Western Lublin dialect

The Western Lublin dialect (Polish: gwary lubelszczyzny zachodniej) belongs to the Lesser Poland dialect group and is located in the eastern part of Poland. It borders the Eastern Lublin dialect to the east, the Lasovia dialect to the south, the Kielce dialect to the west, and the Masovia Near Mazovian dialect to the north. Due to position of this dialect, many transitional features can be seen, generally as the result of Masovian influence, particularly in the east. This region can be divided into three subregions: a northern region which is more transitional between Lesser Poland and Masovia, a central region with older Lesser Polish traits, and a southern region with newer Lesser Polish traits.

Atypical of Lesser Polish dialects, devoicing of word-final consonants before vowels and liquids is present here as the result of Masovian influence. Consonants may voice before clitics in the south, otherwise devoicing occurs also before clitics. mazuration is present in the east, but is quickly fading due to negative connotations, but c resulting from cz has the most cases of remaining, with s < sz, z < ż being the most undone.

In the east, unstressed e rarely raises to y (after hard consonants)/i (after soft consonants): w pudyłeczku (w pudełeczku), na pichote (na piechotę), however typically unstressed e is kept as e; more commonly, unstressed o raises to u, or sometimes ó: kutuniu kuchany (kotuniu kochany), gódzina (godzina with /o/). These phenomena may also occur in other regions, but very rarely. In the eastern edges of this region, y may lower to o, particularly when stressed: popłonecek (podpłomyczek). As in many other Lesser Polish dialects, levelling of ablaut often occurs: przyniesłam (przyniosłam). A few words in the north show a lack of ablaut due to Masovian influence: wietrak (wiatrak), powiedać (powiadać), and sometimes in the south: zamietać (zamiatać). This feature is generally limited to particular words. Atypical of Lesser Polish dialects, the change of -aj > -ej is not present here: nie daj Boże, tutaj. However, a shift of -ej > -yj (after hard consonants)/-ij (after soft consonants) can be seen: wincyj (więcej) późnij (później). This resulting -yj/-ij may often weaken the final -j, or even lose it: najwięcy (najwięcej). Many consonant clusters are broken up by the insertion of -e-: meter (metr), odeszedł (odszedł).

Slanted á generally merged with normal a in the north: ublałam (oblałam), and elsewhere á generally merged with o: byłam młodo (byłam młoda). The reflexes of á in both regions have exceptions, in the north á is rarely o, and in the south á is rarely a. á before a nasal consonant and rarely before other liquids may raise further to u: kijunki (kijanki), miuł (miał). Slanted é is raised to y after hard consonants and to i after soft consonants, rarely it is kept as é; the groups ir/yr developed similarly: chlib (chleb), téż (też). Slanted ó is raised to u, and sometimes normal o was also raised to ó.

Nasal vowels have many realizations depending on region and position in a word. ę word-medially lowers in parts of the central region: gąs (pronounced gãs) (gęs), in the eastern edges it remains ę: gęs. In the west it may raise to i/y or é: z mę́żem (z mężem), rynki (ręki), or normally: czszęśli (trzęśli). ą generally rises: wiųnzać (wiązać). Until recently, nasality was kept before all consonants, but recently in the east and west nasals may decompose before non-sibilants and lose nasality before l and ł. Future forms of to be are exceptionally denasalized: bedzie (będzie). Word final -ą raises and denasalizes in the western edge: pójdu (pójdą), in the east something similar may occur, but the raising may be the result of raising unaccented o: byłam panienku (byłam panienką). In the north final -ą only denasalizes to -o without raising: z to kanko (z tą kanką). Final -ę at the edges of this region denasalizes to -e: na szkołe (na szkołę). Secondary nasalization may occur in some words, particularly after nasal consonants. Unstressed ą may raise to ų: wydrųżyli (wydrążyli), ciungnęło się (ciągnęło się). The cluster eN often lowers to aN: ciamno (ciemno), except in the eastern and western edges, where it rises to yN after hard consonants and iN after soft consonants including eN resulting from the decomposition of ęC: pińć (pięć), rzymień (rzemień). o can sometimes raise to u before nasals as well, including o resulting from raising á: do dumu (do domu), ni mum (nie mam). i and y, conversely, may lower before a nasal, especially in the east: zrobiemy (zrobimy).

o often labializes to ô, particularly word-initially. This can also occur to o resulting from á: pôcirz (pacierz). Medial labialization is limited to a few words in the north. A prothetic j may also occur before initial i in a few words.

As a result of Masovian influence, partial decomposition of soft labials occurs: pjechotu (piechotą), nie wjedzioł (nie wiedział), mnieli (mieli), wjanki (wianki), and similarly św’ (śf’), partially depaltalizes in the west: śfynia (świnia). In the east, w may pronounced voiced after voiceless consonants: cwaniak (with /v/). In the east, dark ł is still present as the result of Eastern Slavic influence, and similarly, soft l’ is also present, particularly in the east: liokal’ (lokal). Elsewhere l may harden, lipa (as opposed to Standard Polish l’ipa), or even lypa, as a result of Masovian influence. k’ and g’ may inconsistently harden as a result of Masovian influence: w keszeniach (w kieszeniach).The group kt typically changes to cht: chto (kto), kk changes to tk: mintki (miękki). Some instances of changes in individual words are also noted: krzan (chrzan). A Lesser Polish shift of initial chf > kf is present: kfila (chwila). Many other consonant clusters typical of Lesser Polish dialects are also present. In the south, realizations of rś-, rź- instead of śr-, źr- can be found, as in other Lesser Polish dialects: przer-ziadło (przeźradło (lustro)), rziódło (źródło), rsioda (środa).

Both Lesser Polish and Masovian tendencies can be seen in the inflection of this dialect.