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The Kostur dialect ( mk, Костурски дијалект, ''Kosturski dijalekt''), is a member of the Southwestern subgroup of the
Southeastern group of
dialects of the Macedonian language
The dialects of Macedonian comprise the Slavic languages, Slavic dialects spoken in the Republic of North Macedonia as well as some variety (linguistics), varieties spoken in the wider geographic region of Macedonia (region), Macedonia. They are pa ...
. This dialect is mainly spoken in and around the town of
Kastoria
Kastoria ( el, Καστοριά, ''Kastoriá'' ) is a city in northern Greece in the modern regions of Greece, region of Western Macedonia. It is the capital of Kastoria (regional unit), Kastoria regional unit, in the Geographic regions of Gree ...
, known locally in Macedonian as ''Kostur'', and in the surrounding Korešta region, ( mk, Корешта; in the Kostur dialect: Korèshcha/Корèшча) which encompasses most of the area to the northwest of the town. The Kostur dialect is also partially spoken in
Albania
Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...
, most notably in
Bilisht
Bilisht ( sq, Bilisht) is a town and a former municipality in Korçë County, south-eastern Albania. At the 2015 local government reform it became a subdivision and the seat of the municipality Devoll. It was the seat of the former Devoll Distric ...
and the village of
Vërnik (Vrabnik). The dialect is partially preserved among the ″people of Bulgarian origin in Mustafapaşa and Cemilköy,
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
, descending from the village of
Agios Antonios (Zhèrveni) in Kostur region (
Aegean Macedonia
Aegean Macedonia ( mk, Егејска Македонија, translit=Egejska Makedonija'';'' bg, Егейска Македония, translit=Egeyska Makedonia) is a term describing the modern Greek region of Macedonia in Northern Greece. It is ...
)″.
The Kostur dialect shares strong similarities with the
Nestram-Kostenar dialect
The Nestram-Kostenar dialect ( mk, Нестрамско-Костенарски дијалект, ''Nestramsko-Kostenarski dijalekt'') is a Macedonian Slavic dialect spoken in parts of northwestern Greece, in the area around the village of Nesto ...
and the
Korča dialect
Korča is a village in the municipality of Hadžići, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the ...
.
Bulgaria
Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...
n linguist
Stoyko Stoykov
Stoyko Ivanov Stoykov ( bg, Стойко Иванов Стойков; 26 October 1912 – 9 December 1969) was a Bulgarian linguist, Slavist.
Biography
Graduated Slavic Philology at Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski", (1935). Specialized ...
regarded the Nestram dialect as a subgroup of the Kostur dialect, part of
Bulgarian dialects
Bulgarian dialects are the regional varieties of the Bulgarian language, a South Slavic language. Bulgarian dialectology dates to the 1830s and the pioneering work of Neofit Rilski, ''Bolgarska gramatika'' (published 1835 in ...
.
Other Bulgarian linguists also regard the dialect as a Bulgarian dialect.
Phonological characteristics
*
PSl. *ǫ → (and ) and , but also isolated instances of , , , and ;
** PSl. *sǫtь > , PSl. *krǫgъ > , PSl. *gǫba > , PSl. *pǫtь > ~ ~ , PSl. *mǫka > , *kǫtja > .
*
PSl. *ę → (and ) and ;
** PSl. *govędo > , PSl. *zvękъ > , PSl. *(j)erębica > .
*
PSl. *ě → ;
** PSl. *mlěko (← *melko) > .
*
PSl. *ъ and *ь → and , respectively;
** PSl. *sladъkъ (← *soldъkъ) > , PSl. *dьnь > .
*
PSl. *tj (and *kt) and *dj → and (or, less commonly, ), respectively, but also isolated instances of and ;
** PSl. *světja > , PSl. *medja > ~ , PSl. *dъkti > .
* In some subdialects, the distinction between
PSl. *i and *y is preserved (i.e. they have not merged to *i as in other
Macedonian dialects
The dialects of Macedonian comprise the Slavic dialects spoken in the Republic of North Macedonia as well as some varieties spoken in the wider geographic region of Macedonia. They are part of the dialect continuum of South Slavic languages that ...
).
* Fixed
stress
Stress may refer to:
Science and medicine
* Stress (biology), an organism's response to a stressor such as an environmental condition
* Stress (linguistics), relative emphasis or prominence given to a syllable in a word, or to a word in a phrase ...
. The stress is on the penult, although there are exceptions. It is valid when not taken into account the definite morphemes.
Morphological characteristics
* Third-person personal pronouns: ''masc.'' , ''fem.'' , ''neut.'' , ''pl.'' ('he, she, it, they').
Usage
The dialect is commonly viewed as one of the most divergent forms of the
Macedonian dialect continuum
A dialect continuum or dialect chain is a series of Variety (linguistics), language varieties spoken across some geographical area such that neighboring varieties are Mutual intelligibility, mutually intelligible, but the differences accumulat ...
. Today it is primarily restricted to oral communication among native speakers; however, in the past the dialect was frequently used in its written form. As late as the
Greek Civil War
The Greek Civil War ( el, ο Eμφύλιος όλεμος ''o Emfýlios'' 'Pólemos'' "the Civil War") took place from 1946 to 1949. It was mainly fought against the established Kingdom of Greece, which was supported by the United Kingdom ...
the dialect was being used in newspapers and other print. The ''
Nova Makedonka'' ( mk, Нова Македонка, italic=yes, ''New Macedonian Woman'') newspaper published in the period 1948–1949, was published both in the Kostur dialect and in
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
. The
Edinstvo newspaper published from 1947–1949 also solely made use of the Kostur dialect.
In 2011 a memoir book in the Kostur dialect using a Bulgarian orthography was published in Sofia, Bulgaria.
Research
The first written materials in the Kostur dialect were of different types of folklore texts, such as songs and folk tales, which were collected in the 19th century. The
Bulgarian
Bulgarian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to the country of Bulgaria
* Bulgarians, a South Slavic ethnic group
* Bulgarian language, a Slavic language
* Bulgarian alphabet
* A citizen of Bulgaria, see Demographics of Bulgaria
* Bul ...
folklorists
Miladinov brothers
The Miladinov brothers ( bg, Братя Миладинови, ''Bratya Miladinovi'', mk, Браќа Миладиновци, ''Brakja Miladinovci''), Dimitar Miladinov (1810–1862) and Konstantin Miladinov (1830–1862), were Bulgarian poets ...
published 13 folk songs from region of Kostur in their important collection of folk songs, ''Bulgarian Folk Songs''. In
Western Europe
Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's countries and territories vary depending on context.
The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the ancient Mediterranean ...
an
Slavic studies
Slavic (American English) or Slavonic (British English) studies, also known as Slavistics is the academic field of area studies concerned with Slavic areas, languages, literature, history, and culture. Originally, a Slavist or Slavicist was prim ...
relevant to the research of the dialect is the book by André Mazon about the
Slavic songs and the dialects from southwestern Macedonia, published in 1923.
The first complete dictionary of the Kostur dialect was published by
Blagoy Shklifov
Blagoy Stefanov Shklifov ( bg, Благой Стефанов Шклифов; January 30, 1935 – September 25, 2003) was a Bulgarian dialectologist and phonologist.
Shklifov was born in Polykeraso (Chereshnitsa), Vitsi municipality, Kastoria ...
. Afterwards, Shklifov analyzed his native Kostur dialect, comparing it and standard
Bulgarian
Bulgarian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to the country of Bulgaria
* Bulgarians, a South Slavic ethnic group
* Bulgarian language, a Slavic language
* Bulgarian alphabet
* A citizen of Bulgaria, see Demographics of Bulgaria
* Bul ...
with
Old Church Slavonic
Old Church Slavonic or Old Slavonic () was the first Slavic languages, Slavic literary language.
Historians credit the 9th-century Byzantine Empire, Byzantine missionaries Saints Cyril and Methodius with Standard language, standardizing the lan ...
, and explained the development of many sounds in Bulgarian language, notably
ѫ.
[Тот, Имре. Предговор към Шклифов, Благой. Проблеми на българската диалектна и историческа фонетика с оглед на македонските говори, София 1995, с. 7–8 (Thoth, Imre. Preface, in: Shklifov, Blagoy. Problems of the Bulgarian dialectal phonology from the point of view of the Macedonian dialects, Sofia 1995, p. 7-8)]
References
Literature
Стойко Стойков за Костурския говор (Българска диалектология, С. 2002, с. 181–182) – Stoykov, Stoyko. Bulgarian Dialectology, Sofia 2002 (in Bulgarian)
* Кузов, Аргир. https://www.strumski.com/books/A_Kuzov_Kosturskijat_Govor.pdf
* Ничев, Александър. Костурският българо-гръцки речник от XVI век. С., 1987, 82 с. (Nichev, Alexander. ''The Bulgarian-Greek Dictionary from Kostur From the 16th Century'', Sofia 1987, 82 p.)
* Матов, Д. Остатъци от звуковете ън, ъм, ен, ем в Костурския говор. – Книжици, 1889, № 1, 17 – 26.
* Видоески, Божидар – Фонолошки опис на говорот на село Тиолишча (Костурско). Прилози МАНУ, 4, 1979, №2, 5–16.
* Королов, Лари-Лабро (Канада) Развоят на праславянските *tj/ktj и *dj/gdj в диалектите на четири села в Югозападна Македония, Македонски преглед, 2018, кн. 4 с. 109 – 116
* Королов, Лари-Лабро Бележка за формите на лексемата „български“ в диалектите на Югозападна и Южна Централна Македония Македонски преглед, 2020, кн. 1 c. 145 – 148
* Королов, Лари-Лабро (Канада). Диалектен текст от село Въмбел, Костурско. Свидетелство за миналото на българите в южна Македония през първата половина на XX век. // Македонски преглед XLV (3). 2022. с. 68 - 79.
* Шклифов, Благой. Глаголната система на костурския говор. – Език и литература, 1967, № 3, 82 – 91.
* Шклифов, Благой
Костурският говор София 1973. (Shklifov, Blagoy. The Kostur dialect, Sofia 1973)
* Шклифов, Благой. Фразеологичен речник на село Черешница, Костурско, София, 2016 (Shklifov, Blagoy. Phraseological Dictionary of the Dialect of the Village of Chereshnitsa, Kostur District. Sofia, 2016)
* Шклифов, Благой
Речник на костурския говор, Българска диалектология Българска диалектология, София 1977, с. кн. VIII, с. 201 – 328. (Shklifov,Blagoy. Dictionary of the Kostur Dialect, Bulgarian Dialectology, Sofia, 1977.
* Шклифов, Благой. Български диалектни текстове от Егейска Македония, София 2003, 287 с., в съавторство с Екатерина Шклифова (Shklifov, Blagoy, Shklifova, Ekaterina. Bulgarian Dialect Texts from Aegean Macedonia, Sofia, 2003.
* Шклифов, Благой. Глаголната система на костурския говор. – Език и литература, 1967, № 3, 82 – 91.
{{Macedonian dialects
Dialects of the Macedonian language
Dialects of the Bulgarian language
Kastoria (regional unit)
Kastoria