Lwów subdialect

The Lwów dialect (Polish: gwara lwowska, Ukrainian: Львівська ґвара, romanized: L’vivs’ka gvara) is a subdialect (gwara) of the Polish language characteristic of the inhabitants of the city of Lviv (Polish: Lwów, Ukrainian: Львів), now in Ukraine. Based on the substratum of the Lesser Polish dialect,[1] it was heavily influenced by borrowings (mostly lexical) from other languages spoken in Galicia, notably Ukrainian (Ruthenian), German and Yiddish,[2] but also by Czech and Hungarian.

One of the peculiarities of the Lwów dialect was its popularity. Unlike many other Polish dialects, it was seen by its speakers as neither inferior to standard Polish nor denoting people of humble origin. That caused it to be used both by common people and university professors alike.[3][4] It was also one of the first Polish dialects to be properly classified and to have a dictionary published.[5] Despite that, the best known form of the Lwów dialect was the Bałak, a sociolect of the commoners, street hooligans and youngsters.[6]

History

The Lwów dialect emerged in the 19th century and gained much popularity and recognition in the 1920s and 1930s, in part due to countrywide popularity of numerous artists and comedians using it.[7] Among them were Marian Hemar, Szczepcio, and Tońcio, the latter two being authors of the highly acclaimed Wesoła lwowska fala weekly broadcast in the Polish Radio. Emanuel Szlechter, the screenwriter of "Włoczęgi" and songwriter of Polish pre-war hits, wrote some of his songs in the Lwów dialect ("Ni ma jak Lwów").

The dialect is one of the two main sources of Gallicisms in standard Polish. Some words of the dialect have entered into the vocabulary of modern Polish language, and many others were adopted by other regional and social varieties of Polish, notably the grypsera. Some elements of the dialect remain in use in contemporary Ukrainian spoken in modern Lviv.[8][9]

In 1939, the city of Lwów was annexed by the Soviet Union and in the turbulent decade that followed the pre-war population structure of the city changed dramatically. With most of the Polish population expelled, the number of speakers of the dialect sharply declined, but the modern language of the members of Polish minority in Ukraine living in Lviv still resembles the prewar Lwów dialect.[10] It is also cultivated by émigré circles abroad.[11] It remained not only a part of popular culture in post-war Poland thanks to numerous artists and writers, notably Witold Szolginia, Adam Hollanek, and Jerzy Janicki, but also part of the language of many notable personalities who were born in Lwów before the war. Speakers of the Lwów dialect can be found in such cities as Wrocław and Bytom, where the majority of the expelled Polish inhabitants of Lwów settled.[12]

Phonology

Vowels

Among the most characteristic phonological features of the Lwów dialect were the changes in vowel quality influenced by word stress. For example:[10][13]

  • unaccented ie, e merging into i, y:
    • in syllables before the accented syllable: Standard Polish człowiekowi → Lwów dialect człuwikowi, wielbłądy → wilbłondy, kieliszkami → kiliszkami, ciekawy → cikawy, elektryczny → iliktryczny
    • in syllables after the accented syllable: Standard Polish człowiek → Lwów dialect człowik, nawet → nawyt, majątek → majontyk
    • word-finally: Standard Polish ale → Lwów dialect ali, ciągle → wciągli, w Polsce → w Polscy, wasze piękne miasto → waszy pienkny miastu
  • unaccented o merging into u:
    • in syllables before the accented syllable: Standard Polish oferma → Lwów dialect uferma, godzina → gudzina, kobita → kubita, doprowadził → dupruwadził
    • in syllables after the accented syllable: Standard Polish czegoś → Lwów dialect czeguś, ogon → ogun, ściskając → ściskajunc
    • word-finally: Standard Polish jutro → Lwów dialect jutru

In songs, the vowels of some words were pronounced inconsistently. Differing musical rhythms could change which syllable of a word was stressed, which is why, for example, one could hear both policaj and pulicaj ("police") in the same song.[13]

Consonants

Younger speakers of the Lwów dialect often pronounced the consonant <ł> as a semivowel [u̯] syllable-finally and word-finally. Unlike today's Standard Polish, however, the older articulation as a denti-alveolar [ɫ] was preserved before vowels (in words like pudełeczko ("box," diminutive) and łuk "bow").[10]

The consonant <m> before <i>, and <mi> before other vowels, was pronounced as [mɲ] <mń>.[14] For example, Standard Polish <miód> [mʲut] was pronounced as [mɲut].[14]

Phonological changes

In the Lwów dialect, as in other dialects, there were various phonological changes including assimilation, dissimilation and consonant cluster simplification.[10]

Examples of assimilation and voicing changes[15][10]
change example change example
xt → kt autochtony → autoktony łń → mń kołnierza → komnirza, żołnierz → żomnirz
mkn → nkn zamknięty → zanknienty mv → mb tramwaj → trambaj
ks → xs weksla → wechsla ż → dz żelazny → dzylazny
nz → ndz benzyna → bendzyna devoicing nożyczki → noszyczki
word-initial voicing tektura → dektura word-medial voicing wielki → wielgi

References
  1. Zofia Kurzowa (2006). Szpiczakowska Monika, Skarżyński Mirosław (ed.). Polszczyzna Lwowa i kresów południowo-wschodnich do 1939 (in Polish). Kraków: UNIVERSITAS. p. 439. ISBN 83-242-0656-6.
  2. Jan Cygan (1992). "On the German element in the Polish dialect of Lwów". In Stanisław Prędota (ed.). Studia Neerlandica et Germanica. Wrocław: Wrocław University. pp. 51–66. ISBN 83-229-0766-4. Retrieved 2007-10-30.
  3. Kazimierz Schleyen; Zygmunt Nowakowski (1967). Lwowskie gawędy (in Polish). London: Gryf. pp. 119–120.
  4. Witold Szolginia (1991). "Batiar i jego bałak". Przekrój (in Polish) (wydanie specjalne).
  5. Henryk Breit (1938). Gwara lwowska (in Polish). Lwów.
  6. Urszula Jakubowska (1998). Mit lwowskiego batiara (in Polish). Warsaw: Instytut Badań Literackich PAN. ISBN 83-87456-12-8.
  7. Mieczysław Młotek (1989). Gwara lwowska w pierwszym półwieczu XX wieku (in Polish). London: Instytut Polski i Muzeum im. gen. Sikorskiego. p. 79. ISBN 0-902508-15-6.
  8. Natalka Kosmolinska, Yurko Ohrimenko (2004). "Homo leopolensis esse". Ї (in Ukrainian). 36.
  9. Yuriy Vynnychyk. Лаймося по-львівськи. Postup (in Ukrainian). Archived from the original on 2012-02-09.
  10. Seiffert-Nauka, Irena (1993). "Dawny dialekt miejski Lwowa: Gramatyka". Acta Universitatis Wratislaviensis (in Polish). Wrocław: Wrocław University Press. 1 (1012): 172. ISBN 83-229-0629-3.
  11. Kazimierz Schleyen, op.cit., pages 18-19
  12. Franciszek Nieckula, ed. (1990–1992). Polszczyzna mówiona Wrocławia (in Polish). Wrocław: Wrocław University Press. pp. 167+. ISBN 83-229-0381-2.
  13. Habela, Jerzy. (1997). Lwowskie piosenki uliczne, kabaretowe i okolicznościowe do 1939 roku. Kurzowa, Zofia. (Wyd. 2 ed.). Kraków: Polskie Wydawn. Muzyczne. pp. 47–51. ISBN 8322403860. OCLC 22868373.
  14. Kurzowa, Zofia. (1983). Polszczyzna Lwowa i kresów południowo-wschodnich do 1939 roku (Wyd. 1 ed.). Warszawa: Państwowe Wydawn. Nauk. p. 86. ISBN 8301045701. OCLC 9916402.
  15. Kurzowa, Zofia. (1983). Polszczyzna Lwowa i kresów południowo-wschodnich do 1939 roku (Wyd. 1 ed.). Warszawa: Państwowe Wydawn. Nauk. pp. 96–98. ISBN 8301045701. OCLC 9916402.
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