Spoken Macedonian

The Selski (Macedonian: Селски говор) form of Macedonian, or Village Speech is the form of Macedonian traditionally spoken in the Selo or Village. The term almost always refers to the local dialect. It is often called "Vernacular Macedonian" or "Uneducated Speech". Many characteristics arised from everyday life in the villages of Macedonia. Turkish and Vlach words are also very common in the Selski speech. The Vernacular form of Macedonian began to be disused in print after the Macedonian language was standardized in the 1940's. Although the Selski speech is still very common amongst the diaspora. A notable example is the Makedonska Iskra newspaper which was published in the Vernacular form of Macedonian throughout the 1940s and 1950s in Australia. The various village dialects of Macedonian still prevail in many of the rural areas along with the Standardised Macedonian language.

Characteristics

Although the form of "Selski" differs from region to region many characteristics are shared in the various forms of speech. Typical characteristics include the shortening of words, eg. Богројца/Bogrojca instead of Богородица/Bogorodica (Virgin Mary). It is said that their words were shortened because unlike the urban counterparts the villagers had to go work in the fields and had no time for lengthy words.

External Links

• Makedonska Iskra Newspaper which was printed in vernacular Macedonian.