Lower Prespa dialect

The Lower Prespa dialect ( _mk. Долнoпреспански дијалект, "Dolnoprespanski dijalekt") is a member of the western subgroup of the western group of dialects of the Macedonian language. This dialect is mainly spoken in the area west of Florina (Lerin), and south of Resen. This area is mainly composed of villages, such as Brajčino, Dupeni, Štrbovo, Ljubojno, western parts of the Florina Prefecture and Ovčarani and northern parts of the Kastoria Prefecture [Российская академия наук, Институт лингвистических исследований, Международный комитет славистов, Комиссия по балканскому языкознанию Языки и диалекты малых этнических групп на Балканах, Международная научная конференция Санкт-Петербург, 11-12 июня 2004 г.] .The Lower Prespa dialect is very similar to the Upper Prespa dialect and Ohrid dialect.

Phonological characteristics

*use of E instead of YAT: цена/ cena - (price);
*use of palatal J;
*use of Ф/F and В/V instead of the Old Church Slavonic H. [стр.247 Граматика на македонскиот литературен јазик, Блаже Конески, Култура- Скопје 1967]

Morphological characteristics

*use of the preposition OD with possessive case: внукот од брат ми/ vnukot od brat mi (Nephew through my brother)
*the plural suffix -ovi is often changed with the suffix -oj: лебови> лебој (lebovi> leboj/ bread);
*personal pronoun for third person singular and plural: тој, таа, тоа, тие (toj, taa, toa, tie/ he, she, it, they). [стр.68 Граматика на македонскиот литературен јазик, Блаже Конески, Култура- Скопје 1967] [стр.248 Граматика на македонскиот литературен јазик, Блаже Конески, Култура- Скопје 1967]
*shortening of words: Богројца/Bogrojca instead of Богородица/Bogorodica (Virgin Mary)
*loss of V in Hers / His: Nivno> Nino / Nivna> Nina

Typical Words

*Б'рго/b'rgo or bărgho instead of рано/rano - (early)
*Пепон/pepon instead of диња/dinja - (rockmelon)
*Мисур/misur instead of пајнса/pajnsa - (plate/dish)
*Планучки/planučki isntead of јаготки/jagotki - (strawberries)
*Картол/kartol instead of компир/kompir - (potato)
*Даскал/daskal instead of учител/učitel - (teacher)
*Луканец/lukanec instead of колбас/kolbas - (sausage)
*Думан/duman instead of прашина/prašina - (dust)

Examples

Below is written a popular folk song from the Prespa region. The song is in the Lower Prespa dialect.

:Ozgora idat Turcite, :mladi Ljubanki teraat, :napred mi odi Todorka. :Todorke mlada nevesto, :ostavi si go deteto :na tie ravni ledini :na tie tenki kamenja.

:Todorka poču turčinot :si go ostavi deteto :na tie ravni ledini. :Mi pominal ovčarče :pa si go zema deteto, :pa si go glavil sluginče :kaj edna mlada vdovica.:kaj toj mi Osman Beg.

:Devet mi godidi sluguval,:liceto ne i go videl :na taa mlada vdovica.

:Poduvnal veter gornjaneni :i go duvnal feredžeto, :liceto i se otkrilo,:liceto na vdovicata.

:I togaš si ovčarče zagrabil, :majčice mila majčice, :deka sisluguvaše devet godini :vo taa crna zandana.

:Ah milo moje detence, :deka rasteše devet godini :vo tie crni zandani.

:Togaš si majka zagrnal, :zaklal si turčin na guša :i kuḱa si napravil:so tie pari od sluguvanje

References