Kuyavian dialect

The Kuyavian dialect (Polish: gwara kujawska) belongs to the Greater Poland dialect group and is spoken in Kuyavia. It borders the Chełmno-Dobrzyń dialect to the north, the Northern Greater Polish dialect to the west, the Eastern Greater Polish dialect to the south, the Masovian Near Mazovian dialect to the northwest and the Łęczyca dialect to the southeast.

Typical of Greater Polish dialects, word-final consonants voice before a vowel or liquid. Also typical of Greater Polish dialects, mazuration is not present.

In the imperative of verbs, a change of -aj raising -ej is common, which can also be seen in a few adverbs: tutej, dzisiej, at one point in the superlative prefix naj- (sometimes realized as nej-): nejsterszy (najstarszy). What was once common, the change of ra-, ja- > re-, je- is now only in the word redło and its derivatives and jirzmo (from earlier jerzmo). A few other cases have been noted. a may velaralize after veral consonants: kłażdy (każdy). Medial o can labialize to ô but rarely, typically after velars, r, the labials p, b, v and the nasals m, n. Mobile e is sometimes levelled or inserted: bes||besu (bez||bzu), wiater (wiatr). As in some other Greater Polish dialects, sometimes -eł > -oł: krzysołko (krzysełko), zupołnie (zupełnie), kubołek (kubełek), but not in the east. Unlike other parts of Greater Poland, o does not typically break into diphthongs. i and y can lower closer to é or sometimes e after dental l or ł, more common in the east than the west. ił/ył can go to uł as a result of general Greater Polish influence, especially of past tense of verbs of the fourth conjugation (-ić/-yć) verbs, but there can be fluctuation even for the same speaker, who can also say the same form with -eł or -ił/-ył.

Pochylone á used to be preserved as á even as late as 1952, but is now realized as o, which can labialization after velar consonants: gôrsta (garstka). a can raise further to ó before nasals. Slanted é raises to i, or sometimes y, after soft consonants and to y after hard consonants. Slanted ó is partially retained, but sometimes merges with u. Final -o in declensions (ego > -ygu, -igu), some pronouns (gó i niegó, tegó), and the adverb dopiero (dopiru // dopieru // dopiyró) often raises.

Medial ę typically raises and decomposes to iN (after soft consonants, less common than yN), or to yN (after hard or soft consonants). Historically a lowered pronunciation could be heard, going to ą or aN. As a result of this, some words have undergone hypercorrection, such as tańcować > teńcowac. Word-final -ę denasalizes to -e. -ęl- can denasalize to -yl-, and future forms of być also can denasalize. The group aN raises eN commonly. Medial ą typically raises to and decomposes to óN, uN. Word finally it typically goes to -um. eN rises to yN after both hard and soft consonants, or sometimes to iN after soft consonants, both medially and word-finally, save sometimes for a few inflectional endings. oN typically raises to óN or sometimes uN. Conversely uN sometimes lowers to oN, óN.

Initial o- typically labializes to ô. Initial u- can also less commonly labialize to û-, or alternatively have a prothetic j-: jucho (ucho). Initial a-, i-, and e- typically get a prothetic j- as well. Initial h- sporadically can have a prothetic h-.

w can be either voiced or devoiced after voiceless consonants. The groups śv’-, ćv’- sometimes harden: śfat (świat). Western Kujawy pronounces ł as in Standard Polish, whereas eastern Kujawy retains the old dark ł. l before back vowels is hard, and before front vowels is soft. In western Kujawy, hard l before front vowels can be found: glyna (glina). Historically the old pronunciation of rz was kept, but now can only be found in rzniwa and its derivatives, except in the west, where generally rz is now pronounced as in Standard Polish. Also in the past rz was sometimes replaced with r: zrucić, zdrucić. rż is generally pronounced as rż, not as rz, like in other Greater Polish subdialects. A feature characteristic to Kujawy is the depalatalization of m in some declensions and the forms of the pronoun ja: -ami, -imi, -ymi > -amy, -imy, -ymy, mi > my (dej my), mię > me). Notably the word anjoł is still pronounced with a hard n. In a few words as well as prefixed forms of iść, j is sometimes replaced with ń: niedwabny (jedwabny), dońdę (dojdę). sz, cz, and ż sometimes palatalize to ś, ć, and ź typically before soft l and in a few words. Similarly initial s- sometimes becomes sz-. z-, cz- > ż, c- is generally limited in the number of words where it occurs. The south has a tendency for szadzenie (c, s, z, dz > cz, sz, ż, dż) as a result of contact with Masurizing Masovia. Cekanie (cz > c) occurs in this region as well, but affects only a few words. soft k’, g’ are usually the same as in Standard Polish, but in the east may harden due to Chełmno-Dobrzyń influence. Historically hard velars could be seen in verbs formed with the frequentative -ywać: oszukywać (Standard oszukiwać). A typical change of kt- > cht- can be observed here. ch > k is preserved in a few words, which has led to hypercorrection in a few cases: wziąć za rękie. Doubled consonants usually undergo dissimilation: lekko – letko, miękko - miy̜ntko, and the group dl, dł usually goes to gl, gł: mgłe (mdłe). Initial consonant clusters are often simplified: dla > lo, gdzie > dzie, medial -l- and -w- may disappear, ł disappears from l-forms in the masculine: wszed (wszedł), jest is pronounced as jes, -izm is often pronounced as -iz, -ść/-źć is often pronounced as -ś, -ź: doś (standard dość), and epenthetic -d-, -n-, -k- i -ź- may occur.

Uncontracted forms are usually present here: bojać sie (bać się).