Editing Slovincian language (section)

==Dialects==
Slovincian can be divided into two major dialects, East and West, each with subdialects, with a third transitional dialect.{{sfn|Lorentz|1903|pp=3}}{{sfn|Rudnicki|1913|pp=11—12}} The dialect in Kluki is often considered the main form of Slovincian, as it was the longest to continue to speak Slovincian.{{sfn|Rudnicki|1913|pp=3}}

The eastern dialect stretches from [[Smołdzino, Słupsk County|Smołdzino]] to [[Stojcino]].{{sfn|Lorentz|1903|pp=3}}

The western dialect includes the territory by Lake Gardno (Gardna Wielka and Gardna Mała) excluding Stojcino, as Stojcino had more economic and religious ties with Smołdzino.{{sfn|Lorentz|1903|pp=3}}

Major differences between East and West include:{{sfn|Lorentz|1903|pp=3–4}}
# the Proto-Slavic vowels ''*i'', ''*y'', ''*u'', ''*ę'' after hard consonants (and after ⟨c, dz⟩ in the West) became [æ] in the East and [ɛ] in the West, phonemically ⟨ë⟩ /ə/;
# Slovincian diphthongs ⟨ê⟩ [ɪɛ] and ⟨ô⟩ [ʉɵ] are monophthongized before nasals in stressed syllables in Western Slovincian and preserved as diphthongs in Eastern;
# in the dative singular masculine, Eastern Slovincian has the endings ⟨-ojú⟩ or ⟨-ejú⟩, whereas the West Slovincian has the endings ⟨-ôjú⟩ and ⟨-ejú⟩.

Eastern has the subdialects of:
# [[Smołdzino, Słupsk County|Smołdzino]] and [[Żeleskie]] ([[Kluki Żeleskie]]), which has the following features: Proto-Slavic ǫ is preserved in every position, nasalization of the diphthongs ⟨ó⟩ [ou] and ⟨o⟩ [ɑu] in stressed syllables before nasal consonants, /v, f/ can be pronounced as [w, ʍ], universal retention of softness in ⟨czwj⟩ (e.g. ''czwjardi'' from ''*tvьrdъ'' (compare Polish {{lang|pl|twardy}})), and verbs of class III2D (first person ⟨-újã⟩) are formed not only from the stem ⟨-aja-⟩ but also ⟨-owa-⟩;
# [[Smołdziński Las]] and [[Czołpino]], characterized by the fact that the syllable-final labiodental ⟨v, f⟩ can be pronounced as [w, ʍ] after [ou];
# Stojcino, where ⟨õ⟩ can be pronounced as [ou] in initial position and stressed final position, but remains [oũ] in unstressed final position, and all vowels and diphthongs are realized as weakly nasalized in stressed syllables before nasals.{{sfn|Lorentz|1903|pp=4–6}}{{sfn|Rudnicki|1913|pp=13}}

Western has the subdialects of:
# Gardna Wielka, where [ʉɵ] can be pronounced as [ʉ], ⟨e⟩ and ⟨ô⟩ have become [i] and [ʉ] in unstressed syllables before nasals, and [ɪɛ] and [ʉɵ] can be pronounced as [i] and [ʉ] before ⟨rsz⟩;
# Gardna Mała, where [ɛ] is [i] in unstressed syllables before nasals after soft consonants;
# [[Wysoka, Słupsk County|Wysoka]], [[Retowo, Pomeranian Voivodeship|Retowo]], [[Łódki]], [[Czysta, Pomeranian Voivodeship|Czysta]], and the historic ''Blottken'' (now part of Wysoka, coordinates: 54.633611,17.143906), where the vowels [ʉ] and [ɵ] have become [u] and [o], and the diphthongs [ʉɵ] and [ɵʉ] correspond here to [uo] and [ou], and [ɛ] has become [i] in unstressed syllables before nasals after soft consonants.{{sfn|Lorentz|1903|pp=6–8}}

There existed a dialect in [[Rowy, Pomeranian Voivodeship|Rowy]], extinct already in the 19th century, some of whose toponyms have been preserved.{{sfn|Lorentz|1903|pp=8}}

[[Stowięcino]] has a transitional subdialect between East and West. Lorentz claims that [a] here is more back than in Kluki, while Rudnicki claims it is more front.{{sfn|Lorentz|1903|pp=8}}{{sfn|Rudnicki|1913|pp=12}}

The use of ⟨-aja-⟩ and ⟨-owa-⟩ for ⟨-owac⟩ verbs could have been common to all three villages, but might have been absent in Witkowo.{{sfn|Lorentz|1903|pp=4–6}}