Prilep-Bitola dialect

The Prilep-Bitola dialect (Macedonian: Прилепско-битолски дијалект, Prilepsko-bitolski dijalekt) is a member of the central subgroup of the western group of dialects of the Macedonian language. This dialect is spoken in much of the Pelagonia region (more specifically, the Bitola, Prilep, Kruševo and Demir Hisar municipalities), as well as by the Macedonian-speaking minority population in and around Florina (Lerin)^[1][2] in neighbouring Greek Macedonia. The Prilep-Bitola dialect, along with other peripheral west-central dialects, provides much of the basis for modern Standard Macedonian.^[3] Prestige dialects have developed in the cities of Bitola and Prilep.

Phonological characteristics

The phonological characteristics of the Bitola-Prilep dialect which also can also be found in the other peripheral dialects are:

• mostly antepenultimate word stress (see Macedonian phonology)
• the yat has reflexed into /ɛ/
• as in most South(-Western) dialects, the central vowel /a/ is more fronted (i.e. a cardinal [a]) rather than the more central [ä] typical of other dialect groups
• the palatal affricates are typically prepalatalized: /ˈsvɛca/ is realized [ˈsvɛjca], /ˈmɛɟa/ is realized [ˈmɛjɟa]
• similarly, the palatal nasal is also prepalatalized: /ˈjadɛɲɛ/ is realized [ˈjadɛjnɛ]
• consonant elision is typical of this dialect and occurs in the following environments:
  • the etymological /v/ in initial position has been lost in a number of instances:
    • in the sequences *vs- and *vz-; e.g. *vse > /sɛ/ (сè, "all"), *vzema > /ˈzɛma/ (зема, "to take") as is the case in the standard
    • in a handful of other words: /ˈtɔrnik/ for standard /ˈftɔrnik/ (вторник, "Tuesday"), /ˈnatrɛ/ for standard /ˈvnatrɛ/ (внатре, "inside")
      • the same process (bringing the pronunciation closer to their antonyms) also occurred with /ˈmnɔɡu/ (многу, "much", "a lot") → /ˈnɔɡu/
  • absence of the intervocalic /v/
    • in the plural forms of monosyllabic nouns, e.g. лебо(в)и:^[4]
      • /ˈlɛbɔvi/ → /ˈlɛbɔi/ (realized [ˈlɛbɔj])
    • and in most other positions, e.g. то(в)ар:^[5]
      • /ˈtɔvar/ → /ˈtɔar/ (realized [tɔa̯r])
  • certain short words (conjunctions, pronouns, adverbs, determiners, etc.) have undergone further elision, ex.:
    • sega → sea → /sa/ ("now")
    • tova → toa → /tɔ/ ("that")
    • koga → koa → /kɔ/ ("when")
• insertion of /t/ and /d/ into consonant clusters /sr/- and /zr/-, respectively; for example, /stram/ for the standard /sram/ (срам, "shame") and /zdrɛl/ for the standard /zrɛl/ (зрел, "ripe")
• In the sub-dialect of Bukovo-Orehovo, especially among the oldest generations:
  • while [ɫ] is an allophone of /l/ in most dialects (occurring in all positions except before front vowels and /j/, in this dialect [ɣ] is used instead: e.g. [ɡɣaː] for [ˈɡɫava] (глава, "head") and [ˈsɣama] for [ˈsɫama] (слама, "straw"))
  • the etymological /a/ mutates (is raised) to [ɛ̞] ([æ] ~ [ɛ]) when preceding an affricate or iotated consonant, e.g. [ˈt͡ʃɛ̞ʃa] for /ˈt͡ʃaʃa/ (чаша, "cup")
  • the Proto-Slavic syllabic *l̥ has reflexed into /ə/, e.g. /ˈsənt͡sɛ/ ("sun") for the standard /ˈsɔnt͡sɛ/ and /vək/ ("wolf") for the standard /vɔlk/

Morphological characteristics

• three definite articles pertaining to the position of the object (see Macedonian grammar)
• the third-person personal pronouns: тој, та/таа/таја, то, тие/тија (he, she, it, they)
  • some of the outermost dialects of the Lerin subdialect have он, она, то, они
• imperfective verbs are typically derived from perfective verbs by means of the suffix –ва (e.g. зборва and боледва)
• 'expansion' where other dialects have palatalization: падина ("to fall", sing. present third-person) versus the standard паѓа
• the use of the inflectional suffix -и in third-person singular verbs (e.g. можи and биди versus the standard може and биде)
• use of the oblique form for proper names^[6]
• no distinction between masculine and feminine short possessive pronouns, i.e. consistent use of му and го for both genders and also the plural third person

Typical Words

• Чупе – girl
• Преѓе(ска) – recently, lately
• Модистра – seamstress
• Бендиса – to have a liking for something or someone, to fancy
• Сурат – face

Typical words from the Lerin sub-dialect

• Пл'усна – fire a rifle
• Капнат – thirsty
• Гренди – timber

Notes

External links

• Dialectal dictionary of the Macedonian language dialect spoken in Oshchima (Trigonon), Greece