Sorbian languages

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Sorbian Wendish, Lusatian
Geographic distribution:	Lusatia
Genetic classification:	Indo-European Balto-Slavic Slavic West Slavic Sorbian
Subdivisions:	Upper Sorbian Lower Sorbian
Image:Germany sorbian region.png The Sorbian-speaking region in Germany.

The Sorbian languages are classified under the West Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages. They are the native languages of the Sorbs, a Slavic minority in eastern Germany. The language has also historically been known as Wendish or Lusatian. Their collective ISO 639-2 code is wen.

There are two literary languages: Upper Sorbian (hornjoserbsce), spoken by about 40,000 people in Saxony, and Lower Sorbian (dolnoserbski) spoken by about 10,000 people in Brandenburg. The area where the two languages are spoken is known as Lusatia (Łužica in Upper Sorbian, Łužyca in Lower Sorbian, or Lausitz in German).

Both languages have dual grammatical number; they are two of the only three living Indo-European languages to retain this feature (the other being Slovenian). The dual is used when exactly two people or things are meant and is in addition to singular and plural.

In Germany Upper and Lower Sorbian are officially recognized and protected as minority languages.

Image:Bautzen Ortschild.jpg

The city of Bautzen in Upper Lusatia is a centre of Upper Sorbian culture. Notable is the fact that bilingual signs can be seen around the city including the name of the city itself at the railway station given as 'Bautzen/Budyšin'.

The city of Cottbus (Chóśebuz) is considered the cultural centre of Lower Sorbian; here too bilingual signs are found.

Sorbian is also spoken in the small Wendish settlement of Serbin in Lee County, Texas, and until recently newspapers were published in Wendish there. It has been heavily influenced by surrounding speakers of German and English.