American Polonic
| American Polonic | |
|---|---|
| Polonic, Wisconsin Polish | |
| Polonii Amerykański Полонї Амерўканьски | |
| Native to | United States |
| Region | Wisconsin |
| Ethnicity | Poles |
Early forms | Polish
|
Standard forms | American Polonic
|
| Dialects | American Polonic (traditional)
American Polonic (Cyrillic)
|
| Latin, Cyrillic | |
| Sign Language System | |
| Official status | |
Official language in | Republic of Valenowa |
| Regulated by | Polonic Language Council |
American Polonic (American Polonic: Polonii Amerykański), more commonly called Polonic (American Polonic: Polonii), is a West Slavic language of the Lechitic group directly derived from the Polish language. It is utilized in an official capacity only by the Republic of Valenowa, and is a minority language in the United States.
The Polonic alphabet (American Polonic: Polonii Alfabet) has 10 additions (á, ą, ć, ę, ł, ń, ó, ś, ź, ż) to the characters of the 26-letter Latin alphabet, while removing three (x, q, v). The three excluded characters are typically only utilized in foreign spellings. The Polonic alphabet, similarly to Polish, consists of 23 consonants and 9 written vowels, including the nasal vowels ą and ę, which are denoted by the reverse diacritic hook below them, called an ogonek. The Polonic language utilizes penultimate stress, unlike the vast majority of other languages in the world, and similarly to Polish and Napranian. The language itself was developed by Michał Valenski in early 2024 as a simplified form of Polish, designed to be easier for non-native Polish speakers to learn, in an effort to revive the heritage of the Polish diaspora in Wisconsin.
Geographic distribution
The vast majority of Polonic speakers reside within the US State of Wisconsin and the Polonian Presidential Dependency of Valenowa. There are no speakers that declare American Polonic as their first language.
Dialects
The American Polonic language consists of two primary dialects. The first utilizes a modified Latin alphabet and script, whereas the second utilizes a modified Cyrillic alphabet and script. The Latin translation of the latter differs from that of the former, in the sense that it more closely resembles other primarily-cyrillic languages like Russian, Ukrainian, and Belarusian. There is no standard dialect in the language, and both the Cyrillic and Latin scripts are often used interchangeably.
Orthography
The American Polonic language utilizes a modified Latin script, including additional letters formed using diacritics. Examples of this include the kreska over the letters á, ć, ń, ó, ś, ź and through the letter in ł, the kropka (superior dot) over the letter ż, and the ogonek (little tail) beneath the letters ą and ę. The Latin letters q, v, and x are used only in foreign spellings.
| Upper
case |
Lower
case |
Cyrillic upper
case |
Cyrillic lower
case |
Phonemic
value(s) |
Upper
case |
Lower
Case |
Cyrillic upper
case |
Cyrillic lower
case |
Phonemic
value(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | a | А | а | /a/ | Ń | ń | Нь | нь | /ɲ/ |
| Ą | ą | Ѫ | ѫ | /ɔ̃/, [ɔn], [ɔm] | O | o | О | о | /ɔ/ |
| Á | á | І | і | /ˈeɪ/ | Ó | ó | О | о | /u/ |
| B | b | Б | б | /b/ (/p/) | P | p | П | п | /p/ |
| C | c | Ц | ц | /ts/ | Q | q | No equivalent | No equivalent | Only loanwords |
| Ć | ć | Чь | чь | /tɕ/ | R | r | Р | р | /r/ |
| D | d | Д | д | /d/ (/t/) | S | s | С | с | /s/ |
| E | e | Е | е | /ɛ/ | Ś | ś | Сь | сь | /ɕ/ |
| Ę | ę | Ѧ | ѧ | /ɛ̃/, [ɛn], [ɛm], /ɛ/ | T | t | Т | т | /t/ |
| F | f | Ф | ф | /f/ | U | u | У | у | /u/ |
| G | g | Г | г | /ɡ/ (/k/) | V | v | В | в | Only loanwords |
| H | h | Х | х | /x/ (/ɣ/) | W | w | В | в | /v/ (/f/) |
| I | i | И | и | /i/, /j/ | X | x | No equivalent | No equivalent | Only loanwords |
| J | j | Й | й | /j/ | Y | y | Ў | ў | /ɨ/, /ɘ/ |
| K | k | К | к | /k/ | Z | z | Щ | щ | /z/ (/s/) |
| L | l | Л | л | /l/ | Ź | ź | Шь | шь | /ʑ/ (/ɕ/) |
| Ł | ł | Ль | ль | /w/, /ɫ/ | Ż | ż | Ж | ж | /ʐ/ (/ʂ/)/ |
| M | m | М | м | /m/ | q | ||||
| N | n | Н | н | /n/ |
The following digraphs and trigraphs are used:
| Digraph | Cyrillic equivalent | Phonemic value(s) | Diagraph/trigraph
(before a vowel) |
Cyrillic equivalent | Phonemic value(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ch | ч | ci | ци | ||
| cz | чь | dzi | дщи | ||
| dz | дщ | gi | ги | ||
| dź | дь | (c)hi | No equivalent | ||
| dż | дж | ki | ки | ||
| rz | ж | ni | ни | ||
| sz | ш | si | си | ||
| zi | щи |
Grammar
American Polonic is a language that follows strictly Polish subject-verb-object grammar styles. Nouns in the language can be gendered one of three ways: masculine, feminine, and neuter. Generally, American Polonic strictly follows Polish language grammar standards, with the minor exceptions of certain loanwords from English, German, and High Napranian.
Borrowed words
The American Polonic language contains various loanwords and borrowed words, most notably from influences such as Italian, Yiddish, German, English, Czech, French, Hungarian, and Turkish. Words that are derived or directly borrowed from outside influences are typically respelled to match Polonian orthography and pronunciation.
Major historical events brought on the usage of loanwords within the Polish language, nearly all of which have transferred to American Polonic. These events and influences included the Polish acceptance of European Jews (11th-16th centuries CE), the Byzantine and Holy Roman Empires (10th-18th centuries CE), the Mongol invasions of Poland (12th-13th centuries CE), the marriage of Sigismund I the Old of Poland-Lithuania to Bona Sforza of Bari and Rossano (CE 1518), and the various contacts and wars with the Ottoman Turks (17th century CE). Additional passive influences came via the significant German, Czech, and Hungarian diasporas present in Poland throughout history.
American and English influences
American Polonic contains a number of influences from the English language and various forms of American slang, including words like komputer (компутер, computer), dewastacja (девастаця, devastation), and gówna (говна, gonna). Additionally, significant American influence can be found in the shortening of words within American Polonic (ex. rzeczpospolita to reżypolita), which was done to make the language more accessible to non-native Slavic language speakers.
Sample text
Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in American Polonic (Latin):
Wycie ludzie rodzą się wolni i równi pod głedem swej godności i swych praw. Są oni obarzeni rozumem i sumienem i powinni postepować wobec innych w duchu braterstwa.Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in American Polonic (Cyrillic):
Вўцѣ лудщѣ родщѫ сѩ волни и ровни под гљедем свей годносьци и свўх прав. Сѫ они обарщени рощумем и сумѣнем и повинни постеповачь вобец иннўх в духу братерства.
Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in English:
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
See also