Zeszyty Łużyckie 48 (2014) ISSN 0867-6364 Alexander Andrason (Stellenbosch University) Tymoteusz Król (Collegium Invisible in Warsaw and Association Wilamowianie) A fuzzy model of the Vilamovicean language 1. Introduction 1.1. General information Vilamovicean – or Wymysiöeryś [ vɨmɨsø ː rɪɕ ], as it is denominated by its users – is a Germanic language spoken in the town of Wilamowice in Małopolska (Lesser Poland), near the border with Górny Śląsk (Upper Silesia) in the south of Poland (Ritchie 2012: 10). 1 Although the precise dialectal classiication of this language still remains an open question, according to the most plausible and most widely accepted theory, Vilamovicean constitutes a colonial German variety, which together with other Silesian dialects belongs to the East Central German ( Ostmitteldeutsch ) branch (cf. Besch et al. 1983, Wicherkiewicz 2003 and especially Ritchie 2012: 7–9; see also Kleczkowski 1920 and 1921, Ryckeboer 1984, Morciniec 1984, 1995 and Lasatowicz 1992). Today, Vilamovicean is probably the most endangered Germanic language in the world. he website www.ethnologue.com classiies it as being severely endangered, i.e. on the verge of total extinction. To be exact, it is positioned at 1 Although the Wymysioerys Academy has proposed the term ‘Wilamowicean’, we maintain the name ‘Vilamovicean’ (which was introduced by Andrason in 2006 during his seminars at the University of Manchester, Cambridge and London (SOAS)) because, in our view, it is phonetically more accurate. he Vilamovicean and Polish denominations of the language (Wymysiöeryś and wilamowski, respectively) are derived from the names of the town, i.e. Wymysoü and Wilamowice. In both cases, the letter w stands for the consonant [v] and not [w] as the proposed English spelling might suggest. he spelling wit h <v> has also been used by Kleczkowski (1920, 1921) and Mojmir (1930–1936). Of course, the term ‘Wilamowicean’ is also fully legitimate, as it may relate the name of the ethnolect to the ethymological and toponymic context. he spelling wit h <w> was also employed by Biesik.