The Lesser Polish dialect group () is a of dialect group of the

Polish language Polish (, , or simply , ) is a West Slavic languages, West Slavic language of the Lechitic languages, Lechitic subgroup, within the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family, and is written in the Latin script. It is primarily spo ...

used in

Lesser Poland Lesser Poland, often known by its Polish name ''Małopolska'' (; ), is a historical region situated in southern and south-eastern Poland. Its capital and largest city is Kraków. Throughout centuries, Lesser Poland developed a separate cult ...

. The exact area is difficult to delineate due to the expansion of its features and the existence of transitional subdialects. The common traits of the Lesser Polish dialect include: * mazurzenie"Charakterystyka dialektu małopolskiego"
/ref> * regressive voicing of obstruents, including across word boundaries; e.g.: ''kot leci'' ɔd ˈlɛt͡ɕi(standard Polish: ɔt ˈlɛt͡ɕi * differentiated

nasalisation In phonetics, nasalization (or nasalisation in British English) is the production of a sound while the velum is lowered, so that some air escapes through the nose during the production of the sound by the mouth. An archetypal nasal sound is . ...

(or lack thereof) of /ɔ̃/ and /ɛ̃/ in different parts of the area * merger of stop+fricative consonant clusters into

affricates An affricate is a consonant that begins as a stop and releases as a fricative, generally with the same place of articulation (most often coronal). It is often difficult to decide if a stop and fricative form a single phoneme or a consonant pai ...

; e.g.: ''trzysta'' �t͡ʂɨsta(standard Polish: �tʂɨstaor �t͡ʂʂɨsta * frequent usage of initial syllable stress, also oxytonic stress in

vocative case In grammar, the vocative case (abbreviated ) is a grammatical case which is used for a noun that identifies a person (animal, object, etc.) being addressed or occasionally for the noun modifiers (determiners, adjectives, participles, and numeral ...

(as opposed to paroxytonic stress common in other varieties of Polish) * frequent usage of

grammatical particle In grammar, the term ''particle'' ( abbreviated ) has a traditional meaning, as a part of speech that cannot be inflected, and a modern meaning, as a function word (functor) associated with another word or phrase in order to impart meaning. Alth ...

"że" in

imperative mood The imperative mood is a grammatical mood that forms a command or request. The imperative mood is used to demand or require that an action be performed. It is usually found only in the present tense, second person. They are sometimes called ' ...

("weźże" vs. "weź" – take)

List of dialects

Descended from the language of the

Vistulans The Vistulans, or Vistulanians (), were an early medieval Lechitic tribe inhabiting the western part of modern Lesser Poland. Etymology Their name derives from the hydronym of the river Vistula, meaning "inhabitants of Vistula"; the region is m ...

, is the most numerous dialectal group in modern Poland. the dialects are: :*

Łęczyca dialect Łęczyca (; in full the Royal Town of Łęczyca, ; ; ) is a town of inhabitants in central Poland. Situated in the Łódź Voivodeship, it is the county seat of the Łęczyca County. Łęczyca is a capital of the historical Łęczyca Land. Or ...

:* Sieradz dialect :*

Masovian Borderland dialect The Masovian Borderland dialect () belongs to the Lesser Poland dialect group and is located in the part of Poland. It borders the Kielce dialect to the south, the Łęczyca dialect to the east, the Western Lublin dialect, Masovian Łowicz dia ...

:* Kielce dialect :* Kraków dialect :*

Lasovia dialect The dialect belongs to the Lesser Poland dialect group and is located in the part of Poland. It borders the Kielce dialect to the northwest, the Western Lublin dialect to the northeast, the Eastern Lublin dialect to the east, the Przemyśl di ...

:* Eastern Kraków dialect :* Carpathian-Podgórze Lach dialects ::*

Podegrodzie dialect The Podegrodzie dialect () belongs to the Lesser Poland dialect group and is located in the part of Poland. It borders the Krakow dialect to the northwest, the Eastern Krakow dialect to the northeast, the Biecz dialect to the east, the Piwnicz ...

::* Limanowa dialect :* Western Lublin dialect :*

Eastern Lublin dialect The Eastern Lublin dialect () belongs to the Lesser Poland dialect group and is located in the part of Poland. It borders the Western Lublin dialect to the west, the Lasovia dialect to the southwest, the Przemyśl dialect to the south, the Sou ...

Przemyśl dialect The Przemyśl dialect () belongs to the Lesser Poland dialect group and is located in the southeastern part of Poland. It borders the Biecz dialect to the west, the Lasovia dialect to the northwest, the Eastern Lublin dialect to the northeast, a ...

:* Lwów dialect :*

Biecz dialect The Biecz dialect () or Pogorzan dialect () is a dialect of the Polish language belonging to the Lesser Poland dialect group. It borders the Podegrodzie dialect to the west, the Eastern Krakow dialect to the north, the Lasovia dialect to the n ...

The

Goral ethnolect Goral, less frequently called Highlander or Highland Polish, is an ethnolect An ethnolect is generally defined as a language variety that marks speakers as members of ethnic groups who originally used another language or distinctive variety. A ...

(the name for the many dialects spoken by

Gorals The Gorals (; Goral ethnolect: ''Górole''; ; Cieszyn Silesian dialect, Cieszyn Silesian: ''Gorole''), also anglicized as the Highlanders, are an ethnographic group with historical ties to the Vlachs. The Goral people are primarily found in thei ...

Western Carpathians The Western Carpathians () are a mountain range and geomorphological province that forms the western part of the Carpathian Mountains. The mountain belt stretches from the Low Beskids range of the Eastern Carpathians along the border of Poland w ...

bordering Poland and Slovakia), which include: :* Carpathian-Podgórze Goral dialects ::* Babia Góra dialect ::* Kliszczak dialect ::*

Pieniny dialect The Pieniny dialect belongs to the Lesser Poland dialect group and is located in the part of Poland. It is in part one of the dialects that belongs to the Goral ethnolect. Phonology Typical of Lesser Polish dialects (as well as Greater Polish ...

::*

Łącko dialect The Łącko dialect belongs to the Lesser Poland dialect group and is located in the southern part of Poland. It is in part one of the dialects that belongs to the Goral ethnolect. Phonology Typical of Lesser Polish dialects (as well as Great ...

::* Piwniczna :*

Żywiec dialect The Żywiec dialect () belongs to the Lesser Poland dialect group and is spoken in Lesser Poland. It is in part one of the dialects that belongs to the Goral ethnolect. It borders the Podegrodzie dialect to the northeast, the Orawa dialect to t ...

Orawa dialect The Orawa dialect () belongs to the Lesser Poland dialect group and is located in part of Poland and Slovakia. It is in part one of the dialects that belongs to the Goral ethnolect. It borders the Żywiec dialect to the far northwest, the Babia ...

:* Podhale dialect :* Spisz dialect :* Zagórze dialect :*

Kysuce dialect Kysuce is a traditional informal name of a region in north-western Slovakia, situated around the Kysuca river and bordering the Orava region in the east, Poland in the north and the Czech Republic in the west. It consists of two districts: Čadc ...

:* Ochotnica dialect :*

Liptov dialect Liptov () is a historical and geographical region in central Slovakia with around 140,000 inhabitants. The area is also known by the German name ''Liptau'', the Hungarian ''Liptó'', the Latin name ''Liptovium'' and the Polish ''Liptów''. Etym ...

(not to be confused with the Slovakian Liptov dialect)

Features of the region

Features that can be found in various intensities and distributions in the region include: # *telt > tlet # * tórt’ > trot # *ľ̥ > l̥ except *Pľ̥T́PK (after labials, before palatals/labials, and velars) # *Pľ̥T́PK > PilT́PK: wilk, milczeć or > łu after dentals: słup, długi, or oł after cz, ż, sz: mołwa, czółno, żółty, or eł after labials: chełm, chełpić się, wełna, pełny # *ŕ̥T > ‘ar: twardy, tarł, ziarno # voicing of coda stops and sibilants if the next word begins with a vowel or liquid # bilabial w > v, which can be f, f́ after voiceless consonant, tfůj, kf́at. This also affect f < chw # Mazuration # ḷ > ł > u̯ # depalatalization of word final palatal labials # phonemization of ḱ, ǵ from retaining them when they occursed before *y, ъ̥, e as well as denasalization of ę (kę/gę > ke/ge) # -ch > -k, or in Spisz > -f (only word finally), or in clusters: kfała, kćáł # Tendency for assimilation and simplification: ## velarization of n before k (phonemic?) ## -ść, -śń > -ś: zleś, gryź, pleś, maś (maść) ## weakening loss of -ł- at the end of an inlaut (śródgłos): gᵘ̭ova ## strz, zdrz, trz, drz > szcz, żdż, cz, dż ## rs, r-z > rz ## kk > k # Doubling of s, ś in bᵘ̯ossᵘ̯o, leśśe, viśśi, viessá, and sometimes ss śś > sc, ść bᵘ̯osco v leśće, viscá # Breaking of the groups ss, zz, źź, vv, v́v́, ff, f́f́ by placing a mobile e after the prepositions/prefixes z(-), v(-) # śrz, źrz > śr, źr or in the north > rś, rź # placement of stress on the penultimate syllable except in Podhale, which has initial stress # loss of intervocalic j and contraction # preference for jasne o: skolny (szkolny) # ir > er in serce, śmierć, piersi, otherwise > ér # In the north yl, ył, il, ił > el, eł, beł, beli, uN > oN, font, gront, lack of eN, oN > éN, óN # i > y after sz, ż, cz, dż, c, dz, rz (including Mazurized pronunciations of sibilants) except in Podhale, which still has i # Fronting, flattening, and narrowing of á before tautosyllabic j in the imperative: cekej (except in most subialects, which have -aj?, except dać?) # á > o tako trova # é > y after hard and soft consonants, except in the north where > y after hard, > i after soft, and in one region (34D in Dejna) > e at least after hard # Traces of e > o before tautosyllabic u̯ (ł), can be found in some Standard Polish words (kocioł, kozioł, osioł) # diphthongization/labialization of o > ᵘ̯o (not just initially) # sometimes fronting of ᵘ̯o > ᵘ̯oᵉ, u̯ë, ᵘ̯ë, which avoids raising of o, which could be confused with the reflex of pochylone ó # Loss of the alternation caused by ablaut of ‘o, , ’e, miotła, , mietle by analogy of nonablauted forms, wiesna (via wieśnie), niesę (via nieśli), also influenced by the change above # Old Polish ą̆ (in a short syllable) > e ide, wode, along with denasalization of the vowel into an assimilated nasal consonant before a consonant, and total loss before stops and sibilants: deby (dęby) gesi (gęsi). Regionally ą̆ is retained, or mergs with ǫ: zǫp zǫby # Old Polish ą̄ (in a long syllable) > ą̊ (and most commonly) > ǫ along with denasalization of the vowel: dåb, dop (dąb), or sometimes in final position -om # -iszcze > -isko # Spread of -asty, -isty # -‘ev- > -‘ov-, also after soft consonants # use of od(-) before vowels and semivowels (as opposed to ot(-)) # loss of r- in the prefix roz-: ᵘ̯ozlác # replacement of locative plural -’ech > -’och by analogy of -‘evi > -‘ovi etc., which was later replaced by -ach # Levelling of the nominative and accusative singular neuter endings -ē and -ĕ by spreading -e, pole # Replacement of the genitive singular masculine/neuter adjective endings -égo with -ego via tego, do niego # Tendency to replace some noun declension endings with adjective endings or vice-versa # Replacement of the neuter nominative/accusative numeral dwie with the masculine dwa # Prefixed iść type verbs with an inserted -ń- # Hardening of the first person singular and plural verb endings such as idemy, złapę by analogy of idę and archaic grzebę # Spread of hard labial in l-forms of melę/pelę via contamination of ḿel-, ṕel, and the l-forms mełł-, pełl- # spread of the first person plural verb ending -my (over -m) under influence of the pronoun my, or with -va, sometimes -ma via contamination of the two; in the souther -me via Slovak. # Creation and spread of the preterite ending -ek (or -k after a vowel) < -ech, contaminated with -(ś)ḿ as well as with the aorist form of the auxiliary verb bych in the south-wst: nosiłek, byłak; elsewhere -em (-m after a vowel), which can voice the stem: zaniuzem, zanius. This form could be a reduction of -chm(y) # Creation of the first person plural preteriate ending -chmy via contamination -(je)sm + (by)chom and under the influence of the pronoun my: nieślichmy. In some Lesser Poland subdialects, -sm > -śḿ under influence of -ś, -ście # Rise of masculine personal nouns, except in a large number of subdialects where the gender disappeared.

References

Polish dialects Lesser Poland {{Slavic-lang-stub