Buzet dialect

Buzet dialect (Croatian: "buzetski dijalekt") is a Čakavian Croatian dialect spoken in the southern Istria, in the area around Buzet.

Dialect is transitional to Slovenian and Kajkavian dialects. Some consider him a part of Kajkavian dialect area, and in the past it has been classified (by e.g. Fran Ramovš) as a Slovenian dialect.

The primary features that separate Buzet dialect from the rest of the Čakavian dialects are in the developement of the Common Slavic vocalism:

* */ě/ > /ẹ/ (closed "e")
* */e/, */ę/ > opened "e" (just like in most Kajkavian speeches)
* */u/ > /ü/
* syllabic */l/ > /u/
* */ǫ/ > /a/

Prosodical system diverges from that of other Čakavian speeches, having lost e.g. the difference between long a short accented vowels. Another unusual feature is the usage of Kajkavian interrogative pronoun "kaj" 'what', instead of the usual Čakavian "ča".

As far as the divison of Čakavian dialects in Southeastern and Northwestern is concerned, Buzet dialect belongs to Northwestern Čakavian.

Buzet dialect has been extensively described in the book "Buzetski govori" (Annales, Kopar 2005) by Nataša Vivoda.

References

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