# Gwiara w filmie " W ciemnosci'?



## Apa2001

Wczoraj ogladalem film " W ciemnosci". Czy bohater, Pan Socha mowi gwiara lwowska? Mi sie wydaje,ze w czasie przeslym on nie mowi koncowki.
Czesc,
Apa


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## LilianaB

I only saw a clip from this movie. In real life, the actor speaks standard Polish -- no specific accent. In the clip he really swallows half of the words (because he is under a lot of pressure and has to run), so it is hard to tell, but he does not speak the way he does in ordinary life -- in interviews, for example. It must have been an attempt to speak the way people did in the first half of the 20th century in Lwow. The film takes place in Lwow, so the accent must be stylized accordingly. You can compare it with some some samples of the Lwow accent  -- there must be some on YouTube.


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## Apa2001

Dzieki! But, is there a kind of Eastern Polish dialect where they drop the past tense endings and don't pronounce the barred l? My ears are non Slavic, so I may be hearing things. Can you recommend a good YouTube clip?


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## LilianaB

I don't know, Apa, if they do that in any Eastern accent. You can listen to the Lwow accent and find out if this is what you mean. There is a song by Hemar or Kabaret Hemara on You Tube -- _Walczyk lwowski_. He has a typical Lwow accent.


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## Thomas1

Wacław Kowaslki was, I think, one of the people best known for this type of accent in Poland He spoke like that on a day to day basis and he pronounced the “ł” in a different way from ours, i.e. the modern one (his is similar to the one Russians use when pronouncing their equivalent). His was once common. He also didn't pronounce the past tense endings. You can find a documentary about him on Youtube with some clips from movies featuring him (look for AKTORSKA DROGA WACŁAWA KOWALSKIEGO ( Program dokumentalny TVP)). He starred in _Sami swoi_ (Pawlak), very well known comedy in Poland, and the two following parts, where many characters spoke like that (e.g. Władysław Hańcza, Kargul). Today, you hardly hear this accent in media, unless the production is meant to include characters speaking with it (point in case: _W ciemności_).

In Poland, there are still people who _zaciągają_. For instance I remember when I was spending in Masuria one summer holiday I heard people speaking similarly. Also, Polish speakers living in Kresy Wschodnie, where the influence of Eastern Slavic languages is quite powerful, speak with this accent.

Have a look at this site that describes the Polish used by Polish speakers in South-East Kresy.


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## marco_2

By the way, dropping the past tense endings _(my tam byli, gdzie ty się podziewał _etc.) you can find in many Polish dialects, not only in the East - I heard it in Greater Poland (Wielkopolska).


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## Apa2001

Very informative answers from all.
Dzieki, Apa


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## Apa2001

Hi Marco_2,
Would someone from Krakow do this? I don't recall hearing it.
Apa


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## LilianaB

I think very few educated people would do it in modern Polish -- otherwise, it is most likely present in many dialects spoken in the country, especially by older people. It is also common to Silesian. Another thing -- not all people from so called _Kresy_ sounded the way Kowalski did. The Polish from Lithuania, for example, sounds different. My grandfather sounded more like Pilsudski, when he spoke Polish. There is also a variety among the Eastern dialects.  

There are some samples of Pilsudski's dialect typical of the upper class Polish from Lithuania at the beginning of the 20th century on YouTube.


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## marco_2

Apa2001 said:


> Hi Marco_2,
> Would someone from Krakow do this? I don't recall hearing it.
> Apa



Hello Apa,
As Liliana wrote, this feature (I mean dropping the past endings) doesn't exists in contemporary standard Polish. I looked at some old dialectal texts from Krakow and its surroundings and I must say that they never spoke like that in that region even in the past.


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## Apa2001

Thanks. I thought, my ears didn't deceive me.


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## Amerykańska kobieta

There were a number of reviews of this film in the U.S. media, a number of which commented on the use of the now non-existent Lwow Polish dialect that some reviewers referred to as Balak (Bałak).

The language complexity in the film is described at length in this review:  http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/culture/2012/02/the-overwhelming-realism-of-in-darkness.html (for English readers).


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## Apa2001

Thanks. I have never heard of Balak.


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