The Maramureș dialect belongs to the group of relatively fragmented Transylvanian varieties, along with the Crișana dialect. This places the Maramureș dialect in the northern group of Romanian dialects, which also includes Moldavian dialect and Banat, as opposed to the southern grouping which consists of the Wallachian subdialect alone. In the context of the transition-like and very fragmented speech varieties of Transylvania, the classification of the Maramureș dialect as a separate variety is made difficult—like the Crișana dialect, or even more so—by the small number of distinctive phonetic features. 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. Subsequent analyses admit the existence of this variety, albeit with some reluctance, leading some researchers to elaborate different classifications according to different criteria, depending on which the Maramureș variety is or is not individualized. Current classifications, owed to Romulus Todoran, Ion Coteanu and others, recognize a separate Maramureș dialect.
Although spoken on a small area, the Maramureș dialect can be further divided, by using particularities that are mostly lexical, into three branches:
a wide central part of the area, which is the most representative;
the north-western part has influences from the variety spoken in the Oaș Country;
the south-eastern part.
Particularities
Many particularities are shared with the Crișana dialect as well as with the other neighboring Transylvanian varieties, and some with the Moldavian dialect.
Phonetic features
Mid vowels close to, respectively, or to intermediate positions. The most frequent is the change of to : for standard de, de la.
When appears in two consecutive syllables, the first opens to : .
The diphthong monophthongizes to : for standard ușoară, noapte.
After the consonants front vowels become central, whereas the diphthong monophthongizes to : for standard singur, seară, zeamă, jir, țin, zi.
Consonants are less palatal than in the standard language and have the effect of centralizing a following to : for standard cer, ger.
After labials, becomes and the diphthong is monophthongized to : for standard merg, meargă, pe.
The stressed diphthong monophthongizes to in word-final positions: for standard avea, vrea.
The diphthong becomes in certain words: for standard băiat, muiat.
Devocalized are found in word-final positions: for standard păcurar, cer.
The diphthong monophthongizes to : for standard câine, mâine, pâine.
Etymologic is preserved in words like îmblu, îmflu, întru.
Archaic are preserved in words like .
The consonants are palatalized when followed by front vowels: for lemne, vine.
The palatalization of labials before front vowels takes specific forms:
Some verbs of the 1st and 4th conjugation groups do not take the -ez and -esc suffixes: lucră, mă rușin, străluce. On the other hand, the suffix -esc does sometimes occur in verbs conjugated without it in the standard language: împărțăsc, omorăsc, simțăsc.
Certain verb forms have replaced with other sounds: . This feature is shared with the Wallachian dialect.
The auxiliary used for the compound perfect of verbs in the 3rd person is o for the singular and or / o for the plural: .
The following forms occur for the 3rd person of the subjunctive, both singular and plural: să deie, să steie, să beie, să vreie, ending in, where the standard language has să dea, să stea, să bea, să vrea, ending in.
The pluperfect can also be built analytically: m-am fost dus, am fost venit.
Verbs a aduce "to bring" and a veni "to come" have particular imperative forms: adă, vină.
There is a general tendency toward shorting the words: o fo, Gheo, etc.
Specific words: a cușăi, cocon, pup, potică, zierme.
Sample
Maramureș dialect: Standard Romanian: Se roagă lui Dumnezeu, își face cruce și zice: Doamne, ajută-mi. Și femeia ia un ou și-l sparge de car, ca să-i fie ușoară arătura, ca și oul. English translation: "She prays to God, she crosses herself, and says: God, help me. And the woman takes an egg and breaks it on the cart, so that the plowing will be light like the egg."
