Solun dialect

The Solun dialect is Bulgarian dialect spoken in the Solun neighborhood (today Thessaloniki Prefecture, Greece) best represented in the villages of Visoka [2] and Suho, near Lagadin, to the north of Solun. In addition to these, Solun dialect is spoken in the villages of Zarovo, [3] Negovan, Gradobor, Ayvatovo, Novo selo, Balevets, Kirechkyoy, Kliseli (Ilinets).(see [4][5] It is universaly accepted that the Solun dialect has preserved best the features of the Bulgarian language from the time of Cyril and Methodius. [6][7]

It is named after the Bulgarian toponym for the city of Solun (Thessaloniki) and is recognised as a separate dialect (govor) in Bulgarian dialectology where it is grouped with Drama-Ser dialect in the group West-Rup dialects which are transitory between the Western and Eastern Bulgarian dialects. [6] In Bulgarian dialectology, the dialect spoken around Voden and Kukush, as well as in the region in the Lower Vardar, west from Solun, is characterized as a separate Western Bulgarian Kukush-Voden dialect. [6]

Phonological traits

  1. Widespread retention of Proto-Slavic nasalism of nasal vowels [15]: ръ(н)ка/ˡrʌ(ɳ)ka (bg:ръка), гъмба/ɡʌɱba (bg:гъба), дъмп (bg:дъб), ръмп (bg:ръб), скъмп (bg:скъп), съ мбута (bg:се бута), вънзил (bg:възел), вънжи (bg:въже), кънт (bg:кът), мънч (bg:мъж), мъндру (bg:мъдро), мънка (bg:мъка), съ мънчиш (bg:се мъчиш), прънт (bg:прът), прънчка (bg:пръчка), грèнда (bg:греда), клèнтфа (bg:клетва), пент’ (bg), пèнтук (bg:петък), èндру (bg:едро), жèнтфа (bg:жетва), чèнду (bg:чедо).
  2. Retention of the Proto-Slavic schwa (ə), (ъ (ʌ), ѫ (ɜ) as in Standard Bulgarian): гъз/ˡɡʌs (bg:гъз), къшта/kʌʃta (bg:къща), мънч/ˡmʌntʃ (bg:мъж).
  3. Vowel ê (soft e) replaces Old Church Slavonic ѣ (Yat) after hissing consonant [16] and in some cases replaces Proto-Slavic ѧ (Small Yus), which is an archaic feature of the dialect: д’ềду (bg:дядо), зв’ềзда (bg:звезда), л’êп (bg:хляб), л’ềту (bg:лято), с’ềнка (bg:сянка), чув’ềк (bg:човек); чềша (bg:чаша), чềйут (bg:чаят), шềрка (bg:шарка), шềйка (bg:шайка); куч’ềнта (bg:кучета), м’ềсу (bg:месо), съ ус’ềкнувам (bg:се секна).
  4. Vowel ъ replaces Old Church Slavonic ы: бъл (bg, mk:бил), въм’а (bg:виме), кътка (bg:котка), мъшка (bg:мишка), пътъм (bg:питам), плътку (bg:плитко), сън (bg:син).
  5. Soft consonants (', ь, j: sign for softness) at the end of words: сол’ (bg:сол), ден’ (bg:ден), кàмен’ (bg:камък), зент’ (bg:зет), пент’ (bg:пет), пънт’ (bg:път), дèсит’ (bg:десет).
  6. Retention of diphthongs шт, жд as in Standard Bulgarian, as opposed to *tj, *dj in Serbian, and some Western Bulgarian dialects: къшта (bg:къща), плàштъм (bg:плащам), нуштà (bg:нужда), в’èжди (bg:вежди), миждỳ (bg:между), сàжди (bg:сажди).
  7. Relatively unpredictable stress. Often the stress is on the penult, but there are words, which have stress placed on different syllables; [17] this results in double-accented words: цàрицàта (bg:царицата), кòшницàта (bg:кошницата), лòбудàта (bg:лободата), нèгувъ`йут (bg:неговият), глàсувèту (bg:гласовете), кàжувàха (bg:казваха).

Historical overview

Two villages in the Thessaloniki (Solun) Region – Suho (bg:Сухо, gr:Σωχὀς) and Visoka (bg:Висока, gr:Ὂσσα,Βερτισκος) – drew the attention of Slavists a long time ago; [9] the speech of Suho, through the works of the Slovenian linguist Prof. V. Oblak [7], came in the Slavistic literature as the best preserved relic of the original Old Bulgarian language. Oblak became aware of Solun dialect by reading a local report written in the original dialect from Visoka, printed first in the local newspaper[10] and re-printed 2 years later by Martin Hattala in a Zagreb newspaper. [11]

The phonological trait of interest in Solun dialect is the preservation of the ancient pronunciation of the Proto-Slavic nasal vowels ѫ (Big Yus) /əⁿ(ŋ)/ and ѧ (Small Yus) /eⁿ(ŋ)/, which resembles the pronunciation of the Polish vowels ǫ and ę, respectively. [9] In the above mentioned report (the full text is in [2]) these words are: with ѫ − Лѫнгадина, Мѫнкедонія, мѫнчеше, разбѫнденіе-то, рѫнка, рѫнци, рѫнководство, лѫнжливо, пѫнть, пѫнтъ-тъ, пѫнтовощемъ, таѫнъ and тѫнъ (from таѫ and тѫ, now these words are not pronounced nasally); with ѧ − глѧнда се, глѧндатъ, глѧндащемъ, чѧнда-та, грѧндѣлъ, ѧнзикъ, посвѧнщеніе-то, ѧнвиха, изѧнвуваме, обѧнвуваме, напрѧндваха, напрѧндватъ. Solun dialect became the second linguistically described Bulgarian dialect from Macedonia after Kostur dialect [12] to exhibit nasalism ("rhinism") as its most striking phonetic trait.[9] Out of these two nuclei of the Old Church Slavonic, Solun and Kostur, Solun dialect was the more interesting: Solun (Saloniki, Thessaloniki) being the birthplace of Cyril and Methodius, the creators of Slavic alphabet.[9]

Driven by his interest in Solun dialect, in the winter of 1891-92 Oblak visited Thessaloniki and some villages in its vicinity. In Thessaloniki, interviewing peasants from Suho, he studied Suho dialect, and also the dialects of the Solun villages Novo selo, Gradobor, Bugarievo, Vatilak, and Vardarovski, and the Debar villages Galichnik, Klenje, and Oboki. These dialects are described in the post-humous work of Oblak [7], published in 1896 by the Vienna Academy of Sciences under the editorship of Vatroslav Jagić.

The interest towards the nasalism in Kostur and Visoka dialects spurred the study of nasal traces in other near or more distant villages, as well as study of other ancient pronunciations of some phonemes. Several years earlier than Oblak, the Bulgarian linguist and historian A. Shopov (pen name 'Ofeykov') wrote that the inhabitants of Visoko, Suho, and Zarovo, in addition to the /əⁿ(ŋ)/ and /eⁿ(ŋ)/ nasalism, had another old trait in their language: in plurals and other words, in which the Old Church Slavonic letter ꙑ was used, Bulgarian peasants from Solun villages did not use и /i/ but used ѫ(ъ) /ɤ/ instead. The pronunciation of this sound is subconsciously heard as that of the letter ы in Russian language. However, instead of ы /ɨ/, this vowel was pronounced as ъ /ɤ/ or schwa /ə/. [13] A year later, the ꙑ to ъ reflex was confirmed by the eminent Macedonain Bulgarian ethnographer and writer Kuzman Shapkarev who, after pointing to nasalism traces in Kostur and Solun dialects, and in the dialect of Ohrid town, wrote that Bulgarians in Visoka, Zarovo, Suho and Negovan pronounce ы as ѫ (and not as и).[14]

Before the Balkan Wars (1912-13) to this Old Slavonic group belonged also the neighbouring village of Zarovo (bg:Зарово). Zarovo was completely destroyed during the wars and was afterwards rebuilt by Greek settlers under the name Nikopoli (gr:Νικοπολη).[9]

Veroeros Etiam

1