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Wymysorys[2][3] (Wymysiöeryś, IPA: [vɨmɨsʲøːrɪɕ] or IPA: [vɨmɨɕœ̯ɛrɪɕ]), also known as Vilamovian or Wilamowicean, is a West Germanic language spoken by the ethnic Vilamovian minority in the small town of Wilamowice, Poland (Wymysoü in Wymysorys, IPA: [vɨmɨsɔy̯]), on the border between Silesia and Lesser Poland, near Bielsko-Biała.[4][5] It is considered an endangered language,[4] possibly the most so of any of the Germanic languages.[6] There are probably fewer than 20[1] native users of Wymysorys, or around 70 speakers in 2006 according to Ethnologue, virtually all bilingual; the majority are elderly.[4]

This article's factual accuracy is disputed. (November 2020)

Wymysorys
Vilamovian
Wymysiöeryś
Pronunciation	IPA: [vɨmɨsøːrɪɕ]
Native to	Poland
Region	Wilamowice, Silesian Voivodeship, Poland
Ethnicity	Vilamovians
Native speakers	20 (2017)[1]
Language family	Indo-European Germanic West Germanic High German Central German East Central German Schlesisch–Wilmesau Wymysorys
Writing system	Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3	wym
Glottolog	wymy1235
Wymysorys Show map of Silesian Voivodeship Wymysorys Show map of Poland
Coordinates: 49.92°N 19.15°E / 49.92; 19.15

The status of Wymysorys is complex because genealogically, it belongs to the East Central dialect group of High German. Nevertheless, based on the self-identification of users as a group separate from the Germans and the existence of a literary language (or, more precisely, a microlanguage), it can be considered a separate language.

It belongs to the dialect group of the former Bielsko-Biała language island [pl; de], which includes the Alzenau dialect.

History

In origin, Wymysorys is traced to derive from 12th century Middle High German, with a strong influence from Polish, and presumably also some influence from Low German, Dutch, Old English and perhaps Frisian.[4][7][8] The inhabitants of Wilamowice are thought to be descendants of German, Flemish and Scottish settlers who arrived in Poland during the 13th century.[9] 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.[6] Although historically derived from the German dialect continuum, Wymysorys is not mutually intelligible with Standard German.[10]^: 15 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 Dachsprache.[11]^: 12

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.[10]^: 10 Although Wymysorys was taught in local schools (under the name of "local variety of German"), since 1875 the basic language of instruction in most schools in Austro-Hungarian Galicia was Polish.[10]^: 10 During World War II and the German occupation of Poland Wymysorys was openly promoted by the Nazi administration, but after the war the tables turned: local communist authorities forbade the use of Wymysorys in any form.[10]^: 10[12] The widespread bilingualism of the people saved most local residents from being forcibly resettled to Germany, many of them stopped teaching their children their language or even using it in daily life.[10]^: 12 Although the ban was lifted after 1956, Wymysorys has been gradually replaced by Polish, especially amongst the younger generation. Most of the inhabitants have the same surnames (Mozler, Rozner, Figwer, Biba, Foks, Sznajder), which led to the use of nicknames (Fliöer-Fliöer, Hȧla-Mockja, i.e. Florian, son of Florian or Maciej, son of Elżbieta).

Nowadays, as part of saving the Wymysorys culture, new songs and lyrics are written in this language. The play Hobbit. Hejn ȧn cyryk was written in Wymysorys, based on the prose of J. R. R. Tolkien, which was staged, among others, at the Polish Theatre in Warsaw in February 2016.[13]

Acting on a proposal by Tymoteusz Król, the Library of Congress added the Wymysorys language to the register of languages on 18 July 2007.[14] It was also registered in the International Organization for Standardization, where it received the wym ISO 639-3 code.[5][15] In a 2009 UNESCO report Wymysorys has been reported as "severely endangered" and nearly extinct.[14]

Members of the Wikimedia Polska association were also involved in saving this dying language. As part of the "Wilamowice" project,[16] 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).[17][18]

Revitalisation

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.[19]

Phonology

Consonants

		Labial	Alveolar	Post- alveolar		Alveolo- palatal	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
				ret.	pal.
Nasal		m	n			ɲ̟		ŋ
Stop	voiceless	p	t				c	k
	voiced	b	d				ɟ	ɡ
Affricate	voiceless		t͡s	(t̠͡s̠)	t͡ʃ	t͡ɕ
	voiced		(d͡z)	(d̠͡z̠)	(d͡ʒ)	(d͡ʑ)
Fricative	voiceless	f	s	(s̠)	ʃ	ɕ	(ç)	x	h
	voiced	v	z	(z̠)	ʒ	ʑ
Trill			r
Lateral			l
Approximant		w					j

• Voiced stops, sibilant fricatives and affricates are regularly devoiced or voiceless in final position.
• The sounds of /x/ and /h/ are interchangeable among different speakers. The use of [x] 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 [h] is typically heard.
• The series of palato-alveolar /ʃ, ʒ, t͡ʃ/ and alveolo-palatal /ɕ, ʑ, t͡ɕ/ fricative and affricate sounds, are heard interchangeably among various speakers.
• [ç] is heard in word-final position, as an allophone of /x/.
• The voiced affricates /d͡z, d̠͡z̠, d͡ʒ, d͡ʑ/ are only heard in Polish loanwords.
• A series of flat post-alveolar sibilants and affricates [s̠, z̠, t̠͡s̠, d̠͡z̠], are also heard in Polish loanwords, interchangeably with alveolar-palatal sounds /ɕ, ʑ, t͡ɕ, d͡ʑ/.
• The labial-velar approximant /w/ is pronounced with a lesser degree of lip rounding than in English, and is more similar to the Polish pronunciation of ł [w].[6]

Vowels

	Front		Central		Back
Close	i	y	(ɨ)	(ʉ)	u
Near-close	ɪ	ʏ
Close-mid	e	ø	ɘ		o
Mid			ə
Open-mid	ɛ	œ			ɔ
Open			a		ɑ

• The close-mid sound /ɘ/ is phonetically more fronted as [ɘ̟].
• Mid central vowel sounds /ɘ, ə/ are also heard close central sounds [ɨ, ʉ], among speakers.[6]

Diphthongs

	Front	Front	Back
	ascending	descending
Close	i̯ø
Close-mid	ɪ̯ɘ̟	ei̯
Open-mid		œʏ̯	ɔi̯
Open		ai̯
Triphthong	ʏ̯øœ̯

Alphabet

Wymysorys has been for centuries mostly a spoken language. It was not until the times of Florian Biesik, the first author of major literary works in the language, that a need for a separate version of a Latin alphabet arose. Biesik wrote most of his works in plain Polish alphabet, which he considered better-suited for the phonetics of his language.[10]^: 24 In recent times Józef Gara (1929–2013), another author of works in the local language, devised a distinct Wymysorys alphabet, consisting of 34 letters derived from the Latin script and mostly based on Polish as well:

Wymysorys alphabet[6]

Majuscule forms (also called uppercase or capital 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[20]	Y	Z	Ź	Ż
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[20]	y	z	ź	ż

Wymysorys orthography includes the digraph "AO", which is treated as a separate letter.

Example words and their relationship to other languages

A sample of Wymysorys words with German, Dutch and English translations. Note that ł is read in Wymysorys like English w (as in Polish), and w like v (as in Polish and German):

English	Wymysorys	Middle High German	German	Dutch	Frisian	Comment
alone	ałan	alein(e)	allein	alleen	allinne
and	ana, an	und(e), unt	und	en	en
bridge	bryk	brücke, brucke	Brücke	brug	brêge
dolt	duł	tol, dol 'foolish, nonsensical'	toll 'mad, fantastic, wonderful'	dol 'crazy'	dol 'furious'
hear	fulgia	< Frisian; WFris folgje, EFris foulgje 'to follow'	hören	horen	folgje	cf. German folgen, Dutch volgen 'to follow'
wholly	ganc	ganz	ganz	gans	gâns
court	gyrycht	geriht	Gericht	gerecht	rjocht	cf. German Recht, Dutch recht '(legal) right', English right)
dog	hund	hunt	Hund	hond	hûn	cf. English hound
heaven	dyr hymuł	himel	Himmel	hemel	himel
love	łiwa	liebe	Liebe	liefde	leafde
a bit	a mikieła	michel 'much'	ein bisschen	een beetje	in bytsje	Scots mickle, English much; antonymic switch 'much' → 'little'
mother	müter	muoter	Mutter	moeder	mem
middle	mytuł	mittel	Mitte	middel	midden/mid
no one	nimanda	nieman	niemand	niemand	nimmen
no	ny	ne, ni	nein	nee(n)	nee
picture	obrozła	< Slavic; Polish obraz	Bild	beeld	byld
breath	ödum	< Middle German	Atem	adem	azem	cf. obsolete German Odem, Central Franconian Öödem
elephant	olifant	< Dutch	Elefant	olifant	oaljefant
evening	öwyt	ābent	Abend	avond	jûn
welcome	sgiöekumt	wil(le)kōme(n)	wilkommen	welkom	wolkom
write	śrajwa	schrīben	schreiben	schrijven	skriuwe
stone	śtaen	stein	Stein	steen	stien
sister	syster	swester	Schwester	zuster	suster
drink	trynkia	trinken	trinken	drinken	drinke
world	wełt	werlt	Welt	wereld	wrâld
winter	wynter	winter	Winter	winter	winter
seven	zyjwa	< Middle German siven	sieben	zeven	sân
silver	zyłwer	silber	Silber	zilver	sulver

Sample texts

Lord's Prayer in Wymysorys

A lullaby in Wymysorys with English translation:

See also

• Vilamovians
• Alzenau dialect
• Silesian German
• Masurian dialect

References

Bibliography

• Wicherkiewicz, Tomasz (2003). The Making of a Language: The Case of the Idiom of Wilamowice, Southern Poland. Berlin: De Gruyter. ISBN 9783110170993. OCLC 811407652.
• Andrason, Alexander (2016), "Where Germanic and Slavic Meet – New Polish-based Tenses in the Vilamovicean Language" (PDF), Germanoslavica, Institute of Slavonic Studies of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic and Euroslavica, 27 (1): 1–17, ISSN 1210-9029
• Andrason, Alexander; Król, Tymoteusz (2016), A Grammar of Wymysorys (PDF), Slavic and East European Resource Center, Durham, North Carolina: Duke University
• Andrason, Alexander (2015), Willim, Ewa; Urban, Mateusz (eds.), "Vilamovicean – A Germanic-Slavic Mixed Language?" (PDF), Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Studies in Polish Linguistics, Stellenbosch, South Africa: Stellenbosch University, 10 (2): 57–85, doi:10.4467/23005920SPL.15.003.3560, ISSN 1732-8160
• Lasatowicz, Maria Katarzyna (1992). Die deutsche Mundart von Wilamowice zwischen 1920 und 1987 [The German dialect of Wilamowice between 1920 and 1987]. Higher Pedagogical School of Silesian Insurgents in Opole (in German). Opole: University of Opole. ISBN 9788385012948.
• Mojmir, Hermann (1930–1936), Wörterbuch der deutschen Mundart von Wilamowice [Dictionary of the German dialect of Wilamowice] (in German), Kraków: Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences
• Młynek, Ludwik (1907), Narzecze wilamowickie [Wymysorys language] (in Polish), Tarnów: Nakładem Autora, Drukiem J Pisza
• Latosiński, Józef (1909). Monografia miasteczka Wilamowic: na podstawie źródeł autentycznych: z ilustracyami i mapką [Monograph of the town of Wilamowice: based on authentic sources: with illustrations and a map] (in Polish). Kraków: Drukarnia Literacka under the management of L. K. Górskiego.
• Kleczkowski, Adam (1920). Dialekt Wilamowic w zachodniej Galicji. Fonetyka i fleksja [The dialect of Wilamowice in western Galicia. Phonetics and inflection] (in Polish). Kraków: Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences.
• Kleczkowski, Adam (1921). Dialekt Wilamowic w zachodniej Galicji. Składnia [The dialect of Wilamowice in western Galicia. Syntax] (in Polish). Poznań: Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań.
• Barciak, Antoni, ed. (2001). Wilamowice: przyroda, historia, język, kultura, oraz społeczeństwo miasta i gminy [Wilamowice: nature, history, language, culture and society of the town and commune] (in Polish). Wilamowice: Urząd Gminy. ISBN 9788391588802.

External links

• (in Polish) 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. Schlesien Journal [pl]
• Omniglot page.
• Central Europe's Most Mysterious Language via Culture.pl.
• (in Polish) WYMYSOJER
• Revitalizing Endangered Languages – The portal is also available in Wymysorys.
• (in Polish) Wilamowice – przywracanie języka, przywracanie pamięci / Wilamowice – restoring the language, restoring the memory (PL). Maciej Mętrak, University of Warsaw. Warsaw (April 2016; pp. 127–134)
• (in Polish) Narzecze wilamowickie. (Wilhelmsauer Dialekt. Dy wymmysauschy Gmoansproch) (Wymysorys language) in the editorial office of Ludwik Młynek [pl] at the Polish Wikisource
• (in Polish) wilamowicki czy wilamowski? – Poradnia językowa PWN (Wymysorys or Wymysorys?). Adam Wolański [pl], Polish Scientific Publishers PWN (13 January 2020)
• Ynzer łidła – nasze pieśni (Ynzer Łidła – Our Songs). Songs, Lullabies and Counting-out Rhymes from Wilamowice

Further reading

• Adam Kleczkowski, Dialekt Wilamowic w Zachodniej Galicji. Fonetyka i Fleksja, 1920 (Google Books, full text)

На других языках

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[de] Wilmesaurisch

Wilmesaurisch (Wymysiöeryś) ist eine Mikroliteratursprache, die sich aus einem mitteldeutschen Dialekt entwickelt hat und die in der kleinen an der Grenze zwischen Schlesien und Kleinpolen gelegenen Stadt Wilamowice (Wilmesaurisch: Wymysoü, Deutsch: Wilmesau) bei Bielsko-Biała gesprochen wird.

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- [en] Wymysorys language

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[fr] Wilamowicien

La langue wilamowicienne (en vernaculaire : Wymysiöeryś ; en polonais : język wilamowski) est une langue germanique occidentale parlée dans la petite ville de Wilamowice près de Bielsko-Biała, sur la frontière entre la Silésie et la Petite Pologne. Il est probable que le wymysiöeryś dérive du haut-allemand du XIIe siècle et ait subi les influences du bas-saxon, du néerlandais, du polonais et du scots.

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[it] Lingua vilamoviana

Il vilamoviano (in lingua originale Wymysiöeryś) è una lingua appartenente al gruppo delle lingue germaniche occidentali ed è parlata nella piccola città di Wilamowice (Wymysoj in vilamoviano) vicino Bielsko-Biała, sul confine tra Slesia e Piccola Polonia nella regione storica della Galizia. .mw-parser-output .chiarimento{background:#ffeaea;color:#444444}.mw-parser-output .chiarimento-apice{color:red}Ad oggi[Quando ?] il vilamoviano è parlato da circa 20 parlanti nativi, quasi tutti anziani; perciò il vilamoviano è una lingua in pericolo.

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[ru] Вилямовский язык

Вилямовский язык (Wymysiöeryś) — западногерманский язык, который используется немецкой этнической группой в Польше в городе Вилямовице, на границе Силезии и Малой Польши. Считается, что вилямовский происходит от средненемецкого языка XII века, с сильным влиянием нижненемецкого, нидерландского, фризского, польского и древнеанглийского языков. В настоящее время язык находится под угрозой исчезновения. Известно о 20 носителях языка, большинство из которых уже пожилые люди.

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