Kurpie dialect
The Kurpie dialect belongs to the Masovian dialect group and is located in the northeastern part of Poland. It borders the Masurian dialects to the north and the Far Mazovian dialect to the south. The Kurpie dialect is generally well preserved, and a strong cultural connection to the dialect can be felt amongst speakers. Standard Polish is used by most people in the region, often alongside Kurpian, and code-switching between the two frequently happens.
Phonology
Typical of Masovian dialects, devoicing of word-final consonants before vowels and liquids is present here, including before clitics. Also typical of Masovian dialects is the presence of mazuration, however, due to influence from Standard Polish, this is disappearing.Vowels
y phonemically merges with i, leaving the hardness of the previous consonant as the main phonemic determining factor: potraw·i. Often the group er shifts to ir: dopsiro. Ablaut is often levelled: ziedro, bzierzo. The shift of initial ja-, ra- > je-, re- is present: jek,, redził. This was more common in the past, but often Standard Polish forms can be seen now. The shift of medial -ar- > -er- is also present: terło. This was more common in the past, but often Standard Polish forms can be seen now.Slanted vowels
Slanted á is generally retained as á, or may sometimes raise and merge with o, or uncommonly merge with a. Slanted é is generally retained as é, with much phonetic variation, or may also be merged with e due to influence from Standard Polish. Slanted ó is generally retained as ó, with much phonetic variation, and may also appear in places different than in Standard Polish.Nasal vowels
Typically medial ę as well as the group eN are lowered, and ę generally decomposes: bańdzie. However, much variety depends on the village, non-lowered or raised variants also exist: bendzie, as well as non-decomposed forms. Lowering of ę is becoming less popular, and can mostly be seen in final position : na ziosna, and either eN or yN/iN are more dominant. Word finally, -ę denalasaizes to -e. The lowering of eN is still relatively common: przed progam. Hypercorrections also occurs: peniętam. Medial ą tends to decompose to oN, or sometimes raises to uN: ciungnik. Word finally, -ą denasalizes to -o in the east; in the west nasality is retained. The group oN tends to raise to óN and sometimes further to uN: stróny, but the standard realization oN also can be heard. iN, yN, and uN often lowers, particularly iN: jenacej. o before a liquid often raises: kórole, and e before a liquid often lowers to a: sztalmach. ył/ił often shifts to uł: pozwoluł. The groups ęł, ęl, ął tend to replace l, ł with n: wzieno.Prothesis
Initial o- often labializes to ô-, and to a lesser extend u- to û-. However, non-labialized forms are also present. Initial i- and e- can rarely gain a prothetic j-.Consonants
Soft labials are decomposed, most often to a labial and a palatal sibilant; rarely the palatalizing element is instead strengthened to j, or sometimes h, ch is the second element: robzio, ustąpsiuł, wzino. Sometimes the resulting cluster simplifies, particularly wź, fś, mń to ź, ś, ń: ziecora. This decomposition can vary somewhat village to village. ki, gi, kie, gie are often hardened, but soft pronunciations are more common: kedyś. kt shifts to cht: chto. chrz shifts to krz: krzesny. Geminated kk dissimilates to tk: letko.Contraction
Verbs may appear in both contracted and uncontracted forms here: stojała, stała.Inflection
Typical Masovian features of inflection are present here.Nouns
The instrumental plural ending is generally -ani. The typical Masovian ending is -amy, via hardening, which is exceptional here. The masculine dative singular ending for nouns is -oziu from contamination of -owi and -u: konioziu. Masculine and neuter nouns ending in sz, ż, as a result of mazuration, sometimes take -e instead of -u in the locative singular: o kosie. The nominative plural of masculine personal nouns is formed with -e more commonly than in Standard Polish: ojce byli. Alternatively, masculine personal nouns are often converted to masculine animal nouns: te majstry. There is a preference for -ów as the genitive plural ending regardless of gender or the softness of the stem. Feminine nouns ending in -ew are often declined differently: za krokwe, as if from the nominative singular krokwa. A few nouns have a gender different than in Standard Polish. Often neuter nouns ending in -ę do not take -n- in declensions: dwa wynia.Adjectives, adverbs, pronouns, and numerals
Adjectives, pronouns, and numerals take -em in the masculine instrumental/locative singular instead of standard -ym/-im: po tem wszystkiem. The plural is often -eni : całeni dniani. Similarly, the genitive/locative plural is -ech: tech.Verbs
The first person plural present tense of verbs is formed with the archaic -m: idziem. In the past tense, -m is also present in place of standard -śmy: robilim. The second person plural past tense and imperative of verbs is sporadically formed with -ta in place of -cie: daliśta. The third person plural past tense if often formed with -eli in place of standard -ali: sieli. Forms and derivatives often appear without j: przyde.Vocabulary
Word-Formation
Typical Masovian features of word-formation are present here.Nouns
Nouns denoting young animals and people are formed with -ak: dziewcoki.Verbs
Frequentatives may be formed with -ać where in Standard Polish is often -ywać/-ować: kupać.Syntax
Dwa may be used for feminine nouns instead of dwie: dwa krowy.Standardization
From 2009 to 2019, Professor Jerzy Rubach, with the help of Związek Kurpiów, published a series of monographs proposing a literary standard for the dialect. This orthography has been well received by Związek Kurpiów and numerous publications in that time have used it, including a dictionary. Siatkowska opines that this process did not fully take regional variation into consideration. Gadomski in his dictionary provides some information in regional variation.In the north-west, near Gmina Jednorożec, slanted å does not occur; this variation is recommended to be spelled, but pronounced as if ⟨a⟩; furthermore soft ḿ has only partially decomposed to mń, elsewhere ń. In the south-east, slanted å is realized as o, but it is recommended to also spell this as ⟨a⟩. Near Myszyniec, ⟨ë⟩ approaches or meges with a, but spellings with ⟨ë⟩ are prescribed as with pronunciation variations of ⟨å⟩; also here prothetic ł before a is more common, but is rarer in other places. Gadomski uses central dialects for the basis of his dictionary, but does not proscribe spellings with ⟨mń⟩ instead of ⟨ń⟩, e.g. mńasto instead of ńasto.
Orthography and pronunciation
Rubach proposes the following rules for writing Kurpian, based on his analysis of pronunciation and grammar of the region:- Word-final voiced consonants ⟨b w d z dz rz ź dź g⟩ are pronounced as if voiceless ⟨p f t s c rz ś ć k⟩, but written voiced for morphological reasons.
- ⟨u⟩ is pronounced as in Standard Polish.
- ⟨e⟩ is pronounced as in Standard Polish.
- ⟨ï⟩ is pronounced as /ɪ/.
- ⟨ï⟩ occurs after ⟨ś ź ć dź ń j⟩.
- ⟨y⟩ is pronounced as /ɘ/.
- ⟨y⟩ occurs in the same position as in Standard Polish as well as after ⟨l k g ch h⟩.
- ⟨a⟩ is pronounced as /æ~ä/.
- ⟨å⟩ is pronounced as /ɑ~ɒ/.
- ⟨ó⟩ is pronounced as /o/.
- ⟨ó⟩ occurs before ⟨m n ń⟩ instead of ⟨o⟩.
- ⟨é⟩ is pronounced as /e/.
- ⟨ë⟩ is pronounced as /ə/.
- ⟨ë⟩ occurs before ⟨m n ń⟩ instead of ⟨e⟩.
- ⟨ę̈⟩ is pronounced as /ə̃/ and ⟨ą⟩ is pronounced as /o/.
- ⟨ë⟩ is used instead of ⟨ę⟩ and ⟨ó⟩ is used instead of ⟨ą⟩ word-finally.
- ⟨ś ź ć dź ń⟩ are used instead of ⟨si zi ci dzi ni⟩ and otherwise occur as in Standard Polish.
- ⟨pi bi fi wi mi⟩ are written and pronounced as ⟨pś bź ś ź ń⟩.
- ⟨y⟩ is used instead of ⟨i ï⟩ after ⟨k g ch h⟩.
- ⟨c dz s z⟩ and less frequently ⟨ć dź ś ź⟩ used instead of ⟨cz dż sz ż⟩.
- ⟨ćï dźï śï źï⟩ used instead of ⟨czi dżi szi żi⟩.
- ⟨rz⟩ is pronounced and used as in Standard Polish.
- Standard Polish ⟨ni⟩ pronounced as /ɲj/ such as Dania are spelled ⟨ńj⟩ and ⟨VV⟩ such as wyboisty is spelled ⟨VjV⟩. Otherwise ⟨j⟩ is as in Standard Polish.
- Initial ⟨i u o⟩ in Standard Polish are pronounced and spelled as ⟨jï łu ło⟩ respectively; in Myszyniec initial ⟨a⟩ is spelled and pronounced as ⟨ła⟩.
- The past tense of verbs whose stems end in consonants are spelled and pronounced with voiceless consonants, including those proceeded by personal clitics: mók, mókëm, mókeś.
- Pre-existing loanwords are pronounced according to their historic realizations.
- Loanwords containing ⟨pi bi⟩ should be adopted as ⟨pśï bźï⟩.
- Loanwords containing ⟨fi wi mi⟩ should be adopted as ⟨fy wy my⟩.
- Loanwords containing ⟨fiV wiV miV⟩ should be adopted as ⟨fjV wjV mjV⟩.
- ⟨f w m⟩ when proceeded by an affix beginning with ⟨i⟩ in Standard polish should be changed to ⟨ś ź ń⟩.
Declension
Nouns
The genitive plural is formed with -ów in all genders, and replaces many standard masculine genitive plural endings as well with one exception - rok takes the suppletive genetive plural låt, but regular plural forms with the stem rok- can occur, and Rubach proscribes such forms. Similarly, all words taking -mi in the instrumental plural in standard Polish are regularized to -ańï. A few words in standard Polish take softening -ech in the locative plural, namely Niemcy, Węgry, Włochy ; these are regularized to hardening -ach: Ńëmcy||Ńëmcach.Feminine declension
Rubach identifies a hard-stem feminine declension, a vocalic soft-stem declension, and a consonantal soft-stem declension as well as some irregular paradigms. The pressence of final -ë and -ó in the accusative and instrumental singular instead of -ę and -ą are the result of phonetic processes, as is the pressence of -óm instead of -om via prenasal raising in the dative plural and -ańï in the instrumental plural; -ów is seen instead of standard -∅ as the ending -ów sees much wider use in Kurpian in general.- Hard-stem feminine nouns' stems end in the following consonants: p b f w m, s, z, t, d, n, r, ł, ch, k, and g.
| Case | Singular | Plural |
| Nominative | kos-a | kos-y |
| Genitive | kos-y | kos-ów |
| Dative | koś-e | kos-óm |
| Accusative | kos-ë | kos-y |
| Instrumental | kos-ó | kos-ańï |
| Locative | koś-e | kos-ach |
| Vocative | kos-o | kos-y |
| Case | Singular | Plural |
| Nominative | sop-a bab-a saf-a tråw-a jam-a | sop-y bab-y saf-y tråw-y jam-y |
| Genitive | sop-y bab-y saf-y tråw-y jam-y | sop-ów bab-ów saf-ów tråw-ów jam-ów |
| Dative | sopś-e babź-e saś-e tråź-e jań-e | sop-óm bab-óm saf-óm tråw-óm jam-óm |
| Accusative | sop-ë bab-ë saf-ë tråw-ë jam-ë | sop-y bab-y saf-y tråw-y jam-y |
| Instrumental | sop-ó bab-ó saf-ó tråw-ó jam-ó | sop-ańï bab-ańï saf-ańï tråw-ańï jam-ańï |
| Locative | sopś-e babź-e saś-e tråź-e jań-e | sop-ach bab-ach saf-ach tråw-ach jam-ach |
| Vocative | sop-o bab-o saf-o tråw-o jam-o | sop-y bab-y saf-y tråw-y jam-y |
- Soft-stem feminine nouns stems' end in a soft consonant and in the nominative in -∅, -a or -å ; the main difference is that -y is in the genitive, dative, locative, and vocative singular and -ï in those same positions due to phonetic processes:
| Case | Singular | Plural |
| Nominative | noc-∅ postać-∅ | noc-e postać-e |
| Genitive | noc-y postać-ï | noc-ów postać-ów |
| Dative | noc-y postać-ï | noc-óm postać-óm |
| Accusative | noc-∅ postać-∅ | noc-e postać-e |
| Instrumental | noc-ó postać-ó | noc-ańï postać-ańï |
| Locative | noc-y postać-ï | noc-ach postać-ach |
| Vocative | noc-y postać-ï | noc-e postać-e |
| Case | Singular | Plural |
| Nominative | rzec-∅ chę̈ć-∅ kość-∅ | rzec-y chę̈ć-ï kość-ï or kość-e |
| Genitive | rzec-y chę̈ć-ï kość-ï | rzec-ów chę̈ć-ów kość-ów |
| Dative | rzec-y chę̈ć-ï kość-ï | rzec-óm chę̈ć-óm kość-óm |
| Accusative | rzec-∅ chę̈ć-∅ kość-∅ | rzec-y chę̈ć-ï kość-ï or kość-e |
| Instrumental | rzec-ó chę̈ć-ó kość-ó | rzec-ańï chę̈ć-ańï kość-ańï |
| Locative | rzec-y chę̈ć-ï kość-ï | rzec-ach chę̈ć-ach kość-ach |
| Vocative | rzec-y chę̈ć-ï kość-ï | rzec-y chę̈ć-ï kość-ï or kość-e |
| Case | Singular | Plural |
| Nominative | sukń-å ńedz-a | sukń-e ńedz-e |
| Genitive | sukń-ï ńedz-y | sukń-ów ńedz-ów |
| Dative | sukń-ï ńedz-y | sukń-óm ńedz-óm |
| Accusative | sukń-ë ńedz-ë | sukń-e ńedz-e |
| Instrumental | sukń-ó ńedz-ó | sukń-ańï ńedz-ańï |
| Locative | sukń-ï ńedz-y | sukń-ach ńedz-ach |
| Vocative | sukń-o ńedz-o | sukń-e ńedz-e |
The term pańï has an irregular declension, but other terms ending in standard -yni/-ini, e.g. gospodyńå, are regularized to match the paradigm of sukńå:
| Case | Singular | Plural |
| Nominative | pań-ï | pań-e |
| Genitive | pań-ï | pań-ów |
| Dative | pań-ï | pań-óm |
| Accusative | pań-ó | pań-e |
| Instrumental | pań-ó | pań-ańï |
| Locative | pań-ï | pań-ach |
| Vocative | pań-ï | pań-e |
The term mysz has been morphologically reshaped to mysa in the nominative singular and follows a hard declension as opposed to a soft declension in the standard. Many other terms have undergone regularization, including pieśń to pśeśńå following the declension of sukńå and standard maź and wesz takes clear -a in the nominative as opposed to -å, thus måźa and wsa, despite being after a soft consonant, but otherwise declines like sukńå; wsa may otherwise fully regularize and decline according to the hard-stem paradigm. The term sansa shows -e in the nominative plural despite being a hard-stem noun under standard influence.
The term rę̈ka in the meaning "arm, hand", like standard Polish ręka,