Lower Prespa dialect
The Lower Prespa dialect, is a member of the western subgroup of the western group of dialects of the Macedonian language. This dialect is mainly spoken on the Eastern shore of Prespa Lake and Small Prespa Lake, both in North Macedonia and by the Slavic-speaking community on the Greek side of the border. The Prespa dialect spoken in the Greek community has elements of Greek such as "d/δ". This area is mainly composed of villages, such as Brajčino, Dupeni, Štrbovo, Ljubojno, western parts of the Florina regional unit and northern parts of the Kastoria regional unit. 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 - ;
- use of palatal J;
- use of Ф/F and В/V instead of the Old Church Slavonic H.
Morphological characteristics
- use of the preposition OD with possessive case: внукот од брат ми/ vnukot od brat mi
- the plural suffix -ovi is often changed with the suffix -oj: лебови> лебој ;
- personal pronoun for third person singular and plural: тој, таа, тоа, тие.
- shortening of words: Богројца/Bogrojca instead of Богородица/Bogorodica, П'делник instead of Понеделник
- loss of V in Hers / His: Nivno> Nino / Nivna> Nina
Typical Words
- Мисур/misur instead of чинија/chinija -
- с'ти/s'ti instead of сите/site -
- воа/voa instead of ова/ova
- Шо/šo instead of што/što -
- Как/kak instead of како/kako -
- Планучки/planučki instead of јагоди/jagodi -
- К'ртол/k'rtol instead of компир/kompir -
- Даскал/daskal instead of учител/učitel -
- Луканец/lukanec instead of колбас/kolbas -
- Думан/duman instead of прашина/prašina -
- Пепун/pepun instead of диња/dinja -
- Пупки/pupki instead of ќофтиња/kjoftinja -
- Лафе/lafe instead of зборува/zboruva -
- Зборва/zborva instead of зборува/zboruva -
- Стори/stori instead of случи/sluči -
- Заек/zaek instead of зајак/zajak -
- Пули/puli instead of види//vidi -
- Ошче/ošče instead of уште/ušte -
- Каδе/kadhe instead of каде/kade -
- *Дека/Deka or Деа/Dea is usually used instead of каде/kade -
Some example phrases :
- "Oti zborvaš kak taka?" as opposed to "Zošto zboruvaš kako taka?"
- "Šo ke se stori ako znaj toj?" as opposed to "Što ḱe se sluči ako znae toj?"
- "Kadhe oiš?" as opposed to "Kade odiš?"
Examples
Below is written a popular folk song from the Prespa region. The song is in the Lower Prespa dialect.
