Chwalim dialect

The Chwalim dialect was a Lechitic dialect spoken up to the first half of the 20th century in Chwalim in present-day western Poland. Historically, the village belongs to Lower Silesia. Although the dialect features are typical for Silesian, the speakers believed that they were descendants of Sorbs. The dialect is classified as a Silesian dialect, and more specifically, the Silesian dialect group">Silesian language">Silesian dialect group, but displays some Greater [Poland dialect group|Greater Polish] influence.

History

In the 19th century, the inhabitants of Chwalim were believed to be Wends who had migrated there from Lower Lusatia. Nevertheless, Kazimierz Nitsch, because of linguistic features of their dialect, believed that they were Silesians. From his visits to Chwalim in the early 20th century, he learned that the dialect is well known amongst elder people, while younger people had stopped learning it, instead opting for German, although they still understood it. According to a census in 1910, 117 natives in Chwalim still spoke the so-called "Wendish language".
These speakers were Protestants visiting church in neighbouring town Kargowa and praying with Polish books.

Phonology

The phonological system of the Chwalim dialect has much in common with other Silesian dialects, with some influences from Greater Poland dialects.

Consonants

The consonant system of Chwalim dialect is generally similar to that in Standard Polish, but there is a lack of the postalveolar/retroflex series due to mazuration, which is present in some other Silesian dialects as well. A weak prothetic is usually inserted before initial.

Vowels and diphthongs

Below, the acute accent denotes that the sound is a reflex of the corresponding Old Polish long vowel. It is also difficult to determine whether diphthongized vowels are phonemic diphthongs or not.
Oral vowels: a, e, i, y, o, u, á, é, ó.
Nasal vowels: ã, õ.
Allophony:

á is usually realised as a diphthong but is reduced to before nasal consonants or to more open before or ;
é is generally pronounced as , like in other Silesian dialects;
The pronunciation of o can vary between and depending on the phonological context. Generally, u̯ is strongest in the beginning of the word and weakest at the end of the word: 'smith', 'work', ' flew away', 'young', 'word'. In this article, letter ô is used to indicate pronunciation ;
y can be realised as a diphthong or monophthong depending on the phonological context. Before it is realised as ;
ó is usually realised as a diphthong but is often reduced to in unaccented syllables or before ;
u is generally as in most of Polish and Silesian dialects, but can be a bit more open before and nasals;
ã is generally pronounced as ;
The pronunciation of õ can vary between and ;
i and a are generally pronounced as and respectively, as in most of Polish and Silesian dialects.

Evolution from Old Polish

In the list below, V denotes any vowel, C – any consonant, N – any nasal consonant, ogonek – nasal vowel and macron – long vowel.

lack of final -aj > -ej, unlike in other Silesian dialetcs;
ā > á, except in feminine noun endings -niā > -nia;
ē > é, eN > éN. Sporadically ē, e > i: ' couldn't', 'Protestant';
ō > ó, oN > óN;
y > i in few cases, mostly after ;
ą > ã, ą̄ > õ, ą̄ > õm word-finally;
in comparative adverbs endings -ēj > -y
irregular Silesian vowel changes: – compare Polish igła 'needle', – compare Polish niosę ' carry', : – compare Polish zegar : zegara 'clock', – compare Polish w szkole 'in school', – compare Polish w Austrii 'in Austria';
due to Greater Polish influence, -ew- after soft consonants is preserved: 'horse ', 'smith ', 'cherry ' ;
masuration is regular with a few exceptions: – compare Polish człowiek 'human', – compare Polish żelazo 'iron'. in recent German borrowings is adapted as ;
> as in most of Polish and Silesian dialects;
after consonants is often lost: > ;
between two vowels is much weaker. If the vowels are the same or very similar, it can be even completely omitted, contracting the vowels: ' heard' – compare Polish słyszała, ' wasn't taking' – compare Polish, ' didn't know' – compare Polish nie znała, 'she was here' – compare Polish ona tu była, ' took' – compare Polish wzięła;
various simplifications of consonant clusters and palatalizations: 'all', 'bee', 'enough, fairly', 'six years', 'to collect' – compare Polish wszystko, pszczoła, dość, sześć lat, zbierać.

Grammar

Many features common to Silesian dialects are present in the morphology, but some Sorbian influence may also be observed.

Declension

The most dominant ending for the genitive masculine singular genitive of nouns is -u. An archaic masculine singular dative ending -ewi is preserved after roots ending with soft consonant. The feminine singular accusative is generally formed with -ã.
The masculine and neuter singular genitive of adjectives is formed with the ending -yk from -ēgo, which is the result of Sorbian influence.

Conjugation

Verbs in the infinitive end in -j < -ć and -ś < -ść/''-źć. Future forms of być have d'' and dź simplified into corresponding nasal consonants n, ń as in other Silesian dialects: bãnõm, bãnie, – compare Polish będą, będzie.
Present tense endings are -ą/-ám for the first person singular, -my for the first person plural and -cie for the second person plural. The past tense is constructed from the l-participle and personal pronoun; in singular first person there can be added suffix -ch to personal pronoun ja, which is typical for Silesian: jach tam bół, jach słysa 'I heard ', my cytali, bółś tam?. As in Polish and Silesian, special prefixes inform whether the aspect of the verb is perfective or imperfective. Future tense is constructed with 'to be' in future tense and infinitive form of verb: bãnõm piáj, my bãniemy piáj, or with a present-tense form of a perfective verb.
Conjugations of a few verbs:

iś 'to go' / pôj : idõm, idźmy,, pódziémy, przisáł ;
'can': môgã, móg ;
'to be': jes, my sõm, bãnie, bãniemy, bãnõm, bół, baa or bełe was, beły.

Vocabulary

Word	Meaning	Nitsch's spelling	IPA transcription	Comment
baba	wife	baba
biáły	white	b́ou̯yi̯
bible	liturgical books	b́ible
bulce	potatoes	bulce
cyga	goat	ciga
dãbôki	deep	dąb^uoḱi		Sorbian influence.
dugi	long	duǵi		Comparative form: dlysyi̯ or dusyi̯.
dôś	much, many	d^uoś		Polish dość means 'enough'.
dziéwcã	daughter	ʒ́yfcą		Polish dziewczę means 'girl'.
gupy	dumb	gupy^i̯
jachaj	to go	i̯aχai̯
jegiáłka	pin	i̯eǵou̯ka
jegła	needle	i̯egu̯a		Characteristic Silesian word.
jeźdźôrô	lake	i̯eźʒ́^uor^uo		Probably influenced by neighbouring Greater Polish dialects.
jezeli	if	i̯ezeľi		This word is used also to make questions. Thus, it replaced semantically Standard Polish czy.
knepa	button	knepa
kôkôt	rooster	k^uok^uot
latôś	this year	lat^uoś
ma	yes	ma
miałki	shallow	ḿau̯kȯ^u̯
miãskaj	to live; to reside	ḿąskai̯
nacõj	to begin	nacǫi̯
nie	no	ńe
nimiec	Protestant	ńiḿec		Polish Niemiec means 'German '.
ôbiéraj	to collect, to gather	u̯ɔb́yrai̯		Polish uses prefix z-: zbierać.
ôciéń	shadow	u̯oćyń
ón	he	u̯yn
pára	a few	pȯ^u̯rą		Polish para means 'pair, two of something'.
piáj	to read	ṕoi̯		Semantic change from 'to sing' to 'to sing with a liturgical book' to 'to read from a liturgical book' to ultimately 'to read'.
pôdwórek	yard	p^uodvůy̯rek
psoła	bee	psou̯a
sa	here	sa		Greater Polish influence.
siachta	box	śaχta
skło, sklanô	glass bottle	sku̯o, sklan^uo	,
stára	grandma	stȯ^u̯rȯ^u̯		Polish stara is feminine form for 'old'.
stáry	grandpa	stȯ^u̯ryi̯		Polish stary is masculine form for 'old'.
tata	father	tata
terá	now	terȯ^u̯
ôlica	door	u̯oľica		Polish ulica means 'street'. The semantic change probably influenced by southern Greater Polish dialects.
wadzi sie	to argue	vaʒ́i śe
wielgi	big	v́elǵi
zajitrô	day after tomorrow	zai̯itr^uo
zawrzyj	to close	zavžyi̯
zegier	clock	zeǵer
zielazô	iron	źelaz^uo