Editing Polabian language (section)

{{Short description|Extinct and revitalized Slavic language}}
{{Infobox language
| name             = Polabian
| nativename       = {{lang|pox|Slüvensťă rec}} / {{lang|pox|Vensťĕ}}
| pronunciation    = {{IPA|/slyˈvɛˑn.stʲɐ rɛt͡s/}}
| image            = Vocabularium Venedicum.jpg
| imagecaption     = The first page of {{lang|la|Vocabularium Venedicum}}
| ethnicity        = [[Polabian Slavs]]
| states           = [[Germany]]
| extinct          = 3 October 1756, with the death of Emerentz Schultze
|ref={{sfnp|Kapović|2008|p=109}}
| familycolor      = Indo-European
| fam2             = [[Balto-Slavic languages|Balto-Slavic]]
| fam3             = [[Slavic languages|Slavic]]
| fam4             = [[West Slavic languages|West Slavic]]
| fam5             = [[Lechitic languages|Lechitic]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Lekhitic languages |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Lekhitic-languages |website=britannica.com |publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. |access-date=16 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200309054330/https://www.britannica.com/topic/Lekhitic-languages |archive-date=9 March 2020}}</ref>
| fam6             = [[West Lechitic dialects|West Lechitic]]{{sfnp|Lehr-Spławiński|1934|p=26}}
| map              = Polabian Slavs.png
| mapcaption       = Grey: Former settlement area of the Polabian Slavs. Green: Uninhabited forest areas. Darker shade just indicates higher elevation.
| iso3             = pox
| glotto           = pola1255
| glottorefname    = Polabian
| linglist         = pox
| lingua           = 53-AAA-bc
| revived          = 21st century; ≥5 known L2 speakers<ref>{{cite web |title= Słownik nowopołabsko-polski |url= https://jezykotw.webd.pl/wiki/Słownik_nowopołabsko-polski}}</ref>
}}

The '''Polabian language''',{{efn|
* Polabian: ''slüvensťă rec'', ''venskă rec'', ''slüv́onsťĕ'', ''slüvensťĕ'', ''vensťĕ''; literally: ''Slavic language''
* [[German language|German]]: ''Polabische Sprache'', ''Polabisch'';
* [[Lower Sorbian language|Lower Sorbian]]: ''połobšćina'', ''połobska rěc'';
* [[Upper Sorbian language|Upper Sorbian]]: ''połobšćina'', ''połobska rěč'';
* [[Polish language|Polish]]: ''język połabski'';
* [[Czech language|Czech]]: ''polabština'';
* [[Latin language|Latin]]: ''lingua Polabica''}} also known as '''Drevanian–Polabian language''',{{efn|
* [[German language|German]]: ''Draväno-Polabische Sprache'', ''Dravänopolabisch'';
* [[Lower Sorbian language|Lower Sorbian]]: ''drjewjanopołobšćina'', ''drjewjanopołobska rěc''
* [[Upper Sorbian language|Upper Sorbian]]: ''drjewjanopołobšćina'', ''drjewjanopołobska rěč'';
* [[Polish language|Polish]]: ''język drzewiańsko-połabski''
* [[Czech language|Czech]]: ''drevansko-polabský jazyk''
* [[Latin language|Latin]]: ''lingua Dravaeno-Polabica'', ''lingua Dravaenopolabica''}} '''Drevanian language''',{{efn|
* [[German language|German]]: ''Drevanische Sprache'', ''Drevanisch'';
* [[Lower Sorbian language|Lower Sorbian]]: ''drjewjańšćina'', ''drjewjańska rěc'';
* [[Upper Sorbian language|Upper Sorbian]]: ''drjewjanšćina'', ''drjewjanski rěč'';
* [[Polish language|Polish]]: ''język drzewiański'';
* [[Czech language|Czech]]: ''drevjanština''
* [[Latin language|Latin]]: ''lingua Dravaenica''}} and '''Lüneburg Wendish language''',{{efn|[[German language|German]]: ''Lüneburgisch-Wendische Sprache'', ''Lüneburgischen Wendischen''}} is a [[West Slavic languages|West Slavic]] language that was spoken by the [[Polabian Slavs]] ({{langx|de|Wenden}}) in present-day northeastern [[Germany]] around the [[Elbe]], from which comes the term ''Polabian''. It was spoken approximately until the rise to power of [[Prussia]] in the mid-18th century – when it was superseded by [[Low German]] – in the areas of [[Mecklenburg-Vorpommern|Mecklenburg-West Pomerania]], central [[Mittelmark]] part of [[Brandenburg]] and eastern [[Saxony-Anhalt]] ([[Wittenberg (district)|Wittenberg]] originally part of [[White Serbia|Bela Serbia]]), as well as in eastern parts of [[Wendland]] ([[Lower Saxony]]) and [[Schleswig-Holstein]], [[Ostholstein]] and [[Herzogtum Lauenburg|Lauenburg]]). Polabian was also relatively long (until the 16th century) spoken in and around the cities of [[Lübeck]] and [[Oldenburg in Holstein|Oldenburg]]. The very poorly attested Slavic dialects of [[Rügen]] seemed to have had more in common with Polabian than with [[Pomeranian language|Pomeranian]] varieties.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Lehr-Spławiński |first=Tadeusz |author-link=Tadeusz Lehr-Spławiński |title=Szczątki języka dawnych słowiańskich mieszkańców wyspy Rugii |journal=Slavia Occidentalis |volume=II |year=1922 |pages=114–136 |language=pl}}</ref> In the south, it bordered on the [[Sorbian languages|Sorbian language]] area in [[Lusatia]].

Polabian is characterized by the preservation of a number of archaic features, such as the presence of [[nasal vowel]]s, a lack of [[Metathesis (linguistics)|metathesis]] of Proto-Slavic ''*TorT''; the presence of an [[aorist]] and [[imperfect]] verb tenses, traces of the [[Dual (grammatical number)|dual number]], and some [[Prosody (linguistics)|prosodic]] features, as well as by some innovations, including [[diphthongization]] of closed vowels, a shift of the vowels o to ö, ü and a to o; a softening of the consonants g, k in some positions to d', t', an occasional reduction of final vowels, and the formation of complex tenses, many which are associated with the influence of the [[German language]]. Polabian also has a large number of [[Middle Low German]] borrowings.

By the 18th century, [[Lechitic languages|Lechitic]] Polabian was in some respects markedly different from other [[Slavic languages]], most notably in having a strong German influence. It was close to [[Pomeranian language|Pomeranian]] and [[Kashubian language|Kashubian]], and is attested only in a handful of manuscripts, dictionaries and various writings from the 17th and 18th centuries.{{sfn|Супрун|1990|pp=685}}{{sfn|Топоров|1975}}