Language and the Making of Nations British Library, London Friday 14 November 2014

Silesian: A Language or a Dialect?

Dr Tomasz Kamusella University of St Andrews

Upper Silesia: Dialect Continua, 1910

Upper Silesia: Dialect Continua, Today

Germanisms or Upper Silesian Creole?

Renewal in the 21

st

Century

2002: PL census > 60,000 Silesian-speakers, 173,000 members of the Silesian nation 2003: First-ever Silesian-language publisher established (Ślōnsko Nacyjno Ôficyno) 2007: ISO693-3 registration code szl for the Silesian language 2008: Silesian Wikipedia 2008: First Conference on the Silesian language/dialect, Katowice 2009: Standardization of Silesian orthography; 1 st book in this orthography (Óndra Lysohorsky (sic) (Erwin Goj). Spiwajuco piaść. ) 2011: PL census > 0.53 m Silesian-speakers, 0.85 m members of the Silesian nation Scholarly article in Standard Silesian and Polish (2011, Tartu, Estonia)

Silesian for Spanish- and Portuguese-speakers, http://slonzoki.org/wp content/uploads/2014/07/%C5%9Al%C5%8Dnsk%C5%8F-G%C5%8Fdka.pdf

Plays in Silesian, https://www.youtube.co

m/playlist?list=PLSW4B3 W4DNE9zhhn5sBjGSePKV Rlg3BvJ Silesian-language keyboard, http://szkryfka.eu/index.php?option=com_co ntent&view=article&id=180&Itemid=107 TV News in Silesian, http://www.sferatv.pl/ vod/wydarzenia-po slasku/audycje/39 wydarzenia-po slasku.html

Airplane safety instructions in Silesian, http://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=72C0mq4nBbA Silesian blog in a mainstream daily, http://blogi.dz

iennikzachodni .pl/slonskifusb al/

Dialect or Language?

• • • •

Dialect: the language variety (lect) of a speech community,

employed by this community to distinguish itself from other communities; from the vantage of linguistics all dialects (language varieties, lects) are equal No linguistic definition of ‘a language’ (one of many languages, Einzalsprache) Tacitly, we understand languages to be the dialects of power centers (capitals) and/or elites, endowed with a writing system (NB: writing is not part of language) Western in its origin dichotomy: language vs dialect = oral vs written; languages are seen as ‘better,’ ‘developed,’ ‘civilized;’ while dialects are ‘idioms,’ ‘jargons,’ ‘kitchen speech’ of the ‘riff-raff,’ ‘natives,’ ‘barbarians.’

Ethnolinguistic Nationalism

• • • Languages are employed as the very basis of nation-building and statehood legitimation in Central Europe: language = nation = state (‘normative isomorphism’) - The speakers of a language constitute a nation - The territory inhabited by this language’s speakers should become coterminous with the nation’s polity • - The language cannot be shared with any other nation or state Ergo, language differentiation in the nation-states is construed as dialects that belong to the national language Logic of ethnolgsc nationalism in practice: The parallel breakups of Yugoslavia and Serbo-Croatian Hence, in this model of statehood, no recognition for the Silesian language in Poland; in one polity there must be one nation only (This is at variance with the Polish Constitution: Polish nation = all Polish citizens [not speakers of the Polish language])

• • • • •

Democracy and the Social Sciences

Outsider (etic) perspective of the scholar / politician / administrator, who is not part of the group concerned Insider (emic) perspective of the members of the group concerned Research & Civil Service, or Power Games?

Emic view of Silesians > Silesian is a language [desire for respect and for the observance of the Constitution and its provisions] Etic view of Polish scholars and political elite > Silesian is an idiom / jargon (gwara) or dialect [an undemocratic imposition from above and outside, with no respect for the wishes of almost 1 m citizens] Etic view of scholars outside Poland > Silesian is a language, because Silesians / Silesian-speakers say or wish so [no comprehension that despite the civic character of the PL Constitution, the nature of statehood in Poland and elsewhere in C Europe is still strongly ethnolinguistic in its character.