Typological classification

Description of the Lach language created by Łysohorsky (1934: 100Łysohorski 1934: 100 / komentarz/comment/r /
Łysohorski 1934. Śpiwajuco piaść. Praga: Družstevni prace.

): “From Czech, spoken in the west, and Slovak, spoken in the south, it is differentiated by the penultimate stress, and from Polish, spoken in the east, by the lack of nasal phones”. (Łysohorsky 1934: 100Łysohorski 1934: 100 / komentarz/comment/r /
Łysohorski 1934. Śpiwajuco piaść. Praga: Družstevni prace.

). Whereas Šembera (1859: 10Šembera 1859: 10 / komentarz/comment/r /
Šembera, Alois Voitěch 1859. Dějiny řeči a literatury československé. Wien: nakład własny.

) writes:

Hlavní známky podřečí tohoto jsou: Přízvuk na slabice předposlední: od Opavy; samohlásky vesměs se krátí: tráva, žila, mucha, ryc; ý a é vyslovují se pravidelné dle písma, však krátce: dobry otec, urodne pole; y za e v 1. osobé množ. poctu časoslov: mamy, dámy; ni negativní za ne neb nie.

Syntax

A feature specific to the Lach dialects is the inflected ending –ch/–ech, which is the relic of aorist and creates the past tense form: Kajch hajoł (czes. kde jsem hladil, 'gdziem chodził'), přyšełch zaś (czes. zase sem přišel, 'przyszedłem znowu’/ I came again). The above-mentioned relic forms are also used in the present tense: joch je od Ćešina (czes. jsem od Téšina, 'jestem z okolicy Cieszyna’, ‘I am from the area of Cieszyn’). The inflection of the auxiliary verb is also specific: joch je, tyś je, ón je, my smy, wy śće su, óni su . Negation forms: joch ňéni, tyś ňéni etc. (Duličenko 2002: 288-289Duličenko 2002: 288-289 / komentarz/comment/r /
Дуличенко, Александр Д. [Duličenko] 2002. „Lachisch“, w: M. Okuka (red.): Lexikon der Sprachen des europäischen Ostens. Klagenfurt: Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt, s 287-290.

).

Phonology

1. Lack of nasal vowels [ą], [ę]:

Lach: ruka, maso;
Czech, Slovak: ruka, maso/maso;
Polish: ręka, mięso ‘hand’, ‘meat’

2. /i/ and /y/ as separate phonemes:

Lach: bit’ – 'bić’ ‘to beat’, byt’ – 'być’ ‘to be’
Czech/Slovak: difference in spelling: both the symbol and are treated as one phoneme /i/
Polish: /i/ in bić, ‘to beat’ /y/ in być ‘to be’.

3. Liquids [l] and [r] shift, *tort -> trat, *tolt -> tlat:

Lach: vrana, hłava
Czech/Slovak: vrána/vrana, hlava
Polish: wrona, głowa ‘crow’ ‘head’

4. As in Polish, but contrary to e.g. Czech, in most cases consonants [l] and [r] do not form syllables:

Lach: pylny, serce
Czech/Slovak: plný, srdce
Polish: pełny, serce ‘full’ ‘heart’

5. [l] central (pronounced in the same manner as Polish [l]), differentiated from the velar dark [ł], known in Poland as [ł] of actors or from west; in some parts of Lachia dark [ł] is pronounced the same as [ł] in the standard Polish (phoneme /u/):

Lach: słaby, lud
Slovak: [l] middle – slabý, lud; [l] soft – lipa
Czech: [l] central– slaby, lid
Polish: non-syllabic vowel [u] as in słaby ‘weak’; alveolar [l] as in lud; pallatelised, soft [l’] before [i] ̯

6. Change [*g] -> [h] (as in Czech and Slovak):

Lach: hłava
Czech/Slovak: hlava
Polish: głowa (head)

7. [dz] was preserved (Czech has the change to[z]):

Lach: cudzy
Slovak: cudzí
Czech: cizí
Polish: cudzy ‘someone else’s’

8. Palatalisation [s], [z] before front vowels [i], [e] (the square brackets below contain the pronunciation):

Lach: [z’ima], [žima], [s’eno], [šeno] - depending on the local variation:
Czech/Slovak: zima, seno
Polish: zima, siano ‘winter’ ‘hay’

9. Assimilation [t’] > [c’] or [č] and [d’] > [dz] or [dž] before front vowels [i], [e]:

Lach: [c’icho] / [čycho], [dz’edz’ina]/ [džedžina] – meaning ‘village’
Czech/Slovak: ticho, dědina/dedina 'wioska'
Polish: cicho, dziedzina ‘quiet’ ‘discipline’

10. Devoicing [v] after voiceless vowels:

Lach: t[f]uj
Czech: t[v]ůj
Slovak: t[v]oj
Polish: exists in the majority of dialects – t[f]ój

11. Voicing on the borders of words and clitic before vowels and sonar consonants [m, m', n, n', ł, l, r]:

Lach: – napi[ž]mu 'napisz mu'
Slovak: – napi[ž]mu
Czech: napi[š]mu
Polish: in the south and west of the country – napi[ž]mu

12. Penultimate stress:

Lach: hran’i ca n;
Czech: hra hranice;
Slovak: hra hranica;
Polish: grani nica ni

(Bělič 1972: 285Bělič 1972: 285 / komentarz/comment/r /
Bělič, Jaromir 1972. Naštin české dialektologie. Praha: Státní pedagogické nakladatelství.

; Zaręba 1961: 83Zaręba 1961: 83 / komentarz/comment/r /
Zaręba, Alfred 1961. Śląskie teksty gwarowe. Kraków: Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe.

; Hannan 1996b: 730-732Hannan 1996b: 730-732 / komentarz/comment/r /
Hannan, Kevin 1996b. „The Lachian Literary Language of Óndra Łysohorsky“, w: Michael M. Naydan (red.) The Slavic and East European Journal 40/4. American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages of the US, s. 726–743.
)

Lexicon

The Lachian literary micro-language uses both the lexicon of the Upper Ostrava dialect and the lexicon of Polish and Czech (Duličenko 2002: 289Duličenko 2002: 289 / komentarz/comment/r /
Дуличенко, Александр Д. [Duličenko] 2002. „Lachisch“, w: M. Okuka (red.): Lexikon der Sprachen des europäischen Ostens. Klagenfurt: Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt, s. 287-290.

).
Graphic, phonetic, grammatical and lexical features of Lach were introduced by Łysohorsky in his books; some volumes have Polish-Czech-Lach vocabulary lists. Many Lach expressions are the lexical parallel to Polish and Czech words, the main difference lies in the phonetic level; in comparison with the Polish language: hałuź – 'gałąź’, ‘branch’ hłod – 'głód’ ‘hunger’, jodro – 'jądro’ ‘core’, ledowy – 'lodowy’ ‘ice’, pět – 'pięć’ ‘five’, pisek – 'piasek’ ‘sand’, potym – 'potem’ ‘after’, rozpolić – 'rozpalić' ‘light’ etc.; in comparison with the Czech language: ból – bol, bruśić – brousiti, dřéć śe – dřiti se, hłos – hlas, lude – lid, mjénić śe – měniti se etc. There are also differences in word-formation, in comparison with the Polish language: nahota – ‘nagość’/ nakedness, sebewědomi – ‘świadomość’/ awareness, ohniwy – ‘ognisty’/ fiery, robotny – ‘roboczy’/working, spijać śe – 'upijać się’/get drunk; in comparison with the Czech language: rumowisko – rumiště/ rubble, turónek – turan/, wrotyčka – vratič, wšaj – všude, chudobny - chudy/thin, zdala – zdaleka (i zdalí)/ from far etc. (Duličenko 2002: 289Duličenko 2002: 289 / komentarz/comment/r /
Дуличенко, Александр Д. [Duličenko] 2002. „Lachisch“, w: M. Okuka (red.): Lexikon der Sprachen des europäischen Ostens. Klagenfurt: Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt, s. 287-290.

).

The Lachian literary micro-language

When discussing the Lach dialects the important issue is Lachian literary micro-language, based on them to a great extent. In terms of phonological and morphological systems, this language created by Ó. Łysohorsky, was based predominantly on the dialect from the area of the Upper Course of the Ostravica river. Hence there is a change from [á] > [o], and change from [o] > [u] and [e] > [y] before nasal consonants. Moreover, similarly as in the dialect used by Łysohorsky, there is an ending changing- aj > -oj in the imperative and in prefixes of adjectives and adverbs in the superlative: zblizka śe dźiwoj 'patrz z bliska’/ look from close (Hannan 1995: 105Hannan 1995: 108 / komentarz/comment/r /
Hannan, Kevin 1995. „Some unpublished poems of Óndra Łysohorsky“, w: G.S. Smith & G.C. Stone & C.M. MacRobert (red.) Oxford Slavonic Papers XXVIII. Oxford: Clarendon Press, s. 98–123.

), nojměkšu 'najmiększa'/ the softest (Hannan 1995: 108Hannan 1995: 108 / komentarz/comment/r /
Hannan, Kevin 1995. „Some unpublished poems of Óndra Łysohorsky“, w: G.S. Smith & G.C. Stone & C.M. MacRobert (red.) Oxford Slavonic Papers XXVIII. Oxford: Clarendon Press, s. 98–123.

; Hannan 1996b: 739Hannan 1996b: 739 / komentarz/comment/r /
Hannan, Kevin 1996b. „The Lachian Literary Language of Óndra Łysohorsky“, w: Michael M. Naydan (red.) The Slavic and East European Journal 40/4. American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages of the US, s. 726–743.

).
When it comes to morphology, Łysohorsky used three regional variations of 1st person singular verb clitic indicating the indicative mood of the present and past tense. 1st person singular forms use –(e)ch / joch / jech. Łysohorsky contained the information about them in a note (1934: 102), giving the following examples:

Lach: a zboži ech do stodół wez
Czech: vezl jsem obili do stodol
Polish: a zbożem wiózł do stodół

Lach: za synkach wandrował
Czech: jako hoch jsem chodíval
Polish: jako chłopiec wędrowałem/ when I was a boy I used to travel

Lach: joch je od Češina
Czech: jsem od Těšína
Polish: jestem z okolicy Cieszyna / I am from the area of Cieszyn

Łysohorski (1934: 102Łysohorsky 1934: 102 / komentarz/comment/r /
Łysohorsky, Óndra 1934. Śpiwajuco piaść. Praga: Družstevni prace.

) wrote about t –(e)ch / joch / jech as relics of the old aorist, although to be more specific, they come from the complex past tense, which uses the relic of aorist as the auxiliary verb. It is a rare feature in Lachia area, it can be rather considered a feature of the literary language of Łysohorsky.
The Lachian literary language uses clitics according to the pattern used in Czech, Slovak and adjacent Polish dialects. Verbal clitics, together with śe, are enclictics in Lach: Tak śe mi mama stała symbołém Ślónska (Łysohorsky 1988: 826Łysohorsky 1988: 826 / komentarz/comment/r /
Łysohorsky, Óndra 1988. Lašsko poezyja 1931-1977. Köln: Böhlau Verlag.

). It is a different pattern than the one used in Polish (Hannan 1996b: 737Hannan 1996b: 737 / komentarz/comment/r /
Hannan, Kevin 1996b. „The Lachian Literary Language of Óndra Łysohorsky“, w: Michael M. Naydan (red.) The Slavic and East European Journal 40/4. American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages of the US, s. 726–743.

), in which some clitics goes before the verb, and the rest follows it.