Prilep-Bitola dialect

The location of the Prilep-Bitola dialect among the others Macedonian dialects

The Prilep-Bitola dialect (Macedonian: Прилепско-битолски дијалект, Prilepsko-bitolski dijalekt) is a member of the central subgroup of the western group of dialects of the Macedonian language. This dialect is mainly spoken in the towns of Prilep and Bitola and in surrounding areas in the Republic of Macedonia, as well as by the Slavic-speaking minority population in and around Florina (Lerin) in neighbouring Greek Macedonia. The Prilep-Bitola dialect, along with other peripheral west-central dialects, provides much of the basis for modern Standard Macedonian. According to some linguists these dialects are a part of the Bulgarian diasystem..

Phonological characteristics

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

• antepenultimate word stress (see Macedonian phonology)
• the yat has reflexed into [ɛ]
• absence of the [ɛ] group in third-person singular verbs (e.g. можи and биди versus the standard може and биде)
• absence of the intervocalic [v] in the plural forms of monosyllabic nouns (e.g. лебо(в)и, дождо(в)и, etc.)

Morphological characteristics

• three definite articles pertaining to the position of the object (see Macedonian grammar)
• the third-person personal pronouns: тој, таа, тоа, тие (he, she, it, they)
• imperfective verbs are typically derived from perfective verbs by means of the suffix –ва (e.g. зборва and боледва)
• use of the oblique form for proper names

Typical Words

• Чупе – girl
• Пре(ѓ)е, пре(ѓ)еска – recently, lately
• Модистра – seamstress