Torlakian
|
Geographical distribution of the Torlakian dialect in former Yugoslav republics: (Bulgaria excluded here but Torlakian is spoken across the border) |
Torlakian is the name used for the Slavic dialects spoken in Southern and Eastern
Serbia, Northwest
Republic of Macedonia (Kratovo-Kumanovo) and Northwest
Bulgaria (Vidin-Bregovo). Some linguists classified it as the fourth dialect of
Serbo-Croatian language (with
Shtokavian,
Chakavian and
Kaykavian) and today as the second
Serbian language (with
Shtokavian) dialect. In Bulgaria, these dialects are considered as western
Bulgarian dialects. It is not standardized, and its subdialects significantly vary in some features.
Some Croatian (like
Milan Rešetar and
Dalibor Brozović) and Serbian linguists (like
Pavle Ivić) classify Torlakian as an old Shtokavian dialect, referring to it as "Prizren-Timok dialect"
[Pavle Ivić, Dijalektološka karta štokavskog narečja], because some subdialects use word
što for "what" (but that is also a feature of Bulgarian and Macedonian). However, some subdialects use word
kvo (same as
Bulgarian kvo {or simply even just
ko} (informal) and
kakvo (formal). Some linguists in Bulgaria (
Stoyko Stoykov, Rangel Bozhkov) classify Torlakian as a "
Belogradchik-
Trn" dialects of Bulgarian language and also claim that Torlakian should be classified outside of shtokavian area.
With the standard language of Serbia being based on Eastern
Herzegovina dialects (but Ekavian speech of northern Serbia), the
Macedonian language in
Prilep (west central), and the Bulgarian language in
Veliko Tǎrnovo county (central-east Bulgaria), Torlakian is left with no official status anywhere. As such, there is no "standard" Torlakian.
A form of Torlakian is spoken in
Romania, where indigenous Slavs known as
Krašovani (Krashovans), a mixture of original settler Slavs and later settlers from
Timočka Krajina (present day Serbia and Montenegro) have escaped the influence of a standardized language which has existed in Serbia ever since a republic was created following the defeat of the Ottomans. In each other region - the Slavic countries - the speech of the locals will still be largely influenced by the standard language, particularly when a new word or concept is introduced.
Some of the features of Torlakian clearly show how Macedonian yields to Bulgarian, and they both in turn blend into Serbian language, respectively in the north-west and the west.
Vocabulary
Basic Torlakian vocabulary shares most of Slavic roots with
Serbian,
Bulgarian and
Macedonian, but it also contains a number of borrowed words from
Aromanian,
Greek,
Turkish, and
Albanian in the
Gora region of the
Šar mountain instilled during the course of time. Also, it preserved many words which in the "major" languages became
archaisms or shifted meaning. Like other features, vocabulary is inconsistent across subdialects, i.e. a
Krashovan need not necessarily understand a
Goranac.
Cases lacking inflections
Macedonian and Bulgarian are on record as being the only two modern Slavic languages to have lost virtually the entire noun case system, with nearly all nouns spoken in the surviving
nominative case. That is the case with Torlakian dialect as well; in the north-west, the
instrumental merges into the
genitive. The
locative and the
genitive in turn merge into the
nominative; further South, all inflections disappear, and the meaning is determined solely by
prepositions.
Lack of phoneme /h/
A unique feature of
Macedonian language, Torlakian and a number of Serbian and Bulgarian dialects compared with all other Slavic languages is that, technically, there is no . The appearance of the letter
h in the alphabet is reserved mostly for
loanwords, and
toponyms within Macedonia but outside of the standard language region. In Macedonian, this is the case with eastern towns such as Pehčevo. In fact, the Macedonian language is based in Prilep,
Pelagonia and words such as
thousand and
urgent are
iljada and
itno in standard Macedonian but
hiljada and
hitno in Serbian. This is actually a part of an
isogloss, a dividing line separating Prilep from Pehčevo in Macedonia at the southern extreme, and reaching central Serbia, (
Šumadija) at a northern extreme. In Šumadija, local folk songs may still use the traditional form of
I want being
oću compared with
hoću as spoken in
Vojvodina.
Syllabic /l/
Torlakian has preserved much of the ancient syllabic which, like , can serve the nucleus of a syllable. This is still the case in the
Czech and
Slovak language. In standard Serbian, Croatian and Bosnian, the syllabic eventually became or . In Bulgarian, it became preceded by the vowel represented by ъ ( or ), to separate consonant clusters. Not all Torlak subdialects preserved syllabic to the full extent, but it is reflected either as full syllabic or in various combinations with , , [] or . Naturally, the /l/ becomes
velarized in most such positions, giving .
[Josip Lisac, Osnovne značajke torlačkoga narječja]| Torlakian | Krašovan (Karas) | влк | пек'л | с'лза | жлт |
|---|
| Northern (Svrljig) | вук | пекал | суза | жл'т |
|---|
| Central (Lužnica) | вук | пек'л | сл'за | жл'т |
|---|
| Southern (Vranje) | в'лк | пекал | солза | ж'лт |
|---|
| Western (Prizren) | вук | пекл | слуза | жлт |
|---|
| Serbian standard | вук | пекао | суза | жут |
|---|
| Bulgarian | вълк | пекъл | сълза | жълт |
|---|
| Macedonian | волк | пекол | солза | жолт |
|---|
| English | wolf | (have) baked | tear | yellow |
|---|
|
The regional name once used by many people in the Torlakian-speaking region was
Torlaci (Torlaks). However, except for mutual understanding, Torlakian speakers seldom had other common ethnic or national consciousness, apart from being Slavs and, mostly, Christians. The borders in the region were frequently shifting before the
Ottoman conquest among
Byzantine,
Serbian and
Bulgarian rulers. With Ottoman influence ever weakening, the increase of nationalist sentiment in the Balkans in late 19th and early 20th century, and the redrawing of national boundaries after
Balkan wars and
World war II, the traditional Torlakian-speaking region had been split. As a result, Torlakian has become a minority in three countries at once.
Today, there is no state-sanctioned education in Torlakian language or culture, and the usage of both the language and the regional name Torlaci is gradually vanishing. Torlakian is now seen in Serbia—and to a degree in Macedonia and Bulgaria—as an uneducated and provincial dialect of the dominant language, and most Torlakian speakers have accepted Serbian, Macedonian, and Bulgarian as their cultural identities, supplanting Torlakian culture. Also, among the traditional speakers of Torlakian are the non-Serb Slavs of Kosovo such as the
Muslim Gorani and
Catholic Janjevci, whose ethnic affiliations are appropriated by neighboring nations.
Literature written in Torlakian is rather sparse, as the dialect has never been an official state language, and for the most part of the history literacy in the region was limited to
Eastern Orthodox clergy, which chiefly used
Old Church Slavonic in writing.
One of the earliest literary monuments influenced by Torlakian dialects is Manuscript from
Temska from 1762 in which its author Kiril Zhivkovich from
Pirot considered his language "Simple Bulgarian".
Serbian writer
Bora Stanković used a lot of Torlakian dialect in his novels, which describe the life of people in Southern Serbia in early 20th century.
Comedian writer
Stevan Sremac, although born in Vojvodina, spent a portion of his life in southern Serbia, and his novels
Zona Zamfirova and
Ivkova slava depict the mentality and language of its inhabitants.
The recent screening of the
film Zona Zamfirova by
director Zdravko Šotra attracted huge popularity in Serbia and Montenegro. However, many spectators, especially from northern Serbia, commented that "the film was good but it really needs
subtitles".
General references
Dijalekti istočne i južne Srbije, Aleksandar Belić, Srpski dijalektološki zbornik, 1, 1905.
Encyclopedia of the Languages of Europe, Glanville Price, Blackwell Publishing, p. 423.
Language and Conflict: A Neglected Relationship, Dan Smith, Paul A Chilton - Language Arts & Disciplines, 1998, Page 59
South Slavic and Balkan Linguistics, A. Barentsen, Rodopi, 1982
Hrvatska dijalektologija 1, Josip Lisac, Golden marketing " Tehnička knjiga, Zagreb, 2003.
The Slavonic Languages, Bernard Comrie, Greville G Corbett - Foreign Language Study, 2002, pp 382-384.
Footnotes
*
Balkan linguistic union*
Shtokavian dialect*
Gorani*
Krashovani
