|publisher=Urząd Gminy|location=Wilamowice|year=2001|isbn=9788391588802}}

• Adam Kleczkowski, [https://books.google.com/books?id=EecMAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA1 Dialekt Wilamowic w Zachodniej Galicji. Fonetyka i Fleksja], 1920 (Google Books, full text)

{{Incubator|code=wym}}

• YouTube videos:
• {{in lang|pl}} [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfg3jHV1TzE Wymysiöeryś – jeszcze mowa nie zginęła (Wymysiöeryś – the language has not yet perished)] at YouTube. Agencja Fotograficzna Fotorzepa. Rzeczpospolita
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3-lVRDEEe4 The founding ceremony of the Accademia Wilamowicziana] at YouTube.
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdoddTAz9Ac A documentary about Wymysorys and the associated revitalization efforts] at YouTube.
• [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kq3H9qm9Fq0 About the Wymysorys language in a television magazine] at YouTube. {{ill|Schlesien Journal|pl}}
• [http://www.omniglot.com/writing/wymysorys.htm Omniglot page].
• [https://culture.pl/en/article/central-europes-most-mysterious-language Central Europe's Most Mysterious Language] via Culture.pl.
• {{in lang|pl}} [http://zakorzenianie.most.org.pl/za14/03.htm WYMYSOJER]
• [http://www.revitalization.al.uw.edu.pl Revitalizing Endangered Languages] – The portal is also available in Wymysorys.
• {{in lang|pl}} [https://www.researchgate.net/publication/323547158_Wilamowice_-_przywracanie_jezyka_przywracanie_pamieci_Wilamowice_-_restoring_the_language_restoring_the_memory_PL Wilamowice – przywracanie języka, przywracanie pamięci / Wilamowice – restoring the language, restoring the memory (PL)]. Maciej Mętrak, University of Warsaw. Warsaw (April 2016; pp. 127–134)
• {{in lang|pl}} Narzecze wilamowickie. (Wilhelmsauer Dialekt. Dy wymmysauschy Gmoansproch) (Wymysorys language) in the editorial office of {{ill|Ludwik Młynek|pl}} at the Polish Wikisource
• {{in lang|pl}} [https://sjp.pwn.pl/poradnia/haslo/wilamowicki-czy-wilamowski;19896.html wilamowicki czy wilamowski? – Poradnia językowa PWN (Wymysorys or Wymysorys?)]. {{ill|Adam Wolański (philologist)|lt=Adam Wolański|pl|Adam Wolański (filolog)}}, Polish Scientific Publishers PWN (13 January 2020)
• [https://www.ceeol.com/search/book-detail?id=1039178 Ynzer łidła – nasze pieśni (Ynzer Łidła – Our Songs). Songs, Lullabies and Counting-out Rhymes from Wilamowice]
• Wicherkiewicz, Tomasz. Language variation, language myths, and language ideology as constructive elements of the Wymysiöeryś ethnolinguistic identity. Coler, Matt, and Andrew Nevins, eds. Contemporary research in minoritized and diaspora languages of Europe, p. 261-280. Vol. 6. Language Science Press, 2023. Open Access online

{{Languages of Poland}}

{{Germanic languages}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wymysorys language}}

Category:High German languages

Category:German dialects

Category:Endangered Germanic languages

Category:Languages of Poland

Category:Silesian Voivodeship