[QUOTE=Diabolical;12161]In my research, I have picked up a useful book called IMRO and the Macedonian Question by Michael A. Radin.

It seems, I have misunderstood... It was the Vlachs that were enthusiastic and fought along the Macedonians (sorry, I have only recently seriously started looking into Macedonian history from Ottoman period hehe :))

a paragraph on p103 says

It doesn't say more than that about the Albanians... Arms couriers, from the looks of it, seems like another word for "weapons dealer" more or less... that may be the "significant role" the book speaks of (or maybe this also included mercenaries that Magedon was speaking of) ... about the "new administration" I have no idea what that means..[/QUOTE]
Michael is an intelligent guy.
I know him well.
But I wonder if he would write the same things if he had another go at it now.

What do you mean Risto?

I mean that with the abundance of extra information available now as opposed to when he wrote the book, he may be able to shed more light on some of the issues he explored. I will ask him the next time I see him.

Michael Radin, was all we had at one time, but he bought into the "we are 5th century Slavs" thing, and looking back over his stuff it now looks pretty basic.

Contemporary Witnesses: Macedonian revolutionaries and Ilinden Uprising 1903
 

[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0boIoPuNn_E&feature=related]YouTube - Contemporary Witnesses: Macedonian revolutionaries and Ilinden Uprising 1903 (1/3)[/url]
[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYd0qbeU7GI&feature=related]YouTube - Contemporary Witnesses: Macedonian revolutionaries and Ilinden Uprising 1903 (2/3)[/url]
[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKCl_Qsjbmk&feature=related]YouTube - Contemporary Witnesses: Macedonian revolutionaries and Ilinden Uprising 1903 (3/3)[/url]

Awesome stuff.
I hate to say it ... but the modern Macedonian language has gone to the dogs.
This is the language of all Macedonians.

RtG, can you name some of the obvious departures that you have noticed when using the language of the folks in the clip as a comparison?

Don't bother, just watched the videos, I see what you mean when you compare it to the dialect of the old couple, although it is hard to make out some words due to the sound quality, how did you go with it? Where do you think they are from? There may be some Exarch influence in there with the word 'bashtami'.

I will post a sentence from the last clip.

Mate, I would say it all sounded like my own people were speaking the language. The sound quality was not good, but the choice of words and accents seemed very "comfortable" to me.

Check the last vid between 4.39 and 5.49.

[I][B]Vrhovistite iska da doe Bugarija tuka, a pa centralistite [COLOR="Red"]gone mi e pa[/COLOR] samo stojatolna Makedonija da bide, nikoi da ne se nabrka, nitu srbin, nitu bugarin, nitu grk…….A na mene napravija tia, vrhovistite bashtami zakla, stoka imame dignaa, rasipaa, se, oti [COLOR="red"]sum ostaal [/COLOR]sos Delchev....[/B][/I]



There are defitenly some things that need altering, RtG, can you correct anything? Highlighted in red is some parts I am not sure of, nor even if the word is correct.