Żywiec dialect

The Żywiec dialect (Polish: gwara żywiecka) belongs to the Lesser Poland dialect group and is spoken in Lesser Poland. It is in part one of the dialects that belongs to the Goral ethnolect. It borders the Podegrodzie dialect to the northeast, the Orawa dialect to the east, and Silesian to the northwest. In the past this region was often considered a subregion of neighboring areas, having been much affected by them, as well as by foreign languages, namely Czech, Slovak, German, Carpathian Rusyn, and Hungarian. Żywiecczyzna is a strongly varied dialect and is able to be divided into three regions: a south-east region, a south-west region, and a northern region.