On the basis of the Act on National and Ethnic Minorities and Regional Language, it has been recognized as one of the minority languages and is currently treated in Poland as a separate language. According to most linguists, the Lemko language is a dialect of the Ukrainian language. It contains all the main features of East Slavic languages from the period of their common development, as well as typical features of the Ukrainian language. However, it also has many features that distinguish it from the neighboring Ukrainian dialects, which is visible mainly in the constant accent (except around Sanok), as well as in some elements of syntax and parts of the vocabulary.
The most important phonetic features indicating the affiliation of the Lemkos speech to the East Slavic languages are:
- the so-called "Pełnogłos", ie groups oło, oro, ere corresponding to the Polish ło, ro, rze, eg sołoma - 'straw', moroz - 'mróz', bereh - 'shore';
- pre-vocal initial o- corresponding to Polish je-, eg osin - autumn;
- the vowels a and u corresponding to the Polish ę and ą, e.g. piat - five, dub - oak;
- dzicz corresponding to Polish dzyc, eg medża - miedza, nic - noc;
- vowel i corresponding to the interchangeable vowels aie in Polish, e.g. bły - white (biel), misto - city (in a city);
- vowel and in "closed" syllables, ending in a consonant, against o, in in "open" syllables, eg vis - woza (wagon), szist - szesty (six);
More important features that distinguish Lemko dialects from the neighboring Ukrainian ones:
- constant accent on the penultimate declaration, e.g. hoł'owa, hoł'rów
(in other Ukrainian dialects: hołow'a, h'ołołów);
- preserving the difference between the old y and the old and what other Ukrainian dialects have lost, eg byty means "to be", and byty - "to beat" (ы is a vowel similar to Russian y, articulated at the back of the mouth);
- hardness of consonants at the end of a word, e.g. ohen, kin (not oheń, kiń);
- the pronunciation of the old, and also generally Ukrainian ł as non-syllabic u, or as l, eg lypa, lem;
- pronunciation of soft s, z, c as in Polish ś, ź, ć, eg śino, pszenyća;
pronunciation of connections nk with the back n, eg dolynka;
- frequent groups of yr, lived against all-Ukrainian countries, bald, e.g. hyrmyt, sylla;
Differences in the Lemko dialects also occur at the level of word formation (displacement of the suffix - newer - low) or in the conjugation forms of verbs and nouns (eg in the conjugation of the verb there is the form mam, I know, trim (not maju, familiar, trim).
The basic vocabulary used by the Lemkos is common to the entire area of the Ukrainian language or to Western Ukrainian dialects. Among the loanwords, the largest group are loanwords from Polish and Slovak, with polonisms usually covering the northern part of the Lemko area, and southern Slovakisms (e.g. a granary is a spike in the north, and a sypanec in the south). Words of Hungarian etymology also appear in Lemko. that could have entered the Lemko region directly, brought by the people from seasonal work, or by traders, or penetrated through Slovak dialects (e.g. duhan 'tobacco', betiar 'łobuz', basamunka 'ribbon'). Few words of German origin reached the Lemko areas via an indirect route, mainly through the use of Polish and Slovak (e.g. asparhet 'iron stove', and tart pan for washing). All these borrowings referred to various areas of life, as well as to the world of animals and plants, while in the pastoral terminology one could find Romanian borrowings (e.g. a swing, a barracks, a clag).
It should also be mentioned that in the Lemko lexis we find the vocabulary "typically Lemko". These include Particles and Prepositions: hello 'here' (in the phrase 'come here!'), backwards 'from here', backwards 'from where', from there 'from there', with or without 'through'.
The text comes from the study "INVENTORY OF CULTURAL RESOURCES OF THE BORDERLAND - THE ETHNOCARPATHIA PROJECT" realized by the Maria Curie-Skłodowska University for the District Museum in Rzeszów.
Author: Mrs. Marta Graban-Butryn .
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