Lemko dialect
Lemko dialect or West Carpathian dialect is a dialect spoken by Lemko people of the Carpathians in the border region of Ukraine, Slovakia and Poland. It is classified as part of Southwestern dialects of Ukrainian language, part of Rusyn language, or a separate language. Lemko dialect is spoken in an area bordered by Boyko and Transcarpathian dialects in the east, Slovak language in the southwest and Polish language in the north. An enclave populated by Lemko speakers is also located in Polish ethnic territory between the towns of Strzyżów and Krosno. After the Second World War many Lemkos were forcibly resettled to other regions of Poland and Ukraine, which resulted in further geographic spread of the dialect.
Main features
- Most Lemko dialects have a fixed stress on the penultimate syllable: вóда compared to standard Ukrainian водá ;
- presence of phonemes , , ;
- transition of into in both stressed and unstressed positions before syllables with , , and : на дур'узі , пу'тік , знуў , пул'ула ;
- transition of into before palatalized consonants: вир’х , типир’ ;
- pronunciation of word-final as , : колий' , гусий , ідий ;
- transition of original into , : вечÿр , т’утка ;
- development of original cluster -ьr- into -ɪr-, -ɨr-, -ьl- into -ɨl-: гырміт , дырва , хирбет , былха ;
- intense palatalization of , , , , in some varieties and are only present in palatalized form; widespread replacement of , with , : ц’агне , дз’’і'ц’’ми ; in certain varieties some consonants are palatalized in front of etymological : т’еп’ир , с’ево ; in other varieties , , , are not palatalized in word-final positions, and palatalized is absent;
- devoicing of word-final consonants in many varieties: мет' ;
- replacement of with before labialized and before unlabialized vowels: пўух , вава , ц’івий ;
- replacement of word-initial , with : гдова ; replacement of , before unvoiced consonants with , : x коморі, фчора ;
- archaic ending -ци in masculine plural nouns: парібци, войаци ;
- ending -ы in adjective and certain pronouns in plural: здоровы;
- ending -ом in single nouns in instrumentative case, as well as in respective adjectives: добром жоном, тобом;
- dual ending -ма in instrumentative case of many nouns and pronouns: тыма, котрыма;
- shortened form -ой in genitive of single feminine adjectives: великой, славной ;
- in eastern Lemko varieties: absence of between labial consonants and ;
- creation of future tense with the use of verb бути and past participle: буду робив; sometimes also with infinitive: будéме вйазáти;
- use of particle да instead of де: дахто, дакому ;
- widespread usage of prepositions ік, ґ, іґ, ку, ґу, пред, през etc.;
- in syntax: use of preposition with noun to denote an instrument used for a certain action ; use of preposition о with nouns in locative or accusative.
Vocabulary