2,334
edits
West Carpathian: Difference between revisions
→Dialects
(→Nouns) |
|||
| Line 250: | Line 250: | ||
==Dialects== | ==Dialects== | ||
West Carpathian dialects are divided into four groups: '''Ränci''', '''Orava''', '''Šilli''' and '''Prešov'''. These groups are distinguished from each other in vowels and some consonants, diphthongs and rhythm of speech, while grammar and vocabulary are more or less the same. Linguistically Ränci and Orava dialects are closer to each other, than each one to the standard language, so they are often grouped together. In recent times they even developed their own orthography, based on the standard, but with minor changes. Despite this, the new orthography is not widely used. Prešov dialects share more similarities to some '''Jīri''' dialects of East Carpathian than to any other dialect of West Carpathian and belongs to the latter mostly due to political reasons. Nevertheless, all the dialects are mutually intelligible with one another to some degree. | |||
===Ränci Orava dialects=== | |||
These dialects are usually grouped together into the Northwestern group (standard: ''äthihultuvō kuovpa'', northwestern: ''ätihudduvu kuoffa''). It is spoken in [[w:Žilina Region|Žilina Region]] of Slovakia and [[w:Podkarpackie Voivodeship|Podkarpackie Voivodeship]] in Poland. Their typical features are lack of palatalization (Orava dialects have č and š, but they are retroflex [t͡ʂ] and [ʂ] like in Polish), a distinct phoneme y [ɪ], retention of old velar nasal [ŋ] and labiodental fricative [f] in both strong and weak grades. Ränci dialects have dd [ð̞ː] - a strong grade of d [ð̞], while in Orava both changed into vv [ʋː] and v [ʋ] respectively. Ränci also has a long counterpart for ä [æ] which is written with a macron above - ǟ, while in Orava it changed into iä, like in the standard. However in Orava ā also becomes ua, which did not happen anywhere else in West Carpathian. For example, ''tiä'' ("that over there") and ''hā'' ("it") is ''tǟ'' and ''hā'' in Ränci and ''tiä'' and ''hua'' in Orava. Also their most notable feature is the pronunciation of 'th' as a plosive [t̪], like in word for "west" ''äthi'' which is pronounced ''äti'' [ˈæ.t̪i]. It is thought that an interdental fricative [θ], similar to English ''th'' in '''th'''ink was preserved in those dialects until the middle of the XXth century and some speakers (mostly older than 60) may still pronounce it this way. | |||
The Äzeränci language was spoken near the modern border between Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. It is often considered a part of West Carpathian. The language became extinct in the middle of the XVIIth century and very little is known about it. Its vocabulary may be fairly distinct from modern standard West Carpathian, containing more loanwords from German and Slovak as well as many archaisms. | |||
===Šilli dialects=== | |||
The standard language was based on these dialects, so they are very close to it. They are also the most widely spoken and with the spread of the standard, they slowly substitute other dialects. A common feature of some Šilli dialects is merging of diphthongs iä and eä, so they are pronounced the same, but still give different vowels, while declining, for instance, ''tiä'' ("that over there") and ''teä'' ("plane, flat land") are both ''teä'', but their plural forms are ''teäk'' and ''täik'' respectively. | |||
===Prešov dialects=== | |||
These dialect are spoken to the east of [[w:Prešov|Prešov]] city in Eastern Slovakia. Linguistically they are considered transitional between West and East Carpathian being very similar to the border dialects of the East Carpathian language. Their notable features are a presence of palatalization (s and c have palatalized counterparts ś [ɕ] and ć [t͡ɕ] like in Jīri dialects of East Carpathian, but not in the standard West Carpathian), presence of /y/ sound and its long counterpart usually described as close front compressed vowel [iᵝ] and [iᵝː] (written ÿ and iu), which sounds very similar to /i/ but is pronounced with lips slightly rounded. For example, ''sihku'' "fog" is ''siuhkÿ'' [ˈsiᵝːh.kiᵝ]. Standard "d" is pronounced the same as "l" /l/, and "th" is silent in most of the dialects, while the standard pronunciation is [h]. | |||
==Geographic distribution== | ==Geographic distribution== | ||
West Carpathian is spoken by about 45 thousand people, most of whom are Slovakian citizens. There are also small Carpathian minorities in Poland (less than 7000 people). The majority of the Carpathian population in Slovakia, 78% as of 2012, speak West Carpathian as their first language, while in Poland this number is significantly smaller (19%, which is approximately 2000 speakers). | West Carpathian is spoken by about 45 thousand people, most of whom are Slovakian citizens. There are also small Carpathian minorities in Poland (less than 7000 people). The majority of the Carpathian population in Slovakia, 78% as of 2012, speak West Carpathian as their first language, while in Poland this number is significantly smaller (19%, which is approximately 2000 speakers). | ||