Kumanovo dialect

The Kumanovo dialect ( _mk. Кумановски дијалект, "Kumanovski dijalekt") is a member of the eastern subgroup of the the Northern group of dialects of the Macedonian language. The dialect is typical for the northern dialect of the Macedonian language and is very well known because of the use of some cases, such as the locative case. The Kumanovo dialect is spoken mainly in the city of Kumanovo and the surrounding villages. The dialect is closely related with the neighboring Kriva Palanka dialect. The Kumanovo dialect can be found in the literal works, such as the famous play Lenče Kumanovče written by Vasil Iljoski in1928. [p.65,Makedonski jazik za srednoto obrazovanie- S.Bojkovska, D.Pandev, L.Minova-Ǵurkova, Ž.Cvetkovski- Prosvetno delo AD- Skopje 2001] The Kumanovo dialect is especially popular sources of humor in the spoken media, whereas the print media tend to favor West dialect forms forhumorous anecdotes, quotations in local news stories [e.g.n.m.24.1.82:5, 7 v181, University of Chicago, Library] . The most significant example where Kumanovo dialect is used in humorous way is the festival "Tumba Fest".

Phonological characteristics

*use of A insted of E: трева / treva > трава / trava;
*use of the letter U instead of the letter A: рака / raka > рука / ruka (hand) , пат / pat > пут / put (road);
*the old vocal L is changed with U/ LU/ LA: волк / volk > вук / vuk (wolf), сонце / sonce > сланце / slance (sun).
*use of palatal J at the beginning of the word: јазик / jazik > језик / jezik (tongue), еж / ež > јеж / jež. [p.252,Makedonski jazik za srednoto obrazovanie- S.Bojkovska, D.Pandev, L.Minova-Ǵurkova, Ž.Cvetkovski- Prosvetno delo AD- Skopje 2001]

Morphological characteristics

*use of the suffix -V in 3 person plural: тие имаа / tie imaa > они имав / oni imav (they had);
*complete disappearance of the letteer H in some words: сиромаа / siromaa (poor);
*use of the suffix E for plural instead of the suffix -I: торби/ torbi > торбе / torbe (bags).
*Use of KUDE instead of KADE (where).
*Use of the forms gu and ga instead of the forms go and i: њега га видов / njega ga vidov (I saw him). [p.252- 253,Makedonski jazik za srednoto obrazovanie- S.Bojkovska, D.Pandev, L.Minova-Ǵurkova, Ž.Cvetkovski- Prosvetno delo AD- Skopje 2001]

Personal Pronouns

singular:
*Ја / ја (I)
*Ти / ti (you)
*Он / on (he)
*Она / ona (she)
*Оно / ono (it)

plural:
*Ми / mi (we)
*Ви / vi (you)
*Они / oni (they)

Examples of the dialect

*Song, that is very well known in Republic of Macedonia and typical for the Kumanovo dialect::Tri neveste tikve brale bre :tri neveste tikve brale bre:kude brale tu zastale bre bre bre :tu zastale bre tu zastale bre

Phrases

*"Кумановци не се претопујев л'ко, на свој дијалет зборуeв куде и да су" / Kumanovci ne se pretopujev l'ko, na svoj dijalekt zboruev kude i da su (The people from Kumanovo cannot be assimilated easily, they speak their own dialect wherever they are)
*"Пол'ко ќе научиш енглески да пишујеш и читаш, него ли кумановски" / Pol'ko ḱe naučiš engleski da pišuješ i čitaš, nego li kumanovski (You will easier learn to write and read English, instead of the Kumanovo dialect.)

References