Its geographic distribution covers approximately the historical region of Maramureș, now split between Romania and Ukraine.
This difficulty made many researchers, in particular in earlier stages of the dialectal studies of Romanian, to not recognize an individual Maramureș dialect; this view was held by Gustav Weigand, Alexandru Philippide, Iorgu Iordan, and Emanuel Vasiliu among others.
Current classifications, owed to Romulus Todoran, Ion Coteanu and others, recognize a separate Maramureș dialect.
In Ukraine, speakers are found in the eastern part of the Zakarpattia Oblast (Northern Maramureș); their number is decreasing.
Maramureș dialect: [sə ˈrɔɡə lu dumnʲeˈd͡zəw ɨʃ ˈfat͡ʃə ˈkrut͡ʃə ʃɨ ˈd͡zɨt͡ʃə ‖ ˈdɔmnʲe aˈd͡ʒutəm ‖ ʃɨ feˈmɛja jɛ ũ wow ʃɨl ˈspard͡ʒə dʲe kar ka səj sije uˈʃɔrə arəˈtura ka ʃɨ wowu] Standard Romanian: Se roagă lui Dumnezeu, își face cruce și zice: Doamne, ajută-mi.