e.
Diaspora from the region has contributed to a scattered literary presence of Eastern Slovak dialects. The newspaper Slovák v Amerike ("The Slovak in America"), founded in Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1889, as well as Amerikánsko-Slovenské noviny (American-Slovak News), founded in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1886, were originally written in the Šariš dialect, using Hungarian orthography, titled Szlovjak v Amerike and Amerikanszko-Szlovenszke Novini. Today, Slovák v Amerike is still in business and writes in standard Slovak.
Eastern Slovak dialects can be divided into four subgroups:
- Spiš dialects (spišské nárečia, spiština), to the east of the town of Poprad, which border with the Goral dialects of Polish.
- Šariš dialects (šarišské nárečia, šariština), spoken around the city of Prešov, and sharing many features in common with the Rusyn language.
- Abov dialects (abovské nárečia), including the Košice dialect (košické nárečia), spoken in south-eastern Slovakia and sharing several phonological features with Hungarian.
- Zemplín dialects (zemplínské nárečia), spoken in the far north-east, which form the transition between Slovak and Rusyn.
Linguistic features common to East Slovak dialects include:
- Word stress falls on the penultimate syllable, not the first.
- Vowel length is not distinguished - all vowels are short.
- Consonants n, l, s and z always realised as softened ň, ľ, š and ž before i, and sometimes also before e, often assimilating diphthongs (menia > meňa, chvália > chvaľa, siví > šivi, vozia > voža). Until the 14th century, an even wider array of soft (palatalised) consonants existed in Slovak, and this feature can still be heard in some Zemplín dialects.
- Consonants ť and ď, including t and d when softened, realised as c and dz (deti > dzeci), meaning the infinitive ending for verbs changes from -ť (robiť) to -c (robic). The consonants ť and ď can only be found in onomatopoeia (ďub ďub = the cooing of a pigeon), and loanwords including personal names (Juraj > Ďura) in Eastern dialects.
- Syllabic l and r are always complemented by a vowel in Eastern dialects. This tone and position of the vowel greatly varies from region to region. The word slza (tear) can be soldza, sliza, silza or selza. The loss of syllabic consonants is also shared by other dialects of northern Slovakia and southern Poland and even the Lach dialects of Czech/Silesian.
- Especially in Abov dialects, ch is always realised as h (mucha > muha).
- Noun declension is different from in standard Slovak. The genitive and locative plurals are always -och, regardless of gender, and the dative plural is always -om. (bratov > bratoch, žien > ženoch, miest > mestoch, ženám > ženom). V Košiciach ("in Košice") becomes v Košicoch, except in the Košice dialect, which treats the city's name as a singular noun and uses v Košici.
- The letter ä is realised as e (deväť > dzevec). Accusative personal pronouns ending in -a also end in -e; ma, ťa and sa become me, ce and še.
- Eastern Slovak (Šariš dialect)
Buľi raz dvojo kmotrove, co furt vjedno chodziľi na jurmaki. Raz tiž tak išľi z jurmaku a našľi gvera. Ta znace, že ešči ftedi ľudze tak ňechirovali o gveroch, ňebulo teľo vojakoch. Išľi tak popod ľešik a naraz jeden zbačil gver a takoj ku ňemu ucekal… Ten druhi še tiž mocno zradoval, ta vžaľi totu fujaru a hutorili sebe: "Kmotre, ja budzem do ňej duc a ti budzeš prebirac". Ta začaľi vera ľudze tote dvomi hrac. Jeden kmoter pocahnul za kohucik, kuľka utrafila do druheho kmotra, co prebiral a ten še takoj prevracil umarti na žem.
- Standard Slovak
Boli raz dvaja kmotrovia, ktorí stále spolu chodili na jarmoky. Raz tiež tak vyšli z jarmoku a našli pušku. To viete, že vtedy ešte ľudia tak nechyrovali o puškách, nebolo toľko vojakov. Išli tak popod lesík a jeden zazrel pušku a hneď k nej utekal. Ten druhý sa tiež silno zaradoval, tak vzali fujaru a hovorili si: „Kmotor, ja budem do nej fúkať a ty budeš preberať. Tak začali veru tí dvaja hrať. Jeden kmotor potiahol za kohútik, guľka trafila druhého kmotra, ktorý preberal, a ten sa prevrátil mŕtvy na zem.
- Pol