 Defining phonological features include loss of distinction between long and short vowels, a feature colloquially known as “krátký zobák” in Czech (“short beak”), stress shifted to the penultimate syllable of the word, as in Polish, rather than the first syllable, alveolar consonants "d", "t" and "n" often shifted to their palatal counterparts, and a distinction between “hard” (post-alveolar or retroflex) "š", "ž", "č" and “soft” (alveolo-palatal) "ś", "ź", "ć", as in Polish.Silesian dialects also contain many German loanwords unfamiliar to other Czech dialects.The Lachian dialects are closely related to the Cieszyn Silesian dialect, spoken in the area around Karviná, Český Těšín and Třinec as well as on the Polish side of the border.