The Tetovo dialect ( mk, Тетовски дијалект, ''Tetovski dijalekt'') is a member of the western subgroup of the northern group of

dialects of Macedonian 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 ...

. It is considered part of the transitional

Torlakian dialects Torlakian, or Torlak is a group of South Slavic dialects of southeastern Serbia, Kosovo, northeastern North Macedonia, and northwestern Bulgaria. Torlakian, together with Bulgarian and Macedonian, falls into the Balkan Slavic linguistic a ...

. It is spoken by the population in the north-western part 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 Socialist Feder ...

. This dialect is spoken in the city of

Tetovo Tetovo ( mk, Тетово, , sq, Tetovë/Tetova) is a city in the northwestern part of North Macedonia, built on the foothills of Šar Mountain and divided by the Pena River. The municipality of Tetovo covers an area of at above sea level, w ...

, Brvenica and

Jegunovce Municipality Jegunovce ( mk, , sq, Jegunoc) is a municipality in the northwest of North Macedonia. '' Jegunovce'' is also the name of the village where the municipal seat is found. Jegunovce Municipality is part of the Polog Statistical Region. Geography ...

(without the villages

Vratnica Vratnica ( mk, Вратница) is a small village and community located in the Jegunovce Municipality of North Macedonia. Vratnica lies in the north-west, and is 22 km away from the city of Tetovo and 5 km away from Jažince - the bor ...

, Belovište, Staro Selo and

Rogačevo Rogačevo is a small village located in the north-western part of North Macedonia, 26 km away from the city of Tetovo and 1 km away from the village of Jažince, the border crossing point with Kosovo. It used to be part of the former mu ...

who speak the

Vratnica dialect Vratnica ( mk, Вратница) is a small village and community located in the Jegunovce Municipality of North Macedonia. Vratnica lies in the north-west, and is 22 km away from the city of Tetovo and 5 km away from Jažince - the bor ...

). One of the main characteristics of this dialect is the use of the words ''таќе'' (taḱe) – "on that way" and ''ваќе'' (vaḱe) – "on this way". The Tetovo dialect can be found in several books, two of which were written by

Kiril Peychinovich Kiril Peychinovich or Kiril Pejčinoviḱ ( bg, Кирил Пейчинович, sr, Кирил Пејчиновић, mk, Кирил Пејчиновиќ, Old Church Slavonic, Church Slavonic: Күриллъ Пейчиновићь (c. 1770 &n ...

, namely ''Ogledalo'' and ''Uteshenia greshnim''.According to the book's title page, it was written in the 'most common and illiterary Bulgarian language of Lower Moesia' ('препростейшим и некнижним язиком Болгарским долния Мисии'). It was printed in 1816 in Budapest.

Phonological characteristics

There are many characteristics that are connected with this dialect but the most significant are: *the old vocal L is replaced by the groups u/ lu/ la: јаболко / jabolko > јабука / jabuka (apple), солза / solza > слăза / sluza (tear); *use of A instead of E: трева / treva > трава / trava (grass), орев / orev > орав / orav (nut); *use of ă instead of use of the yer: лаже / laže > лăже / lăže (lie); *use of U instead of the Old Church Slavonic letter ON: пат / pat > пут / put (road), внук / vnuk > унук / unuk (nephew).

Morphological characteristics

*use of the suffix -mo for first person plural: одиме / odime > идемо/ idemo (we are going); *palatal J before the letter E at the beginning of a word: јазик / jazik> језик / jezik (tongue), јаже > јуже (rope); *the consonant group MN is replaced with the consonant group ML: многу / mnogu > млогу / mlogu (too much); *use of the preposition U instead of the preposition VO: во град/ vo grad > у град / u grad (in city)

Examples

Below is written a popular folk song from Tetovo region. The song is in Tetovo dialect.

References

{{Macedonian dialects Dialects of the Macedonian language Tetovo Municipality Jegunovce Municipality Tearce Municipality Brvenica Municipality