The Chwalim dialect (Polish: gwara chwalimska; ) was a Lechitic dialect spoken up to the first half of the 20th century in Chwalim in present-day western Poland. Historically, the village belongs to Lower Silesia. Although the dialect features are typical for Silesian, the speakers believed that they were descendants of Sorbs. The dialect is classified as a Silesian dialect, and more specifically, the Lower Silesian dialect group, but displays some Greater Polish influence.
In the 19th century, the inhabitants of Chwalim were believed to be Wends who had migrated there from Lower Lusatia. Nevertheless, Kazimierz Nitsch, because of linguistic features of their dialect, believed that they were Silesians. From his visits to Chwalim in the early 20th century, he learned that the dialect is well known amongst elder people, while younger people had stopped learning it, instead opting for German, although they still understood it. According to a census in 1910, 117 natives in Chwalim still spoke the so-called "Wendish language".
These speakers were Protestants visiting church in neighbouring town Kargowa and praying with Polish books.
The phonological system of the Chwalim dialect has much in common with other Silesian dialects, with some influences from Greater Poland dialects.
The consonant system of Chwalim dialect is generally similar to that in Standard Polish, but there is a lack of the postalveolar/retroflex series due to mazuration, which is present in some other Silesian dialects as well. A weak prothetic is usually inserted before initial .
Below, the acute accent denotes that the sound is a reflex of the corresponding Old Polish long vowel. It is also difficult to determine whether diphthongized vowels are phonemic diphthongs or not.
Oral vowels: a, e, i, y, o, u, á, é, ó.
Nasal vowels: ã, õ.
Allophony:
In the list below, V denotes any vowel, C â any consonant, N â any nasal consonant, ogonek â nasal vowel and macron â long vowel.
Many features common to Silesian dialects are present in the morphology, but some Sorbian influence may also be observed.
The most dominant ending for the genitive masculine singular genitive of nouns is -u. An archaic masculine singular dative ending -ewi is preserved after roots ending with soft consonant. The feminine singular accusative is generally formed with -ã.
The masculine and neuter singular genitive of adjectives is formed with the ending -yk from -ÃÂgo, which is the result of Sorbian influence.
Verbs in the infinitive end in -j < -àand -à  < -à ÂÃÂ/-à ºÃÂ. Future forms of byà('to be') have d and dà º simplified into corresponding nasal consonants n, à  as in other Silesian dialects: bãnõm, bãnie, â compare Polish bÃÂdà, bÃÂdzie.
Present tense endings are -à/-ám for the first person singular, -my for the first person plural and -cie for the second person plural. The past tense is constructed from the l-participle and personal pronoun; in singular first person there can be added suffix -ch to personal pronoun ja, which is typical for Silesian: jach tam bÃ³à  (I was there), jach sà Âysa 'I heard (feminine)', my cytali (we were reading), bóà Âà  tam? (have you been there?/were you there (singular)). As in Polish and Silesian, special prefixes inform whether the aspect of the verb is perfective or imperfective. Future tense is constructed with 'to be' in future tense and infinitive form of verb: bãnõm piáj (they will be reading), my bãniemy piáj (we will be reading), or with a present-tense form of a perfective verb.
Conjugations of a few verbs: