The Lesser Polish dialect ( pl, dialekt małopolski) is a cluster of
regional varieties of the Polish language around the
Lesser Poland
Lesser Poland, often known by its Polish name Małopolska ( la, Polonia Minor), is a historical region situated in southern and south-eastern Poland. Its capital and largest city is Kraków. Throughout centuries, Lesser Poland developed a ...
historical region. The exact area is difficult to delineate due to the expansion of its features and the existence of transitional subdialects.
Commonly recognized subdialects of the Lesser Polish dialect include
Podhale, ,
Lwów
Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in western Ukraine, and the seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is one of the main cultural centres of Ukrain ...
, , , and some others. The southernmost Lesser Polish dialects spoken by the
Gorals
The Gorals ( pl, Górale; Goral dialect: ''Górole''; sk, Gorali; Cieszyn Silesian: ''Gorole''), also known as the Highlanders (in Poland as the Polish Highlanders) are an indigenous ethnographic or ethnic group primarily found in their tradi ...
(Podhale, Żywiec, Orava, Spiš and many others) are collectively called the (
Polish
Polish may refer to:
* Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe
* Polish language
* Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent
* Polish chicken
*Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...
: ''gwara góralska'') despite being a collection of many similar subdialects.
Lesser Polish has the richest literature out of all Polish dialects. There are many books and poems written in the
Kraków
Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 159 ...
and
Podhale dialects.
The common traits of the Lesser Polish dialect include:
*
mazurzenie
Mazurzenie () or mazuration is the replacement or merger of Polish's series of postalveolar fricatives and affricates ( written ) into the dentialveolar series (written ). This merger is present in many dialects, but is named for the Masovian ...
["Charakterystyka dialektu małopolskiego"]
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* regressive voicing of obstruents, including across word boundaries; e.g.: ''kot leci'' ɔd ˈlɛt͡ɕi(standard Polish: ɔt ˈlɛt͡ɕi[
* differentiated nasalisation (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 consonant, stop and releases as a fricative consonant, fricative, generally with the same place of articulation (most often coronal consonant, coronal). It is often difficult to decide if a stop a ...
; e.g.: ''trzysta'' �t͡ʂɨsta(standard Polish: �tʂɨstaor �t͡ʂʂɨstavocative 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 ...
(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 associated with another word or phrase, generally in order to impart meaning. Altho ...
"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. To form the imperative mood, ...
("weźże" vs. "weź" – take)
References
Polish dialects
Lesser Poland
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