Kozje-Bizeljsko dialect

The dialect is spoken in southern Styria, in the far northeast of the Lower Sava Valley, east of Mount Bohor, in the Kozje region ({{langx|sl|Kozjansko}}), and extending north up to Jezerce pri Dobjem and Podčetrtek. It also extends to Croatia, in Kumrovec and Dubravica. Significant settlements include Podčetrtek, Dobje pri Planini, Žegar, Planina pri Sevnici, Pilštanj, Kozje, Kumrovec, Bistrica ob Sotli, Podsreda, Bizeljsko, Pišece, Kapele, Dobova, and Brežice.

The dialect has lost pitch accent as all other Styrian dialects and has recently also lost length distinctions because all of the short vowels have lengthened.{{Harvcoltxt|Šekli|2018|pp=340}} In transitional microdialect of Mostec, the short accent in monosyllabic words remained short{{Citebook |last=Toporišič |first=Jože |title=Mostec (OLA 17) |publisher=Akademija nauka i umjetnosti Bosne i Hercegovine |year=1981 |location=Sarajevo |language=sl}} and the former acute accent is bimoraic, but the circumflex is monomoraic.Toporišič, Jože. 1992. Enciklopedija slovenskega jezika. Ljubljana: Cankarjeva založba, pp. 12. It has undergone the {{Lang|sl|*ženȁ}} → {{Lang|sl|*žèna}}, {{Lang|sl|*məglȁ}} → {{Lang|sl|*mə̀gla}}{{Harvcoltxt|Šekli|2018|pp=311–312}} and {{Lang|sl|*visȍk}} → {{Lang|sl|*vìsok}} accent shifts. Because of simplification of accent in declension, some microdialects have also morphologically correlated {{Lang|sl|*sěnȏ}} > {{Lang|sl|*sě̀no}} accent shift.

Because the dialect lies on the border with the Lower Carniolan dialect base (Lower Sava Valley dialect) and Kajkavian, all diphthongs have monophthongized, which is a rarity for Slovene dialects (the major exception, however, is most of the Upper Carniolan dialect, on which Standard Slovene is based).{{Harvcoltxt|Logar|1996|p=4}} The only known microdialect with diphthongs for historically long vowels is that of Lesično.{{Harvcoltxt|Zorko|2014|p=113}}

Long yat (*ě̄) and non-final short yat (*ě̀-) turned into äː or eː in the northwest, around Planina pri Sevnici even to aː, elsewhere it turned into ẹː. Other long or later lengthened e-like vowels all turned into äː/eː in the north, eː in the central area (where they have a different reflex than *ě̄), and ẹː in the south. Syllabic *ł̥̄ and *ō/*ò- have the same reflex, which is uː in the whole area. Nasal *ǭ and *ǫ̀- are pronounced as ọː in most of the area; in some microdialects in the north and central area, as well as in the transitional microdialect of Mostec, it is pronounced as uː. *ū is centralized (üː). The long and later lengthened vowels *ā and *ī evolved in a typically Styrian manner into oː and iː/iː^i̯, respectively, although *ā retains its original pronunciation as aː in some southern microdialects and is pronounced as åː in the transitional microdialect of Mostec. The southern (Bizeljsko) microdialects vocalized the long semivowel to aː/åː, whereas in the northern (Kozje) microdialects it has merged with *ę̄ and *ē.{{Harvcoltxt|Logar|1996|pp=190–192}}{{Harvcoltxt|Zorko|2014|pp=111–113}} High vowels are lowered before r, whereas stressed syllabic *r̥ mostly developed into ar, and the unaccented version developed into ər.{{Harvcoltxt|Ramovš|1935|p=150–155}}

Recently lengthened final short vowels show some more reduction. They often merged with already long vowels or turned into äː, ö, iː, etc. Vowels of the type *bràt turned into briː^et in the northwest. The semivowel in most microdialects turned into äː, åː, or eː. The same development is also true for stressed vowels after the accent shifts.

Soft *ĺ merged with *l, and *ń mostly turned into j, but might be realized as n at the end of a word. Sonorant *w turned into f before non-voiced non-sonorants and at the end of a word. It also appeared as a prothesis before *u as [v]. The cluster *šč simplified into *š. The clusters *tl, *tn, *dn, and *dl have sometimes turned into *kl, *kn, *gn, and *gl, respectively.{{Cite journal |last=Gostenčnik |first=Januška |date=2023-12-08 |title=Fonološki opis govora kraja Kapele (SLA T349) |url=https://ojs.zrc-sazu.si/jz/article/view/13061 |journal=Jezikoslovni zapiski |language=sl |volume=29 |issue=2 |pages=267–285 |doi=10.3986/JZ.29.2.11 |issn=1581-1255|doi-access=free }} Word-final *ł and *w also underwent major developments. They may have completely disappeared (e.g., fkraː in Sedlarjevo for 'ukradel'); other possibilities are also merging with the preceding vowel into o (typically Styrian) or u, as well as development into f (e.g., sọf for sol in Nezbiše).

The morphology is similar to other Styrian dialects. There is no distinction between soft and hard declensions, and the analogical t/d in l-participles before -l are mostly undeveloped. It still has mixed accent, but it is often replaced due to the {{Lang|sl|*sěnȏ}} > {{Lang|sl|*sě̀no}} accent shift. The Styrian feature of the a-stem instrumental singular ending -oj (instead of -o) is common only in the south.

{{reflist}}

• {{Cite book |last=Logar |first=Tine |author-link=Tine Logar |title=Dialektološke in jezikovnozgodovinske razprave |publisher=Znanstvenoraziskovalni center SAZU, Inštitut za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša |year=1996 |isbn=961-6182-18-8 |editor-last=Kenda-Jež |editor-first=Karmen |location=Ljubljana |language=Sl |trans-title=Dialectological and etymological discussions}}
• {{Cite book |last=Ramovš |first=Fran |author-link=Fran Ramovš |title=Historična gramatika slovenskega jezika |publisher=Znanstveno društvo za humanistične vede v Ljubljani |year=1935 |isbn= |series=VII. Dialekti |location=Ljubljana |language=Sl |trans-title=Historical grammar of the Slovene language}}
• {{Cite book |last=Šekli |first=Matej |title=Tipologija lingvogenez slovanskih jezikov |publisher=Znanstvenoraziskovalni center SAZU |year=2018 |isbn=978-961-05-0137-4 |editor-last=Legan Ravnikar |editor-first=Andreja |series=Collection Linguistica et philologica |location=Ljubljana |language=Sl |translator-last=Plotnikova |translator-first=Anastasija}}
• {{Cite book |last=Zorko |first=Zinka |url=https://www.dlib.si/stream/URN:NBN:SI:doc-NVZBSJK5/7ebe38e1-b2e1-476c-9833-1bfa0fa2e53e/PDF |title=Kozjansko – bizeljsko narečje – glasoslovje pišečkega govora |date=2014-10-02 |pages=111–113 |language=sl}}

{{Languages of Slovenia}}{{DEFAULTSORT:Kozje-Bizeljsko dialect}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kozje-Bizeljsko dialect}}

Category:Slovene dialects in Styria (Slovenia)