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In a purely dialectological sense, Slovene dialects (Slovene: slovenska narečja [sloʋènska narét͡ʃja], Serbo-Croatian: slovenska narječja [slǒʋeːnskaː nǎːrjeːt͡ʃja]) are the regionally diverse varieties that evolved from old Slovene, a South Slavic language of which the standardized modern version is Standard Slovene. This also includes several dialects in Croatia, most notably the so-called Western Goran dialect, which is actually Kostel dialect.[1] In reality, speakers in Croatia self-identify themselves as speaking Croatian, which is a result of a ten centuries old country border passing through the dialects since the Francia.[2][3] In addition, two dialects situated in Slovene (and the speakers self identify as speaking Slovene) did not evolve from Slovene (left out in the map on the right). The Čičarija dialect is a Chakavian dialect[4] and parts of White Carniola were populated by Serbs during the Turkish invasion and therefore Shtokavian is spoken there.[5][6]
Spoken Slovene is often considered to have at least 48 dialects[7] (narečja) and 13 subdialects (podnarečja). The exact number of dialects is open to debate,[8] ranging from as many as 50[9] to merely 7.[10] According to the official chart, published by the Fran Ramovš Institute, there are 48 dialects and 13 subdialects, but that includes all dialects spoken in Slovene. Čičarija dialect is included as a separate dialect and Shtokavian in White Carniola is merged with South White Carniolan.[11] However, the official chart was not updated to include Čabar dialect, which was only recently been discovered to have evolved differently than Kostel dialect, under which it was traditionally listed. Therefore, that division includes 48 dialects and 13 subdialects.
The various dialects are so different from each other that a speaker of one dialect may have a very difficult time understanding a speaker of another,[12] particularly if they belong to different regional groups. Speakers of dialects that strongly differ accommodate each other by gravitating toward standard Slovene. The only exception to that is the Resian dialect, which is the most isolated dialect,[13] and on top of that, the speakers were never able to attend Slovene schools and are therefore completely unfamiliar with Standard Slovene.[14]
Slovene dialects are part of the South Slavic dialect continuum, transitioning into Serbo-Croatian Kajkavian dialect to the southeast and Chakavian dialect to the southwest, but also bordering Friulian and Italian to the west, German to the north, and Hungarian to the northeast. The dialects are spoken primarily in Slovenia, but are extending in all neighboring countries Austria, Italy, Croatia, and Hungary.
Primož Trubar, the author of the first Slovene book has already been aware of the wide diversity among the Slovene speakers and has written that some speakers might have a hard time understanding the book.[15] First attempt to classify the dialects was made in 1809 by Jernej Kopitar, writing about two dialects in his Grammatik der slavischen Sprache in Krain, Kärnten und Steyermark. He split the dialects into two groups depending if their pronunciation of *ła is wa or la. Fran Miklosich similarly split the language in two dialects, but focusing on the pronunciation of Proto-Slavic ê. In the western dialect, it is pronounced ie and ei̯ in the eastern. Vatroslav Oblak split the two dialects by the evolution of long *ъ and *ь, which divided Slovene into the southwestern dialect where they evolved to a and northeastern dialect where they evolved to e. This division was completely contradictory to Miklosich's one, so a conclusion that not enough data was gathered was reached.[16]
Karel Glaser has made further divisions in 1898, dividing the varieties into the southeastern and northwestern dialect group, which were then subdivided into the Hungarian (now known as Panonian), Kajkavian (which he considered to be a Slovene dialect), other Styrian, Carinthian, Upper Carniolan, Lower Carniolan, Karst-Littoral, and Venetian dialects (now joined together as the Littoral dialect group) and was thus the first more serious attempt to classify the dialects.
Other attempts to classify the language were made by Izmail Sreznevsky in the early 19th century, followed by Jan Niecisław Baudouin de Courtenay (focusing on Resia, Venetian Slovenia, Cerkno, and Bled), Karel Štrekelj (focusing on the Karst), and Ivan Scheinig (focusing on Carinthia). This was followed by efforts by Ivan Grafenauer (Gail Valley), Josip Tominšek (Savinja Valley), and others.
Efforts before the Second World War were spearheaded by Lucien Tesnière, Fran Ramovš (which added the Rovte dialect group), and Aleksander Isachenko, and after the war by Tine Logar and Jakob Rigler (sl), which both made vital corrections to the Ramovš division.[17] Eventually, the classification proposed by Ramovš was accepted with corrections and additions by Logar and Rigler, published in 1983 as the Karta slovenskih narečij (Map of Slovenian Dialects).[18]
Before the 21st century, it was known that Čičarija dialect was Chakavian, but it was only then discovered that the national borders also do not follow the Slovene–Serbo-Croatian border elsewhere.[19] These changes are mostly accepted in Slovene and international literature, but not in Croatian, mainly because of the different institutes researching both countries and the speakers' self-identification.[3]
All Slovene dialects originate from Old Slovene (also referred to as Alpine Slovene), present around 1000–1200. Alpine Slovene itself was formed from two transitional languages, Northwestern and Southeastern Alpine Slavic, which existed in 800–1000, when they both transitioned to Slovene.
Northwestern Alpine Slavic formed in what is today southern Austria and eastern Italy and was initially showing signs of it actually being a West Slavic language, but the Southeastern was closer to Western Kajkavian and Chakavian, and was actually derived from the Southwestern Alpine-Western Panonian-Littoral South Slavic, from which Western Kajkavian and Chakavian were also formed. They already featured some changes: In southeastern Alpine Slovene, *tl, *dl, *tn, and *dn got simplified into *l, *l, *n, and *n, respectively (PS *modliti (sę) "to pray, to beg", NWAS modliti (sę), SEAS moliti (sę), SS molíti). Proto-Slavic *vy- and *jьz-, both meaning "from" did not both exist in Alpine Slavic anymore. Northwestern Alpine Slavic kept the *vy- while the Southeastern kept the other one (PS *vy-bьrati / *jьz-bьrati "to choose", NWAS *vy-brati, SEAS *iz-brati, SS izbráti).[20]
Both forms then followed the same changes which then separated Slovene from other languages.[20]
The last common language of the Slovenes, also called Alpine Slavic or Alpine Slovene (around 1200) had the following vowels:[21]
All vowels could be long or short, stressed or unstressed. The Proto-Slavic vowel *y merged with *i. Additionally, there were also two syllabic sonorants, *r̥ and *ł̥, which formed from Proto-Slavic *CьrC / *CъrC, and *CьlC / *CъlC, respectively. It is however debated what *ě was actually like. It might have sounded like *[ä] (like displayed above) or like *[ẹ].[22][23]
The language also had the following consonants:[24]
Notes:
The language then very quickly split into two dialects, splitting almost entirely along the former Northwestern Alpine Slavic–Southeastern Alpine Slavic isogloss. The dialects then divided further into the northern, western, southern, and eastern dialect. After that, the dialects fragmented further, mostly influenced by geographical features and contact with other dialects and languages.
In northwestern dialect, *ę and *ǫ stayed the same, while in the southeastern dialect, both were denasalized and first turned into *ä and *å, and then into *ȩ and *o̧. The nasal still exists only in Jaun Valley dialect, but other have so-called rinezem 'rhinism', in which the nasal vowel turns into a denasalized vowel and a nasal consonant; e.g., PS *mě̋sęcь "month", Gail Valley mẹ̑senc, SS mẹ̑sec.
The yat (*ě) was pronounced as a near-open vowel *ä in the northwestern dialect and then evolved first to and *ȩ then to *a and it was pronounced as *ẹ in the southern dialect, which then evolved into *i The long yat (*ě̄), however, diphthongized into *ie in the northwestern and into the *ei̯ in the southeastern. Similarly, ō also diphthongized into *uo and *ou̯, respectively.
The southeastern dialect also rounded the *a into *å and (partially) centralized *u into a vowel that was noted with *u̇ (but not to be confused with the Ramovš u̇).[25]
| Proto-Slavic | Old Slovene | NW dialect | SE dialect | Standard Slovene | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| *pę̑tь | *pę̑t | *pę̑t | *pȩ̑t | pẹ̑t | 'five' |
| *mǫ̑žь | *mǫž | *mǫž | *mȏ̧ž | mọ̑ž | 'husband' |
| *děvi̋ca | *děvìca | *dȩvìca > *davìca | *dẹvìca > *divìca | devíca | 'virgin' |
| *stěna̍ | *stě́na | *stiéna | *stéi̯na | stẹ́na | 'wall' |
| *mȏldostь | *mladȏst | *mladȗost | *mladȏust | mladọ̑st | 'youth' |
| *ža̋ba | *žàba | *žàba | *žå̀bå | žába | 'frog' |
| *sȗxь | *sȗx | *sȗx | *su̇̑x | sȗh | 'dry' |
The dialects then in 13th and 14 century further subdivided depending on how short acute vowels and *ə̄ evolved. In the non-final syllables, all short vowels were turned into long acute vowels, except in eastern dialect. Northern Styrian dialect (which formed from the southern dialect), did not lengthen the vowels in syllables that were followed by two other. The short vowels in the last syllable evolved into short circumflex vowels in all dialects. The *ə̄ evolved into *a in west and most of the south dialect, but evolved into *e in the 14th century. This change happened after the lengthening, so it also affected those vowels.[25]
| Proto-Slavic | Old Slovene | N dialect | W dialect | S dialect | E dialect | Standard Slovene | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| *vőrna | *vràna | *vrána | *vrána | *vrána | *vràna | vrána | 'crow' |
| *mali̋na | *malìna | *malína | *malína | *malína | *malìna | malína | 'raspberry' |
| *dě̋lati | *dě̀lati | *dě́lati | *dě́lati | *dě̀lati | *dě̀lati | dẹ́lati | 'to work' |
| *ra̋kъ | *ràk | *rȁk | *rȁk | *rȁk | *rȁk | rȁk | 'cancer; crab' |
| *dь̏nь | *də̑n | *dȃn | *dȃn | *dȇn | *dȇn | dȃn | 'day' |
| *pь̀sь̍jьjь | *pə̀sji | *pə́sji > *pásji | *pə́sji > *pásji | *pə́sji > *pésji | *pə̀sji | pásji | 'dogged' |
| *sъ̀xne̍te | *sə̀xnete | *sə́xnete > *sáxnete | *sə́xnete > *sáxnete | *sə̀xnete | *sə̀xnete | sáhnete | '(you) disappear' |
| *pь̀sъ̍ | *pə̀s | *pə̏s | *pə̏s | *pə̏s | *pə̏s | pə̏s | 'dog' |
From that, dialect bases formed. The northern dialect evolved into the Carinthian base, the predecessor of dialects in Carinthian dialect group and Resian dialect. The Western dialect evolved into two dialect bases: The Venetian-Karst base and the Soča–Idrija base, which evolved into northern Littoral and western Rovte dialects. The eastern dialect was the predecessor to Northern Styrian and Panonian bases; however, the southern dialect evolved into three bases: Southern Styrian, Lower Carniolan, and Upper Carniolan, which, apart from the eponyomous dialects, also evolved into southern Littoral dialects. At that time, many changes occurred which were not connected to the history of the dialect but more to the region where the dialects were spoken.[26]
Parallel to the vowel changes, consonants also evolved, however not as much. The changes were the following:[24]
There were many accent shifts and other changes that did not happen in all dialects. Only the shifts *sě̑no / prȍso > *sěnȏ / prosȏ and *svě̄t́à > *svě́t́a happened in all dialects, but others that happened later did not encompass all of them. The first happened in the 15th century, which moved the stress from the circumflex short open or closed final syllable to the preceding mid short syllable (*e or *o), turning it acute doing that (e. g. *ženȁ > *žèna). This change happened in most of the dialects (except a part of Rosen Valley, Resian, Torre Valley, Natisone Valley, and the southern part of Soča dialect), but many of them have lengthened the vowel into a long one. Another shift that happened in most dialects in the 17th century was the shift from the circumflex short open or closed final syllable to the preceding extra-short syllable (*ə) and also turning it acute (e. g. *məglȁ > *mə̀gla). This change did not happen where the *ženȁ > *žèna did not happen, but also in Upper Carniolan dialect group and Lower Carniolan dialect.[27] Therefore, in Standard Slovene, both accents are allowed, but favoring the unshifted one.[28]
Other shifts that happened in fewer dialects were:[27]
Dialects can be classified in two ways. The most common is the horizontal division, which groups dialects by how they sound today, but there is also the vertical division, which classifies the dialects by how they evolved. Therefore, the criteria for vertical division are mostly the older changes (listed above) and younger for the horizontal division. The groups of dialects in horizontal division are called "dialect groups" (Slovene: narečne skupine or narečne baze)[29][30] and those in vertical division are called "dialect bases" (Slovene: narečne ploskve).[31]
The dialects can also have several subdialects (Slovene: podnarečja), and are further divided into microdialects (Slovene: govori, lit. speeches).
Horizontal division used today is a refined version of division proposed by Ramovš in 1935. He grouped the dialects by the general sound and feel of the dialect, as many Slovenes similarly divided the dialects prior to proper research.[30]
He grouped the dialects into eight distinct groups: The Carinthian, Littoral, Rovte, Upper Carniolan, Lower Carniolan, Styrian, Pannonian, and Mixed Kočevje dialects, which he did not even research.[30] According to the now official chart, the only change is the inclusion of Mixed Kočevje dialects into the Lower Carniolan group:[11]
The horizontal division is in professional literature based on various non-linguistic and linguistic factors. Non-linguistic factors include settlement patterns and geographical features (rivers, mountains) that helped shape various isoglosses. Linguistic factors include language contact with non-Slavic languages to some extent, phonological and prosodic elements in particular, and to a lesser extent word-formational, lexical, and inflectional elements.[18] Specifically, the primary distinguishing linguistic features are preservation or loss of pitch accent, reflexes of nasal *ę, nasal *ǫ, yat (ě), and the yers (ъ, ь), but also (to a lesser extent) vowel inventory, diphthongization, and degree and type of vowel reduction.[39]
The dialects can be split into eight dialect bases that formed from the 15th century onward, emerging from the four dialects. The bases are:[31]
The following grouping of dialects and subdialects is based on the official map of Slovene dialects by Fran Ramovš, Tine Logar, and Jakob Rigler (sl)[11][40] (from which the first Slovene term listed in parentheses is taken), with additions of Matej Šekli[41] and other sources.
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