The book scrutinizes the language of Polish-origin Highlanders living in Carpathian Bukovina. Krasowska has personal, direct knowledge of the life, culture, customs, and behaviors of the group. Among many interesting conclusions she draws from the analysis, she considers how the influence of different languages spoken in Bukovina affects the vocabulary from specific thematic spheres, for example the religious vocabulary, vocabulary connected to logging and terrain, popular foods, clothing, farming and animal breeding, or official (state) vocabulary. A significant part of the Highlanders’ vocabulary are “carpathisms,” namely words used in different regions of the Carpathians.

Helena Krasowska is Professor of Slavic Studies at the Polish Academy of Sciences, who has published nearly 100 articles, 9 monographs, and 8 co-authored books, focused on dialectology, sociolinguistics, ethnology, folklore studies, borderlands, and national minorities. She is fascinated by the multiculturalism and multilingualism of Bukovina.