The Lower Silesian dialect group () is a dialect group of the Silesian language historically spoken in Lower Silesia and historically related regions, in southwestern Poland. It is difficult to establish if there are still speakers of this dialect group. A dialect of the region includes the Chwalim dialect.
This article normalizes to Ślabikŏrzowy szrajbōnek where possible, and sometimes examples are supplemented with IPA.
Phonology
Lower Silesian generally shows voicing of word-final consonants before vowels and liquids, but devoicing may sometimes occur. It also has Mazuration with sporadic exceptions.
Vowels
Clear a is generally kept as a: matka, zima, ziyima, and a few instances of older a are kept: rzazać, jachać. Tautosyllabic aj often changes to ej, especially in the imperative of verbs: cekejcie, dej; in other words this change happens more rarely or even exceptionally: dzisiej. A few surnames show -e instead of -a under German influence: Dude. The cluster ja- often changes to je-, something once more common in all of Silesia: jermark; it is uncertain if ra- similarly changes to re-. ar may change to er: cwiérć, trefić, presować. a can shift to e sporadically, but exceptionally: hesłe; the form kazelnica arose from contamination of kazalnica and Czech kazatelnica.
Clear o is generally kept as o: pole (Stare Kolnie), but can raise to slanted ō for various reasons. One source of this is when o is when it is with tautosyllabic r l ł, or in monosyllabic words or in singular accentual units: dō Francyje (Lubsza), fōrt (Tarnowiec), fōlwark (Roszkowice, Kurznie). There are also cases of sporadic raising: bō bōła, dō skōły (Tarnowiec), w kōpy, dō lasa (Kurznie) abō (Roszkowice), dōpaś, kōza||kōża /koʒa/ (Stare Kolnie), dō siecyniŏ, dō ŏdry (Karłowice), dō dōmu (Kuźnica Katowska); such cases can also occur in Southern Silesia, e.g. Rybnik and Pszczyna. Medial o can sporadically diphthongize to ŏ, realized as either /ɔ͡u/ or /o͡u/: kŏpetek ("piece") /ko͡upɛtɛk (Mąkoszyce) or kŏpytek /kɔ͡upɪtɛk/~/kɔpɪtɛk/ (Tarnowiec). Similarly, o can decompose into several segments, especially in the coda. One such realization is to [ɔ͡ɛ], but this is often weakly realized, and can differ somewhat in its exact realization village to village: lato, prziso (prziszło), wojsko, drzewo /dʐɛvɔ͡ɛ/ (Lubsza); this diphthongization made the adaption of Silesian surnames into German easier, where this diphthong was perceived as ö (/øː/) > e (/eː/). Next, this diphthong can very rarely raise further to [ɔ͡ɪ]: [ftɔ͡ɪ] (Stare Kolnie) (Standard Silesian fto), [palʲitɔ͡ɪ] (Karłowice) (Standard Polish palto). More frequently it is realized as [u͡ɛ], most frequently after coronal consonants and dorsal consonants, least often after palatal consonants: [stu͡ɛ] (sto), [tu͡ɛ] (to), [t͡su͡ɛ] (co), [ɕɛlu͡ɛ] (from ciało) (Stobawa); the development of this realization could have been [ɔ] > [ouɛ] > > [uuɛ] > [uɛ], with realizations like [xtouɛ] (Stobrawa) attesting the second stage. Also supporting this is the development of ło, which is very often realized as [uɛ], as in the past tense: [vɪɡlondawɛ] next to [bowɛ] (Lubsza). In some villages this can be realized as [wɪ~ɨ]. All of these diphthongs can occur medially, but less often, and the least often initially, where labial prothesis is more common. o can exceptionally change to a seemingly before r in loanwords: jarganki, jargany (Stobrawa), jarganka (Stare Kolnie) or also exceptionally to u: [kuluskoɛ]||[kɔluskoɛ] (Stare Kolnie) (diminutive of Standard Silesian kōłko).
u is generally remains unchanged, but before n it can lower to ō, e.g. pierōn (Stare Kolnie), and before r also to ō, but the phonetic realization here can be [o~ʊ], e.g. fōr [for] or [fʊr] (Tarnowiec). The cluster -łu- often simplifies to just -u-: chałpa, dziochy (Tarnowiec)., Standard Polish kukurydze)
Clear e is generally kept as e and also may occur in places different from Silesian or Polish: na całyj wieście (Stare Kolnie), na wiesce (Karłowice). German loanwords may be diphthongized: [kilome͡iter] (Lubsza), except after r: zech nie trefiōł (Kurznie). Other German loanwords containing ei show alternations of [ai]~[ei]||[ɪ], which is the result of being borrowed at different times: nie wyrychnie (< reichen) (Lubsza) next to nie rajchłe, fejfy (Kurznie), faifka (Stobrawa) (< Pfeife). A few cases of native ej show a similar change to y: podyma (Stare Kolnie). In contrast to Standard Silesian, the group er rarely changes to yr.
Ablaut is often leveled before hard coronals: Pietruske (Mąkoszyce), biedra, sie wygnietły, zabierã, bierã, niesã, niesõ, pierōn (Stare Kolnie), ôbierã (Karłowice), niesã, zaniesã, pierōny (Kuźnica Katowska). el can exceptionally raise to yl: mylŏk (Mąkoszyce). On the other hand, eł often changes to oł or ōł: połny||pōłny; this can also effect epenthetic e: bydōłecko (Stobrawa). Similarly, łe can change to ło: łoktać (Stare Kolnie). German loanwords containing eu are realized as aj: bajtlik (Stobrawa). Word final -e often diphthongizes to [ɔu].
y remains generally unchanged being realized as [ɘ~ɪ]; future forms of być show denasalization as in Standard Silesian. Initial or medial ły often changes to łō ([wo~wʊ]) or ō, uː zech susōł (standard Silesian żech słyszōł). Original -yjá nouns remain uncontracted as in Standard Silesian: procesyjŏ.
i may sometimes be realized as [ɪ] under influence of German. i may also appear after sz and ż in loanwords, possibly as the result of code-switching: na masziny, siby (Lubsza); this can happen in a few native words: lupszi (nominative singular) (Lubsza), kruszina, posziwać, sicko, wszycko (Standard Silesian wszyjsko). rzi (/r̝i~ʂi~ʐi/ remains as in Standard Silesian, but on occasion changes to rzy (/r̝iɪ~ʂɪ~ʐɪ/) under influence of Standard Polish. The cluster ir can become either er: siercy (Mąkoszyce, Tarnowiec) or yr: ściyrlica (Stobrawa). il lowers to yl: robiyli.
Slanted vowels Slanted á shows much diversity; sometimes clear a can be seen under influence of Polish: piasek; á can rarely labialize to /ɔ͡a/, the most often in Lubsza: /dɔbrɔ͡a/ (standard Silesian dobrŏ); most often however old á is realized as represented by Silesian ŏ, as either /a͡u/ /ɔ͡u~o͡u/ or with de-diphthongization /ɔ/ - /ɔ͡u~o͡u/ is the most frequent realization: tŏcka (/ta͡ucka/ or /tɔ͡ucka/ or /to͡ucka/.(standard Silesian tŏczka).
Slanted ó is generally kept as ō (/o/) as in Standard Silesian in all villages, or is often diphthongized to [ou]. Sometimes this diphthong changes to [ɪ] with a process of [ou] > [ɪu] with raising from [u] and then weakening > [ɪ] with loss of the second element: [pkⱳɪf] (genitive plural of Standard Silesian błecha). There are a number of words where clear o is seen where typically slanted ō is seen: pōmoc (Standard Silesian pōmōc), skora (Standard Silesian skōra) (Tarnowiec). Slanted ō can raise to [u] or [ʊ] in pōł(-) and before r.
Slanted é is most often changed to y, and much less often after palatal consonants to i, but é can still rarely be heard; clear -e can be heard the least often under influence of Standard Polish.
Nasal vowels Old short ę, historically pronounced [æ̃], is sometimes realized as [ã] after hard consonants and [ɪ̃] after soft consonants [kãs], [mjɪ̃sɔ] (Roszkowice) (Standard Silesian kyns, miynso); however [ã] can rarely be seen after soft consonants as well: wsańdzie (Tarnowiec), wsandy, wsańdzie, cãściyj (Kurznie), wsãdy, wsãdzie (Stare Kolnie), cãsto (Karłowice). More often old ę is realized as [ɪ̃] or yn: rynka (Wójcice). Nasality is sporadically lost in a few words. Final -ę continues as -ã: na drōgã, ziymiã (Lubsza) and exceptionally as [ɪ̃]. Sometimes final -ã can decompose to -an, especially before a following word: nie wiam, nie chcan zgubić (Lubsza); this likely occurred in the middle of the 20th century under German influence. Finally, word-final -ã can denasalize to [a ɛ e ɪ]. After World War I under Ruthenian or Russian influence final -ã can denasalize to -u.
Old long -ą, historically pronounced as [ɑ̃ː], is generally realized as õ ([õ]), powõchać (Stare Kolnie); word finally it decomposes to -ōm, however this final -m varies in strength, and -õ can also be seen: w niewolõ||sōmōm (instrumental singular of słoma) (Tarnowiec).
The distribution of ã and õ may differ from that in Standard Silesian. Nasality is lost before ł. Nasal vowels decompose to have a nasal consonant assimilating to the following consonant, including before sibilants, albeit to a lesser degree. Similarly, the vowel component has a tendency to diphthongize to include j, especially before a palatal consonant.
a can rarely change to e before nasal consonants, which can further raise to y like eN: wiōzynka (standard Silesian wiōnzōnka), z Polakiymi - this -'ymi likely arose under influence of the instrumental singular form Polakiym. More often, old á, both old and new, changes to ō before a nasal consonant, merging with oN: sōm /som/ (Wójcice), pamiyntōm /pamjɪntom/ (Lubsza), pōn /pon/ (Tarnowiec). This resulting ō can phonetically sometimes sound as [ʊ]: [bratʊnɛk] (Karłowice) or even [u]: [bratunɛk] (Stare Kolnie). Finally, aN is sometimes kept as aN or not raised entirely to just oN as the result of influence from Standard Polish from settlers coming from the Eastern Borderlands: geszpon /ɡɛʂpɔn/ (from German Gespann) (Lubsza), pan /pan/ (Lubsza, Tarnowiec).
o near nasal consonants generally raises to ōN, which can diphthongize or raise as described above, especially in a closed syllable, however sometimes clear oN can be seen.
The group eN raises to yN or sometimes to iN after palatal consonants.
iN lowers, approaching a sound between e and y: ś niymi (Standard Silesian z niymi) (Stobrawa).
Other vowels may nasalize when before m, especially when m is followed by a sibilant.
Prothesis Initial a- exceptionally sees prothetic j- Jantka (accusative singular of Antek); this can also happen near secondary a-: jargany, jarganka; otherwise prothetic h- (either /h/ or rarely /x/) occurs more often: hantaba.
Initial, medial and final o can labialize and in all positions to a similar degree of intensity: môtycka (compare Standard Silesian motyka), môtycka, kôkôt (Mąkoszyce), na pôlu (Tarnowiec), sôli, zytô (Roszkowice), wôjna (Kurznie), kôkôt, kôtka, pokôwiec, sôchy, bôciōn, bôciōny, môc (Stare Kolnie), tô, cô, kokôt, kôt (Karłowice), dô, zytô (Karłowiczki), tô (Kuźnica Katowksa); this feature is not very frequent. This can sometimes be realized as [uɛ]: [uɛd uɔt͡sɪ] (Standard Silesian ôd ôjcōw) (Stobrawa), but most often as [uɔ]: ôdra, ôwiec (Stobrawa). However unlabialized initial o sometimes occurs: ojciec||ôjciec (Wójcice).
Medial u can also labializize to û when it occurs after another vowel: naûcyć (Lubsza), naûcyciyl, wyûcōny (Tarnowiec), my sie naûcyli (Roszkowice), poûgryzajõ (Stare Kolnie), naûcyciele (Karłowice), jŏ sie naûcōła (Karłowiczki); initially this may occur, but less frequently, and sometimes instead of labialization prothetic h may appear: [do hujɛk] (Mąkoszyce), [xujɛk] (Tarnowiec).
As a result of labialization, hypercorrection can occur and initial ł- may be removed: ōnka (instead of łōnka) (Tarnowiec).
Initial i- rarely gains prothetic j-: to jidã (Lubsza).
Contraction Verbs may appear in contracted forms: stŏć /stɔ͡ut͡ɕ/ (Kuźnica Katowska), jŏ sie bŏł /jɔ͡u ʃɛ bow/ (Lubsza).
Consonants Word final -m tends to weaken and either partially or fully nasalize the preceding consonant; this weakened element may then assimilate in the place of articulation to the following consonant; then final -m can sometimes entirely disappear: nie wiã (nie wiem) (Kurznie). Labial consonants tend to weaken and assimilate in consonant clusters and soft labials often harden. Similarly, the cluster in+sibilant can lose -n- and nasalize -i-.
Medial t and d after a vowel and before s, ś, c, ć often weaken and disappear. If rz is realized as /ʒ/ or /ʃ/, then trz and drz can affricatize and become cz, dż.