Upper Sannian dialect

The Upper Sannian dialect (Ukrainian: Надсянський говір, romanized: Nadsianskyi hovir) is one of the dialects of the Ukrainian language, spoken in the Sian Lowland along the border with Poland. Historically spoken well within Poland, most of its speakers were deported to the Soviet Union as part of Operation Vistula. The dialect is part of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Ukraine since 23 December 2022.^[1] It is part of the Galician–Bukovinian dialect group of the Southwestern Ukrainian dialects.^[2]

Upper Sannian dialect
Надсянський говір
Region	Sian Lowland
Language family	Indo-European Slavic East Slavic Ukrainian Southwestern Ukrainian Galician–Bukovinian Upper Sannian dialect
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–
Upper Sannian (10)

The Upper Sannian dialect is among the most archaic dialects of Ukrainian, and is influenced by several influences from Polish, Czech, Romanian, and Hungarian, owing to its location.^[2] Prior to Operation Vistula, the dialect's borders were the Strwiąż and the village of Halychany. Since Operation Vistula, many of its features have been lost.^[3] It may still be spoken as far south as Dobromyl.^[4]

Among the primary features of the Upper Sannian dialect is the practice of ukannye [uk], in which /ɔ/ is commonly pronounced as /u/.^[5] Other notable differences from standard Ukrainian include the pronunciation of В as /ɦ/ instead of /v/, Е as /a/ instead of /ɛ/, and Ф as /x/ instead of /f/, among others.^[3]

One notable writer in the Upper Sannian dialect was poet Osyp Makovei, and his works have been preserved in the village of Malniv [uk], where efforts are underway to maintain the dialect.^[2]