More info about the Sorbs:
The Sorbs
Sorbian Cultural Information
Posted on 06/06/2005 9:08:33 AM PDT by Lukasz
The Government of the Land of Saxony reached the decision last month not to allow the creation of 5th classes, the youngest class in several secondary schools age 10 – 16, in Upper Lusatia as of the coming school year.
Four secondary schools in three districts in Upper Lusatia are affected; two of them are Sorbian-medium schools, one in Radibor in the district of Bautzen/ Budyšin, the other in Panschwitz-Kuckau in the district of Kamenz.
In reaction to what is seen as an alarming development for Sorbian schools and bilingual education in Saxony, the federal board of the Domowina, the Union of Lusatian Sorbs, argued for the preservation of the Sorbian and bilingual schools at a meeting in Bautzen last week. “Schools as public speech areas are the pillars of maintenance and revitalization of the Sorbian language”, it said in the resolution.
Domowina demands the maintenance of the Sorbian secondary school in Radibor, and the bilingual schools Schleife and Wittichenau and all Sorbian schools in the district of Kamenz.
On the basis of certain legal provisions and constitutional guarantees concerning minorities, the federal board expects the net of schools to be widened and not to be reduced.
Reactions also came at the EU level. Two members of the European Parliament, Mr. Sylwester Chruszcz from Poland and Mr. Jaromir Kohlicek from the Czech Republic, took action and tabled a parliamentary question to the European Commission on May 8th. The two MEPs expressed their concern that the Sorbian medium schools will be doomed to closure once the fifth class is closed. Eurolang readers will remember that this happened in 2001 with the Sorbian secondary school in Crostwitz, despite strong protests from parents, pupils as well as internationally.
According to Saxon legislation, there is a minimum of pupils required to maintain a school just as there is a minimum of pupils required to create a class. The consequence would be that the omission of a class in secondary school might lead to the closure of the entire school because there are not enough pupils to maintain a school. Then the Sorbian minority would be left with only half the Sorbian schools that existed four years ago.
The MEPs, who also each run a European Bureau in Bautzen/ Budyšin to ensure the interests of the Sorbian people on a European level, asked the Commission whether it finds the actions of the Saxon Government compatible with European standards for ethnic and national minorities as well as European values of linguistic and cultural diversity.
They also asked whether the Commission sees a danger for the Sorbian people because of the actions of the Saxon Government.
Recent efforts to establish a Sorbian secondary school in Hoyerswerda have also stalled, apparently due to insufficient demand. The idea was to ensure a seamless transition from the nearby Sorbian primary school to a Sorbian secondary school.
In its first evaluation report of the implementation of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages in Germany, the Committee of Experts strongly criticized the requirement for a minimum of 20 pupils in order to open a Sorbian class, claiming that it was much too high considering the number of speakers and pointing to much more flexible arrangements in other countries. (Eurolang © 2005)
Given current trends Arabic might be the majority language in the EU.
The two varieties of Sorbian are so different (at least in print) that I am surprised that they are considered the same language. Can speakers of the two dialects understand the other dialect?
I believe there were Sorbs among the 19th-century immigrants to the Texas hill country, but there weren't enough of them to keep the language alive for very long.
I believe the northern dialect is more like Polish and the southern more like Czech. Actually under the Commies the Sorbian langage didn't do too badly. Probably one of the few good things the Commies did.
I thought the EU protected minority language rights. Will the Sorbs be "absorbed?"
In Upper Sorbian the first line goes:
Hlej! Mocnje twoju slawil swjatu mi sym rolu.
In Lower Sorbian the same line reads:
Glej! Z mocu som tos twoju swetu rolu slawil.
In English that is "Look! Strongly I have praised your holy fields."
The l's in "slawil" are barred--Katzner doesn't say if they are sounded the same as barred l's in Polish.
Katzner says Upper Sorbian more closely resembles Czech, and Lower Sorbian more closely resembles Polish. The hlej/glej difference would substantiate that: Czech has "h" in places where most Slavic languages have "g" (for example, "hlava" for "glava").
I know a bit about the Wendish Texans. They came to the US because they wanted religious freedom. The leader of Prussia merged the Lutheran and Reformed Churches, and those Wends, beign devout Lutherans, didn't want to compromise their church, so they went to America.
BTW, aren't about half of Sorbs in Germany Protestants, chiefly Lutherans, and the other half Catholic?
As a Pole, reading your quotes I’m almost sure that they understand each other. Both versions looks like dialects of Polish to me.
So does Ukrainian. hroshi (money) from old Austrian term groschen. holova' (head) Polsih would say glowa pronounced gwova.
"Cultural genocide" - what a nonsense. German communities have to save everywhere at the moment. If there is not enough money to renovate normal schools which many children go to, how should it be justified to build new special Sorbian school for which only an "insufficient demand" exists?
Languages are dying if the underlaying culture is dying. Happens all the time. I see no reason to slow this natural process by artificial measures at the cost of the majority.
Prepare to be Sorbed...
The schools get paid from the states budget. If German minorities in Poland get money from Germany, it's federal money.
You think it's a conspiracy?
hihihi :)
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