The Lemko language is part of the southwestern group of Ukrainian dialects, which include Bojkian, Transcarpathian (Highlander or Verchovyna), Sjan (northeast of the Lemko Region), and Hutsul, commonly referred to (with the exception of the Sjan group) as "Carpathian dialects". The Lemko dialects are very similar to those on the southern slopes of the mountains (the Presov Region), also considered Lemko dialects.
The Lemko dialects are characterized (and distinguishable from most other Ukrainian dialects) by fixed stress on the penultimate syllable of words (as in Polish and eastern Slovak dialects, in contrast to movable stress in all other East Slavic languages); retention of the distinct vowel bl (y). Some verb conjugations are of the Slovak and Polish forms.45 Lemko dialects contain many unique forms, as well as words of Polish, Slovak, and even German or Hungarian origin.46