Kashubian features

A "standard" Kashubian language does not exist despite several attempts to create one; rather a diverse range of dialects takes its place. The vocabulary is heavily influenced by German and Polish and uses the Latin alphabet.

There are several similarities between Kashubian and Polish. For some linguists they consider this a sign that Kashubian is a dialect of Polish but others believe that this is just a sign that the two originate from the same location. They are nevertheless related to a certain degree and their proximity has made Kashubian influenced by Polish and its various dialects, specifically its northern ones.

Phonology and morphology

Kashubian makes use of simplex and complex phonemes with secondary place articulation /pʲ/, /bʲ/, /fʲ/, /vʲ/ and /mʲ/. They follow the Clements and Hume (1995) constriction model, where sounds are represented in terms of constriction. They are then organized according to particular features like anterior, implying the activation of features dominating it. Due to this model, the phonemes above are treated differently from the phonemes /p/, /b/, /f/, /v/ and /m/. The vocalic place node would be placed under the C-place node and V-place nodes interpolated to preserve well-forwardness.

Vowels

Kashubian vowel phonemes

	Front		Central		Back
	unrounded	rounded	unrounded	rounded	unrounded	rounded
Close	i					u
Close-mid	e	ø	ə			o
Open-mid	ɛ			ɞ	ʌ	ɔ
Open	æ		a			ɒ

• The exact phonetic realization of the close-mid vowels /e, o/ depends on the dialect.
• Apart from these, there are also nasal vowels /ɛ̃, ã/. Their exact phonetic realization depends on the dialect.

Consonants

Kashubian has simple consonants with a secondary articulation along with complex ones with secondary articulation.

Kashubian consonant phonemes

		Labial	Dental	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar
Nasal		m	n		ɲ	ŋ
Plosive	voiceless	p	t			k
	voiced	b	d			ɡ
Affricate	voiceless		ts	tʃ	(tɕ)
	voiced		dz	dʒ	(dʑ)
Fricative	voiceless	f	s	ʃ	(ɕ)	x
	voiced	v	z	ʒ	(ʑ)
	trill			(r̝)
Approximant	central				j	w
	lateral			l		ʟ
Trill		ʙ		r

• /tʃ, dʒ, ʃ, ʒ/ are palato-alveolar.
• /ɲ, tɕ, dʑ, ɕ, ʑ/ are alveolo-palatal; the last four appear only in some dialects.
• The fricative trill /r̝/ is used only by some northern and northeastern speakers; other speakers realize it as flat postalveolar [ʐ].
• The labialized velar central approximant /w/ is realized as a velarized denti-alveolar lateral approximant [ɫ̪] by older speakers of southeastern dialects.

Kashubian alphabet

case	Lower case	Name of letters [1]	Pronunciation
A	a	a	[a]
Ą	ą	ą	[õ], [ũ]
Ã	ã	ã	[ã][ɛ̃] (Puck County, Wejherowo County)
Æ	æ	æ	[æ]
B	b	bé	[b]
C	c	cé	[ts]
D	d	dé	[d]
E	e	e	[ɛ]
É	é	é	[e][ɨj] in some dialects [i]/[ɨ] from Puck to Kartuzy [ɨ] at the end of a word
Ë	ë	szwa	[ə]
F	f	éf	[f]
G	g	gé	[ɡ]
H	h	ha	[x]
I	I	i	[i]
J	j	jot	[j]
K	k	ka	[k]
L	l	él	[l]
Ł	ł	éł	[w]
M	m	ém	[m]
N	n	én	[n]
Ń	ń	éń	[ɲ][n]
Ŋ	ŋ	éŋ	[ŋ]
O	o	o	[ɔ]
Ò	ò	ò	[wɛ]
Ó	ó	ó	[o][u] (southern dialects)
Ô	ô	ô	[ɞ][ɛ] (western dialects) [ɔ] (Wejherowo County) [o]/[u] (southern dialects)
Ɔ	ɔ	ɔ	[ɒ]
P	p	pé	[p]
R	r	ér	[r]
S	s	és	[s]
T	t	té	[t]
U	u	u	[u]
Ù	ù	ù	[wu]
V	v	vé	[ʙ]
Ʌ	ʌ	ʌ	[ʌ]
Ø	ø	ø	[ø]
W	w	wé	[v]
X	x	xé	[ʟ]
Y	y	igrek	[i]
Z	z	zet	[z]
Ż	ż	żet	[ʒ]

The following digraphs and trigraphs are used:

Digraph	Phonemic value(s)	Digraph/trigraph (before a vowel)	Phonemic value(s)
ch	/x/	ci	/tɕ/
cz	/tʃ/	dzi	/dʑ/
dz	/dz/ (/ts/)	gi	/ɡʲ/
dż	/dʒ/ (/tʃ/)	ki	/kʲ/
rz	/ʐ/ ([r̝]) (/ʂ/)	ni	/ɲ/
sz	/ʃ/	si	/ɕ/
		zi	/ʑ/

External links

• Kashubian language