Poland's Linguistic Heritage

Lachian / Lakh dialects

Name

Endolinguonims:

Exolinguonyms:


Endoethnonyms:

Exonyms:


The Ethnologue considers the Lach dialects a variation of the Czech language. It does not mention, however, the Lachian literary micro-language. The Lach dialects were not assigned ISO code (http://www.loc.gov/standards/iso639-2/php/English_list.php; http://www.sil.org/iso639-3/codes.asp).

The history of the term

The word Lach came to Moravia and Silesia with the Vlachs - nomadic shepherds who, at the turn of the 16th century travelled from the Eastern Carpathians to the Beskids - and later became a term for a group of dialects (Hannan 2005: 477Hannan 2005: 477 / komentarz/comment/r /
Hannan, Kevin 2005. “The historical and linguistic background of lachian regionalism and «separatism»” w: Wojciech J.Burszta & Tomasz Kamusella & Sebastian Wojciechowski (red.) Nationalisms across the Globe. An overview of nationalsims in state-endownedand stateless nations. Europe. Vol. 1. Poznań: School of Humanities and Journalism, s. 471-496.

). It is derived from the same form as the West Slavic ethnonym denoting the Poles - Lech, related to the pra-Slavic *lędo, *lędina ‘fallow' (Jakobson 1938: 11Jakobson 1938: 11 / komentarz/comment/r /
Jakobson, Roman 1938. „Die Reimwörter Čech-Lech“, Slavische Rundschau XVIII: 10-15.

). It may have come to the Vlachs’ language as a borrowing from the Lachs who lived in Sądecka Land. (Hannan 2005: 478Hannan 2005: 478 / komentarz/comment/r /
Hannan, Kevin 2005. “The historical and linguistic background of lachian regionalism and «separatism»” w: Wojciech J.Burszta & Tomasz Kamusella & Sebastian Wojciechowski (red.) Nationalisms across the Globe. An overview of nationalsims in state-endownedand stateless nations. Europe. Vol. 1. Poznań: School of Humanities and Journalism, s. 471-496.

). Initially, the word Lach did not denote any ethnic group in the area of the Western Carpathians. It generally referred to a farmer from lowlands, as opposed to wałach (a Vlach) - shepherd from highlands. Thus, this term was more frequently used by those who inhabited higher areas rather than those who lived in the lower areas. It created a situation in which people from one village were called the Lachs by the inhabitants of the village located higher and at the same time called those, who lived in the lower village, also the Lachs (Bartoš 1886: 97Bartoš 1886: 97 / komentarz/comment/r /
Bartoš, František 1886. Dialektologie moravská. T. I. Brno: Matice Moravská.

). Moreover, the term Lach acquired a pejorative meaning in some context (Herniczek-Morozowa 1976: 78Herniczek-Morozowa 1976: 78 / komentarz/comment/r /
Herniczek-Morozowa, Wanda 1976. Terminologia polskiego pasterstwa górskiego. Część II. Wrocław: Zakład Narodowy im. Ossolińskich.

). Hence, few people from this area considered themselves Lachs. Still the term Lachia (Czech: Lašsko) as a name for the Moravian-Silesian borderland was popularised by ethnographers and dialectologists, to differentiate this area from Moravian Wallachia located more to the south (Hannan 1996b : 739Hannan 1996b : 739 / komentarz/comment/r /
Hannan, Kevin 1996b. „The Lachian Literary Language of Óndra Łysohorsky“, w: Michael M. Naydan (red.) The Slavic and East European Journal 40/4. American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages of the US, s. 726–743.

).

History and Geopolitics

The first mentions of the Lachs on the Cieszyn Silesia territory come from 1775 (Jeřábek 1987: 154Jeřábek 1987: 154 / komentarz/comment/r /
Jeřábek, Richard 1987. „Ethnische und ethnographische Gruppen und Regionen in den böhmischen Ländern (17.-20. Jahrhundert)“, Ethnologia Slavica XIX: 122-164. Bratislava.

). In north-eastern Moravia this name appeared at the end of the 18th century (Hosák 1996: 200Hosák 1996: 200 / komentarz/comment/r /
Hosák, Ladislav 1966. „K nejstarším dokladům názvů regionu a jejich obyvatelstva na Moravě a k jejich proměnam“, w: Jaroslava Suchomelová (red.) Strážnice, 1946-1965. Brno: Blok, s. 195-203.

). Bena (1922: 5Bena 1922: 5 / komentarz/comment/r /
Bena, Jan Vojtěch 1922. "Slezská knihovnička", w: Cyprian Lelek: nejpřednější kněz - buditel učitel a zastánce moravců. Opava: Matice opavská.

) mentions the existence of the Lach language at the beginning of the 19th c. and characterises it shortly, presenting soft sound and penultimate stress as its features. Šembera (1859: 10Šembera 1859: 10 / komentarz/comment/r /
Šembera, Alois Voitěch 1859. Dějiny řeči a literatury československé. Wien: nakład własny.

) writes about the Eastern group of the Moravian dialects:
Jest obecné v pořičí Oderském od Drahotouš a od Kelče v Novojičínsku na východ do Tésínska až za Moravku a k Bohumínu, též v Opavsku rakouském i pruském, až k rozhraní némciny u Krnova a Hlubčic, i polštiny od Bavorova přes Ketř na Bohumín. Obyvatelé krajiny vytčené, nářečím tímto mluvící, slovou od Drahotouš ke Fridku a Bohumínu Laši , v hornatém Ukvaldsku a Frídecku Valaši a v Opavsku Opaváné.

It is common in the Oder basin from the city Drahotuše and from Kelcz in the area of Nowy Jiczyn Land east from Cieszyn Land, beyond the Moravka river to Bogumin, also in the Austrian and Prussian Śląsk Opawski, to the German language border near Karniowo and Głubczyce, and Polish Baborów through Kietrz to Bogumin. The inhabitants of the area described, who speak this dialect, call themselves the Lachs from the city Drahotuše to Frýdka and Bogumina, the Vlachs - in the hilly part of the Hukvald state and the Opavs in Frýdek, in Śląsk Opawski.
Also Bartlso Bartoš writes about the Lach dialects in 1886 (97Bartoš 1886: 97 / komentarz/comment/r /
Bartoš, František 1886. Dialektologie moravská. T. I. Brno: Matice Moravská.

):
Nářečím, jež tuto lašským nazýváme, mluví se na Opavsku, v úzkém pruhu západního Těšínská, v pruském Slezsku až po Bavorov a Ratiboř a v severovýchodním klíně Moravy, vtěsnaném mezi obojím knížectvím slezským, v okolí měst Frenštáta, Štramberka, Příbora, Brušperka, Moravské Ostravy, Místka a Frydlanta. Hranice jeho jednak od živlu německého, jednak od polštiny na mapě Semberově zcela správně jsou vyznačeny.

The local dialect called a Lach dialect, is used in Śląsk Opawski, in a narrow strip of the eastern Cieszyn Silesia, in Prussian Silesia as far as Baborów and Racibórz, in the north-eastern wedge of Moravia, between the area of the Duchies of Silesia, in the area of the cities Frensztat, Štramberk, Příbor, Brušperk, Morawska Ostrawa, Místek and Frydlant. Its borders with German as well as the Polish language on the Šembera’s map are designated correctly.
The beginning of the 20th century was a period of development of cultural and linguistic regionalism in Silesia. Around that time a movements was created. Its activists aimed at creating literary culture for the Silesian language. Among the activists were writers and poets such as: Arnošt Chamrad, Lev Kazík Karminský, Fran Sméja, Anna Tilschová, and in Poland: Zofia Kossak, Gustaw Morcinek and others. In this situation, a concept to create the Lachlan literary language arose. To a certain extent, it was to create a language bridge between the Polish and Silesian people (Duličenko 2002: 287Duličenko 2002: 287 / komentarz/comment/r /
Дуличенко, Александр Д. [Duličenko] 2002. „Lachisch“, w: M. Okuka (red.): Lexikon der Sprachen des europäischen Ostens. Klagenfurt: Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt, s. 287-290.


). The eastern border of the Lach dialects at the beginning of the 20th comprised the south-eastern part of Głubczyce County, between the German language and the Silesian dialects area. The border of the Lach dialects ran from Sułkow (Czech: Sulkov) to Sudół near Racibórz, and to the south towards Chałupki, excluding the villages: Tłustomosty and Dzielów. Cyne (Psina) river, which runs into the Oder in the area of Bieńkowice, designated the border between the Silesian and Lach local dialects. In the east, the Lach dialects bordered dialectally with the following Polish villages: Krzyżanowice, Roszków, Rudyszwałd, Zabełków, Chałupki and further, on the Czech territory: Wierzbica (Vrbice), Lutynia (Lutyně), Datynie Dolne (Dolní Datyně), Datynie Górne (Horní Datyně), Szoboszowice (Soběšovice), Domasławice Dolne (Dolní Domaslavice), Domasławice Górne (Horní Domaslavice), Dobracice (Dobratice), Ligotka Kameralna (Komorní Lhotka), Rzeka (Řeka) (Wyderka 2000: XIIIWyderka 2000: XIII / komentarz/comment/r /
Wyderka Bogusław (red.) 2000. Słownik gwar śląskich. Tom I. Opole: Państwowy Instytut Naukowy.

). In 1909 the eastern border of the strip, was defined as not belonging to the Polish language, but at the same time not being linguistically pure Czech (Moravian); the line was designated along the following villages: Morawka (czes. Morávka), Noszowice (Nošovice), Wojkowice (Vojkovice), Kocurowice (Kocurovice), Bruzowice (Bruzovice), Kaniowice (Kaňovice), Racimów (Vratimov), Kończyce (Kunčice), Kobłowo (Koblov), Szulerzowice (Šilheřovice), Hać (Hat), Tworków (Tvorkov), Bieńkowice, Bolesław, Borzucin (Borutin), Krzenowice (Křenovice), Szamarzowice (Samborovice), Wielkie Pietrowice (Velké Petrovice), Tłustomosty, Jarowniów (Jaronov), Baborów (Bavorov), along with the above-mentioned towns (Nitsch 1939: 165Nitsch 1939: 165 / komentarz/comment/r /
Nitsch, Kazimierz 1939. Dialekty polskie Śląska. Tom I. Kraków: Polska Akademia Umiejętności.

). The description of the Lach language created by Łysohorsky (1934: 100Łysohorski 1934: 100 / komentarz/comment/r /
Łysohorski 1934. Śpiwajuco piaść. Praga: Družstevni prace.

) says: “The Lach language, in a general outline, is the language of the inhabitants of north-eastern Moravia, old Austrian Silesia and Hluczyńska Land”.


Łysa Góra (Czech: Lysá hora, Lach. Łyso Hora). The name of the mountain became e.g. an inspiration for creating a pen name of Óndra Łysohorski, one of the important writers and Lach activists. Picture T. Wicherkiewicz.

After World War II, the Lach speaking area has experienced the growth of both Polish and Czech national awareness. Similarly to almost all countries of the so-called Eastern Block, a policy of national unification has been introduced. Immediately after the war, the Polish minority was recognised on the territory of Czechoslovakia whereas the Lach, Moravian or Silesian ethnic minority were not recognised there (Hannan 2005: 476Hannan 2005: 476 / komentarz/comment/r /
Hannan 2005. “The historical and linguistic background of lachian regionalism and «separatism»” w: Wojciech J.Burszta &Tomasz Kamusella & Sebastian Wojciechowski (red.) Nationalisms across the Globe. An overview of nationalsims in state-endownedand stateless nations. Europe. Vol. 1. Poznań: School of Humanities and Journalism, s. 471-496.

). Silesian or Moavian nationality, as opposed to the Lach, could be declared only in the 1991 census in Czechoslovakia and in the censuses from 2001 and 2011 in the Czech Republic (SRČR 2012: 786SRČR 2012: 786 / komentarz/comment/r /
Statistická Ročenka České Republiky 2012 (SRČR 2012). Český statistický úřad.

).
Moreover, the gradual decline of Lach dialects is aided by: the growing importance of the written and spoken versions of the official languages - supported by bureaucratic actions, schools and the mass media, migration of people from other parts of Czech and Slovakia to main city centres, redefinition of the term” local identity”, the blurring of the distinction between dialectal and ethnic borders and the change in the social status of dialects and local dialects (Hannan 1996b: 734Hannan 1996b: 734 / komentarz/comment/r /
Hannan 1996b. „The Lachian Literary Language of Óndra Łysohorsky“, w: Michael M. Naydan (red.) The Slavic and East European Journal 40/4. American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages of the US, s. 726–743.

).
The development of the events through the 20th century and at the beginning of the 21th century can be illustrated by an example of Baborów (Czech. Bavorov). Until c.1900 almost all ethnic community spoke Moravian (i.e. Lach, Wyderka 1984: 14Wyderka 1984: 14 / komentarz/comment/r /
Wyderka, Bogusław 1984. Język mówiony mieszkańców Baborowa na Śląsku Opolskim: Fonologia. Wrocław: Polska Akademia Nauk.

) The process of Germanisation, which began in 1870 and focused on education and the actions of German ministers, resulted in the gradual decrease in the number of speakers. Gradually, liturgy ceased to be celebrated in the Moravian language and the language was ultimately dropped in 1922. (Steuer 1937: 4Steuer 1937: 4 / komentarz/comment/r /
Steuer, Feliks 1937. Narzecze baborowskie. Kraków: Polska Akademia Umiejętności.

). In 1926, 2800 out of 3000 inhabitants of Baborów and nearby Jarowniów (Jaronov) considered themselves Germans. (Wyderka 1984: 82Wyderka 1984: 82 / komentarz/comment/r /
Wyderka, Bogusław 1984. Język mówiony mieszkańców Baborowa na Śląsku Opolskim: Fonologia. Wrocław: Polska Akademia Nauk.

). In 1937 Baborów was a town inhabited by 4335 people, with 170 active and 170 passive users of the Lach dialect (Steuer 1937: 3Steuer 1937: 3 / komentarz/comment/r /
Steuer, Feliks 1937. Narzecze baborowskie. Kraków: Polska Akademia Umiejętności.

). Wyderka (1984: 14Wyderka 1984: 14 / komentarz/comment/r /
Wyderka, Bogusław 1984. Język mówiony mieszkańców Baborowa na Śląsku Opolskim: Fonologia. Wrocław: Polska Akademia Nauk.

) writes that the number of inhabitants in 1976 was 3365 and that they were mainly repatriates from the following counties: Tarnopol, Lwów, Stanisławów. In 1984 in Baborów, the Silesian dialect was dominant, whereas the local dialect of native inhabitants lost its Lach character (Wyderka 1984: 84Wyderka 1984: 84 / komentarz/comment/r /
Wyderka, Bogusław 1984. Język mówiony mieszkańców Baborowa na Śląsku Opolskim: Fonologia. Wrocław: Polska Akademia Nauk.

). The youngest generation of natives had a kind of diglossia, as they used a mixed dialect in contacts with their families (Wyderka 1984: 89Wyderka 1984: 89 / komentarz/comment/r /
Wyderka, Bogusław 1984. Język mówiony mieszkańców Baborowa na Śląsku Opolskim: Fonologia. Wrocław: Polska Akademia Nauk.

). Despite that, the language of the Lach dialects users had evolved by then towards integration with the language of the Silesians (Wyderka 1984: 19, 48Wyderka 1984: 19, 48 / komentarz/comment/r /
Wyderka, Bogusław 1984. Język mówiony mieszkańców Baborowa na Śląsku Opolskim: Fonologia. Wrocław: Polska Akademia Nauk.

); in the case of the youngest generations, aiming at the the decay of the language and unification with the Polish language, as a result of e.g. the impact of the Polish education system (Wyderka 1984: 25, 30Wyderka 1984: 25, 30 / komentarz/comment/r /
Wyderka, Bogusław 1984. Język mówiony mieszkańców Baborowa na Śląsku Opolskim: Fonologia. Wrocław: Polska Akademia Nauk.

). The Lachs assimilated fast. The number of people who spoke a variation close to a Lach dialect was small and limited to the oldest generation (Wyderka 1984: 82Wyderka 1984: 82 / komentarz/comment/r /
Wyderka, Bogusław 1984. Język mówiony mieszkańców Baborowa na Śląsku Opolskim: Fonologia. Wrocław: Polska Akademia Nauk.

). In the year 2000, there was no native inhabitants the area of Baborów (Wyderka 2000: XIIIWyderka 2000: XIII / komentarz/comment/r /
Wyderka Bogusław (red.) 2000. Słownik gwar śląskich. Tom I. Opole: Państwowy Instytut Naukowy.

).
Apart from Poland and Czech, also a group of emigrants in Texas, who have been using the mixed dialects derived from the Lach dialects in Texas. Robert Janák (1989: 57-58Janák 1989: 57-58 / komentarz/comment/r /
Janák, Robert 1989. „Texas Czech tombstones: A unique genealogical source“, w: Sborník příspěvků. IV Setkání genealogů a heraldiků. Ostrava, s. 54-59.

) claims that the tombstone inscriptions in the area of the parishes he had researched (Praha Catholic Cemetery, Fayette County; St Mary’s Catholic Cemetery, Lavaca), indicate that around 40% of immigrants living in that area had Lach roots. At least at the beginning, the group was numerous - as we can read in Gallup (1998: 5Gallup 1998: 5 / komentarz/comment/r /
Gallup, Sean N. 1998. Journeys into Czech-Moravian Texas. College Station, TX: TAMU Press.

), the total number of inhabitants from Texas, from whom, according to the censuses, Czech was the first language was 49, 929 in 1920 and 62, 680 in 1940. The data could also indirectly indicate the number of people of Lach origin. Janák’s research comprised the tombstone inscriptions from the 1970s and despite the gradual Americanisation of the immigrant group, a few more tombstones with Czech inscriptions were added in the last decade.
The features of the language used in Texas were described as predominantly Lach by Perkowski (1978: 142Perkowski 1978: 142 / komentarz/comment/r /
Perkowski, Jan L. 1978. „Some Notes on a Literary Text in Texas Czech“, w: Clinton Machann (red.) The Czechs in Texas: A Symposium. College Station, TX: TAMU Press.

) It differs from present-day standard Czech in regard to the lack of two important features: vowel length and penultimate stress. Both features are typical for Lach dialects. Also the vocabulary of the dialects from Texas differs significantly from present-day standard Czech. It is about lexical differences, which generally speaking, differentiates Moravia from Czech proper, and about the German, Slovakian, Polish and Vlachian influence, that were either never incorporated to the Czech language, or were deleted from the literary language (Hannan 1996aHannan 1996a / komentarz/comment/r /
Hannan 1996a. „Ethnic identity among the Czechs and Moravians of Texas“, w: John J. Bukowczyk (red.) Journal of American Ethnic History 15/4. Illinois: University of Illinois Press, s. 3-31.

). The Moravian people in Texas traditionally called their language moravsky, po moravsky or po morawsku. These terms reflect the terminology from the beginning of the 20th century, before the terms ‘Lach’ started to be commonly used. Letters in the Lach language were exchanged and published by e.g. the editor of the Moravian paper Svoboda, Augustin Haidušek (Hannan 1996aHannan 1996a / komentarz/comment/r /
Hannan 1996a. „Ethnic identity among the Czechs and Moravians of Texas“, w: John J. Bukowczyk (red.) Journal of American Ethnic History 15/4. Illinois: University of Illinois Press, s. 3-31.

).
Dutkova-Cope (2001Dutkova-Cope 2001 / komentarz/comment/r /
Dutkova-Cope, Lida. 2001. „The Language of Czech Moravians in Texas: Do you know what párknu káru u hauza means?”, w: Pamela Anderson-Mejías & Hugo A. Mejías (red.) Southwest Journal of Linguistics 20/2. Edinburg: University of Texas-Pan American, s. 51-84.

), on the other hand, writes about the language of immigrants as of the language created by the century and a half of contacts with the American variation of the English language and the dialects of north-eastern Moravia, based on the Lach, Vlach and partly Hana dialects.
Now, knowing all variants of the Czech language and Moravian dialects seems to be an extremely rare ability (Cope 2001a: 80-104Cope 2001a: 80-104 / komentarz/comment/r /
Dutkova-Cope, Lida 2001a. “The Future of Czech in Texas: How can you learn something if it’s not offered to you?”, w: Clinton Machann (red.) KOSMAS: Czechoslovak And Central European Journal 14/2. Washington: Czechoslovak Society of Arts and Sciences, s. 80-104.

; Gallup 1998: 95Gallup 1998: 95 / komentarz/comment/r /
Gallup, Sean N. 1998. Journeys into Czech-Moravian Texas. College Station, TX: TAMU Press.
).

Origin myths

The Lach dialects and the people who spoke it are not related to many significant historical events, around which they could build the national identity. Priestley (2008: 68Priestley 2008: 68 / komentarz/comment/r /
Priestley, Tom 2008. "Promoting 'Lesser-used' Languages Through Translation", w: TranscUlturAl  I: 68-80. http://ejournals.library.ualberta.ca/index.php/TC/article/view/4143/3388.
), when writing about Lach, considers it the pedigree-challenged language in the context of lack of significant literary achievements in the past (apart from the attempt mentioned below) and a small number of speakers. In the past, however, attempts were made to arouse the national identity among people who lived in Lachia. It was generally undertaken by a Lach writer Óndra Łysohorsky (Erwin Goj). In his literary work, he emphasised the existence of the linguistic community and ethnic distinction of people who lived in Lachia. Most of his arguments were based on the Marx’ perspective; an important element is an unfavourable situation of the Lachs in feudal and capitalist systems (Duliczenko 2004: 182-183Duliczenko 2004: 182-183 / komentarz/comment/r /
Дуличенко, Александр Д. [Duličenko] 2004. Славянские литературные микроязыки II. Образцы текстов. Tartu.
).
Łysohorsky based his literary pseudonym on two local symbols, which could be the basis for building the feeling of national distinction and community: Andrzej Szebasta, brigand and national hero (Óndra Šebesta, 1680-1715) and Łysa Góra (Czech: Lysá hora, Lach: Łyso Hora), the highest top of the Moravian-Silesian Beskids, was a staging area for Šebesta. Šebesta was famous for assaults of the travelling mechants; in an introduction to one of Łysohorsky poems in a Russian translation, he was called the leader of the peasants’ revolt against German magnates (Łysohorsky 1945: 3Łysohorsky 1945: 3 / komentarz/comment/r /
Łysohorsky, Ondra 1945. Песни о солнце и о земле. Москва, ОГИЗ.

), cf. the website with legends about Šebesta: ondrasovo.tesinske-beskydy.cz/pl/gdzie_wszedzie_byl_ondraszek.html. To some extent, the literary work of Łysohorsky is related to it - some of his work concern the abuse of Lachian people and the area by the external forces (Hannan 1996b: 728-729Hannan 1996b: 728-729 / komentarz/comment/r /
Hannan, Kevin 1996b. „The Lachian Literary Language of Óndra Łysohorsky“, w: Michael M. Naydan (red.) The Slavic and East European Journal 40/4. American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages of the US, s. 726–743.

; Duliczenko 1992: 105Duliczenko 1992: 105 / komentarz/comment/r /
Дуличенко, Александр Д. [Duličenko] 1992. „Феномен Ондры Лысогорского: Один человек - один язык”, w: Karel Bogar (red.) Umělecký a lidský odkaz básníka Óndry Łysohorského. Frýdek-Místek: Muzeum Beskyd, s. 104-113.
).
ISO Code
no code [1]przyp01 / komentarz/comment /
http://www.loc.gov/standards/iso639-2/php/English_list.php oraz http://www.sil.org/iso639-3/codes.asp
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