• - Indo-European
  • - Balto-Slavic languages
    • - Slavic languages
      • - West Slavic languages
        • - Kashubian

Kashubian is spoken in northern Poland in a part of the province of Pomerania ("land of the sea"), west of the city of Gdansk. The use of Kashubian is relatively more common in the townships of Gdansk (Gdusk), Gdynia (Gdini) Wejherowo (Wejrow), Puck (Puck), Lbork (Lbrg) Bytw (Btow) Kartuzy (Kartz) Kocierzyna ( Kscrzna) and Chojnice (Chojnice).

The Kashubian not have the status of national minority or ethnic group but of language, probably because the Kashubian never existed politically, not even as an autonomous region. Between 250,000 and 300,000 people speak or understand Kashubian. Approximately 60,000 people speak it at home, mostly in rural areas, but the number of people who belong to the cultural movement Kashubian more importantly, approximately half a million people. Local governments can use the Kashubian since 2005 only as a supplementary language to language.

The Kashubian Polish approaches the old: it has retained many words and number of phonemes. Contrary to popular opinion, the Kashubian has integrated that only 5% word German in its vocabulary, many loans are common in old and Polish.

Page Kashubian dictionary Stefan Ramut, published in Krakow in 1893

While there are many dialects of Kashubian (almost every canton has its own dialect), it is possible to distinguish Kashubian Kashubian north and south.

Kashubia - map of linguistic-cultural area today Kashubian

The literature Kashubian (Kashubian writing) is close to the Polish cause borrowing of vocabulary and syntax similar. Kashubian written since the ^fifteenth century in Latin script, according to the Polish model.

In contrast, spoke Kashubian differs markedly from Polish as significant dissimilarities exist in the alphabet, use of prepositions, vocabulary, word formation and variations. The rules of stress are very different from those of Polish, mainly because of falling vowels in unaccented syllables. The dissonance is such a phonetic Polish does not immediately Kashubian, it seems difficult, then he will understand more easily from other Slavic languages such as Slovak or Czech.

Kashubian is taught in fifty primary schools and ten secondary schools, a total of about 6000 students are taught the language. Since 2005, the Kashubian is an elective subject of the bachelor.

The German linguist of Mecklenburg Friedrich Lorentz ( one thousand eight hundred seventy - 1937 ) conducted extensive research on language, publishing several books on spelling and grammar and a dictionary of Kashubian-Pomeranian. The linguist Polish Krakow , Stefan Ramult ( one thousand eight hundred fifty-nine - 1 913 ), also published a book on this theme.