Ohrid dialect

The location of the Ohrid dialect among the others Macedonian dialects

The Ohrid dialect (Macedonian: Охридски дијалект, Ohridski dijalekt) is a member of the western and north western subgroup of the western group of dialects of the Macedonian language. The dialect is spoken in the region around the city Ohrid up to the southern point of the Ohrid Lake. Except in the city of Ohrid, the dialect is spoken in the villages Trpejca, Peštani, Elešec and many others smaller villages in that area. This dialect is known among the Macedonians as a dialect of excessive use of the suffix -t and in some extend shortening of the words. The Ohrid dialect is also part of the Macedonian literature, especially with the works of Grigor Prličev with his Biography, Skenderbeg and Serdarot. ^{[1] [2]}The Ohrid dialect is closely related with the Struga and Upper Prespa dialects.

Phonological characteristics

The spread of the Ohrid dialect

• shortening of words: братучед / bratučed → брачед / bračed ('cousin');
• absence of intervocalic /v/;
• use of the consonant groups št and žd;
• use of the cu- instead of the consonant group cv-: цвет / cvet → цут / cut ('flower').^[3]

Morphological characteristics

• use of the suffix -t for third person singular;
• use of the preposition vo, v;
• lose of the suffix -m in first person singular;
• use of dative forms;
• the Old Church Slavonic /x/ is replaced by /v/.^{[4] [5]}

Examples of the dialect

"...Da vi kaža i drugo: Opisanata vo Armatolos Neda ne e druga ocvan majka, i nejzinoto snovidenie - majčino mi snovidenie. Tolku e verno oti majčinata ljubov pomaga i vo spisanijata..." - Autobiography by Grigor Prličev ^[6]

References

Dialects of Macedonian Western Central Prilep-Bitola Kičevo-Poreče Skopje-Veles Western and northwestern Upper Polog Debar Drimkol-Golo Brdo Galičnik Reka Vevčani-Radožda Struga Ohrid Upper Prespa Lower Prespa Northern Eastern Kumanovo2 Kratovo Kriva Palanka Ovče Pole Western Skopska crna Gora Lower Polog Gora2 Southeastern Eastern Štip - Kočani Strumica Tikveš-Mariovo Maleševo-Pirin1 Southeastern Solun-Voden1 Ser-Drama-Lagadin-Nevrokop1 Nestram-Kostenar Kostur Korča 1 Also considered a dialect of Bulgarian. 2 Considered to be a part of the transitional Torlak dialect and as a subdialect of Bulgarian, Macedonian, and Serbo-Croatian.