Kashubian language

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{{Infobox Language |name=Kashubian |nativename=kaszëbsczi, pòmòrsczi |familycolor=Indo-European |states=Poland |region=Pomerania |speakers=50,000 |fam2=Balto-Slavic |fam3=Slavic |fam4=West Slavic |fam5=Lechitic |nation=in official use in some communes of Pomeranian Voivodship, Poland |iso2=csb|iso3=csb}}

Kashubian or Cassubian (Kashubian: kaszëbsczi jãzëk, pòmòrsczi jãzëk, kaszëbskò-słowińskô mòwa) is one of the Lechitic languages, which are a group of Slavic languages.

It is assumed that it evolved from the language spoken by some tribes of Pomeranians called Kashubians, in the region of Pomerania on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea between the Vistula and Oder rivers.

It is closely related to Slovincian, and both of them are Pomeranian language dialects. Many Polish linguists still call it a dialect of Polish.

Kashubian includes numerous loanwords from West Low German, such as kùńszt (art) from German Kunst. Other sources of loanwords include Baltic languages, Russian and Polish.

In 2002 Census, 53,000 people in Poland declared that they mainly use Kashubian at home. Research shows that many Kashubian-speaking parents use Polish rather than Kashubian at home, because they believe that if they spoke Kashubian, their children would find it more difficult to learn Polish.

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