Užican speech
Encyclopedia
The Užice dialect or Zlatibor dialect (Serbian
: ужички говор, užički govor or златиборски говор, zlatiborski govor) is a dialect in the Serbo-Croatian
dialect continuum
, classified among the Eastern Herzegovinian
sub-dialects of the Štokavian dialect. It is traditionally spoken by c. 500,000 people the Bosniaks
and Serbs
of the region in the Zlatibor
and Moravica District
s in the Užice
region (Stari Vlah
) in the south-western part of Serbia
.
region is found in Ottoman
geographer Evliya Çelebi
’s record on his visit to the Užice nahiya in 1664. In his travelogue, the language of Užičans
is called the Bosnian language.
Today Orthodox
people in the Užice region usually say they speak Serbian
, whereas Muslims (who primarily dwell in the municipalities of Nova Varoš
, Priboj
, Prijepolje
, and Sjenica
in the Zlatibor District
) say they speak Bosnian
. The name Serbo-Croatian
was also used during the Yugoslav
era.
. It is characterized by an Eastern Herzegovinian accenting system
consisting of four pitch accents with long vowels following accented syllables, and a case system
using full declension. Today many people in the Užice region, especially in urban areas, use the Ekavian rendering of yat (which is dominant in Serbia) in speech and writing, instead of the traditional Užice Ijekavian rendering. Nevertheless, the original Ijekavian forms of local toponyms such as Bioska
, Đetinja, Prijepolje
, Bjeluša
, Kosjerić
, Drijetanj
etc., are usually preserved, as these are the names used in official documents and other publications. However, there is also a number of toponyms which were Ekavized in the written language, although their original Ijekavian forms have often survived in the spoken language. These include Bela Reka
, Kriva Reka
, Seništa
and others, which can often be heard as Bijela Rijeka, Kriva Rijeka, Sjeništa etc. in conversation among the locals.
In the Central South Slavic dialect continuum
, the Užice dialect forms a transition between the neighbouring dialects of Bosnia and Herzegovina
and the dialects of Serbia
. Some of its characteristics are shared with either dialects, but many of them are common with the Bosnian vernacular rather than the dialects of the rest of Serbia; including the traditional Ijekavian rendering of yat
, the reduction
of short unaccented vowels in speech, and other characteristics of the local phonetics
, morphology
, and lexis
, the latter manifested primarily in many loanwords from Turkish
, Persian
, and Arabic
languages, which are, however, suppressed and less used in the modern language. The connections between the Užice region
and Bosnia were even stronger in the past, as parts of this region once belonged to the mediaeval Bosnian state, and the mediaeval local population were followers of the Church of Bosnia
.
and Celtic tribes in the early Middle Ages
, and therefore the dialect in its earliest mediaeval form has been rather influenced by the Celtic and Illyrian languages, the remaining of which are some local toponyms of Illyrian or Romanized
Celtic etymology, such as Tara Mountain
, Negbina
, Murtenica
, Čigota etc., or the mediaeval Užican personal name Brajan
of Celtic origin.
Mediaeval records of local toponyms show Ikavian characteristics of the local Slavonic vernacular
, similarly to the mediaeval Bosnian language
. These toponyms include Bika Rika, Siča Rika, Biluša, and others, which are today known as Bela Reka
or Bijela Rijeka, Seča Reka
, and Bjeluša
(either Ijekavian or Ekavized during the 19th and 20th centuries).
The dialect’s vocabulary was later influenced by the Ottoman Turkish language
. A mention of the respectable Turkish influence on Užican language and mentality is also found in the novel Došljaci by a notable Užice writer Milutin Uskoković:
During the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, the Užice region
was mostly populated by the migrants from Herzegovina
, Montenegro
, and other Dinaric
regions. Most of the present-day Užičans
descend from these settlers. The local dialect was then influenced by the Younger Ijekavian dialects of Herzegovina and Montenegro, and thus became one of the Eastern Herzegovinian dialects.
consists of local anecdote
s and proverb
s, as well as the epic
and lyric poems
, both of which are usually sung according to a common metric system consisting of ten units (ten syllables in a verse), and often performed with gusle
. The hero of all Užican anecdotes is called Ero (another name for an Užičan
, also spelled Era), who is portrayed as a most clever, witty, and hospitable person, although he is just a simple Zlatibor
ian peasant. In these short anecdotes, he always succeeds to trick the others at the end, even though they hold a higher position in the society or are often considered smarter than him (priests, Ottoman and Serbian nobility, the police, etc.). Characters similar to smart and clever Ero are found in anecdotes across the Balkans
: in the stories about Nasredin Hodža
, of oriental origin, or Karagiozis
in the Greek and Turkish literatures.
The written literature, on the other hand, usually stuck to the standard language
; that is Old Church Slavonic
and Church Slavonic in the Middle Ages
, and later the standard Serbian language
. The first Užican printed book, Rujansko četvorojevanđelje (the Gospels of Rujno), was printed in Church Slavonic in 1537. Other Church Slavonic books printed in the Užice region include Psalter
printed in Mileševa monastery in 1544, and Evangelion
and Pentecostarion
printed in Mrkša’s Church in 1562 and 1566, respectively. After the printing centres in Užican monasteries were demolished by the Ottoman Turks
, a manuscript culture
arose in the Rača monastery
. The manuscripts produced in Rača were written in Church Slavonic, but they contained many elements of the Užican vernacular. The first works compiled in the local dialect by literate Užičans appeared in the 19th century. They include Miladin Radović’s chronicle Samouki rukopis, and the Prophecy of Kremna which was told by Zechariah Zaharić, the protopope
of Kremna
.
Serbian language
Serbian is a form of Serbo-Croatian, a South Slavic language, spoken by Serbs in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia and neighbouring countries....
: ужички говор, užički govor or златиборски говор, zlatiborski govor) is a dialect in the Serbo-Croatian
Serbo-Croatian
Serbo-Croatian or Serbo-Croat, less commonly Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian , is a South Slavic language with multiple standards and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro...
dialect continuum
Dialect continuum
A dialect continuum, or dialect area, was defined by Leonard Bloomfield as a range of dialects spoken across some geographical area that differ only slightly between neighboring areas, but as one travels in any direction, these differences accumulate such that speakers from opposite ends of the...
, classified among the Eastern Herzegovinian
Herzegovina
Herzegovina is the southern region of Bosnia and Herzegovina. While there is no official border distinguishing it from the Bosnian region, it is generally accepted that the borders of the region are Croatia to the west, Montenegro to the south, the canton boundaries of the Herzegovina-Neretva...
sub-dialects of the Štokavian dialect. It is traditionally spoken by c. 500,000 people the Bosniaks
Bosniaks
The Bosniaks or Bosniacs are a South Slavic ethnic group, living mainly in Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a smaller minority also present in other lands of the Balkan Peninsula especially in Serbia, Montenegro and Croatia...
and Serbs
Serbs
The Serbs are a South Slavic ethnic group of the Balkans and southern Central Europe. Serbs are located mainly in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and form a sizable minority in Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia. Likewise, Serbs are an officially recognized minority in...
of the region in the Zlatibor
Zlatibor District
Zlatibor District is a district in the western, mountainous part of the Republic of Serbia. The district was named after the mountain region of Zlatibor. According to the 2011 Census Data, the Zlatibor District has a population of 284,729 people...
and Moravica District
Moravica District
The Moravica District is located in the central parts of Serbia. It has a population of 212,149...
s in the Užice
Užice
Užice is a city and municipality in western Serbia, located at the banks of the Đetinja river. It is the administrative center of the Zlatibor District...
region (Stari Vlah
Stari Vlah
Stari Vlah is a historic and geographical region in Southwestern Serbia.-Geography:Stari Vlah contains 7 municipalities of Serbia: Priboj, Nova Varoš, Prijepolje, Užice, Ivanjica, Čajetina, and Arilje...
) in the south-western part of Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
.
Names
One of the earliest mentions of the local dialect of UžiceUžice
Užice is a city and municipality in western Serbia, located at the banks of the Đetinja river. It is the administrative center of the Zlatibor District...
region is found in Ottoman
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
geographer Evliya Çelebi
Evliya Çelebi
Evliya Çelebi was an Ottoman traveler who journeyed through the territory of the Ottoman Empire and neighboring lands over a period of forty years.- Life :...
’s record on his visit to the Užice nahiya in 1664. In his travelogue, the language of Užičans
Užičans
Užičans generally refers to the locals of the western Serbian city of Užice, its local discrict and the surrounding area. The Užičans today are a regional subgroup in Serbia; the majority declare Serbian nationality whilst many of the southern Muslims choose Bosniak or Muslim.-Notablity:Like all...
is called the Bosnian language.
Today Orthodox
Serbian Orthodox Church
The Serbian Orthodox Church is one of the autocephalous Orthodox Christian churches, ranking sixth in order of seniority after Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem, and Russia...
people in the Užice region usually say they speak Serbian
Serbian language
Serbian is a form of Serbo-Croatian, a South Slavic language, spoken by Serbs in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia and neighbouring countries....
, whereas Muslims (who primarily dwell in the municipalities of Nova Varoš
Nova Varoš
Nova Varoš is a town and municipality in Zlatibor District of Serbia. According to the 1991 census, the municipality of Nova Varoš had a population of 21,812, while according to the 2011 census, the number of inhabitants in the municipality was 16,758...
, Priboj
Priboj
Priboj is a town and municipality located in the Zlatibor District of Serbia at 43.59° North, 19.54° East. In 2011, the town has a total population of 14,015, while population of the municipality is 27,127.- History :...
, Prijepolje
Prijepolje
Prijepolje is a town and municipality in the Zlatibor District of Serbia. According to the 2011 census, the municipality of Prijepolje has a population of 36,713 people, while the town itself has a population of 13,068...
, and Sjenica
Sjenica
Sjenica , is a town and municipality in the Zlatibor District of Serbia. The population of the town, according to 2011 census, is 13,056 inhabitants, while the municipality has 25,448.-History:...
in the Zlatibor District
Zlatibor District
Zlatibor District is a district in the western, mountainous part of the Republic of Serbia. The district was named after the mountain region of Zlatibor. According to the 2011 Census Data, the Zlatibor District has a population of 284,729 people...
) say they speak Bosnian
Bosnian language
Bosnian is a South Slavic language, spoken by Bosniaks. As a standardized form of the Shtokavian dialect, it is one of the three official languages of Bosnia and Herzegovina....
. The name Serbo-Croatian
Serbo-Croatian
Serbo-Croatian or Serbo-Croat, less commonly Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian , is a South Slavic language with multiple standards and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro...
was also used during the Yugoslav
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
era.
Classification
The Užice dialct is a Neo-Štokavian dialect of the Ijekavian rendering of the old Slavonic vowel yatYat
Yat or Jat is the thirty-second letter of the old Cyrillic alphabet. Its name in Old Church Slavonic is jěd’ or iad’ . In the common scientific Latin transliteration for old Slavic languages, the letter is represented by e with caron: .The yat represented a Common Slavic long vowel...
. It is characterized by an Eastern Herzegovinian accenting system
Accent (linguistics)
In linguistics, an accent is a manner of pronunciation peculiar to a particular individual, location, or nation.An accent may identify the locality in which its speakers reside , the socio-economic status of its speakers, their ethnicity, their caste or social class, their first language In...
consisting of four pitch accents with long vowels following accented syllables, and a case system
Grammatical case
In grammar, the case of a noun or pronoun is an inflectional form that indicates its grammatical function in a phrase, clause, or sentence. For example, a pronoun may play the role of subject , of direct object , or of possessor...
using full declension. Today many people in the Užice region, especially in urban areas, use the Ekavian rendering of yat (which is dominant in Serbia) in speech and writing, instead of the traditional Užice Ijekavian rendering. Nevertheless, the original Ijekavian forms of local toponyms such as Bioska
Bioska
Bioska , is a village located in the Užice municipality of Serbia on the mountainous banks of Đetinja river, between Zlatibor and Tara mountains, and close to Mokra Gora-Drvengrad, a.k.a. Küstendorf or Mećavnik , and Uzice-Ponikve airport. According to the 2002 census, the village has a population...
, Đetinja, Prijepolje
Prijepolje
Prijepolje is a town and municipality in the Zlatibor District of Serbia. According to the 2011 census, the municipality of Prijepolje has a population of 36,713 people, while the town itself has a population of 13,068...
, Bjeluša
Bjeluša
Bjeluša is a village in the municipality of Arilje, Serbia. According to the 2002 census, the village has a population of 565 people.-References:...
, Kosjerić
Kosjeric
Kosjerić is a town and municipality in Western Serbia. The municipality has 12,873 inhabitants, but the town itself has 3,970. The municipality's area is 359 square kilometers, with 26 villages mostly placed in the river valleys, though there are also some settlements in the mountains at altitudes...
, Drijetanj
Drijetanj
Drijetanj is a village located in the Užice municipality of Serbia. In the 2002 census, the village had a population of 1092....
etc., are usually preserved, as these are the names used in official documents and other publications. However, there is also a number of toponyms which were Ekavized in the written language, although their original Ijekavian forms have often survived in the spoken language. These include Bela Reka
Bela Reka
Bela Reka is a Serbian toponym, meaning "white river". It can refer to the following:* Bela Reka , village in Šabac municipality* Gornja Bela Reka , village in Zaječar municipality* Donja Bela Reka , village in Bor municipality...
, Kriva Reka
Kriva Reka
The Kriva Reka , is a 75 km long river in northeastern Macedonia, and the biggest left tributary of the Pcinja River.- Geography and Tributaries :...
, Seništa
Seništa
Seništa is a village in the municipality of Nova Varoš, western Serbia. According to the 2002 census, the village has a population of 262 people.-References:...
and others, which can often be heard as Bijela Rijeka, Kriva Rijeka, Sjeništa etc. in conversation among the locals.
In the Central South Slavic dialect continuum
Dialect continuum
A dialect continuum, or dialect area, was defined by Leonard Bloomfield as a range of dialects spoken across some geographical area that differ only slightly between neighboring areas, but as one travels in any direction, these differences accumulate such that speakers from opposite ends of the...
, the Užice dialect forms a transition between the neighbouring dialects of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...
and the dialects of Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
. Some of its characteristics are shared with either dialects, but many of them are common with the Bosnian vernacular rather than the dialects of the rest of Serbia; including the traditional Ijekavian rendering of yat
Yat
Yat or Jat is the thirty-second letter of the old Cyrillic alphabet. Its name in Old Church Slavonic is jěd’ or iad’ . In the common scientific Latin transliteration for old Slavic languages, the letter is represented by e with caron: .The yat represented a Common Slavic long vowel...
, the reduction
Vowel reduction
In phonetics, vowel reduction is any of various changes in the acoustic quality of vowels, which are related to changes in stress, sonority, duration, loudness, articulation, or position in the word , and which are perceived as "weakening"...
of short unaccented vowels in speech, and other characteristics of the local phonetics
Phonetics
Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that comprises the study of the sounds of human speech, or—in the case of sign languages—the equivalent aspects of sign. It is concerned with the physical properties of speech sounds or signs : their physiological production, acoustic properties, auditory...
, morphology
Morphology (linguistics)
In linguistics, morphology is the identification, analysis and description, in a language, of the structure of morphemes and other linguistic units, such as words, affixes, parts of speech, intonation/stress, or implied context...
, and lexis
Lexis (linguistics)
In linguistics, a lexis is the total word-stock or lexicon having items of lexical, rather than grammatical, meaning. This notion contrasts starkly with the Chomskian proposition of a “Universal Grammar” as the prime mover for language...
, the latter manifested primarily in many loanwords from Turkish
Turkish language
Turkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...
, Persian
Persian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
, and Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
languages, which are, however, suppressed and less used in the modern language. The connections between the Užice region
Stari Vlah
Stari Vlah is a historic and geographical region in Southwestern Serbia.-Geography:Stari Vlah contains 7 municipalities of Serbia: Priboj, Nova Varoš, Prijepolje, Užice, Ivanjica, Čajetina, and Arilje...
and Bosnia were even stronger in the past, as parts of this region once belonged to the mediaeval Bosnian state, and the mediaeval local population were followers of the Church of Bosnia
Bosnian Church
The Bosnian Church is historically thought to be an indigenous branch of the Bogomils that existed in Bosnia during the Middle Ages. Adherents of the church called themselves simply Krstjani...
.
History
The local population descends from the Slavs who mixed with IllyrianIllyrians
The Illyrians were a group of tribes who inhabited part of the western Balkans in antiquity and the south-eastern coasts of the Italian peninsula...
and Celtic tribes in the early Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
, and therefore the dialect in its earliest mediaeval form has been rather influenced by the Celtic and Illyrian languages, the remaining of which are some local toponyms of Illyrian or Romanized
Romanization (cultural)
Romanization or latinization indicate different historical processes, such as acculturation, integration and assimilation of newly incorporated and peripheral populations by the Roman Republic and the later Roman Empire...
Celtic etymology, such as Tara Mountain
Tara Mountain
Tara , is a mountain located in western Serbia. It is part of Dinaric Alps and stands at 1,000-1,500 metres above sea level. The mountain's slopes are clad in dense forests with numerous high-altitude clearings and meadows, steep cliffs, deep ravines carved by the nearby Drina River and many karst,...
, Negbina
Negbina
Negbina is a village in the municipality of Nova Varoš, western Serbia. According to the 2002 census, the village has a population of 475 people.-References:...
, Murtenica
Murtenica
Murtenica is a mountain in western Serbia, near the town of Nova Varoš. Its highest peak Brijač has an altitude of 1480 meters above sea level....
, Čigota etc., or the mediaeval Užican personal name Brajan
Brian
Brian is a male given name of Irish and Breton origin, as well as a surname of Occitan origin. It is common in the English-speaking world. It is possible that the name is derived from an Old Celtic word meaning "high" or "noble". For example the element bre means "hill"; which could be transferred...
of Celtic origin.
Mediaeval records of local toponyms show Ikavian characteristics of the local Slavonic vernacular
Vernacular
A vernacular is the native language or native dialect of a specific population, as opposed to a language of wider communication that is not native to the population, such as a national language or lingua franca.- Etymology :The term is not a recent one...
, similarly to the mediaeval Bosnian language
Bosnian language
Bosnian is a South Slavic language, spoken by Bosniaks. As a standardized form of the Shtokavian dialect, it is one of the three official languages of Bosnia and Herzegovina....
. These toponyms include Bika Rika, Siča Rika, Biluša, and others, which are today known as Bela Reka
Bela Reka
Bela Reka is a Serbian toponym, meaning "white river". It can refer to the following:* Bela Reka , village in Šabac municipality* Gornja Bela Reka , village in Zaječar municipality* Donja Bela Reka , village in Bor municipality...
or Bijela Rijeka, Seča Reka
Seča Reka
Seča Reka is a village in the municipality of Kosjerić, western Serbia. According to the 2002 census, the village has a population of 853 people.-References:...
, and Bjeluša
Bjeluša
Bjeluša is a village in the municipality of Arilje, Serbia. According to the 2002 census, the village has a population of 565 people.-References:...
(either Ijekavian or Ekavized during the 19th and 20th centuries).
The dialect’s vocabulary was later influenced by the Ottoman Turkish language
Ottoman Turkish language
The Ottoman Turkish language or Ottoman language is the variety of the Turkish language that was used for administrative and literary purposes in the Ottoman Empire. It borrows extensively from Arabic and Persian, and was written in a variant of the Perso-Arabic script...
. A mention of the respectable Turkish influence on Užican language and mentality is also found in the novel Došljaci by a notable Užice writer Milutin Uskoković:
During the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, the Užice region
Stari Vlah
Stari Vlah is a historic and geographical region in Southwestern Serbia.-Geography:Stari Vlah contains 7 municipalities of Serbia: Priboj, Nova Varoš, Prijepolje, Užice, Ivanjica, Čajetina, and Arilje...
was mostly populated by the migrants from Herzegovina
Herzegovina
Herzegovina is the southern region of Bosnia and Herzegovina. While there is no official border distinguishing it from the Bosnian region, it is generally accepted that the borders of the region are Croatia to the west, Montenegro to the south, the canton boundaries of the Herzegovina-Neretva...
, Montenegro
Montenegro
Montenegro Montenegrin: Crna Gora Црна Гора , meaning "Black Mountain") is a country located in Southeastern Europe. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea to the south-west and is bordered by Croatia to the west, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the northwest, Serbia to the northeast and Albania to the...
, and other Dinaric
Dinaric Alps
The Dinaric Alps or Dinarides form a mountain chain in Southern Europe, spanning areas of Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Kosovo, Albania and Montenegro....
regions. Most of the present-day Užičans
Užičans
Užičans generally refers to the locals of the western Serbian city of Užice, its local discrict and the surrounding area. The Užičans today are a regional subgroup in Serbia; the majority declare Serbian nationality whilst many of the southern Muslims choose Bosniak or Muslim.-Notablity:Like all...
descend from these settlers. The local dialect was then influenced by the Younger Ijekavian dialects of Herzegovina and Montenegro, and thus became one of the Eastern Herzegovinian dialects.
Characteristics
- Interrogatory pronouns are šta (what) and ko (who), according to which the pronoun nešta (something) is used instead of the standard nešto; and što (why) is used with the meaning of the standard zašto.
- The dialect has younger Štokavian accentuation consisting of four accents and long vowels following the accented syllables, and the full declensionDeclensionIn linguistics, declension is the inflection of nouns, pronouns, adjectives, and articles to indicate number , case , and gender...
using the ending -a in genitive pluralGenitive caseIn grammar, genitive is the grammatical case that marks a noun as modifying another noun...
and a same form for dativeDative caseThe dative case is a grammatical case generally used to indicate the noun to whom something is given, as in "George gave Jamie a drink"....
, instrumentalInstrumental caseThe instrumental case is a grammatical case used to indicate that a noun is the instrument or means by or with which the subject achieves or accomplishes an action...
, and locativeLocative caseLocative is a grammatical case which indicates a location. It corresponds vaguely to the English prepositions "in", "on", "at", and "by"...
plural. The post-accent long vowels are more frequent in the Užican dialect than in the standard languageStandard languageA standard language is a language variety used by a group of people in their public discourse. Alternatively, varieties become standard by undergoing a process of standardization, during which it is organized for description in grammars and dictionaries and encoded in such reference works...
, appearing on all vocativeVocative caseThe vocative case is the case used for a noun identifying the person being addressed and/or occasionally the determiners of that noun. A vocative expression is an expression of direct address, wherein the identity of the party being spoken to is set forth expressly within a sentence...
endings and the praeteritePast tenseThe past tense is a grammatical tense that places an action or situation in the past of the current moment , or prior to some specified time that may be in the speaker's past, present, or future...
suffixes. - The old vowel yatYatYat or Jat is the thirty-second letter of the old Cyrillic alphabet. Its name in Old Church Slavonic is jěd’ or iad’ . In the common scientific Latin transliteration for old Slavic languages, the letter is represented by e with caron: .The yat represented a Common Slavic long vowel...
is replaced with ije in long syllables and je in the short ones. Before another vowel or a palatal consonantPalatal consonantPalatal consonants are consonants articulated with the body of the tongue raised against the hard palate...
, it is replaced with i, and after a consonant clusterConsonant clusterIn linguistics, a consonant cluster is a group of consonants which have no intervening vowel. In English, for example, the groups and are consonant clusters in the word splits....
or the consonant r, it is rendered as e. The reflex of long yatYatYat or Jat is the thirty-second letter of the old Cyrillic alphabet. Its name in Old Church Slavonic is jěd’ or iad’ . In the common scientific Latin transliteration for old Slavic languages, the letter is represented by e with caron: .The yat represented a Common Slavic long vowel...
(ije) is always bisyllabic, while it is diphthongDiphthongA diphthong , also known as a gliding vowel, refers to two adjacent vowel sounds occurring within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: That is, the tongue moves during the pronunciation of the vowel...
al in some other Ijekavian dialects. - The older Ijekavian yat reflexYatYat or Jat is the thirty-second letter of the old Cyrillic alphabet. Its name in Old Church Slavonic is jěd’ or iad’ . In the common scientific Latin transliteration for old Slavic languages, the letter is represented by e with caron: .The yat represented a Common Slavic long vowel...
has been kept in several pronouns and declension endings: ovijem instead of the standard ovim, moijem instead of mojim, starijem for starim etc. - The dialectal Ijekavian iotationIotationIotation is a linguistic phenomenon very characteristic of the Slavic languages. It should not be confused with palatalization, which is an entirely different process....
(dj > đ [dʑ], tj > ć [tɕ]) has been preserved: đe for gdje, đevojka for djevojka, đeca for djeca, međed for medvjed, lećeti for letjeti, ćerati for tjerati etc. The iotation also affects sound /s/, and to a lesser degree sounds /z/ and /ts/, yielding [ɕ] or [ʃʲ] for sj, [ʑ] or [ʒʲ] for zj, and [tɕ] for cj: sjutra > śutra, posjek > pośek, cjepanica > ćepanica etc. More archaic Ijekavian iotation affecting labial sounds (pj > plj [pʎ], vj > vlj [vʎ]) is found in the text of the Prophecy of Kremna but is, however, usually omitted. - Several dialectal words and expressions are differently built, such as: sjutra or sjutre (that is, śutra or śutre when the iotation occurs) instead of the standard sutra; puštiti instead of pustiti; jošte instead of još; računjati instead of računati; morem, more instead of mogu, može; bidem or bidnem instead of budem; četri instead of četiri; potlje and pošlje instead of poslije or posle; as well as dialectal expressions najvolim and najposle.
- The ending -t is used instead of -n for the passive voice of the verbs of the II, IV, V, and VII grammatical conjugationGrammatical conjugationIn linguistics, conjugation is the creation of derived forms of a verb from its principal parts by inflection . Conjugation may be affected by person, number, gender, tense, aspect, mood, voice, or other grammatical categories...
: napisat, napisata for napisan, napisana; izabrat for izabran and so on. - Sounds /f/ and /x/ have been either lost or replaced with sounds /p/, /ʋ/, /j/, /k/, /ɡ/ or /s/: ljeb for hljeb, njig for njih, kava for kafa, oras for orah, stio for htio, kujna for kuhinja etc. The sound /j/ is also less used when occurs near the vowel /i/ giving starii for stariji, moi for moji, Alin for Alijin (as in toponym Alin PotokAlin PotokAlin Potok is a village in the municipality of Čajetina, western Serbia. According to the 2002 census, the village has a population of 244 people.-References:...
) etc. - Several sound changes such as sibilarizationPalatalizationIn linguistics, palatalization , also palatization, may refer to two different processes by which a sound, usually a consonant, comes to be produced with the tongue in a position in the mouth near the palate....
, assimilationAssimilation (linguistics)Assimilation is a common phonological process by which the sound of the ending of one word blends into the sound of the beginning of the following word. This occurs when the parts of the mouth and vocal cords start to form the beginning sounds of the next word before the last sound has been...
, metathesisMetathesis (linguistics)Metathesis is the re-arranging of sounds or syllables in a word, or of words in a sentence. Most commonly it refers to the switching of two or more contiguous sounds, known as adjacent metathesis or local metathesis:...
or elisionElisionElision is the omission of one or more sounds in a word or phrase, producing a result that is easier for the speaker to pronounce...
occur more frequently in the Užican dialect, whilst i-mutationI-mutationI-mutation is an important type of sound change, more precisely a category of regressive metaphony, in which a back vowel is fronted, and/or a front vowel is raised, if the following syllable contains /i/, /ī/ or /j/ I-mutation (also known as umlaut, front mutation, i-umlaut, i/j-mutation or...
usually occurs less frequently. Vowel groups ao and ae have merged into o and e: rekao > reko, posao > poso, dvanaest > dvanes. - Short unaccented vowels /i/, /ɛ/, and /u/ are being reducedVowel reductionIn phonetics, vowel reduction is any of various changes in the acoustic quality of vowels, which are related to changes in stress, sonority, duration, loudness, articulation, or position in the word , and which are perceived as "weakening"...
in common speech, a manner of articulation that is widespread in the related dialects of BosniaBosnia (region)Bosnia is a eponomous region of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It lies mainly in the Dinaric Alps, ranging to the southern borders of the Pannonian plain, with the rivers Sava and Drina marking its northern and eastern borders. The other eponomous region, the southern, other half of the country is...
and HerzegovinaHerzegovinaHerzegovina is the southern region of Bosnia and Herzegovina. While there is no official border distinguishing it from the Bosnian region, it is generally accepted that the borders of the region are Croatia to the west, Montenegro to the south, the canton boundaries of the Herzegovina-Neretva...
. - The dialect’s lexisLexis (linguistics)In linguistics, a lexis is the total word-stock or lexicon having items of lexical, rather than grammatical, meaning. This notion contrasts starkly with the Chomskian proposition of a “Universal Grammar” as the prime mover for language...
includes some regional and archaicArchaismIn language, an archaism is the use of a form of speech or writing that is no longer current. This can either be done deliberately or as part of a specific jargon or formula...
expressions as well as many loans from TurkishOttoman Turkish languageThe Ottoman Turkish language or Ottoman language is the variety of the Turkish language that was used for administrative and literary purposes in the Ottoman Empire. It borrows extensively from Arabic and Persian, and was written in a variant of the Perso-Arabic script...
.
Phonetics
| front Front vowel A front vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a front vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far in front as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Front vowels are sometimes also... |
central Central vowel A central vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a central vowel is that the tongue is positioned halfway between a front vowel and a back vowel... |
back Back vowel A back vowel is a type of vowel sound used in spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a back vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far back as possible in the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant. Back vowels are sometimes also called dark... |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| close Close vowel A close vowel is a type of vowel sound used in many spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a close vowel is that the tongue is positioned as close as possible to the roof of the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a consonant.This term is prescribed by the... |
i | u | |
| mid Mid vowel A mid vowel is a vowel sound used in some spoken languages. The defining characteristic of a mid vowel is that the tongue is positioned mid-way between an open vowel and a close vowel... |
ɛ | (ə) | ɔ |
| open Open vowel An open vowel is defined as a vowel sound in which the tongue is positioned as far as possible from the roof of the mouth. Open vowels are sometimes also called low vowels in reference to the low position of the tongue... |
ä |
| bilabial Bilabial consonant In phonetics, a bilabial consonant is a consonant articulated with both lips. The bilabial consonants identified by the International Phonetic Alphabet are:... |
labio- dental Labiodental consonant In phonetics, labiodentals are consonants articulated with the lower lip and the upper teeth.-Labiodental consonant in IPA:The labiodental consonants identified by the International Phonetic Alphabet are:... |
dental & alveolar Alveolar consonant Alveolar consonants are articulated with the tongue against or close to the superior alveolar ridge, which is called that because it contains the alveoli of the superior teeth... |
post- alveolar Postalveolar consonant Postalveolar consonants are consonants articulated with the tongue near or touching the back of the alveolar ridge, further back in the mouth than the alveolar consonants, which are at the ridge itself, but not as far back as the hard palate... |
alveolo- palatal Alveolo-palatal consonant In phonetics, alveolo-palatal consonants are palatalized postalveolar sounds, usually fricatives and affricates, articulated with the blade of the tongue behind the alveolar ridge, and the body of the tongue raised toward the palate... |
palatal Palatal consonant Palatal consonants are consonants articulated with the body of the tongue raised against the hard palate... |
velar Velar consonant Velars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue against the soft palate, the back part of the roof of the mouth, known also as the velum).... |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| plosive | p b | t d | k ɡ | ||||
| nasal Nasal consonant A nasal consonant is a type of consonant produced with a lowered velum in the mouth, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. Examples of nasal consonants in English are and , in words such as nose and mouth.- Definition :... |
m | n | ɲ | (ŋ) | |||
| fricative Fricative consonant Fricatives are consonants produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together. These may be the lower lip against the upper teeth, in the case of ; the back of the tongue against the soft palate, in the case of German , the final consonant of Bach; or... |
s z | ʃ ʒ | ɕ (ʑ) | ||||
| affricate Affricate consonant Affricates are consonants that begin as stops but release as a fricative rather than directly into the following vowel.- Samples :... |
ts | tʃ dʒ | tɕ dʑ | ||||
| trill Trill consonant In phonetics, a trill is a consonantal sound produced by vibrations between the articulator and the place of articulation. Standard Spanish <rr> as in perro is an alveolar trill, while in Parisian French it is almost always uvular.... |
r | ||||||
| approximant | ʋ | j | |||||
| lateral approximant Lateral consonant A lateral is an el-like consonant, in which airstream proceeds along the sides of the tongue, but is blocked by the tongue from going through the middle of the mouth.... |
l (ɫ) | ʎ |
Literature
The significant portion of the Užican vernacular literatureVernacular literature
Vernacular literature is literature written in the vernacular—the speech of the "common people".In the European tradition, this effectively means literature not written in Latin...
consists of local anecdote
Anecdote
An anecdote is a short and amusing or interesting story about a real incident or person. It may be as brief as the setting and provocation of a bon mot. An anecdote is always presented as based on a real incident involving actual persons, whether famous or not, usually in an identifiable place...
s and proverb
Proverb
A proverb is a simple and concrete saying popularly known and repeated, which expresses a truth, based on common sense or the practical experience of humanity. They are often metaphorical. A proverb that describes a basic rule of conduct may also be known as a maxim...
s, as well as the epic
Epic poetry
An epic is a lengthy narrative poem, ordinarily concerning a serious subject containing details of heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation. Oral poetry may qualify as an epic, and Albert Lord and Milman Parry have argued that classical epics were fundamentally an oral poetic form...
and lyric poems
Lyric poetry
Lyric poetry is a genre of poetry that expresses personal and emotional feelings. In the ancient world, lyric poems were those which were sung to the lyre. Lyric poems do not have to rhyme, and today do not need to be set to music or a beat...
, both of which are usually sung according to a common metric system consisting of ten units (ten syllables in a verse), and often performed with gusle
Gusle
The Gusle is a single-stringed musical instrument traditionally used in the Dinarides region of the Balkans ....
. The hero of all Užican anecdotes is called Ero (another name for an Užičan
Užičans
Užičans generally refers to the locals of the western Serbian city of Užice, its local discrict and the surrounding area. The Užičans today are a regional subgroup in Serbia; the majority declare Serbian nationality whilst many of the southern Muslims choose Bosniak or Muslim.-Notablity:Like all...
, also spelled Era), who is portrayed as a most clever, witty, and hospitable person, although he is just a simple Zlatibor
Zlatibor
Zlatibor is a mountain region situated in the western part of Serbia, a part of the Dinaric Alps.The mountain range spreads over an area of 300 km², 27 miles in length, southeast to northwest, and up to 23 miles in width. The highest peak is Tornik at 1496 m...
ian peasant. In these short anecdotes, he always succeeds to trick the others at the end, even though they hold a higher position in the society or are often considered smarter than him (priests, Ottoman and Serbian nobility, the police, etc.). Characters similar to smart and clever Ero are found in anecdotes across the Balkans
Balkans
The Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...
: in the stories about Nasredin Hodža
Nasreddin
Nasreddin was a Seljuq satirical Sufi figure, sometimes believed to have lived during the Middle Ages and considered a populist philosopher and wise man, remembered for his funny stories and anecdotes. He appears in thousands of stories, sometimes witty, sometimes wise, but often, too, a fool or...
, of oriental origin, or Karagiozis
Karagiozis
Karagiozis or Karaghiozis is a shadow puppet and fictional character of Greek and Turkish folklore...
in the Greek and Turkish literatures.
The written literature, on the other hand, usually stuck to the standard language
Standard language
A standard language is a language variety used by a group of people in their public discourse. Alternatively, varieties become standard by undergoing a process of standardization, during which it is organized for description in grammars and dictionaries and encoded in such reference works...
; that is Old Church Slavonic
Old Church Slavonic
Old Church Slavonic or Old Church Slavic was the first literary Slavic language, first developed by the 9th century Byzantine Greek missionaries Saints Cyril and Methodius who were credited with standardizing the language and using it for translating the Bible and other Ancient Greek...
and Church Slavonic in the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
, and later the standard Serbian language
Serbian language
Serbian is a form of Serbo-Croatian, a South Slavic language, spoken by Serbs in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia and neighbouring countries....
. The first Užican printed book, Rujansko četvorojevanđelje (the Gospels of Rujno), was printed in Church Slavonic in 1537. Other Church Slavonic books printed in the Užice region include Psalter
Psalter
A psalter is a volume containing the Book of Psalms, often with other devotional material bound in as well, such as a liturgical calendar and litany of the Saints. Until the later medieval emergence of the book of hours, psalters were the books most widely owned by wealthy lay persons and were...
printed in Mileševa monastery in 1544, and Evangelion
Gospel
A gospel is an account, often written, that describes the life of Jesus of Nazareth. In a more general sense the term "gospel" may refer to the good news message of the New Testament. It is primarily used in reference to the four canonical gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John...
and Pentecostarion
Pentecostarion
The Pentecostarion is the liturgical book used by the Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches which follow the Byzantine Rite during the Paschal Season which extends from Pascha to the Sunday following All Saints Sunday The Pentecostarion (Greek: Πεντηκοστάριον, Pentekostárion; Slavonic:...
printed in Mrkša’s Church in 1562 and 1566, respectively. After the printing centres in Užican monasteries were demolished by the Ottoman Turks
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
, a manuscript culture
Manuscript culture
Manuscript culture uses manuscripts to store and disseminate information; in the West, it generally preceded the age of printing. In early manuscript culture monks copied manuscripts by hand, mostly religious texts. Medieval manuscript culture deals with the transition of the manuscript from the...
arose in the Rača monastery
Raca monastery
The Rača monastery is a Serbian Orthodox monastery 7 km south of Bajina Bašta, Serbia. The monastery was built by Stefan Dragutin . In 1826 it was reconstructed due to being burned down several times while Serbia was under the rule of the Ottoman Empire....
. The manuscripts produced in Rača were written in Church Slavonic, but they contained many elements of the Užican vernacular. The first works compiled in the local dialect by literate Užičans appeared in the 19th century. They include Miladin Radović’s chronicle Samouki rukopis, and the Prophecy of Kremna which was told by Zechariah Zaharić, the protopope
Protopope
A Protopope , or Protopresbyter, is a priest of higher rank in the Orthodox and Byzantine Catholic Churches, corresponding in general to the Western archpriest or Latin dean.-History:...
of Kremna
Kremna
Kremna is a village located in the Užice municipality of Serbia. In the 2002 census, Kremna had a population of 722 people. Kremna is well known for world famous prophets Miloš Tarabić and his nephew Mitar Tarabić...
.
Examples
See also
- UžiceUžiceUžice is a city and municipality in western Serbia, located at the banks of the Đetinja river. It is the administrative center of the Zlatibor District...
- UžičansUžičansUžičans generally refers to the locals of the western Serbian city of Užice, its local discrict and the surrounding area. The Užičans today are a regional subgroup in Serbia; the majority declare Serbian nationality whilst many of the southern Muslims choose Bosniak or Muslim.-Notablity:Like all...
- Serbian languageSerbian languageSerbian is a form of Serbo-Croatian, a South Slavic language, spoken by Serbs in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia and neighbouring countries....
- Bosnian languageBosnian languageBosnian is a South Slavic language, spoken by Bosniaks. As a standardized form of the Shtokavian dialect, it is one of the three official languages of Bosnia and Herzegovina....
- Central South Slavic diasystem