The Orawa dialect () belongs to the

Lesser Poland dialect group The Lesser Polish dialect group () is a of dialect group of the Polish language used in Lesser Poland. The exact area is difficult to delineate due to the expansion of its features and the existence of transitional subdialects. The common tra ...

and is located in part of

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

and

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

. It is in part one of the dialects that belongs to 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 ...

. It borders the

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 ...

to the far northwest, the Babia Góra dialect to the north, and the Podhale dialect to the east. The Orawa dialect is partially Poland with 14 settlements, and partially in Slovakia with 11. The use of dialect here is strong, and the effects of Standard Polish are weaker than in other regions.

Phonology

Typical of Lesser Polish dialects (as well as Greater Polish dialects), voicing of word-final consonants before vowels and liquids is present here. Also typical of Lesser Polish dialects is the presence of mazuration. Initial accent is common here.

Vowels

Ablaut is often levelled: mietła (miotła).

Slanted vowels

Slanted vowels are generally retained: tráwa (trawa), wóz (in Stan. Pol. pronounced as wuz, here as wóz), and é has merged with y after both hard and soft consonants: śniyg (śnieg).

Nasal vowels

Nasals decompose from é > yN and ą > oN medially before non-sibilants, but retain nasality before sibilants. Verbs ending in -ąć end in -yn-, -on in the past tense: wzion (wziął), wziyna (wzięła). -ę word-finally changes to -ym in the first-person present/future of verbs: słysym (słyszę), as -e in the feminine accusative singular of nouns ending in historic jasne -a studnie (studnię); however feminine nouns ending in historic -á take -á/-o in the accusative singular: na msá (na mszę), where -á is a facultative variant. Final -ą is realized as -o (or optionally as -á) in the third person plural present/future forms of verbs: widzo (widzą), włozá (wożą) and in the accusative singular of feminine adjectives, numerals, and pronouns: staro babe (starą babę), na drugá dziedzine (na drugą dziedzinę (wieś), but as -om in the instrumental singular of feminine nouns, adjectives, numerals, and pronouns z mojom drugom babom (z moją drugą babą) as the result of morphologization.

Prothesis

o is very often labialized to ô, not only initially or after velars and labials, but after other consonants as well. In the Slovakian area prothetic w (/v/) is common instead of /w/. Less commonly prothetic j, or even more rarely h, may also occur before initial a.

Consonants

Final -ch shifts to -k in the locative plural of nouns: w ôbłok (

Inflection

Typical Goral inflectional tendencies are found here.

Nouns

Soft feminine nouns retain -e in the genitive singular: dło smyreka cy do jedle (do smreka czy do jodły).

Adjectives and adverbs

Numerals often use -ik, -uk insteach of -u in declensions: do piyncik roków, po śterdzierdziestuk rłokak.

Phonology

Vowels

Slanted vowels

Nasal vowels

Prothesis

Consonants

Nouns

Adjectives and adverbs

Verbs

Syntax

See also

References