Podhale dialect

The Podhale dialect (Polish: gwara podhalaĊ„ska) 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.