Masovian dialect group
| Masovian dialect group | |
|---|---|
| dialekty mazowieckie | |
| Native to | Poland |
| Region | Mazovian Voivodeship, Podlaskie Voivodeship, Lublin Voivodeship, Warmia-Mazuria Voivodeship |
| Ethnicity | Masovians |
| Latin (Polish alphabet) | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
| Glottolog | None |
| Linguasphere | 53-AAA-cc (varieties: 53-AAA-cca to 53-AAA-ccu) |
The Masovian dialect group (Polish: dialekt mazowiecki), also Mazovian, is a dialect group of the Polish language spoken in Mazovia and historically related regions, in northeastern Poland. It is the most distinct of the Polish dialects and the most expansive.
Mazovian dialects may exhibit such features as mazurzenie, sandhi (intervocalic voicing of obstruents on word boundaries), and asynchronous palatal pronunciation of labial consonants (so-called softening). Characteristics include:
- Depalatalization of velars before /ɛ/ and palatalization of velars before historical /ɛ̃/; e.g. standard Polish rękę, nogę ('arm', 'leg', in the accusative case) is rendered [ˈrɛŋkʲɛ], [ˈnɔɡʲɛ] respectively instead of [ˈrɛŋkɛ], [ˈnɔɡɛ];
- /li/ sequences realized [lɪ] instead of [lʲi];
- merger of the retroflex series sz, ż, cz, dż into the alveolar s, z, c, dz;
- /ɨ/ > /i/ before certain consonants;
- the Old Polish dual number marker -wa continues to be attached to verbs;
- Standard Polish /ɔ̃/ and /ɛ̃/ merged with /u/ and /a/ respectively, in most situations;
- certain instances of a > e;
- [mʲ] > [ɲ]
Masovian dialects also contain certain vocabulary that is distinct from the standard Polish language and shares common characteristics with the Kashubian language.