Goral, less frequently called Highlander or Highland Polish, is an ethnolect of the Lechitic group, more specifically of the Lesser Poland dialect group spoken by the Gorals. Its vocabulary was significantly influenced by many languages like Slovak, Rusyn, Hungarian, Romanian and German, being common vocabulary of the Carpathian region. Some consider Goral to be a microlanguage, alongside Silesian and to a lesser extent Masurian.
The term Goral derives from the Slavic word for mountain (, ) and the noun-forming suffix denoting people -al.
The Goral ethnolect is often equated to the Podhale dialect; however, this is only one of the many Goral dialects. The term itself refers not to one dialect but to several unique dialects with similar vocabulary (mostly related to pastoralism) or common isoglosses like the aoristic -k.
Goral orthography is fairly unstandardized and may vary significantly dialect-to-dialect, most notably in the writing of the slanted vowels.
There is a tendency to reduce the number of phonemes in the phonological system of Goral, usually by raised the historic slanted vowels, by merging certain consonants, and by simplifying many consonant clusters.
A few vowel systems may occur throughout Goral, with one being the most dominant.
There is a strong tendency to level the multiple inherited declension patterns in Goral.
The first person present/future singular of verbs is most commonly formed across the whole region with -m as a result of Slovak influence: (Standard Polish ). These forms can also be reinforced via levelling of paradigms such as , however, this is not a uniform process, and forms such as without the g||z alternation are also present. Forms such as in some regions, but often -m is preferred by the younger generation. Most dialects form the first person present/future plural of verbs with -me, also the result of Slovak influence.
Many dialects, namely Kysuce, Spisz, and parts of Orawa, level both mobile-e declensions as well as ablaut: (Standard Polish ); (Standard Polish ).
The comparative is generally formed with -sy instead of -ejszy.
The complex gender system of Polish distinguishing masculine personal, masculine animal, and masculine inanimate nouns is also levelled, whereby the plurals of masculine personal nouns are replaced with the plurals of masculine animal nouns, but the masculine virile plural forms of past tense verbs replace non-virile forms: . Similarly, the feminine form of is replaced with : . A similar process of levelling occurs in eastern Slovak dialects, as well as most Polish dialects.
In southern Spià ¡, many feminine nouns ending in -w are extended with mobile e: (Standard Polish ).
Goral has a rich literary tradition reaching back to the 19th century with notable authors such as Wà Âadysà Âaw Orkan, Andrzej Stopka Nazimek or Kazimierz Przerwa Tetmajer. Other sites exist, such as hawok.pl, a news site written in Goral and about Goral affairs.
The history of Goral stretches back to the XIII century. The area was initially fully part of Vistulia and later Poland in the Middle Ages but was at the time very sparsely populated, with the possible exceptions of the Dunajec and Poprad valleys where the locals spoke a Lechitic dialect related to the Muszyna dialect and similar to Eastern Slovak explaining the many similarities in lexicon and partially phonology. This promoted settlement from the 13th to 17th century by Lesser Polish peasants, Germans and notably for the region migrating Vlachs (Rusyns and Slovaks) motivated by the lack of serfdom (similarly to Ukraine). The mix of these languages and a unique history compared to the rest of Poland gave rise to Goral.
Northern Slovak dialects have deeply influenced Slovak Goral dialects, but the direction of influence is one-way, as Goral has not affected Slovak dialects. This effect has become stronger in recent years, with many Slovak Goral dialects borrowing even more from Slovak. Soft labials and soft velars depalatalize in some villages in Slovakia due to Slovak influence: ().
Many features indicate a Lechitic origin for Goral:
Dialects of Goral include:
The dialects spoken by Silesian Gorals are considered closer Silesian but are referred to as Goral by Silesian Gorals in Poland, due to them feeling more Goral than Silesian. Silesian Gorals in Zaolzie usually consider themselves more Silesian and are more likely to call it Silesian. The à Âàcko and northern Piwniczna dialects have been under very heavy Lach influence, with some even claiming that there are only a few traits of Goral left in the dialects.