Texas Silesian

An example of Texas Silesian - a letter written from Texas to Poland
The county where Texas Silesian is spoken

Texas Silesian (Silesian: teksasko gwara) is a subdialect of the Silesian language used by Texas Silesians in American settlements from 1852[1] to the present. It is a variant of Silesian derived from the Opole dialect. The dialect evolved after Silesian exile around the village of Panna Maria.[2] It contains a distinctive vocabulary for things which were unknown for Polish Silesians.[3]

Texas Silesian is lesser influenced by German because its speakers emigrated before the Kulturkampf, which added a lot of germanisms to the continental Silesian[4] The language is tended by its speakers, but they know it only in the spoken form.[4] Texas Silesian has not been replaced by English because the Silesian community is strongly isolated.[5] Nevertheless, Texas Silesian has adopted some words from English.

One of the characteristic features of Texas Silesian phonetics is so-called mazuration, which means that all cz, sz, ż are pronounced [t͡s, s, z], whereas in standard Silesian pronunciation they are [t͡ʂ, ʂ, ʐ]. Texas Silesian has given the name for Cestohowa village in Texas - the name is derived from Polish Częstochowa, but, due to this phonetic process, cz became c.[3]

Typical words unlike Silesian

Texas Silesian Silesian English
turbacyjo[3] ńyprzileżytość problem
zaszanować[3] zaszporować to save money
kapudrok[3] zalůńik frock coat
furgocz[4] fliger aeroplane
szczyrkowa[3] no native word rattlesnake
po warszawsku[3] po polsku in Polish
prastarzik[3] starzik, uopa great-grandfather
ćeżko[3] fest very
kole tego[6] uo tym about that
pokłoud[4] gipsdeka ceiling
bejbik[7] bajtel baby
kara[7] autok car
wjater[7] luft air
korn kukurzica corn
farmjyrz gospodorz farmer
plumzy, piczesy fyrcichy peaches
garce buncloki pots

See also

References

External links

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