Cieszyn Silesian dialect
Encyclopedia
Polish language
Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...
and has also strong Czech and German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
influences and even Vlachs'
Vlachs
Vlach is a blanket term covering several modern Latin peoples descending from the Latinised population in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe. English variations on the name include: Walla, Wlachs, Wallachs, Vlahs, Olahs or Ulahs...
and Slovak
Slovak language
Slovak , is an Indo-European language that belongs to the West Slavic languages .Slovak is the official language of Slovakia, where it is spoken by 5 million people...
. It is spoken in Cieszyn Silesia
Cieszyn Silesia
Cieszyn Silesia or Těšín Silesia or Teschen Silesia is a historical region in south-eastern Silesia, centered around the towns of Cieszyn and Český Těšín and bisected by the Olza River. Since 1920 it has been divided between Poland and Czechoslovakia, and later the Czech Republic...
, a region on both sides of the Polish
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
-Czech
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
border. It lacks some official codification and remains a spoken language. The dialect is better preserved today than dialects of many other West Slavic regions.
Polish and Czech linguists differ in their views on the classification of the dialect. Czechs tend to sort it along with the Moravian and Lachian dialects. Polish tend to classify it under the Silesian dialects of Polish language. Although the dialect has its roots mainly in Polish (phonology and morphology are consistently shared with Polish), the diachronic
Diachronic
Diachronic or Diachronous,from the Greek word Διαχρονικός , is a term for something happening over time. It is used in several fields of research.*Diachronic linguistics : see Historical linguistics...
development of the dialect is that of a transitional nature.
On the Czech side of the border (in Zaolzie
Zaolzie
Zaolzie is the Polish name for an area now in the Czech Republic which was disputed between interwar Poland and Czechoslovakia. The name means "lands beyond the Olza River"; it is also called Śląsk zaolziański, meaning "trans-Olza Silesia". Equivalent terms in other languages include Zaolší in...
) it is spoken mainly by the Polish minority
Polish minority in the Czech Republic
The Polish minority in the Czech Republic is a Polish national minority living mainly in the Zaolzie region of western Cieszyn Silesia. The Polish community is the only national minority in the Czech Republic that is linked to a specific geographical area. Zaolzie is located in the north-eastern...
. It is used in Zaolzie to reinforce a feeling of regional solidarity. Before World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
dialect was strongly influenced mainly by the German language. In 1920 Cieszyn Silesia was divided between Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
and Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
. After that division dialect in the Czech part of the region was and still is strongly influenced mainly by the Czech language (mainly lexicon and syntax). On the other hand in the Polish part it was and still is influenced by the Polish language.
Writers and poets who wrote in Cieszyn Silesian dialect include Adolf Fierla
Adolf Fierla
Adolf Fierla was a Polish writer and poet from the region of Cieszyn Silesia.He was born 16 January 1908 in Orlová to a coal miner's family and graduated from the local Juliusz Słowacki Polish Gymnasium. Fierla later studied Polish studies at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków and Slavic...
, Paweł Kubisz, Władysław Młynek, Józef Ondrusz
Józef Ondrusz
Józef Ondrusz was a Polish teacher, writer and folklorist from the Zaolzie region of Cieszyn Silesia.Ondrusz was born in the village of Darkov to a coal miner. He graduated from a Polish grammar school in Fryštát and later from teachers' seminary in Ostrava...
, Karol Piegza
Karol Piegza
Karol Piegza was a Polish teacher, writer, folklorist, photographer, and painter from Zaolzie region of Cieszyn Silesia.-Biography:...
and Adam Wawrosz
Adam Wawrosz
Adam Wawrosz was a Polish poet, writer, and activist from the Zaolzie region of Cieszyn Silesia. He is considered the most important writer of the folk literature of Cieszyn Silesia....
.