Prilep-Bitola Dialect - Phonological Characteristics

Phonological Characteristics

The phonological characteristics of the Bitola-Prilep dialect which also can also be found in the other peripheral dialects are:

• mostly antepenultimate word stress (see Macedonian phonology);
• Proto-Slavic *ǫ has reflexed into /a/:

rǫka > рака /ˈraka/ ('hand')

• except for the Prilep sub-dialects, Bitola sub-dialects have two phonemic lateral consonants (/ɫ/ and /l/, continuants of Proto-Slavic *l and *ĺ):

ex. Proto-Slavic *kĺučь > in Bitola sub-dialects, in Prilep sub-dialects

• while most Macedonian dialects have a phonemic /f/ (in loanwords), many sub-dialects of the Prilep-Bitola dialect—with the exception of urban prestige dialects—instead have /v/:

Megleno-Romanian fustan /ˈfustan/ > вустан /ˈvustan/ ('ladies' dress')

Ottoman Turkish فوطة /ˈfuta/ > вута /ˈvuta/ ('apron')

Ottoman Turkish فرنا /ˈfuɾna/ > вурна /ˈvurna/ ('bakehouse, masonry oven')

• as in most South(-Western) dialects, the central vowel /a/ is more fronted (i.e. a cardinal ) rather than the more central typical of other dialect groups;
• the palatal affricates are typically prepalatalized: свеќа /ˈsvɛca/ ('candle') is realized as, меѓа /ˈmɛɟa/ ('border, frontier') is realized as ;
  • a similar features occurs with the palatal nasal: јадење /ˈjadɛɲɛ/ ('food') is realized as ;
• the etymological /v/ in initial position has been lost in a number of instances:
  • in the sequences *vs- and *vz-, as is the case in the standard; e.g. сè /sɛ/ ('all') from the earlier *все, зема /ˈzɛma/ ('to take') from the earlier *взема;
  • in a handful of words where the pronunciation was "evened up" with that of their antonyms: натре /ˈnatrɛ/ from the earlier внатре /ˈvnatrɛ/ ('inside') as per надвор /ˈnadvɔr/ ('outside'), ногу /ˈnɔɡu/ from the earlier многу /ˈmnɔɡu/ ('much, a lot') as per малку /ˈmalku/ ('a little');
• intervocalic consonant elision is typical of this dialect, and elided forms are in free variation with non-elided forms:
  • elision of the intervocalic /v/:
    • in the plural forms of monosyllabic nouns, e.g. лебо(в)и:

/ˈlɛbɔvi/ → /ˈlɛbɔi/ (realized as )

• and in most other positions, e.g. то(в)ар:

/ˈtɔvar/ → /ˈtɔar/ (realized as )

• certain short words (conjunctions, pronouns, determiners, etc.) have undergone further elision, ex.:

/ˈsɛga/ (→ /ˈsɛa/) → ('now')

*/ˈtɔva/ (→ /ˈtɔa/) → (indic. pron. 'that')

/ˈkɔga/ (→ /ˈkɔa/) → (interr. pron. 'when')

• insertion of /t/ and /d/ into consonant clusters -/sr/- and -/zr/-, respectively; for example, /stram/ from the earlier /sram/ (срам, 'shame') and /zdrɛl/ from the earlier /zrɛl/ (зрел, 'ripe').

• In the sub-dialect of Bukovo-Orehovo, especially among the oldest generations:
  • while is an allophone of /l/ in most dialects (occurring in all positions except before front vowels and /j/), in this dialect is used instead; ex.:

for (глава, 'head') and for (слама, 'straw')

• • the phoneme /a/ mutates (is raised) to ( ~ ) when preceding an affricate or iotated consonant with the exception of suffixes; ex.:

чаша /ˈt͡ʃaʃa/ ('cup') is realized as

жаба /ˈʒaba/ ('frog') is realized as

• • the Proto-Slavic syllabic *l̥ has reflexed into /ə/, e.g. *sъlnьce > /ˈsənt͡sɛ/ ('sun'), *vьlkъ > /vək/ ('wolf').