Skopje-Veles dialect


The Skopje-Veles dialect is a member of the central subgroup of the Western group of [Dialects of the Macedonian language|Macedonian language|dialects] of Macedonian. The dialect is spoken by a larger group of people in the cities Skopje and Veles and in the surrounding villages: Volkovo, Katlanovo, Petrovec and Čaška among others. This dialect is of historical importance for Macedonian because it is considered by many to be a prestige dialect. On August 2, 1945, the Skopje-Veles dialect, together with the other dialects of the central group was officially regulated as a basis of standard Macedonian. Many Macedonian writers and linguists were writing on this dialect and considered it to be standard Macedonian. One of them was Krste Petkov Misirkov and in his book For Macedonian affairs wrote that this dialect should be standard Macedonian. He has been writing on Skopje-Veles dialect and on Prilep-Bitola dialect.
Internal migration to the capital Skopje in the 1950s and 1960s led to the development of a new, urban slang where newly arrived people attempted to incorporate elements of the Skopje-Veles dialect into their own speech, often confusing local elements with those from Serbo-Croatian. Language contact with Serbo-Croatian, then a more prestigious language in SFR Yugoslavia, also reached its height during this period. This variety has been described as a "creolized form of Serbian" and is distinct from the 'authentic' Skopje-Veles dialect.

Phonological characteristics

  • use of instead of the archaic : страх > страв ;
  • emphasis mostly on the antepenultimate syllable in Veles, and less in Skopje;
  • use of the hard l;
  • use of intervocal : човек ;
  • use of the hard sound њ ;
  • use of the letter ќ and ѓ : куќа – кујќа.

Morphological characteristics

  • use of the preposition во or в ;
  • use of the grammatical construction have + past participle: имам работено ;
  • use of three articles.

Examples of the Skopje-Veles dialect

The poem "A voice from Macedonia" by Kole Nedelkovski is probably one of the most famous texts written in the Skopje-Veles dialect.

О, трајте, трајте, тирани недни!
Доста се тија лаги и злоба –
пакосен глас од устите гадни
над мојот народ у секоја доба.
Та ете веќ векови цели
писка и стенка од волци гости –
за брата вијат кој да го дели
за да му глода сувите коски.
Па нека сега сам да си реши
со своја волја судба и сева,
в животот еднаш сам да се теши,
д'издигне славно свој род без врева.
Та Шар и Пирин дружно да викнат
родната песна в небеса темни
и бурниот Егеј – на век да плиска
тешкиот глас на новите химни.



;Skopje dialect
;Veles dialect