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The dialects of Thrace are spoken in a much smaller area than they once were, mainly limited to the region of Thrace in what is now southern Bulgaria. They share an affinity with other dialects in their vicinity, and are collectively known as the 'Rup' dialectal group. Although they are located east of the 'yat' border, they share a number of similarities with the spoken dialects of Macedonia which are not shared by the dialects of Moesia, or the 'Balkan' region. See below for some phonological and morphological characteristics:
1 - дж and дз are pronounced as ж and z respectively, so instead of джам there is жам (window)
2 - Disappearance of т from the consonant group стр, so instead of сестра there is сесра (sister)
3 - Personal pronouns нега instead of него (him), and хми instead of им
4 - Future tense particles жъ, шъ, зъ in the northern subdialect and ке in the southern subdialect
The sub-dialects of the broader group that is known as 'Rup' do share certain affinities, but they are not as uniform as the other groups, particularly where it concerns phonology. There are varying reflexes of Old Macedonian ѣ (yat), whereas Macedonian dialects of today mostly use ɛ for the yat characteristic. Below are some phonological and morphological characteristics common to all or most dialects in the 'Rup' group:
5 - щ and жд developed from Proto-Slavic tʲ and dʲ
6 - A large number of palatal consonants in all possible positions of the word: кʲитʲкʲи instead of китки (wrists)
7 - Soft (palatal) ж, ʒ and ш, so жʲаба instead of жаба (frog). These have now largely become hard consonants
8 - Preserved consonant х in all positions, so ходи instead of оди (walks)
9 - Widespread labialisation of и into у, so йуме instead of име (name)
10 - Transition of the consonant group -дн into -нн, so гланна instead of гладна (hungry)
11 - Suffix -цк[ʲ]и instead of -ски for qualitative adjectives: женцк[ʲ]и instead of formal Bulgarian женски (female)
Some brief observations:
I took most of the information above from some wikipedia articles - which all appear to stem from the below link. Although there are some incorrect perceptions from these Bulgarian linguists in their effort to present Thracian and Macedonian dialects as their own, the actual information is valuable in its factual content. Quite useful for anybody that has an interest in linguistics:
Here is an interesting fact. The ancestral dialects of the Thracian group were those spoken by the people in the Macedonia Theme, from where the Macedonian Dynasty of East Rome descended. These people identified themselves, and were identified in sources - as Macedonians.
1 - дж and дз are pronounced as ж and z respectively, so instead of джам there is жам (window)
2 - Disappearance of т from the consonant group стр, so instead of сестра there is сесра (sister)
3 - Personal pronouns нега instead of него (him), and хми instead of им
4 - Future tense particles жъ, шъ, зъ in the northern subdialect and ке in the southern subdialect
The sub-dialects of the broader group that is known as 'Rup' do share certain affinities, but they are not as uniform as the other groups, particularly where it concerns phonology. There are varying reflexes of Old Macedonian ѣ (yat), whereas Macedonian dialects of today mostly use ɛ for the yat characteristic. Below are some phonological and morphological characteristics common to all or most dialects in the 'Rup' group:
5 - щ and жд developed from Proto-Slavic tʲ and dʲ
6 - A large number of palatal consonants in all possible positions of the word: кʲитʲкʲи instead of китки (wrists)
7 - Soft (palatal) ж, ʒ and ш, so жʲаба instead of жаба (frog). These have now largely become hard consonants
8 - Preserved consonant х in all positions, so ходи instead of оди (walks)
9 - Widespread labialisation of и into у, so йуме instead of име (name)
10 - Transition of the consonant group -дн into -нн, so гланна instead of гладна (hungry)
11 - Suffix -цк[ʲ]и instead of -ски for qualitative adjectives: женцк[ʲ]и instead of formal Bulgarian женски (female)
Some brief observations:
- On point 2 - this characteristic is very common in spoken Macedonian, particularly the dialects of Bitola, Prilep, Lerin, etc. Other examples are срав instead of страв (fear), срико instead of стрико (paternal uncle), etc.
- On point 4 - it is worth pointing out that the southern sub-dialect is closer to common Macedonian (compare ke to ќе), whereas the northern sub-dialect is closer to some eastern Macedonian dialects and standard Bulgarian (compare шъ to ще).
- On point 11 - anybody that has read the works of Misirkov will notice the repeat occurrence of this feature, so Македонцки instead of Македонски
I took most of the information above from some wikipedia articles - which all appear to stem from the below link. Although there are some incorrect perceptions from these Bulgarian linguists in their effort to present Thracian and Macedonian dialects as their own, the actual information is valuable in its factual content. Quite useful for anybody that has an interest in linguistics:
Here is an interesting fact. The ancestral dialects of the Thracian group were those spoken by the people in the Macedonia Theme, from where the Macedonian Dynasty of East Rome descended. These people identified themselves, and were identified in sources - as Macedonians.
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