Struga dialect

The Struga Dialect ( _mk. Струшки дијалект, "Struški 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 Struga, Pogradec, Pustec and up to the Golo Brdo and in the surrounding hinterland. It is the dialect spoken by the Macedonians in Albania. The Dialect has many similarities with the Vevčani-Radοža, [HENDRIKS, P. The Radozda-Vevcani Dialect of Macedonian: structure, texts, lexicon. The Peter de Ridder Press, 1976; 309pp] Ohrid and Korča dialects.

Phonological characteristic

*change of word-initial IPA|/tsv/ (цв-) to IPA|/tsu/ (цу): цвет → цут / "cvet" → "cut" ('flower')
*loss of intervocalic IPA|/v/ (в): право → прао / "pravo" → "prao" ('straight ahead')
*the stress is on the third syllable from the end of the word.
*loss of the intervocalic IPA|/g/ (г): сега → сеа / "sega" → "sea" ('now')
*loss of the intervocalic IPA|/d/ (д): одиме → оиме or ојме / "odime" → "ojme" ('we go') [ str. 247 Makedonski jazik za srednoto obrazovanie- S.Bojkovska, D.Pandev, L.Minova-Ǵurkova, Ž.Cvetkovski- Prosvetno delo AD- Skopje 2001]

Morphological characteristic

*use of the suffix -иче / "-iče": мома → момиче / "moma" → "momiče" ('kid');
*use of the preposition в/во ('in'): во вода, в град / "vo voda", "v grad" ('in water', 'in city');
*use of the suffix -Т: тој пишит / "toj pišit" ('he writes');
*frequent use of the perfect construction: е дојден, беше дојден / "e dojden", "beše dojden" (literally 'is come', 'was come'). [ str. 248 Makedonski jazik za srednoto obrazovanie- S.Bojkovska, D.Pandev, L.Minova-Ǵurkova, Ž.Cvetkovski- Prosvetno delo AD- Skopje 2001]
*replacement of the consonant з/z with г/g: влезиме → влегваме / "vlezime" → "vlegvame" ('we enter');
*use of the suffix- ка/-ka: јас → јаска / "jas" → "jaska" ('I/me');

Other specific characteristics

*change of the vocal R and vocal L;
*using vocal groups such as: -ea-, -oa- .

Typical Words

*Пипун/"pipun" as opposed to диња/"dinja" - 'rockmelon'
*Риза/"riza" as opposed to крпа/"krpa" - 'towel'
*Кондури/"konduri" as opposed to чевли/"čevli" - 'shoes'
*Карпус/"karpus" as opposed to лубеница/"lubenica" - 'watermelon'
*Момиче/"momiče" as opposed to Мома/"moma" – 'girl'
*Плачки/"plački" as opposed to Алишта/"Ališta" – 'clothes'
*Гужба/"Gužba" as opposed to Народ/"Narod" – 'people/crowd'
*Блеблеби/"Bleblebi" as opposed to Леплеби/Leplebi -'chickpeas'
*Губа/"Guba" as opposed to Мазник/Maznik - "Pastry"

Typical Sayings

* Не Биди енајџиа ко Нестора/"Ne bidi enajdžija ko Nestora" - 'Don't be a pain like Nestor' [Nestor was an old argumentative man from the village Draslajca who achieved regional fame]
* От Струга нема друга/"Od Struga nema Druga! - From Struga there is no other. [When refering to a love interest] .

Example of the dialect

::Mometo odit na ezeroto

:Mometo odit na ezeroto:da mi naleit biserna voda.:Dve vedra v race, vedro na glava:da mu izmie beḱаru nodze:da mu izmiet, dur' do kolena,:da mu izbrišet so bela riza.

:Mometo odit na ezeroto:da mi naleit biserna voda,:da mu izmiet beḱaru lice:da mu izbrišet so al šamija.

:Mometo odit na ezeroto:da mi naleit bela voda.:da mu izmiet bеḱаru race:bеќаru race dur' dо ramena,:da mu izbrišet sos belo čevre.

References