Eastern Lublin dialect

The Eastern Lublin dialect (Polish: gwary lubelszczyzny wschodniej) 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 Southern Borderlands dialect to the east, the Northern Borderlands dialect to the northeast, the Masovian Podlachia dialect to the north, and the Near Mazovian dialect to the northwest.

Both Western Lubelszczyzna and Przemyskie are relatively young dialects with Eastern Slavic influence, as many people from Lesser Poland and Masovia colonized this Ruthenian region between the 15th and 18th centuries. Given the position of the dialect, the Southern Borderlands dialect acted as a foundation for this dialect, which means that many typical Lesser Polish traits here have been levelled. Due to this, this dialect has often been consider more close to the Southern Borderlands dialect. These eastern influences are what separate Eastern Lubelszczyzna from Western. Eastern Lubelszczyzna and Przemyska have much in common. As a result of this admixture of dialects, this region can be dividing into multiple areas depending on the intensity of influences. There is a northern area, a central area, a south western area, and a south eastern area, where areas to the west share some features with Western Lubelszczyzna.

Atypical of Lesser Polish dialects, devoicing of word-final consonants before vowels and liquids is present here. Voicing can sporadically be seen. Devoicing also occurs more often before clitics, but voicing can sporadically occur here as well. Consonants may voice before clitics in the south, otherwise devoicing occurs also before clitics. Also atypical of Lesser Polish dialects, mazuration is not present here, except in a few villages, which were colonized late by speakers with mazuration.

Sometimes ablaut is levelled: ruzniesła (rozniosła), but more commonly it is not. Unaccented e often raises to é or y (after hard consonants) or i (after soft consonants) and unaccented o often raises to ó/u: zybrało (zebrało), masłu (masło). This raising is inconsistent, and occurs more in unaccented syllables before a stress, and less after. Unaccented nasal vowels can undergo a similar raising. i before ł ([w]) can back: łudcedziuło sie (odcedziło się). A few instances of Masovian -ar- > -er- can be found. A few instances of word-final -aj > -ej are also found: dzisiej (dzisiaj), tutej (tutaj). Similarly, word-final -ej can raise to y (after hard consonants)/i (after soft consonants): dłuży (dłużej), dali (dalej). -e- is sometimes inserted between consonant clusters: wiater (wiatr), usechła (uschła), as in other Lesser Polish dialects. y can sometimes front to [ɪ], especially when stressed, due to Ukrainian influence.

Slanted á is merged with a, as in Standard Polish, but in the west and part of the central area slanted á is sometimes raised to o, or in a few villages, kept as á. Slanted é is raised to y (after hard consonants) or i (after soft consonants); the groups yr or yrz, ir or irz are not lowered. Slanted é is also often lowered to e due to influence from Standard Polish. Slanted ó is raised to u.

Nasal ą is sometimes raised to ų, and ę can be raised to ę́. Medial nasal vowels may decompose before both sibilants and non-sibilants, even sometimes in careful speech. Sometimes nasal vowels may also change to oł, eł: mołke (mąkę), as the result of Ukrainian influence. Future forms of to be can exceptionally be denasalized: bedzie (będzie). Final -ą most often denasalizes to -o: z Wigilio (z Wigilią), przychodzo (przychodzą), but a Standard Polish pronunciation can be heard as well. Final -ę denasalizes to -e, and when unstressed can also raise. A few words have secondary nasalization. The groups eN and oN (also resulting from decomposition of nasal vowels) can be raised to é/y (after hard consonants), i (after soft consonants) and ó/u: Bóżego Naródzénia (Bożego Narodzenia), piniundz (pieniądz).

Initial o- and u- often labialize to ô- and û-, as in other Lesser Polish dialects. This feature exists as a gradient, being stronger in the west and weaker in the east.

As a result of Ukrainian influence, f and w may be pronounced bilabially as [ɸ β], and sometimes w is voiced after a voiceless consonant, particularly in the east. In the west, w is strictly devoiced after voiceless consonants. The west also sometimes partially decomposes soft bilabial consonants. Sometimes ś, ź, ć, and dź are pronounced as soft s’, z’, c’, and dz’ ([sʲ zʲ t͡sʲ d͡zʲ]), often alongside the standard pronunciation. This is rare or even non-existent in some western regions. Dark ł is retained here as a result of Ukrainian influence, and also soft l’. However, standard pronunciations of both consonants can also be heard. Also as a result of Ukrainian influence, h represents a different phoneme than ch, that being /ɦ/ and /x/ respectively, but only in surnames. In the east, it is common for chy to shift to chi: suchi (suchy). In the center, k’ and g’ are sometimes pronounced as k, g due to Masovian influence: druge (drugie), take (takie). ń can harden before c and cz: łancuch (łańcuch), konczyć (kończyć). kt usually shifts to cht: chtoś (ktoś). szl often softens to szl’: posz’li (poszli). Many consonant clusters are reduced: initial gdź > dź: dzieś (gdzieś); medial -rnk- > -rk-: ziarko (ziarnko); final -tł, -zł, -kł, -gł, -sł, -zł, -rł in the past tense of verbs > -t, -d, -k, -g, -s, -z, -r: szed (szedł). Some instances of changes in individual words are also noted: chrz > krz: krzan (chrzan); k > g: wielgi (wielki).