The Solun-Voden dialect, Lower Vardar dialect, or Kukush-Voden dialect is a South Slavic dialect spoken in parts of the Greek periphery of

Central Macedonia Central Macedonia ( el, Κεντρική Μακεδονία, Kentrikí Makedonía, ) is one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece, consisting of the central part of the geographical and historical region of Macedonia. With a populat ...

, and the vicinity of

Gevgelija Gevgelija ( mk, Гевгелија; ) is a town with a population of 15,685 located in the very southeast of the North Macedonia along the banks of the Vardar River, situated at the country's main border with Greece (Bogorodica- Evzoni), the poi ...

and

Dojran Dojran ( mk, Дојран ) was a city on the west shore of Lake Dojran in the southeast part of North Macedonia. Today, it is a collective name for two villages on the territory of the ruined city: Nov Dojran (New Dojran, settled from the end of ...

in the

Republic of North Macedonia North Macedonia, ; sq, Maqedonia e Veriut, (Macedonia before February 2019), officially the Republic of North Macedonia,, is a country in Southeast Europe. It gained independence in 1991 as one of the successor states of Yugoslavia. It ...

. It has been treated as part of both

Macedonian Macedonian most often refers to someone or something from or related to Macedonia. Macedonian(s) may specifically refer to: People Modern * Macedonians (ethnic group), a nation and a South Slavic ethnic group primarily associated with North Ma ...

and Bulgarian dialectology.

Dialect area

The dialect is named after Slavic toponyms for the cities of

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, and the capital of the geographic region of ...

(Solun),

Edessa Edessa (; grc, Ἔδεσσα, Édessa) was an ancient city (''polis'') in Upper Mesopotamia, founded during the Hellenistic period by King Seleucus I Nicator (), founder of the Seleucid Empire. It later became capital of the Kingdom of Osroe ...

(Voden) and

Kilkis Kilkis ( el, Κιλκίς) is a city in Central Macedonia, Greece. As of 2011 there were 22,914 people living in the city proper, 28,745 people living in the municipal unit, and 51,926 in the municipality of Kilkis. It is also the capital city o ...

(Kukush), or after the river

Vardar The Vardar (; mk, , , ) or Axios () is the longest river in North Macedonia and the second longest river in Greece, in which it reaches the Aegean Sea at Thessaloniki. It is long, out of which are in Greece, and drains an area of around . Th ...

. In terms of Macedonian dialectology, the dialect is classified as a member of the south-eastern subgroup of the Eastern and Southern group of

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 ...

, spoken in an area that also covers

Veria Veria ( el, Βέροια or Βέρροια), officially transliterated Veroia, historically also spelled Berea or Berœa, is a city in Central Macedonia, in the geographic region of Macedonia, northern Greece, capital of the regional unit of ...

Giannitsa Giannitsa ( el, Γιαννιτσά , in English also Yannitsa, Yenitsa) is the largest city in the regional unit of Pella and the capital of the Pella municipality, in the region of Central Macedonia in northern Greece. The municipal unit Gian ...

, and the towns of

and

in the

. In terms of Bulgarian dialectology, Solun dialect is a separate Eastern Bulgarian dialect, spoken in the northern part of today's Thessaloniki regional unit in

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wi ...

. Solun and Ser-Drama dialects are grouped as western

Rup dialects The Rup dialects, or the Southeastern dialects, are a group of Bulgarian dialects located east of the yat boundary, thus being part of the Eastern Bulgarian dialects. The range of the Rup dialects includes the southern part of Thrace, i.e. Str ...

, part of the large Rup dialect massif of Rhodopes and

Thrace Thrace (; el, Θράκη, Thráki; bg, Тракия, Trakiya; tr, Trakya) or Thrake is a geographical and historical region in Southeast Europe, now split among Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey, which is bounded by the Balkan Mountains to ...

which are transitional between the Western and Eastern Bulgarian dialects. The dialect spoken around

Voden Edessa ( el, Έδεσσα, ; also known as the "''City of Waters and of the 5 Senses''"), until 1923 Vodena ( el, link=no, Βοδενά), is a city in northern Greece and the capital of the Pella regional unit, in the Central Macedonia region of ...

and

Kukush Kilkis ( el, Κιλκίς) is a city in Central Macedonia, Greece. As of 2011 there were 22,914 people living in the city proper, 28,745 people living in the municipal unit, and 51,926 in the municipality of Kilkis. It is also the capital city o ...

as well as in the region of the Lower

to the west of Thessaloniki is characterized as Western Bulgarian Kukush-Voden dialect, which shows some connections with Eastern Bulgarian dialects like the reduction and absorption of unstressed vowels and retention of the sound x /x/.

Suho-Visoka sub-dialect

The Suho-Visoka sub-dialect is spoken in and around the city of

Salonika Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, and the capital of the geographic region of ...

. The dialect is also found in the town of

Lagkadas Lagkadas ( el, Λαγκαδάς, ) is a town and municipality in the northeast part of Thessaloniki regional unit, Greece. There are 41103 residents in the municipality and 7764 of them live in the town of Lagkadas. Lagkadas is located northeast o ...

. The dialect is best preserved in the villages of Sochos (Сухо, ''Suho''),

Osa Osa or OSA may refer to: Places * Osa Peninsula, a peninsula in Costa Rica * Osa (canton), a canton in the province of Puntarenas in Costa Rica * Osa Conservation Area, an administrative area in Costa Rica * Osa, India, a village in Allahabad, ...

(Висока, ''Visoka''),

Nikopoli Nicopolis ( grc-gre, Νικόπολις, Nikópolis, City of Victory) or Actia Nicopolis was the capital city of the Roman province of Epirus Vetus. It was located in the western part of the modern state of Greece. The city was founded in 29&nbs ...

(Зарово, ''Zarovo''),

Xylopoli Xylopoli (), is a village and a community of the Lagkadas municipality. Before the 2011 local government reform it was part of the municipality of Lachanas, of which it was a municipal district and the seat. The 2011 census recorded 855 inhabitan ...

(Негован, ''Negovan''), Levchohori (Клепе, ''Klepe''), Klisali (Клисали, ''Klisali'') and

Assiros Assiros ( gr, Άσσηρος, before 1926: Γιουβέσνα - ''Giouvesna'', bg, Гвоздово, Gvozdovo) is a village and a former municipality in the Thessaloniki regional unit, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of ...

(Гвоздово, ''Gvozdovo''). The subdialect has been referred to as ''Bogdanski Govor'' ( mk, Богдански говор), in reference to its position on the "Bogdan" mountain. One of the first researchers of the Slavic dialects in this part of Macedonia,

Slovenian Slovene or Slovenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Slovenia, a country in Central Europe * Slovene language, a South Slavic language mainly spoken in Slovenia * Slovenes, an ethno-linguistic group mainly living in Slovenia * Sl ...

linguist Vatroslav Oblak described the historical development of the

Bulgarian phonology This article discusses the phonological system of Standard Bulgarian. Most scholars agree that contemporary Bulgarian has 45 phonemes but different authors place the real number of Bulgarian phonemes between 42 and 47, depending on whether one i ...

and morphology, based mainly on the dialect of Suho and the adjoining area. He noted that the villages Suho, Zarovo and Visoka formed a center of

nasalization In phonetics, nasalization (or nasalisation) is the production of a sound while the velum is lowered, so that some air escapes through the nose during the production of the sound by the mouth. An archetypal nasal sound is . In the Internation ...

Phonological characteristics

*Retention of

Proto-Slavic Proto-Slavic (abbreviated PSl., PS.; also called Common Slavic or Common Slavonic) is the unattested, reconstructed proto-language of all Slavic languages. It represents Slavic speech approximately from the 2nd millennium B.C. through the 6th ...

nasal vowels (Solun dialect in the region north-east of Solun): rə ̃ka (mk:raka, bg:rəka), skɤ ̃p (mk:skap, bg:skɤp), pɛ ̃tuk (mk:pɛtok, bg:pɛtək), tʃɛ ̃du (bg, mk:tʃɛdo). *Retention of vowels ɤ (stressed) or ə (unstressed) which come from

Old Church Slavonic Old Church Slavonic or Old Slavonic () was the first Slavic literary language. Historians credit the 9th-century Byzantine missionaries Saints Cyril and Methodius with standardizing the language and using it in translating the Bible and othe ...

ѫ: vəʒa (bg:vəʒɛ), vətuk (bg:vətɤk), gɤska (bg:gɤska), dəɡa (bg:dəga), zəbi (bg:zəbi), mɤka (bg:mɤka), mɤʃ (bg:mɤʒ), pɤrt (bg:prɤt), pɤt (bg:pɤt), prɤtʃki (bg:prɤtʃki), sɤbuta (bg:sɤbɔta), ɡəsɔk (bg:ɡəsɔk), ɡəsɛnitsa (bg:ɡəsɛnitsa), mɤtɛnitsa (bg:mɤtɛnitsa). Less often the vowel u occurs instead of ɤ: kuca (bg:kɤʃta, mk:kuca), kusa (bg:kɤsa), pupka (bg:pɤpka). *Vowel ɔ replaces Old Church Slavonic ъ: bɔtʃva (bg:bɤtʃva), vɔpka, vɔʃka (bg:vɤʃka), dɔʃ (bg:dɤʒd), zɔlva (bg:zɤlva), sɔn (bg:sɤn), takɔf (bg:takɤv), vətɔk (bg:vətɤk), vɔsɔk (bg:vɔsək)(but also: vətuk, vɔsuk). *A very important characteristic is the reduction of the wide (unstressed) vowels. This occurs most often in the middle or the beginning of words: ɔ reduces to u — udinitsa (bg:vɔdɛnitsa), mutuvilka (bg:mɔtɔvilka), tutʃilo (bg:tɔtʃilo), usnɔva (bg:ɔsnɔva), uftʃar (bg:ɔvtʃar), usten (bg:ɔsten), utset (bg:ɔtset); ɛ reduces to i — zilɛn, pitɛl, nɛbitɔ, dɛvir, ʒɛnin, molits; a reduces to ə — pəzartʃin, pəspal, kɔmər, kɔkəl, tʃɤrgəta, mandrəta. In some morphological categories this reduction develops further into absorption of the unstressed wide vowels: ɔktɔ (bg:ɔkɔtɔ), litstɔ (bg:litsɛtɔ), duvitsta (bg:vdɔvitsata), grədinta (bg:gradinata), tuvarmɛ (bg:tɔvarimɛ), tuvartɛ (bg:tɔvaritɛ), katʃmɛ (bg:katʃimɛ). *Generally, the consonant x is retained: in the end of words — vlax, grax, urɛx, strax, sux, vərnax, kəʒax, nusix; in the middle of words — muxlɛsinu, təxtəbita, boxtʃa, sɛdɛxa, bixa, tərtʃaxa. However, in the beginning of words /x/ is often omitted: arnɔ, arman, iʎada, itʃ, ɔrɔ, lɛp. *The palatals c, jc, ɟ, jɟ predominate over the Old Church Slavonic consonant clusters ʃt and ʒd : nɔc, cɛrka, prifacum, nejcum, lɛjca (mk:lɛca, bg:lɛʃta), sfɛjca (mk:svɛca, bg:svɛʃt), plajcaʃɛ (mk: placaʃɛ, bg:plaʃtaʃɛ); vɛɟi (mk:vɛɟi, bg:vɛʒdi), mɛɟa, saɟa, miɟu, mɛjɟa, sajɟi. In some cases, however, the diphthongs ʃt, ʒd are retained: gaʃti, lɛʃta, guvɛʒdo, prɛʒda. *Relatively unpredictable

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 ...

. Often the stress is on the penult, but there are words which have stress placed on different syllables.Шклифов, Благой и Екатерина Шклифова, Български диалектни текстове от Егейска Македония, София 2003, с. 18
(Shklifov, Blagoy and Ekaterina Shklifova. Bulgarian dialect texts from Aegean Macedonia Sofia 2003, p. 18)

Morphological characteristics

*Definite article -ut, -u for masculine gender: vratut, dɛput, zɛtut, sɔnut, sinut, krumidut, nərodut, ubrazut; ɔginu, guʃtəru, vɛtɛru. *Definite article -to for plural: bugərɛto, kamənɛto, tsigajnɛto, vulɔvɛto, kojnɛto. *A single common suffix -um for all three verb present tense conjugations: ɔrum, tsɛpum, pasum, vikum, glɛdum, brɔjum. *Suffix -m for 1st person singular present tense: pijum, stojum, jadum, ɔdum.

Other specific characteristics

*Enclitic at the beginning of the sentence: ''Mu gɔ'' klava petʃatut. ''Si ja'' goreʃe furnata. *Single short form mu for masculine, neutral, feminine, and plural pronouns: Na baba ce ''mu'' nɔsum da jədɛ (I'll take something for my grandma to eat). Na starite ''mu'' ɛ mɤtʃnɔ (It is hard for old people). Na nih ''mu'' davum jadɛjne (I give it/him/them a meal). *Use of the preposition u instead of the preposition vo :''vo'' selo → ''u'' selo (in village) *Use of the preposition ut instead of ot : ''ut'' Solun → ''od'' Solun (from/of Solun). This is because ''ɔ'' in ''ɔt'' when combined with the next word becomes a wide (unstressed) vowel which undergoes reduction (see Phonological characteristics).

Typical Words

*''ʒarba'' (bg,mk:ʒaba) - frog *''ʃarino'' (bg,mk:ʃareno) - coloured *''kutʃja'' (bg,mk:kutʃɛ) - dog *''kɤʃta'' (bg:kɤʃta, mk:kuќa) - house *''druguʃ'' (bg:drug pɤt, mk:drug pat) - another time *''vɔpka''

References

{{Bulgarian dialects Dialects of the Macedonian language Dialects of the Bulgarian language Gevgelija Municipality Dojran Municipality