The Silesian Alphabet - Vowels, Consonants, Special Characters & more

Q: Is Silesian a separate language or a Polish dialect?

This is a debated topic among linguists: Arguments for separate language: • Has its own ISO 639-3 code (szl) • Contains sounds not found in Polish (ô, ŏ, ã, ů) • Limited mutual intelligibility with standard Polish Arguments for dialect: • Shares most grammar with Polish • Uses Polish-style orthography The European Charter for Regional Languages recognizes Silesian as a regional language.

Q: What are the unique Silesian letters?

Silesian has five unique letters not found in Polish: • ô - O with circumflex, a sound between "o" and "u" • ŏ - O with breve, a short "o" sound • ã - A with tilde, a nasal "a" sound • ů - U with ring, a historical long "u" • ŕ - R with acute, a palatalized "r" sound These letters capture sounds unique to Silesian phonology .

Q: Where is Silesian spoken?

Silesian is spoken in the Upper Silesia region : • Silesian Voivodeship - main concentration in Poland • Opole Voivodeship - western Silesia in Poland • Moravian-Silesian Region - Czech Republic • Diaspora communities - Germany, USA, other countries Estimates suggest 500,000-600,000 speakers worldwide.

Q: How different is Silesian from Polish?

Silesian differs from Polish in several key ways : Phonology: • Preserved palatalized r (ŕ) • Different vowel system (ô, ŏ, ã, ů) Vocabulary: • Many German loanwords from historical Silesian German • Archaic Slavic words lost in Polish Grammar: • Some different case endings • Unique verb conjugations A Polish speaker may understand 60-70% of written Silesian.

Q: How do you type Silesian characters?

Typing Silesian requires special methods : Polish keyboard + extras: • Use Polish keyboard for ą, ć, ę, ł, ń, ó, ś, ź, ż • Character map for ô, ŏ, ã, ů, ŕ Unicode input: • ô = U+00F4, Ô = U+00D4 • ã = U+00E3, Ã = U+00C3 Silesian keyboard apps: • Some custom keyboards include all Silesian letters Pro tip: Save frequently used letters in a text file for quick copy-paste!

Silesian Alphabet at a Glance

37+ letters: 13 vowels (including ô, ŏ, ã, ů) and 24 consonants with Polish-style diacritics
Spoken by approximately 500,000-600,000 people in the Upper Silesia region ^[2]
West Slavic Lechitic language, closely related to Polish ^[1]
Features unique letters not found in Polish: ô (circumflex o), ŏ (breve o), ã (nasal a), ů (ring u)
Uses Polish-style diacritics: ogonek (ą, ę), kreska (ć, ń, ó, ś, ź), crossed l (ł), and dotted z (ż)
Recognized as a regional language in Poland since 2003 under European Charter
Silesian has an officially assigned language code in the international standard for language identification ^[3]

Silesian Vowels (Uppercase)

[AH]

[AN]

[ON]

[EH]

[EN]

[EE]

[OH]

[OO]

[OW]

[OH-SHORT]

[OO]

[IH]

[AH]

Uppercase A

[AN]

Uppercase nasal A

[ON]

Uppercase nasal O

[EH]

Uppercase E

[EN]

Uppercase nasal E

[EE]

Uppercase I

[OH]

Uppercase O

[OO]

Uppercase O with acute

[OW]

Uppercase O with circumflex

[OH-SHORT]

Uppercase O with breve

[OO]

Uppercase U

[OO]

Uppercase U with ring

[IH]

Uppercase Y

Silesian Vowels (Lowercase)

[AH]

[AN]

[ON]

[EH]

[EN]

[EE]

[OH]

[OO]

[OW]

[OH-SHORT]

[OO]

[IH]

[AH]

Open front unrounded vowel, like "a" in "father"

[AN]

Nasal a sound unique to Silesian

[ON]

Nasal o sound, like Polish ą

[EH]

Mid front unrounded vowel, like "e" in "bed"

[EN]

Nasal e sound, like Polish ę

[EE]

Close front unrounded vowel, like "ee" in "see"

[OH]

Mid back rounded vowel, like "o" in "go"

[OO]

Close back rounded vowel, sounds like "u"

[OW]

Distinct Silesian vowel between o and u

[OH-SHORT]

Short o sound unique to Silesian

[OO]

Close back rounded vowel, like "oo" in "food"

[OO]

Historical long u sound

[IH]

Close central unrounded vowel, similar to Polish y

Silesian Consonants (Uppercase)

[BEH]

[TSEH]

[CHYEH]

[DEH]

[EFF]

[GEH]

[HAH]

[YOT]

[KAH]

[ELL]

[WOO]

[EMM]

[ENN]

[NYEH]

[PEH]

[ERR]

[RZSH]

[ESS]

[SHYEH]

[TEH]

[VOO]

[ZET]

[ZHYEH]

[ZHEH]

[BEH]

Uppercase B

[TSEH]

Uppercase C

[CHYEH]

Uppercase C with acute

[DEH]

Uppercase D

[EFF]

Uppercase F

[GEH]

Uppercase G

[HAH]

Uppercase H

[YOT]

Uppercase J

[KAH]

Uppercase K

[ELL]

Uppercase L

[WOO]

Uppercase L with stroke

[EMM]

Uppercase M

[ENN]

Uppercase N

[NYEH]

Uppercase N with acute

[PEH]

Uppercase P

[ERR]

Uppercase R

[RZSH]

Uppercase R with acute

[ESS]

Uppercase S

[SHYEH]

Uppercase S with acute

[TEH]

Uppercase T

[VOO]

Uppercase W

[ZET]

Uppercase Z

[ZHYEH]

Uppercase Z with acute

[ZHEH]

Uppercase Z with dot

Silesian Consonants (Lowercase)

[BEH]

[TSEH]

[CHYEH]

[DEH]

[EFF]

[GEH]

[HAH]

[YOT]

[KAH]

[ELL]

[WOO]

[EMM]

[ENN]

[NYEH]

[PEH]

[ERR]

[RZSH]

[ESS]

[SHYEH]

[TEH]

[VOO]

[ZET]

[ZHYEH]

[ZHEH]

[BEH]

Voiced bilabial plosive, like "b" in "bed"

[TSEH]

Voiceless alveolar affricate, like "ts" in "cats"

[CHYEH]

Voiceless alveolo-palatal affricate, soft "ch"

[DEH]

Voiced alveolar plosive, like "d" in "dog"

[EFF]

Voiceless labiodental fricative, like "f" in "fun"

[GEH]

Voiced velar plosive, like "g" in "go"

[HAH]

Voiceless glottal fricative, like "h" in "hat"

[YOT]

Palatal approximant, like "y" in "yes"

[KAH]

Voiceless velar plosive, like "k" in "key"

[ELL]

Alveolar lateral approximant, like "l" in "love"

[WOO]

Voiced labio-velar approximant, like "w" in "water"

[EMM]

Bilabial nasal, like "m" in "man"

[ENN]

Alveolar nasal, like "n" in "no"

[NYEH]

Palatal nasal, like "ny" in "canyon"

[PEH]

Voiceless bilabial plosive, like "p" in "pen"

[ERR]

Alveolar trill, rolled "r"

[RZSH]

Palatalized r, unique to Silesian

[ESS]

Voiceless alveolar fricative, like "s" in "sun"

[SHYEH]

Voiceless alveolo-palatal fricative, soft "sh"

[TEH]

Voiceless alveolar plosive, like "t" in "top"

[VOO]

Voiced labiodental fricative, like "v" in "voice"

[ZET]

Voiced alveolar fricative, like "z" in "zoo"

[ZHYEH]

Voiced alveolo-palatal fricative, soft "zh"

[ZHEH]

Voiced retroflex fricative, like "s" in "pleasure"

Silesian-Specific Letters (Lowercase)

[OW]

[OH-SHORT]

[AN]

[OO]

[RZSH]

Silesian-Specific Letters (Uppercase)

[OW]

[OH-SHORT]

[AN]

[OO]

[RZSH]

A a

[AH]

Ã ã

[AN]

Ą ą

[ON]

B b

[BEH]

C c

[TSEH]

Ć ć

[CHYEH]

D d

[DEH]

E e

[EH]

Ę ę

[EN]

F f

[EFF]

G g

[GEH]

H h

[HAH]

I i

[EE]

J j

[YOT]

K k

[KAH]

L l

[ELL]

Ł ł

[WOO]

M m

[EMM]

N n

[ENN]

Ń ń

[NYEH]

O o

[OH]

Ó ó

[OO]

Ô ô

[OW]

Ŏ ŏ

[OH-SHORT]

P p

[PEH]

R r

[ERR]

Ŕ ŕ

[RZSH]

S s

[ESS]

Ś ś

[SHYEH]

T t

[TEH]

U u

[OO]

Ů ů

[OO]

W w

[VOO]

Y y

[IH]

Z z

[ZET]

Ź ź

[ZHYEH]

Ż ż

[ZHEH]

[NOOL]

[YEH-din]

[DVA]

[TZHEE]

[SHTIH-rih]

[PYENCH]

[SHESHCH]

[SHEH-dim]

[OW-zhim]

[JEH-vyench]

[NOOL]

Zero in Silesian

[YEH-din]

One in Silesian

[DVA]

Two in Silesian

[TZHEE]

Three in Silesian

[SHTIH-rih]

Four in Silesian

[PYENCH]

Five in Silesian

[SHESHCH]

Six in Silesian

[SHEH-dim]

Seven in Silesian

[OW-zhim]

Eight in Silesian

[JEH-vyench]

Nine in Silesian

[KROPKA]

[PRZECINEK]

;

[ŚREDNIK]

[DWUKROPEK]

[PYTAJNIK]

[WYKRZYKNIK]

„

[CUDZYSŁÓW]

[ŁĄCZNIK]

–

[PAUZA]

(

[NAWIAS]

)

[NAWIAS]

[UKOŚNIK]

[MAŁPA]

[HASH]

€

[EURO]

[PROCENT]

[KROPKA]

Period - punctuation mark ending sentences

[PRZECINEK]

Comma - punctuation mark for pauses

;

[ŚREDNIK]

Semicolon - punctuation mark

[DWUKROPEK]

Colon - punctuation mark

[PYTAJNIK]

Question mark - indicates questions

[WYKRZYKNIK]

Exclamation mark - indicates emphasis

„

[CUDZYSŁÓW]

Opening quotation mark - Polish style

[CUDZYSŁÓW]

Closing quotation mark

[ŁĄCZNIK]

Hyphen - connects compound words

–

[PAUZA]

En dash - indicates ranges

(

[NAWIAS]

Opening parenthesis

)

[NAWIAS]

Closing parenthesis

[UKOŚNIK]

Forward slash

[MAŁPA]

At symbol - used in email addresses

[HASH]

Hash/number sign

€

[EURO]

Euro currency symbol

[PROCENT]

Percent sign

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Is Silesian a separate language or a Polish dialect?

What are the unique Silesian letters?

Where is Silesian spoken?

How different is Silesian from Polish?

How do you type Silesian characters?

References:

[1] Glottolog. "Silesian". Retrieved from Glottolog: Silesian
[2] Statistics Poland (GUS). "National Census 2011 - Languages". Retrieved from Statistics Poland: Census 2011
[3] SIL International. "ISO 639-3 Registration Authority - Silesian (szl)". Retrieved from ISO 639-3: Silesian
[4] Unicode Consortium. "Latin Extended Additional Unicode Block". Retrieved from Unicode Latin Extended Additional