Wrocław’s Silesian language specialist
Dr hab. Henryk Jaroszewicz works at the Department of Slavic Studies at the Faculty of Letters of the University of Wrocław. He is a linguist, sociolinguist, serbocroatist and a polonist. At the last senate meeting, he was awarded the position of professor at the university.
He researches the modern history of South Slavic and West Slavic languages and is active in the fields of grammar and phraseology. Since he comes from Gliwice, he declares himself to be Silesian. He is currently working on a Polish-Silesian dictionary. Why is this important? At the end of January, the parliament received a bill to grant the Silesian language the status of a regional language. According to the census, almost 600,000 people declared Silesian nationality, and almost 470,000 speak Silesian. By granting Silesian the status of a regional language, it will be possible, among other things, to provide public support for regional education and cultural and artistic activities related to the language. The tools are needed for this. Prof. Henryk Jaroszewicz of the University of Wrocław is working on one of them.
Silesian holds a special place among the languages in your sphere of interest.
Prof. Henryk Jaroszewicz, UWr: I took up the Silesian language for several reasons. After several years of research into the social and linguistic situation in the former Yugoslavia, I needed to do something “new”. I chose Silesian because I noticed a very interesting linguistic process, which no one in Polish linguistics had really dealt with seriously. And being a pioneer is always appealing.
So, the Silesian language is no coincidence.
The Silesian language is close to my heart for emotional reasons. I am a Silesian from Gliwice, for whom the Silesian language was an everyday language in the yard and in everyday contacts. Returning to the Silesian language allowed me to turn the wheel of time back in a symbolic way, to return to the moments when “mały Hyniek szpiloł we bal ze kamratami na placu” (“little Heniek played football with his friends on the playground”). What I do is also, of course, a kind of repayment of a debt to my Silesian ‘hajmat’ (small homeland), which has shaped me and given me so much. I feel honoured that practically all my life has been connected with Silesia – first Upper Silesia, now Lower Silesia.
Meanwhile, in Opole…
Yes, I used to study at the University of Opole. Ultimately, the choice of this research topic is the result of a deep conviction that linguistics should be reflected in the real, everyday lives of ordinary people. Dealing with the revitalisation of the Silesian language is exactly what I feel. What I do preserves the multicoloured regional Upper Silesian culture for future generations.
Among other things, you are the author of the first-ever scientific work to codify the Silesian language, “Spelling rules of the Silesian language. A Normative Study”. Was there anything that surprised you as the author while working on this book?
There were no major surprises while working on the book. Well, maybe a small surprise was the fact that I was able to prepare a draft typescript quite quickly and efficiently. It took me about a year. It should be noted that the work on the text was very much a team effort, as I consulted extensive sections of my text on an ongoing basis with a wide range of Silesian writers, translators, and language activists.
Initially, I was concerned that the inevitable differences of opinion within this group would make it difficult to work out some kind of normative compromise. However, it turned out that there was a genuine and strong will in Upper Silesia to forge an agreement. In the course of the work, it turned out that this plurality of advisors was extremely inspiring and repeatedly made it possible to find a codification path that was appropriate and acceptable to all.
The Old Testament in Silesian? This latest work from under your hand, it must have been a challenge!
The translation of the Books of Wisdom of the Old Testament is the work of dr Gabriel Tobor, an experienced translator who already has a translation of the entire New Testament to his credit. He took on a far greater challenge than I did! My role was merely to adapt the original version of the text, written in the local Radzionków dialect, to the orthographic and grammatical requirements of the Silesian standard. It was tedious work, in a sense requiring the entire text to be rewritten from scratch. I did it with great pleasure, however, because Gabriel Tobor has an excellent “feel” for language, so I was not forced to make major interventions into the grammatical structure of the text. Moreover, in editing the text, I had the opportunity to reread the Books of Wisdom of the Old Testament in their entirety. And this is, after all, great literature, which is always worth interacting with.
What are you working on at the moment?
I guess, like any researcher, I have several projects in progress that I am working on in parallel. But at the moment I am devoting most attention to the Polish-Silesian dictionary. This is a much-needed item, given that the Silesian language will probably soon acquire the status of Poland’s second regional language alongside Kashubian.
What does that mean?
This status will ensure that Silesian will find its way into some Polish schools and be used officially in public administration. It is difficult to imagine effective teaching and official use of Silesian without a modern normative dictionary.
What languages and subjects are also close to your heart?
It is no coincidence that I am a Serbocroatist; I feel very comfortable in the Slavic south of Europe, in the triangle whose points are marked by Zagreb, Belgrade, and Podgorica. I think that in a few years, I will scientifically return to researching the languages of our southern Slavic relatives. I am particularly interested in the Montenegrin language and Montenegro itself. As in the case of Silesia, there are many interesting processes taking place here in the linguistic and social areas that are still insufficiently studied.
Complied by Katarzyna Górowicz-Maćkiewicz
Translated by Oliwia Chanasińska (student of English Studies at the University of Wrocław) as part of the translation practice.
