Polish regional accents?

Thanks, I guess I'll have to watch how I talk now

Why? Nothing wrong with a Silesian accent - they sound really nice!

Merged: Regional pronunciation in different areas of Poland

Hi all. I tried searching for this but didn't find a match.
What are some of the differences in pronunciation in different areas of Poland? I was listening to a guy from Gdansk and there seemed to be a de-emphasis on the last syllable. For example, saying "żłóty", the 'y' was almost silent. Talking to people from Krakow, they mention that the enunciate more or emphasize proper letters more. For example, saying "samochód", the 'd' would be pronounced loud and clear and very distinctly from a 't'. I also hear that near neighboring countries there might be an influence from that neighboring country on the pronunciation.

What differences could one expect in the different regions? For extra bonus, are there distinct differences with Poles in Chicago or New York?

The basic information from Wikipedia:

Dialectal variation of vowels
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish_phonology#Dialectal_variation_of_vowels

Dialectal variation of consonants
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish_phonology#Dialectal_variation_of_consonants


In Warsaw, or central Poland, consonants at the end of words like brat or sąsiad remain voiceless, in the first case, and in the second, they are devoiced, so they are pronounced like brat, sąsiat, while in Cracow and Poznań, that is in the regions of Małopolska and Wielkopolska, they are pronounced as voiced: brad, sąsiad.

In the Wielkopolski variation, the most striking features are the singing-like tone increase, typically at the end of the sentence, combined with elongated last syllable (Dokąd pójdziemyyy?), substituting 'cz' for 'trz' as in 3 (czy), 30 (czydzieści), 300 (czysta), and of of course using 'tej' for ty, 'pyra' for potato, and many more...

I think that one irritates me even more than the Russian melody of the speach found in some cities in Podlasie but I didn't notice any men talking like that, only women.

Just this morning we were in Greenpoint and I heard what later turned out to be a Polish speaker on his cellphone, almost having sworn that he was speaking Russian, when in fact it was neither Russian nor Ukrainian, but clearly some regional variety of Polish:-) While I can't even remember what he was talking about, it wasn't the words, but the way the "l" sounded continuously "flat", like the Russian "dark l". Only the breathlessly repeated "Co?" and "Wiesz?" oriented me within a few seconds that I was actually hearing Polish:-)

It was most likely a redneck from some God forsaken village next to the boarder with Belarus.

I quite like that feature, actually... sounds more polite than the norm (Co Panu podaaać?)


You do not really find it a lot in the cities - not nearly as much as in smallish towns and proper villages for sure. And I think that would be more of a Belarusian influence there rather than Russian, and in the NE corner (Suwalszczyzna) there's more of a Lithuanian influence. In the SE (Lubelskie, Podkarpackie) it is more of a Ukrainian influence, and this 'Russian sounding' slant is also very common in Warmia & Mazury (see Mazurzenie)...

I don't really mind the regional accents, but I find the use of 'Russian sounding' sentence structure awkward in Polish (Dokąd jedzie? v Dokąd jedziesz/pan jedzie? Daj dla Radka v Daj Radkowi.)


Unfortunately, the level of Polish in Greenpoint (but also other parts of NYC and probably the whole of the country) is abysmal in general. Many people sound as if they are either utterly lacking basic learning or taken straight out of deep villages circa 1964... I think one would actually struggle to find many speaking such poor Polish in Poland today. I recently took a picture of a 'Polish agency' in Queens with a blatant misspelling on the overhead sign banner in the store front (also a good challenge to those learning Polish, see if you can spot it):

• 
  Polska Agencja, Queens, NYC
  

I don't know where you heard it but that's not the norm

You are correct - that is the Wielkopolski variation

Co panu podać???? Czym mogę służyć is more correct!

Wrong. Both are correct.

Thanks for the correction, Lenko!

Ha,Ha I have more sensitive ear since moved to England. I also try to catch what accent polish people speak....Always looking for my local Krakow one.

But in general I don't think that accent differences are as strong as in UK.

There were few episodes of crime stories 'Shetlands' lately and lots English were moaning that they couldn't understand.

Essentially, the Shetlanders speak Norn, a language all but extinct, and yet never entirely expunged from the lips of older native speakers! Even the local speech of 'Northerners' in England, such as Yorkshire, Liverpool, especially Northumberland "Geordie", is often so loaded with ancient Nordicisms from Viking times that outsiders literally need an interpreter. I know I did. Frequently too, their English contains so many quaint turns of phrase, like "Oh, it'll be a tidy walk!" if wishing to answer a visiting stranger that a particular place is quite a distance on foot etc.

Jardinero,

Wouldn't it be "Agencja Polska"?? I guess misswritten Polish signage is as irksome to you as it is in reverse for me:

"MEDITRANEAN FOODS SELLS HERE" (a non-Poglish sign in Flushing, Chinatown)
:-)

not quite; hint: it's in the word "WYPORZYCZALNIA"

This shall be farewell to the very much Polish sound...



Słynne gładkie £
radio.bialystok.pl/reportaz/index/id/25909

Gwary polskie. Przewodnik multimedialny - the local Polish dialects

There are no accents in Poland. When I meet someone, I always have to ask where they are from. If you start looking for it, you will find it, as czysta instead of trzysta (simpy incorrect Polish), more melodic in the east etc. But this doesn't hang around, move person from the east to the south for a year and she will lose that melody. There are dialects as in the mountains and Silesia, regional vocabulary but people there can speak regular Polish as well.

Pronouncing 'czysta' for 'trzysta' (tszysta) is a characteristic feature of the Greater Polish (wielkopolski) dialect.

Never heard anyone but some undereducated people say it that way and i speak Greater Polish. Greater Polish means almost "pure Polish" as devoid of dialects and localities. Trzysta in Greater Polish is "trzysta". Nothing else.