Typical of Masovian dialects, devoicing of word-final consonants before vowels and liquids is present here, including before clitics. Also typical of Masovian dialects is the presence of
mazuration, however, younger people tend to use a pronunciation that of Standard Polish, and as such, mazuration is quickly fading. The degree of mazuration can also depend on the given phoneme.
Vowels The shift of initial ja-, ra- > je-, re- is present but limited to particular words: jek (jak), reno (rano). Medial -ar- shifts to -er-: rozwer: (rozwarł), w mercu (w marcu), łosiera (ofiara). Ablaut is often levelled: wietrak (wiatrak). Often y merges with i: pisk (pysk).
Slanted vowels Slanted á may be retained as á (more common in the central part), or sometimes merge with a (more common in the east), where historic short a often fronts to [æ] and can cause softening of the preceding consonant: matk’æ. Slanted é may sometimes be retained as é, or may either lower and merge with e or raise and merge with y. Slanted ó is usually retained as ó, but may also either lower and merge with o (in the east) or raise and merge with u (elsewhere).
Nasal vowels Medial -ę- decomposes to -én- and -ą- to -óN- in the east, and nasality is often lost medially in the west. Finally, nasality is loss, giving -e and -o.
Prothesis Initial i- often has a prothetic j-, and can then sometimes lower: jimię (imię), jenaczyj (inaczej). This happens most commonly in the north east of Szczytno and Mrągowo. Initial o- typically labializes, as does u- to a lesser extent. Soft labials decompose: b’jałi, b’źałi (biały), b’h’ijak (bijak) h and ch appear more commonly in the east and ś and ź in the west, j being rare; m’ shifts to mń: ramńona (ramiona); sometimes ᵐń: ᵐniasto; as well as ń: ńód (miód). Hardening of m also occurs, particularly in German loanwords and the instrumental plural ending -ami: ńemeck’i (niemiecki), nasto (miasto), myck’i (czapki), cepamy (cepami). św’, ćw’ i dźw’ typically harden: śfat (świat). Soft forms occur more often before front vowels, but not only: śf’at (świat), śf’eće (świecie). Fricative rz is retained by some speakers; however by the early 20th century it was already rare and present mostly among older speakers, and today is nearly non-existent, with rz generally being pronounced as in Standard Polish. ń sometimes hardens, typically in the north, as a result of German influence: drewnana studna (drewniana studnia). kie, gie, ki, and gi generally remain soft, but most people often harden k and g before one of the vowels while keeping them soft before the other, and generally k and g are soft before e more than i: k’edy (kiedy), taky (taki). Hard pronunciations are becoming rarer. A few instances of further palatalization can be heard: flakt’i (flaki), okt’eć (łokieć), mat’era (makiera). k and g may also sometimes palatalize before ę, especially in the east: matk’e (matkę), g’enśi (gęsi). k and g may also soften before a in the east, particularly the northeast; in the west it remains hard: k’apa (kapa). This softening mostly concerns jasne a, and is rare for ká, gá. Most residents had this pronunciation through the 20th century. Also in the east, ch may soften before i, e, ę, and a to chś, ś, or szi: ožeśi (orzechy), štaśety (sztachety), l’iśa (licha), ch’ata (chata). In the west, a hard pronunciation is most common.
Consonants cz is most commonly merged with c, but words related to education often have cz, spread through schools. Rarely it may soften to czi or ć. dż is generally realized az dz, but is not a common enough phone to establish statistics. ż and sz show much more fluctuation, due to influence from both Standard Polish as well as German, but also the common presence of the phonemes s, z and ż sz from rz. This confusion with rz can sometimes result in mazuration of rz as well as hypercorrections, which contributes to the loss of mazuration of ż and sz. sz shows more fluctuation than ż. However, mazuration still predominates, with żi being less common and ź being rare. Fricative rz was very common at the beginning 20th century; by the middle of the 20th century it was still used by some speakers, generally being replaced with ż/sz or rarely r: rec-i (rzeczy). Similarly, the palatal sibilants ś, ź, ć, dź may be realized in many ways. Sometimes they are the same as in Standard Polish. They may also harden to szi, żi, czi, and dżi, or as sz, ż, cz, dż. Most rarely, they may completely depatalize. ś ź show more fluctuation than ć dź. Palatal pronunciations of ś ź are the most common, except in the north-east where szi, żi are more common. ć and dź more commonly harden in the north due to German influence. Elsewhere, soft realizations are more common. A few cases of kaszubienie can be found. == Dialects of Masurian ==