Orawa dialect
The Orawa dialect belongs to the Lesser [Poland dialect group] and is located in part of Poland and Slovakia. It is in part one of the dialects that belongs to the Goral ethnolect. It borders the Żywiec dialect to the far northwest, the Babia Góra dialect to the north, and the Podhale dialect to the east. The Orawa dialect is partially Poland with 14 settlements, and partially in Slovakia with 11. The use of dialect here is strong, and the effects of Standard Polish are weaker than in other regions.
While many Polish linguists describe the Orawa dialect as a variety of Lesser Poland Polish, some Slovak linguists argue that the Orawa speech forms constitute a Polish–Slovak transitional dialect. According to this view, the dialect has a Lesser Poland origin, but through long-term and intensive contact with Slovak-speaking populations, especially within the historical context of the Kingdom of Hungary, it has developed numerous Slovak phonological, morphological, and syntactic features, resulting in a transitional character between Polish and Slovak.
Phonology
Typical of Lesser Polish dialects, voicing of word-final consonants before vowels and liquids is present here. Also typical of Lesser Polish dialects is the presence of mazuration. Initial accent is common here.
Vowels
Ablaut is often levelled: mietła.
Slanted vowels
Slanted vowels are generally retained: tráwa, wóz, and é has merged with y after both hard and soft consonants: śniyg.
Nasal vowels
Nasals decompose from é > yN and ą > oN medially before non-sibilants, but retain nasality before sibilants. Verbs ending in -ąć end in -yn-, -on in the past tense: wzion, wziyna. -ę word-finally changes to -ym in the first-person present/future of verbs: słysym, as -e in the feminine accusative singular of nouns ending in historic jasne -a studnie ; however feminine nouns ending in historic -á take -á/-o in the accusative singular: na msá, where -á is a facultative variant. Final -ą is realized as -o in the third person plural present/future forms of verbs: widzo, włozá and in the accusative singular of feminine adjectives, numerals, and pronouns: staro babe, na drugá dziedzine, but as -om in the instrumental singular of feminine nouns, adjectives, numerals, and pronouns z mojom drugom babom as the result of morphologization.
Prothesis
o is very often labialized to ô, not only initially or after velars and labials, but after other consonants as well. In the Slovakian area prothetic w is common instead of /w/. Less commonly prothetic j, or even more rarely h, may also occur before initial a.
Consonants
Final -ch shifts to -k in the locative plural of nouns: w ôbłok kóńcak w obu końcach, the genitive/locative plural of adjectives, numerals, and pronouns: staryk ludzi ; the first person past singular: byłek, pytałak, the hortative particle niek, and initially in certain words in clusters: krzest, daᶜʰ, me. -ść/-źć, -rzć usually reduce to -ś: niyś sierz . Dark ł can be heard here, and soft l’ is retained before not only i: l’as. ił, il shifts to ył, yl heterosyllabically: rłobiyli and to ół, ól tautosyllabically: strzelół.. Similarly, raised rz can also be heard here amongst the older speakers: drżewo. i after rz is retained here: trżi grżiby. Bilabial w is retained amongst the older speakers.
Inflection
Typical Goral inflectional tendencies are found here.
Nouns
Soft feminine nouns retain -e in the genitive singular: dło smyreka cy do jedle.
Adjectives and adverbs
Numerals often use -ik, -uk insteach of -u in declensions: do piyncik roków, po śterdzierdziestuk rłokak.
Verbs
Verbs containing -á- create the passive participle with -t-: siáty.