Lower Polog dialect

The location of the Lower Polog dialect among the others Macedonian dialects

	The sufferings of the beautiful princess Excerpt from a story told by an old woman from Čelopek in the Lower Polog dialect
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The Lower Polog dialect (Macedonian: Долнополошки дијалект, Dolnopološki dijalekt) is a member of the western subgroup of the northern group of dialects of the Macedonian language. It is spoken by the population in north-western Republic of Macedonia. This dialect is spoken in the city Tetovo, in the bigger villages Jegunovce, Vratnica, Tearce, Lešok, Neprošteno, Brvenica, and in all other smaller villages in this area. 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 Lower Polog dialect can be found in several books, two of which were written by Kiril Peychinovich, namely Ogledalo and Uteshenia greshnim.^[1]

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 Lower Polog region. The song is in Lower Polog dialect.

Ogreala mesečina, lele,

Ogreala mesečina,

Od Soluna do Tetovo.

Ne mi bilo mesečina, lele,

Ne mi bilo mesečina,

Tuk’ mi bile tri neveste,

Tri neveste Tetovčanke.

Pravo odat za Tetovo, lele,

Pravo odat za Tetovo,

Kaj bakalot, čičko Jakim.

Dobro utro čičko Jakim, lele,

Dobro utro čičko Jakim.

Dal bog dobro tri neveste,

Tri neveste Tetovčanke.

Da ni dadeš dram belilo, lele,

Da ni dadeš dram belilo,

Dram belilo, dram crvilo.

Naši maži gurbetčii, lele,

Naši maži gurbetčii,

Ko’ḱe dojdat ḱeti platat.

References

Dialects of Macedonian
Western	Central Prilep-Bitola Kičevo-Poreče Skopje-Veles Western and northwestern Upper Polog Debar Drimkol-Golo Brdo Galičnik Reka Vevčani-Radožda Struga Ohrid Upper Prespa Lower Prespa
Northern	Eastern Kumanovo2 Kratovo2 Kriva Palanka2 Ovče Pole Western Skopska Crna Gora Lower Polog Gora2
Southeastern	Eastern Štip - Kočani Strumica Tikveš-Mariovo Maleševo-Pirin1 Southeastern Solun-Voden1 Ser-Drama-Lagadin-Nevrokop1 Nestram-Kostenar Kostur Korča
1 Also considered a dialect of Bulgarian. 2 Considered to be a part of the transitional Torlak dialect and as a subdialect of Bulgarian, Macedonian, and Serbo-Croatian.