Low Lusatian German

Low Lusatian German or the Low Lusatian dialect (in German: ) is a variety of Central German spoken in northern Saxony and southern Brandenburg within the regions of Lower Lusatia (Cottbus) and the northern part of Upper Lusatia (Hoyerswerda). It is well-defined from the Low German dialects around and north of Berlin, as well as the Upper Saxon dialect group of present-day Saxony and the Slavic language of the Sorbs.

Both regions were strongly influenced by different dialects, especially after World War II. Refugees from East Prussia and Silesia settled there after their dispossession from former German areas. After the foundation of the German Democratic Republic and an economical development because of a stronger extraction of lignite, people from Mecklenburg, Thuringia, Saxony, and Saxony-Anhalt moved to the Lusatia region to benefit from the development. Due to this influence of other German dialects, Low Lusatian never formed a too strong variation from standard German. For people moving now into this area, the dialect is easy to learn and influences their spoken language quite quickly.

Language

Low Lusatian German lacks region-specific words. It contains syncopes and apocopes, which are used in nearly every German dialect. The only somewhat different articulation is the guttural Template:Angle bracket, where Standard German's Template:Angle bracket ending is instead Template:Angle bracket :

English	Standard German		Lower Lusatian German
	spelling	IPA	spelling	IPA
water	Wasser		Wassa
hammer	Hammer		Hamma
sister	Schwester		Schwesta(r)

At the beginning of a word, the Template:Angle bracket is always spoken, but it is nearly inaudible within a word. The same effect can be seen on the letter Template:Angle bracket which also mostly vanishes in the endings, the changing of Template:Angle bracket to Template:Angle bracket/Template:Angle bracket , and the stretching of Template:Angle bracket/Template:Angle bracket to Template:Angle bracket :

English	Standard German		Lower Lusatian German
	spelling	IPA	spelling	IPA
to rake	harken		haakn
to work	arbeiten		abeitn
to buy	kaufen		kohfn
as well	auch		ooch
on	auf		ohf
one	ein (m.) eine (f.) eines (n.)		een eene eens
small	kleine		Kleene

The short Template:Angle bracket is spoken similarly to the Standard German Template:Angle bracket ( or ):

English	Standard German		Lower Lusatian German
	spelling	IPA	spelling	IPA
table	Tisch		Tüsch
church	Kirche		Kürche	(in smaller villages the word Kerke is used.)
cherry	Kirsche		Kürsche

Another sign is a different form of the perfect:

English	Standard German		Lower Lusatian German
	spelling	IPA	spelling	IPA
it was switched off	es wurde abgeschaltet		es wurde abgeschalten

References

• Astrid Stedje (1987). Deutsche Sprache gestern und heute. Universitätstaschenbuchverlag
• Columns of regional newspapers written in Low Lusatian German (http://www.lr-online.de)