All Topics  
Dialects of the Macedonian language

 

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

Dialects of the Macedonian language
 
 
  Topics Dialects of the Macedonian language Topic Home

The dialects of Macedonian comprise the Slavic dialects spoken in the Republic of Macedonia
Republic of Macedonia

The Republic of Macedonia , , often referred to simply as Macedonia, is a landlocked country on the Balkans in southeastern Europe. It is bordered by Serbia to the north, Bulgaria to the east, Greece to the south and Albania to the west....
 as well as some varieties spoken in the wider geographic region of Macedonia
Macedonia (region)

Macedonia is a geographical and Historical regions of the Balkan Peninsula in southeastern Europe whose area was re-defined in the early 20th century....
. They exist as part of the dialect continuum
Dialect continuum

A dialect continuum is a range of dialects spoken across a large geographical area, differing only slightly between areas that are geographically close, and gradually decreasing in mutual intelligibility as the distances become greater....
 of South Slavic languages
South Slavic languages

South Slavic languages comprise one of the three geographical groups of Slavic languages . There are around 30 million speakers of these languages, mainly in the Balkans....
 that joins the Macedonian language
Macedonian language

Macedonian is the official language of the Republic of Macedonia and is a part of the Eastern group of South Slavic languages. Macedonian is closely related to and shares a high degree of mutual intelligibility with the Bulgarian language, Serbian language, Bosnian language, and Croatian language languages....
 with Bulgarian
Bulgarian language

Bulgarian is an Indo-European languages, a member of the Slavic languages linguistic group.Bulgarian demonstrates several linguistic innovations that set it apart from all other Slavic languages except Macedonian language, such as the elimination of grammatical case, the development of a suffixed definite article , the lack of a verb infin...
 to the east and Serbian
Serbian language

name=Serbian|nativename=|pronunciation=['sr?pski?]|familycolor=Indo-European|map=|states=See below under "Official status", besides that in Croatia and as an immigrant's language spread over Central Europe and Western Europe, as well as Northern America...
 to the north. As such, the delimitation between the languages, especially with Bulgarian, is fleeting and controversial. Macedonian authors tend to treat all dialects spoken in the geographical region of Macedonia as Macedonian, including those spoken in the westernmost part of Bulgaria (so-called Pirin Macedonia), whereas Bulgarian authors treat all Macedonian dialects as part of the Bulgarian language.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Dialects of the Macedonian language'
Start a new discussion about 'Dialects of the Macedonian language'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


The dialects of Macedonian comprise the Slavic dialects spoken in the Republic of Macedonia
Republic of Macedonia

The Republic of Macedonia , , often referred to simply as Macedonia, is a landlocked country on the Balkans in southeastern Europe. It is bordered by Serbia to the north, Bulgaria to the east, Greece to the south and Albania to the west....
 as well as some varieties spoken in the wider geographic region of Macedonia
Macedonia (region)

Macedonia is a geographical and Historical regions of the Balkan Peninsula in southeastern Europe whose area was re-defined in the early 20th century....
. They exist as part of the dialect continuum
Dialect continuum

A dialect continuum is a range of dialects spoken across a large geographical area, differing only slightly between areas that are geographically close, and gradually decreasing in mutual intelligibility as the distances become greater....
 of South Slavic languages
South Slavic languages

South Slavic languages comprise one of the three geographical groups of Slavic languages . There are around 30 million speakers of these languages, mainly in the Balkans....
 that joins the Macedonian language
Macedonian language

Macedonian is the official language of the Republic of Macedonia and is a part of the Eastern group of South Slavic languages. Macedonian is closely related to and shares a high degree of mutual intelligibility with the Bulgarian language, Serbian language, Bosnian language, and Croatian language languages....
 with Bulgarian
Bulgarian language

Bulgarian is an Indo-European languages, a member of the Slavic languages linguistic group.Bulgarian demonstrates several linguistic innovations that set it apart from all other Slavic languages except Macedonian language, such as the elimination of grammatical case, the development of a suffixed definite article , the lack of a verb infin...
 to the east and Serbian
Serbian language

name=Serbian|nativename=|pronunciation=['sr?pski?]|familycolor=Indo-European|map=|states=See below under "Official status", besides that in Croatia and as an immigrant's language spread over Central Europe and Western Europe, as well as Northern America...
 to the north. As such, the delimitation between the languages, especially with Bulgarian, is fleeting and controversial. Macedonian authors tend to treat all dialects spoken in the geographical region of Macedonia as Macedonian, including those spoken in the westernmost part of Bulgaria (so-called Pirin Macedonia), whereas Bulgarian authors treat all Macedonian dialects as part of the Bulgarian language. In Greece, the identification of the dialects spoken by the local Slavophone minority with either Bulgarian or Macedonian is often avoided, and these dialects are instead described simply as "Slavic
Slavic language (Greece)

The Slavic dialects of Greece are the dialects of Macedonian language and Bulgarian language spoken by Minorities in Greece in the regions of Macedonia and Thrace in northern Greece....
", Dopia ('Local'), Stariski (old) or Našinski (ours).

The dialects of Macedonia in the wider sense can be divided into Eastern and Western groups (the boundary runs approximately from Skopje
Skopje

Skopje is the Capital of and List of cities in the Republic of Macedonia by population in the Republic of Macedonia, with more than a quarter of the population of the country, as well as its political, cultural, economic, and academic centre....
 and Skopska Crna Gora
Skopska Crna Gora

Skopska Crna Gora also called simply Crna Gora, is a mountain range on the border between Kosovo and the Republic of Macedonia, between the cities of Skopje and Kacanik....
 along the rivers Vardar
Vardar

The Vardar or Axios is the longest and major river in the Republic of Macedonia and also a major river of Greece. It is 388 kilometres long, and drains an area of around 25 000 km?....
 and Crna), based on a large group of features. In addition, a more detailed classification can be based on the modern reflexes of the Proto-Slavonic reduced vowels ("yer
Yer

eading=Cyrillic letter Yer|Image=...
s"), vocalic sonorants and the back nasal (o). That classification distinguishes between the following 3 major groups

Dialects

Western/Northwestern Southeastern
Dialect divisions of Macedonian
Northern Eastern


Northern dialects
  • Western group:
  1. Lower Polog dialect
    Lower Polog dialect

    The Lower Polog dialect is a member of the western subgroup of the Northern group of Dialects of the Macedonian language of the Macedonian language....
  2. Skopska Crna Gora dialect
    Skopska Crna Gora dialect

    The Skopska Crna Gora dialect is a member of the western subgroup of the northern group of Dialects of the Macedonian language of the Macedonian language....
  • Eastern group:
  1. Kumanovo dialect
    Kumanovo dialect

    The Kumanovo dialect is a member of the eastern subgroup of the the Northern group of Dialects of the Macedonian language of the Macedonian language....
  2. Kratovo dialect
  3. Kriva Palanka dialect
    Kriva Palanka dialect

    The Kriva Palanka dialect is a member of the eastern subgroup of the the northern group of Dialects of the Macedonian language of the Macedonian language....
  4. Ovce Pole dialect


Western Dialects:
  • Central group:
  1. Prilep-Bitola dialect
    Prilep-Bitola dialect

    The Prilep-Bitola dialect is a member of the central subgroup of the western group of Dialects of the Macedonian language of the Macedonian language....
  2. Kicevo-Porece dialect
    Kicevo-Porece dialect

    The Kicevo-Porece dialect is a member of the central subgroup of the western group of Dialects of the Macedonian language of the Macedonian language....
  3. Skopje-Veles dialect
    Skopje-Veles dialect

    The Skopje-Veles dialect is a member of the central subgroup of the Western group of Dialects of the Macedonian language of the Macedonian language....


  • Western and north western group:
  1. Upper Polog dialect
    Upper Polog dialect

    The Upper Polog dialect is a member of the western and north western subgroup of the western group of Dialects of the Macedonian language. The dialect is mainly spoken in the area around the city of Gostivar till to the villages Brvenica and Bogovinje on north, Reka region on west, Porcie on east and Galicnik on south....
  2. Reka (torbeš) dialect
  3. Gal?cnik (malorekanski or Mala Reka) dialect
    Galicnik dialect

    The Galicnik dialect or Mala Reka dialect is a member of the subgroup of western and north western dialects of the western group of Dialects of the Macedonian language of the Macedonian language....
  4. Debar dialect
  5. Drimkol-Golo Brdo dialect
  6. Vevcani-Rad?ža dialect
  7. Struga dialect
    Struga dialect

    The Struga Dialect is a member of the western and north western subgroup of the western group of Dialects of the Macedonian language of the Macedonian language....
  8. Ohrid dialect
    Ohrid dialect

    The Ohrid dialect is a member of the western and north western subgroup of the western group of Dialects of the Macedonian language of the Macedonian language....
  9. Upper Prespa dialect
    Upper Prespa dialect

    The Upper Prespa dialect is a member of the western subgroup of the western group of Dialects of the Macedonian language of the Macedonian language....
  10. Lower Prespa dialect
    Lower Prespa dialect

    The Lower Prespa dialect , is a member of the western subgroup of the western group of Dialects of the Macedonian language of the Macedonian language....


Eastern and Southern dialects
  • Eastern group:
  1. Tikveš-Mariovo dialect
  2. Štip-Strumica dialect
  3. Maleševo-Pirin dialect
    Maleševo-Pirin dialect

    The term Male?evo-Pirin dialect is used in South Slavic languages linguistics to refer to a group of related varieties that are spoken on both sides of the border between Bulgaria and the Republic of Macedonia....
  • South-western group:
  1. Nestram-Kostenar dialect
  2. Korca (Gorica) dialect
  3. Kostur dialect


  • South-eastern group:
  1. Solun-Voden dialect
    Solun-Voden dialect

    The Solun-Voden dialect, Lower Vardar dialect, or Kukush-Voden dialect is a South Slavic languages dialect spoken in parts of the Greek periphery of Central Macedonia, and the vicinity of Gevgelija and Dojran in the Republic of Macedonia....
  2. Ser-Drama-Lagadin-Nevrokop dialect
    Ser-Drama-Lagadin-Nevrokop dialect

    The Ser-Drama-Lagadin-Nevrokop dialect is a transitional South Slavic languages dialect which belongs to both the southeastern group of Bulgarian language, and the south-eastern subgroup of dialects of the Macedonian language....


Most linguists classify the dialects in the Pirin (Blagoevgrad
Blagoevgrad Province

Blagoevgrad Province , also known in certain contexts as Pirin Macedonia , is a province of southwestern Bulgaria. To the north and east it borders with four other Oblasts of Bulgaria, to the south with Greece and the west with the Republic of Macedonia....
) region of Bulgaria and in the far east of Greek Macedonia as Bulgarian, and the dialects in the rest of Greece and in Republic of Macedonia as Macedonian.

Variation in vowels