Lower Sorbian Alphabet at a Glance
- 34 letters: 7 vowels and 27 consonants, using Latin script with extensive diacritical marks [1]
- Spoken by approximately 7,000 people in the German state of Brandenburg [2]
- Recognized minority language in Germany with official protection status [2]
- Features unique diacritics: Č, Ć, Ě, Ł, Ń, Ř, Š, Ś, Ž, Ź distinguishing it from German [1]
- West Slavic language closely related to Upper Sorbian, Polish, and Czech [2]
- Also known as Wendish, named after the historical Wends (Slavic peoples in Germany)
- Written records date back to the 16th century, with a rich literary tradition
Lower Sorbian is a West Slavic language spoken by approximately 7,000 people [2] in the German state of Brandenburg, particularly in the region of Lower Lusatia. The alphabet consists of 34 letters: 7 vowels and 27 consonants [1], written in Latin script with extensive use of diacritical marks. Key letters include Č (ch), Ć (soft ć), Ě (ye), Ł (w), Ń (soft ń), Ř (rzh), Š (sh), Ś (soft ś), Ž (zh), and Ź (soft ź). As a recognized minority language in Germany, Lower Sorbian has official protection status and is taught in some schools in Brandenburg. It is closely related to Upper Sorbian (spoken in Saxony), Polish, and Czech, sharing many grammatical and phonetic features with these West Slavic languages.
Lower Sorbian Vowel Letters
The Lower Sorbian alphabet includes 7 vowels: A, E, Ě, I, O, U, Y, with Ě (ye) being particularly important for Slavic palatalization.
Lower Sorbian Vowels (Uppercase)
Lower Sorbian Vowels (Lowercase)
Lower Sorbian Consonant Letters
Lower Sorbian contains 27 consonants with extensive diacritics. Many consonants come in hard/soft pairs like S/Ś, Z/Ź, C/Ć.
For example:
In the word "pódum" (poydum), meaning "I will go", the vowels ó and u combine with the consonants p, d, m to form this common verb.
Lower Sorbian Consonants (Uppercase)
Lower Sorbian Consonants (Lowercase)
All Alphabet
The complete Lower Sorbian alphabet with all 34 letters from A to Ž, including special diacritical letters.
Digits
Lower Sorbian uses standard Arabic numerals (0-9) for writing numbers, just like German and other European languages.
Punctuation and Symbols
Lower Sorbian uses standard European punctuation marks including periods, commas, question marks, and exclamation points.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
References:
- [1] Unicode Consortium. "Latin Extended-B Block". Retrieved from Unicode Latin Extended-B
- [2] Ethnologue. "Lower Sorbian Language (DSB) - L1 & L2 Speakers, Status, Map". Retrieved from https://www.ethnologue.com/language/dsb/
Sambhu Raj Singh ·