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Polish dialects are regional vernacular varieties of the Polish language.
- Dialekt wielkopolski – Greater Poland dialect
- Dialekt małopolski – Lesser Poland dialect
- Dialekt mazowiecki – Masovian dialect
- Dialekty mieszane – Mixed dialects
- Nowe dialekty mieszane – New mixed dialects
- Śląski – Silesian
- Kaszubski – Kashubian
Between three and five dialect groups are typically recognized, each primarily associated with a particular geographical region, and often further subdivided into subdialectal groups (termed gwara in Polish).[1][2] They are:
- Greater Polish, spoken in the west
- Lesser Polish, spoken in the south and southeast
- Masovian, spoken throughout the central and eastern parts of the country
The regional differences correspond mainly to old ethnic or tribal divisions from around a thousand years ago. As a result of 19th century measures taken by occupying powers, of expulsions plus other displacements of Poles during and after World War II, as well as language policy in the Polish People's Republic, supplemented by broadcast media, the Polish language became more homogeneous than ever before in the second half of the 20th century.
Traditionally two additional dialect groups were treated alongside the aforementioned, adding to a total of six.[3] These varieties have been put at risk of extinction due to historic geopolitical population movements. They are:
- Northern Kresy, spoken along the border between Lithuania and Belarus[citation needed]
- Southern Kresy, spoken in isolated pockets in Ukraine[citation needed]
Dialect and language distinctions edit
Although traditional linguistic divisions continue to be cited, especially in Polish sources, the current linguistic consensus tends to consider Kashubian a separate language, or at least as a distinct lect that cannot be grouped at the same level as the four major modern Polish dialects.[4][5][6][7] Prior to World War II, Kashubian speakers were mainly surrounded by German speakers, with only a narrow border to the south with Polish speakers. Kashubian contains a number of features not found in other Polish dialects, e.g. nine distinct oral vowels (vs. the six of standard Polish), evolution of the Proto-Slavic TorT group to TarT (a feature not found in any other Slavic language) and (in the northern dialects) phonemic word stress, an archaic feature preserved from Common Slavic times and not found anywhere else among the West Slavic languages.
The two Kresy dialects are spoken in Kresy, the former eastern Polish territories annexed by the Soviet Union in 1945 and currently absorbed into Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine.[citation needed] Both dialect groups have been in decline since World War II as a result of expulsions of millions of Poles from Kresy.[citation needed] Poles living in Lithuania (particularly in the Vilnius region), in Belarus (particularly in the northwest), and in northeast Poland continue to speak the Northern Kresy dialect, which sounds (in Polish described as zaciąganie z ruska) as if speaking with a Russian drawl, and is quite distinctive.[citation needed]
The majority of Poles expelled from Kresy were settled in newly annexed regions in northern and western Poland, and thereby their manner of speech evolved into so-called new mixed dialects. However, among the declining older generation there are still traces of Kresy dialect with its characteristic Ukrainian or Rusyn sounds, especially in the use of the East Slavic velarised L where standard Polish has it already vocalised (/w/) and of elongated vowels.
List of dialects edit
Greater Polish dialect edit
Descended from the Western Slavic language spoken by the Polans, the subdialects are:
Mazovian dialect edit
Descended from the language of the Mazovians,[8][9] the sub dialects are:
- Białystok dialect (Polish: gwara białostocka)
- Suwałki dialect (Polish: gwara suwalska)
- Warmia dialect (Polish: gwara warmińska)
- Kurpie dialect (Polish: gwara kurpiowska)
- Masurian dialects (Polish: gwara mazurska)
- Malbork-Lubawa dialect (Polish: gwara malborsko-lubawska)
- Ostróda dialect (Polish: gwara ostródzka)
- Near Mazovian dialect (Polish: gwara mazowsze bliższe)
- Far Mazovian dialect (Polish: gwara mazowsze dalsze)
Lesser Polish dialect edit
Descended from the language of the Vistulans, is the most numerous dialectal group in modern Poland.[10] It includes the following sub-groups:
The Goral dialects (the colloquial name for the many dialects spoken by Gorals), which include mainly:
- Orawa dialect (Polish: gwara orawska)
- Spisz dialect (Polish: gwara spiska)
- Podhale dialect (Polish: gwara podhalańska)
- Żywiec dialect (Polish: gwary żywieckie)
Northern Borderlands dialect edit
In modern times the dialect is still spoken mainly by the Polish minorities in Lithuania and in northwestern Belarus.[11][12]
- Wilno dialect (Polish: gwara wileńska)[citation needed]
Southern Borderlands dialect edit
Often considered a derivative of a mixture of Old Polish and Old Ruthenian, as was spoken in Red Ruthenia in the Middle Ages.[11][13] See especially, the Lwów dialect, Polish: gwara lwowska.[13]
New mixed dialects edit
- Northern new mixed dialect
- Northwestern new mixed dialect
- Southern new mixed dialect
Notes edit
References edit
- ^ Roland Sussex and Paul Cubberley (2006). The Slavic Languages. Cambridge University Press. P. 530.
- ^ Robert A. Rothstein (1994). "Polish". The Slavonic Languages, edited by Bernard Comrie and Greville G. Corbett. Routledge. Pp. 754–756.
- ^ Zofia Kurzowa (2007). Szpiczakowska Monika, Skarżyński Mirosław (ed.). Z przeszłości i teraźniejszości języka polskiego (in Polish). Kraków: Universitas. p. 726. ISBN 978-83-242-0691-9.
- ^ Jadwiga Wronicz (March–April 2007). "Pozycja dialektu wobec innych odmian polszczyzny". Język polski (in Polish). LXXXVII (2): 91–96.
- ^ Roland Sussex and Paul Cubberley (2006). The Slavic Languages. Cambridge University Press. Pp. 531–532.
- ^ Gerald Stone (1994). "Cassubian". The Slavonic Languages, edited by Bernard Comrie and Greville G. Corbett. Routledge. Pp. 759–794.
- ^ Bronisław Jakubowski (1999). "Język czy dialekt?". Wiedza i Życie (in Polish) (4).
- ^ Bronisław Wieczorkiewicz (1968). Gwara warszawska dawniej i dziś (in Polish). Warsaw: Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy. p. 516.
- ^ Halina Karas, Gwary Polskie, Dialects and gwary in Poland Archived 2011-04-14 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Stanisław Urbańczyk, ed. (1992). "Dialekt małopolski". Encyklopedia języka polskiego (in Polish) (II ed.). Wrocław-Warszawa-Kraków: Ossolineum. p. 60.
- ^ a b Zofia Kurzowa (2007). Szpiczakowska Monika, Skarżyński Mirosław (ed.). Ze studiów nad polszczyzną kresową (in Polish). Kraków: Universitas. p. 518. ISBN 978-83-242-0683-4.
- ^ Zofia Kurzowa (2006). Szpiczakowska Monika, Skarżyński Mirosław (ed.). Język polski Wileńszczyzny i kresów północno-wschodnich (in Polish). Kraków: Universitas. ISBN 83-242-0738-4.
- ^ a b Zofia Kurzowa (2006). Szpiczakowska Monika, Skarżyński Mirosław (ed.). Polszczyzna Lwowa i kresów południowo-wschodnich do 1939 (in Polish). Kraków: UNIVERSITAS. p. 439. ISBN 83-242-0656-6.