Silesian, also called Upper Silesian or Slavic Silesian (mainly in contrast to German Silesian) and natively called most popular as ślōnskŏ gŏdka (see also: Other native names), is a West Slavic language spoken in Upper Silesia (region within Poland and Czech Republic) and is nearly extinct around Namysłów and Syców in Lower Silesia. It's also spoken in a diaspora in Germany and Texas. Silesian is mostly classified as language, but some Polish linguists classify it as dialect of Polish language (mainly basing on sources from Polish People's Republic).
The name ślōnskŏ gŏdka is the most popular native name in public usage, however there are also several other names, including: ślōnski jynzyk, ślōnskŏ mŏwa, ślōnskŏ rzecz, ślōnskŏ szpracha, ślōnske rzōndzynie. Silesians also use pō naszymu (literally: in ours/in our language) to refer to the language.
Entries should be normalized to the full Ślabikŏrzowy szrajbōnek orthography. To do this, silling.org offers a converter from Steuer's alphabet into simplified Ślabikŏrzowy szrajbōnek. The {{normalized}} entry may be used.
Old Polish is given as the ancestor for Silesian, and in turn Proto-Slavic. Regular sound correspondences include:
Capital N stands for any assimilated nasal consonant.
Silesian borrowings can depend on the period in which they were borrowed. Before 1945 (including, for the most part with a few exceptions), preindustrial loans, German was the main donor language, and most international terms entered Silesian via German during this period. This includes mostly political and industrial terms. After 1945, Czech and Polish became the main donor languages, and for Eastern Cieszyn Silesia, this was solely Czech. Most modern, digital loans are via Polish.