The Masovian dialect ( pl, dialekt mazowiecki), also written Mazovian, is the dialect of Polish spoken in

Mazovia Mazovia or Masovia ( pl, Mazowsze) is a historical region in mid-north-eastern Poland. It spans the North European Plain, roughly between Łódź and Białystok, with Warsaw being the unofficial capital and largest city. Throughout the centurie ...

and historically related regions, in northeastern Poland. It is the most distinct of the Polish dialects and the most expansive. Languages of CE Europe-3

Mazovian dialects may exhibit such features as

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 di ...

sandhi Sandhi ( sa, सन्धि ' , "joining") is a cover term for a wide variety of sound changes that occur at morpheme or word boundaries. Examples include fusion of sounds across word boundaries and the alteration of one sound depending on near ...

(intervocalic voicing of obstruents on word boundaries), and asynchronous palatal pronunciation of labial consonants (so-called softening). The

Kurpie Kurpie () is one of a number of ethnic regions in Poland, noted for its unique traditional customs, such as its own types of traditional costume, traditional dance and distinctive type of architecture and livelihoods. Kurpie is also the name of t ...

region has some of the most distinctive phonetic features due to isolation. Characteristics include: * Depalatalization of velars before and palatalization of velars before historical ; e.g. standard

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 ...

''rękę'', ''nogę'' ('arm', 'leg', in the accusative case) is rendered , respectively instead of , ; * sequences realized instead of ; * merger of the retroflex series sz, ż, cz, dż into the alveolar s, z, c, dz; * > before certain consonants; * the Old Polish dual number marker -''wa'' continues to be attached to verbs; * Standard Polish and merged with and respectively, in most situations; * certain instances of a > e; * > Masovian dialects also contain certain vocabulary that is distinct from the standard Polish language and shares common characteristics with the

Kashubian language Kashubian or Cassubian (Kashubian: ', pl, język kaszubski) is a West Slavic language belonging to the Lechitic subgroup along with Polish and Silesian.Stephen Barbour, Cathie Carmichael, ''Language and Nationalism in Europe'', Oxford Univers ...

Subdialects

Mazovian dialects include but are not limited to subdialectsHalina Karas, ''Gwary Polskie''
Dialects and gwary in Poland
of: :*

Białystok dialect Białystok is the largest city in northeastern Poland and the capital of the Podlaskie Voivodeship. It is the tenth-largest city in Poland, second in terms of population density, and thirteenth in area. Białystok is located in the Białystok Up ...

( pl, gwara białostocka) :*

Suwałki dialect Suwałki ( lt, Suvalkai; yi, סואוואַלק) is a city in northeastern Poland with a population of 69,206 (2021). It is the capital of Suwałki County and one of the most important centers of commerce in the Podlaskie Voivodeship. Suwałki i ...

( pl, gwara suwalska) :* Warmia dialect ( pl, gwara warmińska) :* Kurpie dialect ( pl, gwara kurpiowska) :*

Masurian dialect The Masurian ethnolect (Masurian: ''mazurská gádkä''; pl, mazurski; german: Masurisch), according to some linguists, is a dialect group of the Polish language; others consider Masurian to be a separate language, spoken by the Masurian people ...

( pl, gwara mazurska) :* Malbork-Lubawa dialect ( pl, gwara malborsko-lubawska) :* Ostróda dialect ( pl, gwara ostródzka) :* Near Mazovian dialect ( pl, gwara mazowsza bliższego) :* Far Mazovian dialect ( pl, gwara mazowsza dalszego) :*

Warsaw dialect The Warsaw subdialect ( pl, gwara warszawska ), or Warsaw dialect ( pl, dialekt warszawski), is a regional subdialect of the Masovian dialect of the Polish language, centered on the city of Warsaw. It evolved as late as the 18th century, under ...

( pl, gwara warszawska)

References

{{Reflist

Bibliography

* Barbara Bartnicka (red.): ''Polszczyzna Mazowsza i Podlasia.'' Łomża-Warszawa 1993. * Anna Basara: ''Studia nad wokalizmem w gwarach Mazowsza.'' Wrocław-Warszawa-Kraków 1965. * Anna Cegieła: ''Polski Słownik terminologii i gwary teatralnej.'' Wrocław 1992. * Jadwiga Chludzińska-Świątecka: ''Ze studiów nad słowotwórstwem gwar mazowieckich.'' Poradnik Językowy, z. 6, 1961, s. 253–258. * Karol Dejna: ''Dialekty polskie.'' Ossolineum 1993. * Barbara Falińska (red.): ''Gwary Mazowsza, Podlasia i Suwalszczyzny.ɴ'' I. Filipów, pow. Suwałki, Białystok, 2004. * ''Województwo płockie.'' Uniwersytet Łódzki, Łódź-Płock 1984. Polish dialects