Kumanovo dialect

The Kumanovo dialect (Macedonian: Кумановски дијалект, Kumanovski dijalekt) is a member of the eastern subgroup of the Northern group of dialects of the Macedonian language. It belongs to the so-called Prizren-Timok dialects, also known as Torlakian.^[1] The dialect is typical for the northern dialect of the Macedonian language and is very well known because of the use of some cases, such as the locative case. The Kumanovo dialect is spoken mainly in the city of Kumanovo and the surrounding villages. The dialect is closely related with the neighboring Kriva Palanka dialect. The Kumanovo dialect can be found in the literal works, such as the famous play Lenče Kumanovče written by Vasil Iljoski in 1928.^[2] The Kumanovo dialect is especially popular sources of humor in the spoken media, whereas the print media tend to favor West dialect forms forhumorous anecdotes, quotations in local news stories.^[3] The most significant example where Kumanovo dialect is used in humorous way is the festival Tumba Fest.

Phonological characteristics

• use of A instead of E: трева / treva > трава / trava;
• use of the letter U instead of the letter A: рака / raka > рука / ruka (hand), пат / pat > пут / put (road);
• the old vocal L is changed with U/ LU/ LA: волк / volk > вук / vuk (wolf), сонце / sonce > сл'нце / sl'nce (sun).
• use of palatal J at the beginning of the word: јазик / jazik > език / ezik (tongue), еж / ež > јеж / jež.^[4]

Morphological characteristics

• use of the suffix -V in third-person plural: тие имаа / tie imaa > они имава/имасва / oni imava/imasva (they had);
• use of the suffix E for plural instead of the suffix -I: торби/ torbi > торбе / torbe (bags).
• Use of KUDE instead of KADE (where).
• Use of the forms gu and ga instead of the forms go and i: њега га виде / njega ga vide (I saw him).^[5]

Personal pronouns

Possessive pronouns

Demonstrative pronouns

Nominal inflection

Adjectival inflection

Examples of the dialect

	The Poor Man Excerpt of a story from Matejče told in the Kumanovo dialect.
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• A song that is very well known in Republic of Macedonia and typical for the Kumanovo dialect:

Три невесте тикве брале, бре

три невесте тикве брале, бре

три невесте тикве брале, бре, бре, бре

тикве брале, бре.

Куде брале туј заспале, бре

куде брале туј заспале, бре

куде брале туј заспале, бре, бре, бре

туј заспале, бре.

Phrases

• Кумановци не се претопуев лăко, на свој дијалет зборив куде и да су
  • Kumanovci ne se pretopuev lăko, na svoj dijalekt zboriv kude i da su ("The people from Kumanovo cannot be assimilated easily, they speak their own dialect wherever they are")
• Полăко ќе научиш англиски да пишуеш и читаш неголи кумановски
  • Polăko ḱe naučiš angliski da pišueš i čitaš negoli kumanovski ("You will learn to write and read English more easily than the Kumanovo dialect")

References

Dialects of Macedonian
Western	Central Prilep-Bitola Kičevo-Poreče Skopje-Veles Western and northwestern Upper Polog Debar Drimkol-Golo Brdo Galičnik Reka Vevčani-Radožda Struga Ohrid Upper Prespa Lower Prespa
Northern	Eastern Kumanovo2 Kratovo2 Kriva Palanka2 Ovče Pole Western Skopska Crna Gora Lower Polog Gora2
Southeastern	Eastern Štip - Kočani Strumica Tikveš-Mariovo Maleševo-Pirin1 Southeastern Solun-Voden1 Ser-Drama-Lagadin-Nevrokop1 Nestram-Kostenar Kostur Korča
1 Also considered a dialect of Bulgarian. 2 Considered to be a part of the transitional Torlak dialect and as a subdialect of Bulgarian, Macedonian, and Serbo-Croatian.