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Sorbian language

Alternative names (including historical names and autoglottonyms): Wendish, Lusatian

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PDFVolume 13. Slavic languages (2nd edition = volume 22)
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Genealogy

Indo-European → Slavic → West Slavic → Sorbian

Geography

Main country: Germany (show on the map)

Area maps from the encyclopedia (in Russian)

Map designer: Yuri Koryakov

Identifiers

Features

Phonemic structure

[A‑1] Number of degrees of vowel height Four [A‑1‑3]
[A‑2] Vowel height degrees Close, close-mid, mid and open [A‑2‑4]
[A‑3] Degrees of vowel backness Front, central and back [A‑3‑4]
[A‑4] Number of length degrees No length degrees [A‑4‑1]
[A‑5] Vowel opposition in labialization No vowel opposition in labialization [A‑5‑1]
[A‑6] Vowel opposition in nasalization No vowel opposition in nasalization [A‑6‑1]
[A‑7] Vowel opposition in pharyngealization No vowel opposition in pharyngealization [A‑7‑1]
[A‑8] Vowel opposition in ATR No vowel opposition in ATR [A‑8‑1]
[A‑9] Diphthongs and triphthongs No diphthongs and triphthongs [A‑9‑1]
[A‑11] Inventory of obstruents by laryngeal features Opposition by voice presence/absence and softness [A‑11‑9]
[A‑12] Inventory of obstruents by manner of articulation Plosives, fricatives and affricates [A‑12‑3]
[A‑13] Inventory of obstruents by place of articulation Labial, coronal, dorsal and guttural [A‑13‑3]
[A‑14] Inventory of labial obstruents by place of articulation Bilabial and labiodental [A‑14‑2]
[A‑15] Inventory of coronal obstruents by place of articulation Dental-alveolar and postalveolar [A‑15‑28]
[A‑16] Inventory of guttural obstruents by place of articulation Velar and uvular [A‑16‑5]
[A‑18] Additional articulatory oppositions of obstruents By palatalization [A‑18‑4]
[A‑19] Inventory of sonorants by manner of articulation Nasal, liquid, vibrant and glide [A‑19‑6]
[A‑20] Inventory of sonorants by place of articulation Labial, coronal, dorsal and guttural [A‑20‑17]
[A‑21] Additional articulatory oppositions of sonorants By palatalization [A‑21‑3]

Prosodic phenomena

[B‑1] Stress character Non-phonological [B‑1‑3]
[B‑2] Stress type Dynamic [B‑2‑1]
[B‑3] Stress carrier Syllable [B‑3‑1]
[B‑4] Stress fixedness Single-place fixed [B‑4‑1]

Syllable

[C‑1] Syllable onset Most syllables have a non-null onset [C‑1‑3]
[C‑2] Syllable coda Both null and non-null ocoda possible [C‑2‑5]

Phonologic structure and phenomena

[D‑1] Restrictions on the phonemic structure of segment morphemes in the initial position Only consonants possible [D‑1‑3]
[D‑4] Differences between content and function words Differences in phonetic structure and in syllable structure [D‑4‑4]
[D‑5] Differences between native and borrowed words Differences in phonetic structure, in syllable structure and in accentuation [D‑5‑7]
[D‑7] Functional type of alternations Accompanying and distinctive [D‑7‑4]
[D‑8] Type of altenations Vowel and consonant alternations [D‑8‑6]

Morphological type of language

[E‑1] Type of language by type of morpheme combination in a word Fusional [E‑1‑3]
[E‑2] Fusional type features Cumulative affixes, several conjugation types [E‑2‑5]
[E‑4] Type of language by degree of morpheme cohesion Synthetic with elements of analytism [E‑4‑6]

Nominal classifications

[F‑1] Number of agreement classes Three [F‑1‑3]
[F‑2] Morphological expression of agreement classes Nominal and verb flections [F‑2‑9]
[F‑5] Attributive agreement in gender In singular, dual, and plural [F‑5‑3]
[F‑6] Agreement of cardinal numerals in gender For "one", "two" [F‑6‑4]
[F‑7] Nouns classifying categories Person/non-person and animacy/inanimacy [F‑7‑4]
[F‑8] Opposition by person/non-person Morphological and syntactic [F‑8‑6]
[F‑9] Expression of animacy/inanimacy Morphological and syntactic [F‑9‑5]

Number

[G‑1] Number in nouns Singular, dual and plural [G‑1‑2]
[G‑2] Single number marking Unmarked [G‑2‑2]
[G‑3] Honorific forms in pronouns and verbs Neutral and polite [G‑3‑2]
[G‑4] Agreement in number Predicative and attributive [G‑4‑4]
[G‑5] Form of a noun in numeral phrases Singular, dual, and plural [G‑5‑4]

Case meanings

[H‑1] Number of noun cases Three-seven [H‑1‑2]
[H‑3] Case of nominal predicate Nominative [H‑3‑4]
[H‑4] Case marking of possessive relations Genitive [H‑4‑1]
[H‑5] Other means of expressing possessive relations Possessive pronouns, possessive adjectives, and affixes [H‑5‑17]
[H‑8] Case marking of animate and inanimate nouns Different [H‑8‑2]
[H‑9] Secondary cases Absent [H‑9‑2]

Verbal categories

[I‑2] Voice stacking in the same verb form Present [I‑2‑1]
[I‑4] Voice forms coincidence Passive and reflexive [I‑4‑4]
[I‑5] Tense forms Past [I‑5‑1]
[I‑5] Tense forms Present [I‑5‑2]
[I‑5] Tense forms Future [I‑5‑3]
[I‑6] Aspect and tense expression Syncretic [I‑6‑2]
[I‑8] Syncretic expression of several verb meanings Tense, person and number [I‑8‑8]
[I‑9] Marking of person in present tense verbs In singular, dual and plural [I‑9‑5]
[I‑10] Transitivity marker Absent [I‑10‑1]

Deictic categories

[J‑1] Pronominal words Pronouns-nouns, pronouns-adjectives, pronominal adverbs, and pronominal numberals [J‑1‑13]
[J‑2] Expression of deictic categories Demonstrative pronouns, pronominal adverbs, and particles [J‑2‑20]
[J‑5] Morphological expression of (in)definiteness Absent [J‑5‑1]
[J‑6] Words expressing (in)definiteness Pronouns [J‑6‑2]
[J‑7] Expression of politeness In verb phrase and in pronouns [J‑7‑6]
[J‑8] Expression of negation Negative particles, pronouns and adverbs [J‑8‑15]
[J‑9] Negation marker position Preposition [J‑9‑3]

Parts of speech and inflection

[K‑1] Personal pronouns inflection Pronominal inflection type [K‑1‑3]
[K‑2] Article types No articles [K‑2‑1]
[K‑7] Number of conjugation types Three types of conjugation [K‑7‑3]
[K‑8] Verb agreement types Subject [K‑8‑2]
[K‑9] Agreement categories expressed in participle Gender, number and case [K‑9‑7]
[K‑10] Tense expressed by participle Present and past [K‑10‑6]
[K‑11] Adverb grammar categories Degrees of comparison [K‑11‑2]
[K‑14] Attribute agreement of adjectives Always present [K‑14‑1]
[K‑15] Attributive agreement types In number [K‑15‑2]
[K‑15] Attributive agreement types In case [K‑15‑3]
[K‑15] Attributive agreement types In gender [K‑15‑4]
[K‑15] Attributive agreement types In (in)humanness [K‑15‑6]
[K‑15] Attributive agreement types In (in)definiteness [K‑15‑8]
[K‑16] Inflectional categories of noun Number and case [K‑16‑7]
[K‑17] Cumulative expression of several categories in noun Gender / agreement class, number and case [K‑17‑11]
[K‑18] Inflection means Affixes [K‑18‑2]
[K‑19] Word form model Prefixal-suffixal [K‑19‑1]

Word formation

[L‑2] Derivation affixes Prefixes, suffixes, and interfixes [L‑2‑16]

Simple sentence

[M‑1] Morphosyntactic alignment Accusative [M‑1‑3]
[M‑2] Word order fixedness Relatively free [M‑2‑3]
[M‑3] Dominant word order SVO/ SOV [M‑3‑5]
[M‑4] Order of nouns and its modifier Modifier precedes noun [M‑4‑1]
[M‑5] Pro-drop Possible [M‑5‑1]

Complex sentence

[N‑1] Clauses order in compound sentence Not fixed [N‑1‑3]
[N‑3] Dependent clause predicate Finite forms [N‑3‑1]
[N‑4] Compound sentence types Subordination and compounding [N‑4‑4]
[N‑5] Compound sentence syndesis and asyndeton Both syndesis and asyndeton possible [N‑5‑3]

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