The Pieniny dialect belongs to the Lesser Poland dialect group and is located in the part of Poland. It is in part one of the dialects that belongs to the Goral ethnolect.

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 present here.

The Lechitic ablaut is often absent before hard dental consonants. -e- may be inserted between some consonant clusters. The so-called “Podhalanian archaism” is absent here.

Slanted á is retained as á or more frequently raises to o. Slanted é raises to y after both hard and soft consonants. Slanted ó is retained as ó.

Nasal vowels show much variety between generations and location. Most commonly today, medial ę become oN, medial ą becomes óN, except when they are before a sibilant, in which case they shift to u with no nasal consonant. Final ę and -em becomes o, and final ą becomes ó, including in inflectional endings. Other instances of eN, yN, and aN often shift to oN.

Initial o- usually labializes to ô-. Initial a- may sporadically gain a prothetic h- or j-.

As in the Spisz dialect, final -ch shifts to -f in inflectional endings and some grammatical particles. ch may also shift to k in many cluster: kwila (chwila), and the cluster kt- shifts to ft-: fto (kto). Infintives ending in -ść, -źć are usually simplified to -ś, -ź. s may geminate in certain words: do lassa (do lasu).

Typical Goral inflectional tendencies are present here.