Dialects of Polish

Polish dialects are regional vernacular varieties of the Polish language, and often show developments starting from an earlier stage of the language, often Old Polish or Middle Polish, namely the development of the so-called "pitched" or "slanted" vowels (Polish samogłoski pochylone).

Four major dialect groups (termed dialekt) are typically recognized, each primarily associated with a particular geographical region, and often further subdivided into dialects (termed gwara in Polish). They are:

Greater Polish, spoken in the west

Lesser Polish, spoken in the south and southeast

Goral, spoken in the mountains on the Poland-Slovakia border

Masovian, spoken throughout the central and eastern parts of the country

Silesian spoken in the southwest (sometimes also considered a separate language)

The regional differences correspond mainly to old ethnic or tribal divisions from around a thousand years ago. As a result of 19th century measures taken by occupying powers, expulsions plus other displacements of Poles during and after World War II, as well as language policy in the Polish People's Republic, supplemented by broadcast media, the Polish language has become extremely homogeneous. In the modern day, dialectal variation can be found among mostly older generations.

Traditionally two additional dialect groups were treated alongside the aforementioned, adding to a total of six.

These varieties have been put at risk of extinction due to historic geopolitical population movements. They are:

Northern Kresy, spoken along the border between Lithuania and Belarus

Southern Kresy, spoken in isolated pockets in Ukraine

Often the usage of dialects are avoided due to negative associations and low prestige, and as such, there is often a preference for Standard Polish, and many dialects are slowly being abandoned, and instead regionalisms within Standard Polish are more common. However, some dialects are still widely used.

Notation

In order to accurately notate phonetic differences in dialects, letters outside standard Polish orthography are sometimes used, or some letters have uses different than in Standard Polish.