[3] From the 14th century, some settlers from Masovia started to settle in southern Prussia, which had been devastated by the crusades of the Teutonic Knights against the native Old Prussians.
The Masurians were mostly of the Protestant faith, in contrast to the neighboring Roman Catholic people of the Duchy of Masovia, which was incorporated into the Polish kingdom in 1526.
The Masurian dialect group has many Low Saxon, German and Old Prussian words mixed in with Polish-language endings.
[6] After World War I the East Prussian plebiscite was held on July 11, 1920, according to the Treaty of Versailles, in which the Masurians had to decide whether they wanted to be part of the Second Polish Republic or remain in German East Prussia; about 98% voted for Germany.
Their main goal was to grant Masurians some minority laws inside Germany, but there were also some separatists.
Most Masurians live in Germany now, but due to the German law the ethnicity and nationality are not determined in their census.
They have lived in isolation from the other groups, thus they were neither Germanized nor Polonized, although their speech acquired many Russian loanwords.
[24] Typical of Masovian dialects, devoicing of word-final consonants before vowels and liquids is present here, including before clitics.
[25] The shift of initial ja-, ra- > je-, re- is present but limited to particular words: jek (jak), reno (rano).
[25] Slanted á may be retained as á (more common in the central part), or sometimes merge with a (more common in the east), where historic short a often fronts to [æ] and can cause softening of the preceding consonant: matk’æ.
[25] Initial i- often has a prothetic j-, and can then sometimes lower: jimię (imię), jenaczyj (inaczej).
[25] Soft labials decompose: b’jałi, b’źałi (biały), b’h’ijak (bijak) h and ch appear more commonly in the east and ś and ź in the west, j being rare; m’ shifts to mń: ramńona (ramiona); sometimes ᵐń: ᵐniasto; as well as ń: ńód (miód).
[25] ń sometimes hardens, typically in the north, as a result of German influence: drewnana studna (drewniana studnia).
A few instances of further palatalization can be heard: flakt’i (flaki), okt’eć (łokieć), mat’era (makiera).
Rarely it may soften to czi or ć. dż is generally realized az dz, but is not a common enough phone to establish statistics.
[25] Similarly, the palatal sibilants ś, ź, ć, dź may be realized in many ways.
They may also harden to szi, żi, czi, and dżi, or as sz, ż, cz, dż.
It is also possible to create the future perfect tense with the structure be.fut + inf, for example: (Já) Bénde koménderowač.
[31][32] Matkia mogli Matka mogła Má, Padá Zró Ma, Pada, Żrą Łapani / Łapóma Łapami Džečám Dzieciom Kónikoziu Konikowi Głupsiéch Głupich feminine sing.)
Wyrośliśmy z trzech korzeni Odziedziczyliśmy spokój Starego Prusa Niczym Niemcy z Rajchu chwalimy sobie pracę Od Polaków bierzemy upór Tacy są Mazurzy – nigdy nie wymarli!
Réjza[41] siodám ná koło kiej féin pogodá dumám tédÿ nád zÿciem Mazurá ajw násu ziamiá ôddÿcha w dáli ány rÿchtÿk pozwalá mniá do dumániá nád mójá réjzá přéd siébie chućko jidé ná drogách zÿciá chtóré ûmÿká chtórégo nie zabácé po śmiérci, chtóra z latámi přéniká ... wsÿtko je féin ajw ji téraz jék budzié po tym co přÿjdzié nié ziém...?