On the Low German Influence on Kashubian Dialects

Abstract

tween the lower Vistula and the lower Elbe. The Kashubian speech area (Kashubia) suffered linguistic losses in the course of the centuries, resulting in language death of the western Kashubian periphery.1 Although the German colonisation of Kashubia began as early as in the 12th century, the Kashubian-speaking territory contracted most rapidly in favour of German after its incorporation into West Prussia in 1772. The testimonies of, for example, Hilferding (Gil'ferding 1862) and Parczewski (1896) confirm the progressive language shift within the Kashubian population from their Slavonic vernacular to the local German dialect. The language contact with German involved the three German varieties: Low German, Central German and High German. The majority of German inhabitants of Kashubia were speakers of the Low German colonial dialects: "Ostpommersch" (East Pomeranian) and "Niederpreussisch" (Low Prussian), the latter being spoken in the peripheral areas in the east. The period of the most intensive Kashubian-German language contact (1772-1945) was characterised by polyglossia and multilingualism. The different languages occupied different positions within the hierarchy of prestige, and were used in different linguistic situations in accordance with their function in society. Kashubian was mainly spoken at home and between local Kashubians, Polish in church, the local dialect of Low German 1 According to toponymie evidence (Rzetelska-Feleszko 1973), Kashubian was once spoken as far west as the Parscta River. The last Kashubian variety, Slovincian, became extinct at the beginning of the 20th century. It should be noted that there are discrepancies involving the designations "Kashubian", "Slovincian" and "Pomeranian". The latter is used in most scholarly literature (this view is also shared in the present paper) as being synonymous with Kashubian, and comprises Kashubian and Slovincian collectively. Slovincian is generally treated as a dialect of Kashubian, in accordance with the opinion held by Lorentz after 1903. For a typological classification of Slovincian as a separate Slavonic language, see earlier publications by Lorentz (1902: 44-45, 1903: 810).