| Inner Carniolan dialect | |
|---|---|
| ˈnuːətrańsku naˈreːi̯či̯e | |
| Pronunciation | [ˈnuːətɾaɲskunaˈɾɛːi̯t͡ʃjɛ] |
| Native to | Slovenia,Italy |
| Region | WesternInner Carniola, upperVipava Valley, southernKarst Plateau |
| Ethnicity | Slovenes |
Indo-European
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
 Inner Carniolan dialect | |
TheInner Carniolan dialect (Slovene:notranjsko narečje[ˈnòːtɾanskɔnaˈɾéːt͡ʃjɛ],[1]notranjščina[2]) is aSlovene dialect very close to theLower Carniolan dialect, but with more recent accent shifts. It is spoken in a relatively large area, extending from westernInner Carniola up toTrieste inItaly, also covering the upperVipava Valley and the southern part of theKarst Plateau. The dialect borders theLower Carniolan dialect to the east, theČrni Vrh andHorjul dialects to the north, theKarst dialect to the northwest, theIstrian dialect to the southwest, andCentral Chakavian andNorthern Chakavian to the south.[3][4] The dialect belongs to theLittoral dialect group, and it evolved from the Lower Carniolan dialect base.[3][5]
The dialect is spoken in most of the municipalities ofPostojna,Pivka,Ilirska Bistrica,Divača,Hrpelje-Kozina, andVipava, in most areas of the municipalities ofSežana andAjdovščina, as well as the municipalities ofMonrupino andSgonico in Italy, and in many Slovene-inhabited villages in the Municipality ofTrieste (most notably inOpicina,Slovene:Opčine). Geographically, the dialect is bounded by theJavornik Hills to the east and the national border to the southeast; it extends to the southwest toGradišče pri Materiji, to the west toSlavnik andKozina, inItaly to the coast, and to north toPredmeja.[6][3]
The Inner Carniolan dialect has undergone more accent shifts than the Lower Carniolan dialect because of the influence of otherLittoral dialects.[7] It has undergone four accent shifts:*ženȁ →*žèna,*məglȁ →*mə̀gla,*visȍk →vìsok, and*ropotȁt →*ròpotat.[8] Some southeastern microdialects have also partially undergone the*sěnȏ /*prosȏ →*sě̀no /*pròso accent shift (e.g.,imȃ →ˈiːma in theJelšane microdialect), although most of these changes are morphologically correlated.[9] It has also lostpitch accent and is in the process of losing the distinction between long and short vowels because the short ones are lengthening.[6][10]
In terms of phonology, the Inner Carniolan dialect is very similar to the Lower Carniolan dialect. Diphthongs mostly retained their form or have monophthongized in some parts, particularly near the Karst and Črni Vrh dialects, which come from different dialect bases and their diphthongs are therefore often different, which led to monphthongization on bordering microdialects on both sides. Alpine Slovene*ě̄ and non-final*ě̀ show this phenomenon the most. In most dialects, this is still pronounced as the diphthongeːi̯, but in microdialects, such asSežana,Dutovlje,Vrabče,Štjak, and northwest from there, as well as in microdialects aroundPredmeja andOtlica, it has monophthongized intoeː. Similar assimilation also occurred in theBrkini Hills and northernPivka Basin. In the southern part of the Pivka Basin, however, the diphthongdissimilated intoȧːi̯,ạːi̯, oroːi̯ going south. In contrast to*ě, Alpine Slavic*ę̄, non-final*ę̀,*ē, and non-final*è are pronounced quite similarly throughout the dialect, remaining the diphthongiːe or slightly reduced toiːə. Similarly,*ǭ,*ò, and non-final*ǫ̀ remaineduːo or reduced touːə. Non-final*ō turned intouː, but remained a diphthongoːu beforeč,š,z, ors.*ī and*ā mostly remained unchanged, but*ū turned intoyː, except in words introduced to the dialect later, where it is stilluː. Proto-Slavic*ł̥ turned intooːu̯.[11][12]
Palatal*ĺ and*ń remained palatal,*tł changed intokł,*tl and*dl in thel-participle simplified intol, and*g turned intoɣ.[13]
Dual forms are different from the plural in the nominative and accusative cases only, and verbs have generally lost their dual forms. There is a tendency to fix the accent when declining (i.e., for nouns to have fixed accent). Neuter gender is neither masculinized nor feminized, and the infinitive stem sometimes became the same as present stem. Verbs with two possible accents in the infinitive have alll-participle forms accented like the masculine singular form. The long infinitive was replaced by the short one, and the verb endings-ta and-te always have the-s- infix (pˈriːdesta,ˈviːdiste). The imperative does not undergo theč →c change.[14]
Southern microdialects no longer haves-stem nouns; they have turned intoo-stems. In doing so, if the accent was on the infix, it shifted one syllable to the left, a feature that also extended into the nominative case, where it originally did not have the infix:ˈkuːłuˈkuːla for standard Slovenekolȏkolẹ̑sa 'bicycle' in the nominative and genitive singular.[15]
Lexically, the dialect shows extensive influence fromRomance languages.[6]
About 90,000 Slovene speakers live in the areas where the dialect is traditionally spoken. Although there are no precise statistics, it is likely that a large majority of them have some degree of knowledge of the dialect. This makes it the most widely spoken dialect in theSlovenian Littoral and among the 10 most spoken Slovene dialects.
In most rural areas, especially in theVipava Valley and on theKarst Plateau, the dialect predominates over standard Slovene (or its regional variety). Differently from many other Slovene dialects, the Inner Carniolan dialect is commonly used in many urban areas, especially in the towns ofAjdovščina,Vipava, andOpicina (Italy). In the towns, where commuting to the capital,Ljubljana, is more common (Postojna), the dialect is being slowly replaced by a regional version of standard Slovene.
There is no distinctive literature in Inner Carniolan. However, features of the dialects are present in the texts of the Lutheran philologistSebastjan Krelj (born in Vipava) and the Baroque preacherTobia Lionelli (born inVipavski Križ).
The folk rock groupAna Pupedan uses the dialect in most of its lyrics. The singer-songwriterIztok Mlakar has also employed it in some of hischansons. The comedian and satirical writerBoris Kobal has used it in some of his performances, and so has the comedianIgor Malalan.
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