The Škofja Loka dialect (, ''škofjeloščina'') is a Slovene dialect in the

Rovte dialect group The Rovte dialect group (''rovtarska narečna skupina'', ''rovtarščina'') is a group of closely related dialects of Slovene. The Rovte dialects are spoken in the mountainous areas of west-central Slovenia, on the border between the Slovenian Li ...

. It encompasses the local dialects of

Škofja Loka Škofja Loka (; ) is a town in Slovenia. It is the economic, cultural, educational, and administrative center of the Municipality of Škofja Loka in Upper Carniola. It has about 12,000 inhabitants. Geography Škofja Loka lies at an elevation of ...

and the nearby settlements of Bitnje and

Reteče Reteče (; ''Leksikon občin kraljestev in dežel zastopanih v državnem zboru,'' vol. 6: ''Kranjsko''. 1906. Vienna: C. Kr. Dvorna in Državna Tiskarna, p. 62.) is a village in the Municipality of Škofja Loka in the Upper Carniola region of Slove ...

.Toporišič, Jože. 1992. ''Enciklopedija slovenskega jezika''. Ljubljana: Cankarjeva založba, p. 322. The

Škofja Loka Passion Play The ''Škofja Loka Passion Play'' (, ) is the oldest play in Slovene language, Slovene. In its current form, it was a penitential Passion (Christ), Passion procession. It was written on the basis of an older tradition in 1715, with minor correc ...

, the oldest Slovene drama play, was written in the first half of the 18th century in the old Škofja Loka dialect.

Phonological and morphological characteristics

The Škofja Loka dialect lacks

pitch accent A pitch-accent language is a type of language that, when spoken, has certain syllables in words or morphemes that are prominent, as indicated by a distinct contrasting pitch (music), pitch (tone (linguistics), linguistic tone) rather than by vol ...

, which has been attributed to the influence of German settlement. It has very narrow ''o'' and ''e'' vowels, pretonic ''e'' and ''o'' have raised to ''i'' and ''u'', and the offglide ' has sometimes been lost (e.g., ''volk'' ok> ok'wolf'). The dialect's consonant structure shares many features with the

Upper Carniolan dialect The Upper Carniolan dialect ( , ) is a major Slovene dialect, known for extensive syncope, monophthongization of diphthongs, and loss of neuter gender. It is spoken in most (but not all) of Upper Carniola, along the Sava River. It is one of the ...

and

Selca dialect The Selca dialect ( , ) is a Slovene dialect very close to the Upper Carniolan dialect, but showing some features of the Rovte dialect group. It is characterized by extensive syncope, monopthongization of diphthongs, and shortening of long close ...

References

Slovene dialects {{Slavic-lang-stub