The Schleifer dialect ( wen, Slepjanska narěč) is a transitional dialect of the Upper and

Lower Sorbian Lower may refer to: *Lower (surname) *Lower Township, New Jersey *Lower Receiver (firearms) *Lower Wick Gloucestershire, England See also *Nizhny Nizhny (russian: Ни́жний; masculine), Nizhnyaya (; feminine), or Nizhneye (russian: Ни́� ...

languages spoken in the

Schleife Schleife (; hsb, Slepo, ) is a municipality of 3,000 in northern Görlitz district, northeast Saxony, Germany. It is the seat of the ''Verwaltungsgemeinschaft Schleife'' (about 5,000 inhabitants). The municipality is part of the recognized Sorb ...

region. Among the Sorbian dialects, the Schleifer dialect is most closely related to the , whose language territory borders to the east. These two dialects are assigned to Lower Sorbian rather than Upper Sorbian by

Slavist Slavic (American English) or Slavonic (British English) studies, also known as Slavistics is the academic field of area studies concerned with Slavic areas, languages, literature, history, and culture. Originally, a Slavist or Slavicist was prim ...

s. The Schleifer dialect is mainly passed on orally and has no modern written language of its own. Therefore, documents in the Schleifer dialect do not correspond to any standardized grammar or are mixed with one of the two standard languages. The Sorbian half-farmer from Rohne, who was the first non-clerical writer to write in Sorbian, wrote his texts exclusively in the Schleifer dialect. One of the largest collections of historical inscriptions in the Schleifer dialect can also be found on the historical gravestones of the cemetery in Rohne. Within the distribution area, which almost coincides with that of Schleifer Tracht, there are slight differences between Groß Düben and on the one hand, and the other five villages on the other. The association Kólesko, founded in 2011, is concerned with the documentation, publication and maintenance of the Schleifer dialect, the songs and the Schleifer costume. The Kólesko members Juliana Kaulfürst and Dieter Reddo received the Zejler Award of the in 2018 for their "outstanding contribution to the revitalization of the Sorbian grinder".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schleifer Dialect Endangered Slavic languages Languages of Germany Sorbian culture Sorbian languages West Slavic languages