Podhale dialect
Encyclopedia
The Podhale dialect refers to the language spoken by the Gorals
, or the highlanders living in the Tatra Mountains
. The dialect, itself a part of the larger Lesser Polish dialectal group, is characterized as Proto-Slavic from the Eastern Lechitic, Old Polish
area, superimposed by Slovak
.
In other words, the language is of Polish origin, but has been influenced by Slovak in recent centuries. The language contains Polish words, specific words, Vlach respectively words, Slovak words and words that are peculiar to the Carpathian language area (Carpathisms).
In Henryk Sienkiewicz
's 1900 novel The Teutonic Knights, the author had his characters speak a variety of medieval Polish which he recreated by utilizing many of the archaic expressions then still common among the highlanders of Podhale.
Gorals
The Gorale are a group of indigenous people found along southern Poland, northern Slovakia, and in the region of Cieszyn Silesia in the Czech Republic...
, or the highlanders living in the Tatra Mountains
Tatra Mountains
The Tatra Mountains, Tatras or Tatra , are a mountain range which forms a natural border between Slovakia and Poland, and are the highest mountain range in the Carpathian Mountains...
. The dialect, itself a part of the larger Lesser Polish dialectal group, is characterized as Proto-Slavic from the Eastern Lechitic, Old Polish
Polish language
Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...
area, superimposed by Slovak
Slovak language
Slovak , is an Indo-European language that belongs to the West Slavic languages .Slovak is the official language of Slovakia, where it is spoken by 5 million people...
.
In other words, the language is of Polish origin, but has been influenced by Slovak in recent centuries. The language contains Polish words, specific words, Vlach respectively words, Slovak words and words that are peculiar to the Carpathian language area (Carpathisms).
In Henryk Sienkiewicz
Henryk Sienkiewicz
Henryk Adam Aleksander Pius Sienkiewicz was a Polish journalist and Nobel Prize-winning novelist. A Polish szlachcic of the Oszyk coat of arms, he was one of the most popular Polish writers at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, and received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1905 for his...
's 1900 novel The Teutonic Knights, the author had his characters speak a variety of medieval Polish which he recreated by utilizing many of the archaic expressions then still common among the highlanders of Podhale.