Wymysorys

Introduction

Wymysorys is a West Germanic language spoken by the ethnic Vilamovian minority in the small town of Wilamowice, Poland, on the border between Silesia and Lesser Poland, near Bielsko-Biała. It is considered an endangered language, possibly the most so of any of the Germanic languages. There are probably fewer than 20 native users of Wymysorys, virtually all bilingual; the majority are elderly.

The Wymysorys Verb

There are three synthetic verbal constructions (tenses) in Wymysorys:

• Present yhy mah ‘I do’
• Preterite yhy maht ‘I did’
• Conjunctive I Few verbs only: auxiliary verbs zȧjn ‘be’, hon ‘have’, and wada ‘become’ as well as some modal verbs, such as djyfa ‘should, must’, kyna ‘can’, zuła ‘shall’, mygja ‘can/may’, müsa ‘must’ and weła ‘want’.

. The rest of the tenses are periphrastical and use an auxiliary verb for conjugation.

• Perfect yhy ho gymaht ‘I have done’
• Pluperfect yhy hot gymaht ‘I had done’
• Future I yhy wa / wȧ maha ‘I will do’
• Future I Perfect yhy wa / wȧ hon gymaht ‘I will have done’
• Future II yhy zo maha ‘I shall do’
• Conjunctive I Perfect (wen) yhy het gymaht ‘(if) I had done’
• Conjunctive II (wen) yhy wje maha ‘(if) I did (lit. if I would do)’
• Conjunctive II Perfect (wen) yhy wje hon gymaht ‘(if) I had done
• Progressive yhy bej maha ‘I am doing’
• Resultative sejs ej gymaht ‘it is done’; ejs wjyd gymaht ‘it is (being) made / will be done’; ejs błȧjt gymaht ‘it is done’

zȧjn, hon, maha

Verb	Person	Present	Past	Perfect
zȧjn	Sg.1	yh bej	yh wiöe	yh bej gywast
	Sg.2	dy byst	dy wiöest	dy byst gywast
	Sg.3	ȧ/ȧr/es/zy ej/ys	ȧ/ȧr/es/zy wiöe	ȧ/ȧr/es/zy ej/ys gywast
	Pl.1	wer zȧjn	wer wiöen/wün	wer zȧjn gywast
	Pl.2	der zȧjt	der wiöet/wüt	der zȧjt gywast
	Pl.3	zy zȧjn	zy wiöen/wün	zy zȧjn gywast
hon	Sg.1	yh ho	yh hot	yh ho gyhot
	Sg.2	dy höst	dy hotst	dy höst gyhot
	Sg.3	ȧ/ȧr/es/zy höt	ȧ/ȧr/es/zy hot	ȧ/ȧr/es/zy höt gyhot
	Pl.1	wer hon	wer hota	wer hon gyhot
	Pl.2	der hot	der hot	der hot gyhot
	Pl.3	zy hon	zy hota	zy hon gyhot
maha	Sg.1	yh mah	yh maht	yh ho gymaht
	Sg.2	dy mahst	dy mahtst	dy höst gymaht
	Sg.3	ȧ/ȧr/es/zy maht	ȧ/ȧr/es/zy maht	ȧ/ȧr/es/zy höt gymaht
	Pl.1	wer maha	wer mahta	wer hon gymaht
	Pl.2	der maht	der maht	der hot gymaht
	Pl.3	zy maha	zy mahta	zy hon gymaht

Verblist

ahta, ajłaoda, ajśłöfa, amsa, aosa, aota, aołdyn, bajsa, bakka, baota, bawjǡn, ba̐jhta, bracha, braojcha, bröta, brīn, bycoła, bydȧjta, bygrōwa, bykłöen, bymin, bynda, byriyn, byrȫta, bywundyn, bywȧjza, bātłyn, błajn, błin, błöza, bōda, bȧsułn, cimentiyn, cin, cu̇maha, cyttyn, cȧjhnyn, dinn, drökka, dyrcīn, döktyn, egia, erba, fajła, fehta, fosta, fulgia, fyrrȫta, fāła, fłücha, gann, gaon, gaonn, gisa, grenn, grōwa, handułn, hasa, hon, houła, imponiet, kaksa, kemma, kenna, knāta, knīn, koha, korǡn, krojcigia, kuza, kȧjhja, maha, mahha, maocha, mȧlkja, nisa, nyn, pressa, prydikia, pössa, pütca, retta, riima, ryda, rīma, rǡsa, rȫta, tanca, tryŋkja, u̇fbrȧhja, weksułn, wjȳgja, wāhsa, wōta, zaagia, zaon, zaołca, zyn, zāfa, zǡhja, öduma, āta, ība, łajn, łaocha, łaojfa, łaowa, łaoza, łata, łiwa, łiyn, łyfta, łōda, łȧjma, ōzān, ōzȧgja, śpaosa, śrajwa, śtröfa, ǡtyn, ȧjbrȧhja, ȧjła.