Introduction

Vilamovicean

The Vilamovicean language is an East Central German (Ostmitteldeutsch) colonial variety used by a minority group of elderly speakers in the town of Wilamowice in Southern Poland. The language belongs to the so-called Bielsko-Biała linguistic enclave (Bielitz-Bialaer Sprachinsel), which originated from the First German Colonisation in the Middle-Ages in the 12th century and which was later used to include several villages and towns located in the Eastern Silesian and Western Galician regions. However, Vilamovicean seems to distinguish itself from other members of this linguistic community through possible Flemish, Anglo-Saxon and/or Frisian influences (Kleczkowski 1920, 1921; Besch et al. 1983; Ryckeboer 1984; Morciniec 1984, 1995; Lasatowicz 1992; Wicherkiewicz 2003; Ritchie 2012).

Since its origin, Vilamovicean has remained in close contact with Slavic languages of the area. This intensified in the 15th century when the eastern part of the region of Bielsko-Biała – and, hence, Wilamowice as well – was incorporated into Little Poland in the Polish kingdom. The partition of Poland in the 18th century and the absorption of Lesser Poland by the Austrian Empire might partially have reinstated a more direct link between Vilamovicean and German. Nevertheless, due to the introduction of Polish as the official language of Lesser Poland by the Austro-Hungarian administration of the 19th century, the Polonisation of the Wilamowice again became noticeable. While the Second World War and the German domination over the Polish territory hindered, once more, the influence of the Polish language and promoted the usage of Vilamovicean and its connection with German, a profound Polonisation of the town and the speakers of Vilamovicean was triggered by the communist rule after the fall of Nazi Germany. In 1946, the use of the language was officially banned and Vilamovicean customs prohibited. This constituted the beginning of the death of the Vilamovicean language, which still – despite many recent initiatives and activities – seems imminent (Wicherkiewicz 2003: 6–19). According to the website www.ethnologue.com, Vilamovicean is severely endangered, being on the verge of total extinction. It is located at level 8.b in the Expanded Graded Intergenerational Disruption Scale (EGIDS) of 10, i.e. in the class of “dying” or nearly extinct languages.

Due to its geographic location, the Vilamovicean community has always coexisted with the Polish and German cultures and languages. Over the decades, Vilamoviceans have consistently been trilingual – speaking not only their own ethnolect but also Polish and German.