# Masovian Borderland dialect

The Masovian Borderland dialect (Polish: gwary pogranicza mazowiecko) belongs to the Lesser Poland dialect group and is located in the part of Poland. It borders the Kielce dialect to the south, the Łęczyca dialect to the east, the Western Lublin dialect, Masovian Łowicz dialect to the northeast, and the Near Mazovian dialect to the north. Similar to Łęczyca and Sieradz, influences from many dialect regions can be seen here.

## Phonology

Atypical of Lesser Polish dialects, devoicing of word-final consonants before vowels and liquids is present here. More typical of Lesser Polish dialects is the presence of mazurzenie, as well as siakanie (kosiula) and sometimes even szadzenie (nażywaly (nazywali)).

### Vowels

a raises to o before tautosyllabic j: dzisioj (dzisiaj). Many medial consonant clusters are also broken up with mobile e: bober (bóbr), meter (metr), Pioter (Piotr). In the north, i and y are very inconsistent, and often one replaces the other, especially in the north. Before liquids they may lower to e. Final -ił/-ył can shift to -uł. Initial i has a prothetic j added: jidaⁿ (idę).

#### Slanted vowels

Slanted a is partially maintained; it can be á, or sometimes raised to o, or centralized to a, with o being the most common realization. It can raise further to ó, u before a nasal consonant. Slanted e raises to i after soft consonants, y after hard consonants, and sometimes lowers with e (which can also lower to [æ] before nasal consonants). Slanted ó is realized as u.

#### Nasal vowels

Nasal ą raises and sometimes decomposes to uN, óN medially, and nasal ę lowers and sometimes decomposes to aN (which can front) medially. Finally, -ą tends to denasalize and -ę keeps its nasality. Fronting of a to [æ] before nasals is common here. A lowering of e to [æ] before nasals is present here o can raise to ó, u before nasal consonants. u before a nasal can be lowered to o. Oral vowels tend to be nasalized before nasal consonants.

#### Prothesis

Initial o- and u- undergoes labialization to ô-, û-.

### Consonants

Partial decomposition of soft labial consonants is present here, as in Masovian dialects. A common hypercorrection is the replacement of soft ń with ḿ: misko (nisko). Soft ḿ is sometimes depalatalized: -(a)mi > -(a)my. A regional gemination of s is frequent here, including s result from mazurzenie: lass (las). In other places a reduction of geminated s is stronger: łosypać (rozsypać). In the north a similar gemination of -n- in adjectives is present. Very characteristic of this region is the preservation of rz as a raised tapped consonant /r̝/. l has hardened: lys (lis). The velars k, g, have hardened: kedy, and ch is often softened: muchi (muchy), marchiew (marchew). A shift of chw, chrz > chw, chrz is present: kwilka (chwilka), krzest (chrzest). The groups śẃ-, ćẃ- harden to św-, ćw-.

## Inflection

Influence from Masovian and Lesser Polish dialects can be seen.

### Nouns

A few nouns differ in gender from Standard Polish. A common masculine dative singular ending is -oji, and for neuter -u is most common. The masculine locative singular is formed most common with -e: w kapelusie (w kapeluszu). This can occasionally happen in the neuter, but -u is preferred. Many feminine nouns that typically end with a consonant end with -a here: brukwia (brukiew), brwa (brew). The genitive singular of feminine nouns ending in a soft consonant is -e. Feminine nouns ending in -o (-á) take -ą in the accusative singular, otherwise -a is used for the accusative singular of feminine nouns. -ów can be used for the genitive plural regardless of gender. -amy is used for the instrumental plural.

### Adjectives, adverbs, pronouns, and numerals

In adjectives and pronouns, the masculine/neuter genitive singular is formed with -igo (after soft consonants)/-ygo (after hard consonants). The masculine/neuter instrumental/locative singular is typically -am, and the dative plural is -am as well.

### Verbs

The verb jeść has an exceptional declension: jjem, jjys, jjy, jjaᵉmy, jjyta. The imperative may be -oj instead of -aj due to sound changes.The masculine singular past tense may be -uł due to sound changes. Some verb forms do not show ablaut: bierã (biorę). The personal past clitics -em/-am tend to be homophonous here due to fronting: ja widziałem/widziałam. It is also built the past tense without these clitics: jo buł (byłem). The present tense first person plural can be built with either -amy (where the a can front) (from Lesser Polish) or -em/-im (from Masovian). The present and past tense first person dual can be built with -wa: bylyźwa ((my dwaj/dwoje) byliśmy). The second person plural of the past, present, and imperative can be built with -ta. -cie is used as a formal ending showing respect.

### Prepositions and prefixes

Common is the extension of the prepositions w, z with mobile e to we, ze when before a word starting with a consonant cluster. The dual of pronouns is retained here relatively well: do naju (do nas), do waju (do was), numa (nam).

## Vocabulary
### Word-Formation

Noun formation tendencies are more typical for a Lesser Polish dialect, with some influence from Masovian.

#### Nouns

Nouns denoting young animals and people are formed with -ę, and not -ak. -ątko is used expressively.

#### Verbs

Both -ywać and -ować for frequentatives are present here, where -ywać is more common in the north. Sometimes -ać is used instead of either.