Wymysorys

Wymysorys (, ), also known as Vilamovian, Wilamowicean, or Wilmesaurisch, is a West Germanic language spoken by the Vilamovian ethnic minority in the town of Wilamowice, Silesian Voivodeship, Poland ( in Wymysorys), on the border between Silesia and Lesser Poland, near Bielsko-Biała. It is considered an endangered language, There are probably fewer than 20 native users of Wymysorys, virtually all bilingual; the majority are elderly. The inhabitants of Wilamowice are thought to be descendants of German, Flemish and Scottish settlers who arrived in Poland during the 13th century. Many of the inhabitants claim that they are descended from the people of Flanders, Friesland, and Holland, with others claiming to be descended from the Anglo-Saxons. Unlike in other West Germanic enclave communities in Polish-speaking territory, where closely related dialects (e.g. Halcnovian) were spoken, Wymysorys speakers did not self-identify as Germans and used Polish, not German, as a Dachsprache.

alt=Map showing Wymysorys in 1855|thumb|Wymysorys on a map from 1855

Wymysorys was the vernacular language of Wilamowice until World War II. However, it seems it has been in decline since the late 19th century. In 1880 as many as 92% of the town's inhabitants spoke Wymysorys (1,525 out of 1,662 people), in 1890 – only 72%, in 1900 – 67%, in 1910 – 73% again. The widespread bilingualism of the people saved most local residents from being forcibly resettled to Germany, but many of them stopped teaching their children their language or even using it in daily life.

alt=Census map from 1910 showing Wilamowice as a German majority|left|thumb|1910 census map identifying Wilamowice as a majority ethnic German settlement.

Acting on a proposal by Tymoteusz Król, the Library of Congress added the Wymysorys language to the register of languages on 18 July 2007. It was also registered in the International Organization for Standardization, where it received the wym ISO 639-3 code. In a 2009 UNESCO report Wymysorys has been reported as "severely endangered" and nearly extinct. Wymysorys words read by Józef Gara were recorded, and the Wymysorys dictionary in Wiktionary was supplemented (in 2018, the dictionary consisted of over 7,000 words).

Revitalisation

thumb|A banner at [[Bielsko-Biała Equality March 2021 with the conjugation of the word to love in Wymysorys]]

thumb|The 'Welcome to Wilamowice' in Wymysorys and Polish

thumb|Information about the local church in Polish, Wymysorys and English

Some new revitalisation efforts were started in the first decade of the 21st century, led by speaker Tymoteusz Król, whose efforts include private lessons with a group of pupils as well as compiling language records, standardising written orthography and compiling the first ever dictionary of Wymysorys. Additionally, a new project called The Wymysiöeryśy Akademyj – Accademia Wilamowicziana or WA-AW was established under the "Artes Liberales" program at the University of Warsaw with the intention of creating a unified scholastic body for the study of the Wymysorys language.

Phonology

Consonants

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"

! ret. !! pal.

! colspan=2| Nasal

| || || colspan=2| || || || ||

! rowspan=2| Stop

! voiceless

| || || colspan=2| || || || ||

! voiced

| || || colspan=2| || || || ||

! rowspan=2| Affricate

! voiceless

| || || () || || || || ||

! voiced

| || () || () || () || () || || ||

! rowspan=2| Fricative

! voiceless

| || || () || || || () || ||

! voiced

| || || () || || || || ||

! colspan=2| Trill

| || || colspan=2| || || || ||

! colspan=2| Lateral

| || || colspan=2| || || || ||

! colspan=2| Approximant

| || || colspan=2| || || || ||

Voiced stops, sibilant fricatives and affricates are regularly devoiced or voiceless in final position.
The sounds of and are interchangeable among different speakers. The use of is typically heard at the beginning of a word, possibly due to the influence of Polish, even though historically in Germanic languages, the glottal fricative is typically heard.
The series of palato-alveolar and alveolo-palatal fricative and affricate sounds, are heard interchangeably among various speakers.
is heard in word-final position, as an allophone of .
The voiced affricates are only heard in Polish loanwords.
A series of flat post-alveolar sibilants and affricates , are also heard in Polish loanwords, interchangeably with alveolar-palatal sounds .
The labial-velar approximant is pronounced with a lesser degree of lip rounding than in English, and is more similar to the Polish pronunciation of ł . || Y || Z || Ź || Ż

! colspan="34" | Minuscule forms (also called lowercase or small letters)

| a || ao || b || c || ć || d || e || f || g || h || i || j || k || ł || l || m || n || ń || o || ö || p || r || s || ś || t || u || ü || w || x

Ynzer Foter, dü byst ym hymuł,

Daj noma zuł zajn gywajt;

Daj Kyngrajch zuł dö kuma;

Daj wyła zuł zajn ym hymuł an uf der aot;

dos ynzer gywynłichys brut go yns hojt;

an fercaj yns ynzer siułda,

wi wir oj fercajn y ynzyn siułdigia;

ny łat yns cyn zynda;

zunder konst yns reta fum nistgüta.

[Do Dajs ej z Kyngrajch an dy mocht, ans łowa uf inda.]

Amen

</poem>

<poem>

Our Father; English translation

Our Father, thou (who) art in heaven,

Thy name shall be hallowed;

Thy kingdom shall come here;

Thy will shall be in heaven and on earth;

give our daily bread to us today;

and forgive us our debts/sins,

as we, too, forgive our debtors/sinners;

don't lead us to sin;

but save us from evil.

[For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.]

Amen.

</poem>

A lullaby in Wymysorys with English translation:

<poem>

</poem>

<poem>

Sleep, my boy, soundly!

Foreign guests are coming,

Aunts and uncles are coming,

Bringing nuts and apples,

Sleep, my Johnny, soundly!

</poem>

Citations

General and cited references

Andrason, Alexander. Complexity of endangered minority languages: The sound system of Wymysiöeryś. Coler, Matt, and Andrew Nevins, eds. Contemporary research in minoritized and diaspora languages of Europe, p. 213-260. Vol. 6. Language Science Press, 2023. Open Access online.

External links

YouTube videos:
Wymysiöeryś – jeszcze mowa nie zginęła (Wymysiöeryś – the language has not yet perished) at YouTube. Agencja Fotograficzna Fotorzepa. Rzeczpospolita
The founding ceremony of the Accademia Wilamowicziana at YouTube.
A documentary about Wymysorys and the associated revitalization efforts at YouTube.
About the Wymysorys language in a television magazine at YouTube.
Omniglot page.
Central Europe's Most Mysterious Language via Culture.pl.
WYMYSOJER
Revitalizing Endangered Languages – The portal is also available in Wymysorys.
Wilamowice – przywracanie języka, przywracanie pamięci / Wilamowice – restoring the language, restoring the memory (PL). Maciej Mętrak, University of Warsaw. Warsaw (April 2016; pp. 127–134)
Narzecze wilamowickie. (Wilhelmsauer Dialekt. Dy wymmysauschy Gmoansproch) (Wymysorys language) in the editorial office of at the Polish Wikisource
wilamowicki czy wilamowski? – Poradnia językowa PWN (Wymysorys or Wymysorys?). , Polish Scientific Publishers PWN (13 January 2020)
Ynzer łidła – nasze pieśni (Ynzer Łidła – Our Songs). Songs, Lullabies and Counting-out Rhymes from Wilamowice
Wicherkiewicz, Tomasz. Language variation, language myths, and language ideology as constructive elements of the Wymysiöeryś ethnolinguistic identity. Coler, Matt, and Andrew Nevins, eds. Contemporary research in minoritized and diaspora languages of Europe, p. 261-280. Vol. 6. Language Science Press, 2023. Open Access online

Revitalisation

Phonology

Consonants

See also

Citations

General and cited references

Further reading

External links