Slovincian is the extinct language formerly spoken by the

Slovincians Slovincians, also known as Łeba Kashubians, is a near-extinct ethnic subgroup of the Kashubian people, who originated from the north western Kashubia, located in the Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland, from the area around the lakes of Łebsko and G ...

living between lakes

Gardno Gardno (german: Garder See) is a lake in the Słowińskie Lakeland in Pomeranian Voivodship, Poland. It is the part of Słowiński National Park Słowiński National Park ( pl, Słowiński Park Narodowy) is a national park in Pomeranian Voivo ...

and Łebsko near

Słupsk Słupsk (; , ; formerly german: Stolp, ; also known by several alternative names) is a city with powiat rights located on the Słupia River in the Pomeranian Voivodeship in northern Poland, in the historical region of Pomerania or more specific ...

Pomerania Pomerania ( pl, Pomorze; german: Pommern; Kashubian: ''Pòmòrskô''; sv, Pommern) is a historical region on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea in Central Europe, split between Poland and Germany. The western part of Pomerania belongs to ...

. Slovincian is classified either as a language (first by

Friedrich Lorentz Friedrich Lorentz (18 December 1870, Güstrow – 29 March 1937) was a German historian. He is the author of publications in the field of linguistics, as well as Kashubian and Slovincian culture. As he wrote, Kashubian is a language having 76 ...

, 1902/3Dicky Gilbers, John A. Nerbonne, J. Schaeken, ''Languages in Contact'', Rodopi, 2000, p.329, ), or as a Kashubian dialectChristina Yurkiw Bethin, ''Slavic Prosody: Language Change and Phonological Theory'', pp.160ff, Cambridge University Press, 1998, Edward Stankiewicz, ''The Accentual Patterns of the Slavic Languages'', Stanford University Press, 1993, p.291, (first by Lorentz, after 1903) or variant,Roland Sussex, Paul Cubberley, ''The Slavic Languages'', Cambridge University Press, 2006, p.97, with Kashubian itself being classified either as a language or as a

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...

dialect.Harry Hulst, Georg Bossong, ''Eurotyp'', Walter de Gruyter, 1999, p.837, Slovincian and Kashubian are both classified as Pomeranian. Slovincian became

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

in the early twentieth century. However, individual words and expressions survived until after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, when the region became Polish. Some Slovincians were expelled along with the Germans. Of those allowed to stay, a few elderly people had fragmentary knowledge of Slovincian until the 1950s. It is disputed whether Slovincians actually used that name, given to them by the Russian academic

Aleksander Hilferding Alexander Hilferding also spelled Aleksandar Fedorovich Giljferding (russian: Александр Фёдорович Гильферди́нг; 14 July 1831 in Warsaw, Kingdom of Poland – 2 July 1872 in Kargopol, Olonets Governorate, Russian Empir ...

, for themselves. The synonym ''Lebakaschuben'' is also used. Some scholars believe that Slovincians regarded themselves merely as Lutheran

Kashubians The Kashubians ( csb, Kaszëbi; pl, Kaszubi; german: Kaschuben), also known as Cassubians or Kashubs, are a Lechitic ( West Slavic) ethnic group native to the historical region of Pomerania, including its eastern part called Pomerelia, in nor ...

and their language as Kashubian. Nevertheless, the name "Slovincian" prevails in literature and is also used officially, for example in ''Słowiński Park Narodowy'' (

Slovincian National Park Slovincian may refer to: * Slovincian language * Slovincians Slovincians, also known as Łeba Kashubians, is a near-extinct ethnic subgroup of the Kashubian people, who originated from the north western Kashubia, located in the Pomeranian Voivode ...

), a protected area on the Polish Pomeranian coast.

Phonology

Accent

Slovincian is particularly important to Slavic accentologists because, together with the closely related northern Kashubian dialects, it is the only part of West Slavic to retain the free accent from

Proto-Slavic Proto-Slavic (abbreviated PSl., PS.; also called Common Slavic or Common Slavonic) is the Attested language, unattested, linguistic reconstruction, reconstructed proto-language of all Slavic languages. It represents Slavic speech approximately ...

. The accent was stress-based, free (''ˈkolo'', ''vječˈeřa'', gen. pl. ''břegˈōv''). The length was distinctive (''ˈstrava'' "food" ≠ ''ˈtrāva'' "grass"). Stress can be enclinomenic and mobile (''ˈvoda'' "water", ''ˈza vodą'' "for water", ''vodˈǭ'' "with water") or bound (''rˈiba'', ''za rˈibą'', ''rˈibǭ''). Beside accent, vowel length can also alternate within the paradigm (''mlˈocic'' "to trash, hit", 2nd. person present ''mlˈōcīš''). The syllable is always long before a voiced final consonant (''břēg'' "hill", but ''ˈbřegū''). The small number of

oxytone An oxytone (; from the grc, ὀξύτονος, ', 'sharp-sounding') is a word with the stress on the last syllable, such as the English words ''correct'' and ''reward''. (A paroxytone is stressed on the penultimate (second-last) syllable. A pr ...

s has been considered both an archaism and an innovation, while the quantity distinction by stress is a conservative feature shared with Slovene and

Serbo-Croatian Serbo-Croatian () – also called Serbo-Croat (), Serbo-Croat-Bosnian (SCB), Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian (BCS), and Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian (BCMS) – is a South Slavic language and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and ...

. There are two accentual paradigms in Slovincian, a fixed and a mobile one, with the mobile one resulting in a stress alternation only within the stem, not the ending.

Grammar

Slovincian grammar is preserved in the compiled in 1903 by

, who in 1908–1912 also published , a Slovincian dictionary.

History

The ancestors of the Slovincians, the West Slavic Pomeranians, moved in after the

Migration Period The Migration Period was a period in European history marked by large-scale migrations that saw the fall of the Western Roman Empire and subsequent settlement of its former territories by various tribes, and the establishment of the post-Roman ...

. Following the

Ostsiedlung (, literally "East-settling") is the term for the Early Medieval and High Medieval migration-period when ethnic Germans moved into the territories in the eastern part of Francia, East Francia, and the Holy Roman Empire (that Germans had al ...

, the Slovincians like most of the other

Wends Wends ( ang, Winedas ; non, Vindar; german: Wenden , ; da, vendere; sv, vender; pl, Wendowie, cz, Wendové) is a historical name for Slavs living near Germanic settlement areas. It refers not to a homogeneous people, but to various peopl ...

gradually became Germanized. The adoption of Lutheranism in the

Duchy of Pomerania The Duchy of Pomerania (german: Herzogtum Pommern; pl, Księstwo Pomorskie; Latin: ''Ducatus Pomeraniae'') was a duchy in Pomerania on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea, ruled by dukes of the House of Pomerania (''Griffins''). The country ha ...

in 1534Werner Buchholz, Pommern, Siedler, 1999, pp.205-212, Gerhard Krause, Horst Robert Balz, Gerhard Müller, ''Theologische Realenzyklopädie'', Walter de Gruyter, 1997, pp.43ff, distinguished the Slovincians from the

Kashubes The Kashubians ( csb, Kaszëbi; pl, Kaszubi; german: Kaschuben), also known as Cassubians or Kashubs, are a Lechitic ( West Slavic) ethnic group native to the historical region of Pomerania, including its eastern part called Pomerelia, in nor ...

Pomerelia Pomerelia,, la, Pomerellia, Pomerania, pl, Pomerelia (rarely used) also known as Eastern Pomerania,, csb, Pòrénkòwô Pòmòrskô Vistula Pomerania, prior to World War II also known as Polish Pomerania, is a historical sub-region of Pome ...

, who remained

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

.Bernard Comrie, Greville G. Corbett, ''The Slavonic languages'', Taylor & Francis, 2002, p.762, In the 16th century, "Slovincian" was also applied to the Slavic speakers in the

Bytów Bytów (; csb, Bëtowò; formerly german: Bütow ) is a town in the Gdańsk Pomerania region of northern Poland with 16,730 inhabitants as of December 2021. It is the capital of Bytów County in the Pomeranian Voivodeship. The origins of Byt ...

(Bütow) region further south. In the 16th and 17th century Michael Brüggemann (also known as Pontanus or Michał Mostnik), Simon Krofey (Szimon Krofej) and J.M. Sporgius introduced Kashubian into the Lutheran Church. Krofey,

pastor A pastor (abbreviated as "Pr" or "Ptr" , or "Ps" ) is the leader of a Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutheranism, Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy and ...

(Bütow), published a religious song book in 1586, written in Polish but also containing some Kashubian words. Brüggemann, pastor in Schmolsin, published a Polish translation of some works of

Martin Luther Martin Luther (; ; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, theologian, author, hymnwriter, and professor, and Order of Saint Augustine, Augustinian friar. He is the seminal figure of the Reformation, Protestant Refo ...

and biblical texts, also containing Kashubian elements. Other biblical texts were published in 1700 by Sporgius, pastor in Schmolsin. His ''Schmolsiner Perikopen'', most of which is written in the same Polish-Kashubian style of Krofey's and Brüggemann's books, also contain small passages ("6th Sunday after Epiphanias") written in pure Kashubian.Peter Hauptmann, Günther Schulz, Kirche im Osten: Studien zur osteuropäischen Kirchengeschichte und Kirchenkunde, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2000, pp.44ff,

/ref> Hilferding (1862) and Parczewski (1896) confirmed a progressive language shift in the Kashubian population from their Slavonic vernacular to the local German dialect (

Low German : : : : : (70,000) (30,000) (8,000) , familycolor = Indo-European , fam2 = Germanic , fam3 = West Germanic , fam4 = North Sea Germanic , ancestor = Old Saxon , ancestor2 = Middle L ...

Ostpommersch East Pomeranian (''Ostpommersch'') is an East Low German dialect that is either moribund or used to be spoken in what was roughly Pomerania (now northwestern Poland; previously part of Germany until the end of World War II) and today is also sp ...

High German The High German dialects (german: hochdeutsche Mundarten), or simply High German (); not to be confused with Standard High German which is commonly also called ''High German'', comprise the varieties of German spoken south of the Benrath and ...

, in eastern Kashubian areas also Low German

Low Prussian Low Prussian (german: Niederpreußisch), sometimes known simply as Prussian (''Preußisch''), is a moribund dialect of East Low German that developed in East Prussia. Low Prussian was spoken in East and West Prussia and Danzig up to 1945. In D ...

). By the 1920s, the Slovincian villages had become linguistically German, though a Slovincian consciousness remained. The area remained within the borders of Germany until becoming part of Poland after World War II ended in 1945 and the area became Polish. Some Slovincians were expelled along with the German population, some were allowed to remain. In the 1950s, mainly in the village of Kluki (formerly Klucken), a few elderly people still remembered fragments of Slovincian. Slovincians began to ask for the right to emigrate to West Germany, and virtually all of the remaining Slovincian families had emigrated there by the 1980s.

References

External links

{{Authority control Languages of Poland Languages of Germany West Slavic languages Slovician History of Pomerania Extinct languages of Europe Languages extinct in the 20th century Extinct Slavic languages