Lesser Poland - Lesser Polish Dialect of The Polish Language

Lesser Polish Dialect of The Polish Language

Lesser Polish dialect is spoken in southeastern corner of Poland, both in lands which belong to historical Lesser Poland, and in areas which are not part of the province (around Sieradz and Łęczyca). On the other hand, as seen on the map, Lesser Polish dialect is not spoken in extreme northeast of Lesser Poland, in Siedlce and vicinity, where people rather speak Masovian dialect. Descending from the language of the Vistulans, it is the most numerous dialectal group in modern Poland. According to Wincenty Pol, it is divided into three subdivisions: Sandomierz dialect, Lublin dialect, and Sanok dialect.

In the Middle Ages and Renaissance, Lesser Polish dialect, together with Greater Polish dialect, contributed to creation of standard Polish, it also greatly influenced Silesian language (see Dialects of the Polish language), as well as dialects of Polish used in southern part of Kresy Wschodnie. Later on, however, its importance diminished and was replaced by Masovian dialect, which became the leading dialect of Polish. After Partitions of Poland, when Lesser Poland was divided between Austria and Russia, northern areas of the province took over many features of the Masovian dialect, while Lesser Polish dialect in Austrian province of Galicia was heavily influenced by German.

According to Multimedia Guide to Polish Dialects, a webpage maintained by University of Warsaw, Lesser Polish dialect is divided into the following subdialects:

• Mazowsze Borderland (Pogranicze Mazowsza – around Radom and Dęblin),
• Łęczyca (around Łódź, Kutno, Tomaszów Mazowiecki – this part of the country is not historical Lesser Poland),
• Kielce (around Kielce),
• Lasowiacy (north of Rzeszów),
• East Kraków,
• West Lublin,
• East Lublin (this area historically belongs to Red Ruthenia),
• Przemyśl (historical part of Red Ruthenia),
• Biecz,
• Nowy Sącz,
• Podhale,
• Spisz,
• Orawa,
• Żywiec,
• Sieradz,
• Sanok region, or Red-Ruthenian
• Kraków, together with Zagłebie Dąbrowskie.