Hi guys, you've got a new Egejski on the forum, hellos all round.

What brings me here is that I've decided to learn Kosturski dialect - I was never taught it, the only people left in my immediate family circle who speak it are my grandparents, and even they just speak Greek most of the time. A few weeks ago I borrowed Christina Kramer's book based on the literary language, which is a great book, but I'm curious to know if there's any materials out there which help with learning the dialects.

All I'd like is something to help get me off the ground, of course I could just start with literary Macedonian and would naturally pick up dialectal differences when speaking with my family, but it would be nice to start with some kind of basic list of differences, even if it's just common verbs.

Last week I emailed Sts Cyril & Methodius University in Skopje who apparently have a dialectology department but I haven't got a response yet, perhaps because the email was in English.

Anyway, if anyone has any materials let me know.

Hi lake guy, dobroi doide na maknews.

The easiest way to learn Macedonian is to talk to people who speak it. I'm not sure I would start with the literary language.

You won't see much difference in the written words, the difference lies more in the dialectic pronounciations. Are there no Kosturchani you can hang out with and talk too? That would be the easiest way to learn the Kosturski dialect. They usually hang out in coffee shops and malls.

We've got a lot of Kosturchani here.

Download and print the .pdf of the ABECEDAR.

http://www.maknews.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6217

It's pretty close to Kosturski. See if you can understand any of the words. If not, we can teach you. Perhaps we can hook you up with a Kosturchanets or two so you can ask them question directly.

Ezerec,

To learn a living language, the easiest way is to speak with the native speakers. So maknews is correct.

But if you want to study macedonian in general, with an emphasis on your native kosturski dialect, then I would start with the alphabet, and then reading newspapers, listening to the TV or radio.

On this forum you have plenty of links that can be helpful.

As far as dialectoloty department responding, the fact that the letter was in english is not a limitation. They all know english very well. I hope they will respond.

There is one TV series named: Bushava Azbuka. They have one show for every letter. It is geared toward the kids, but they have some nice dialectal content in it too, and it is fun to watch. I'm pretty sure you can buy the videos anywhere in R. Macedonia.

Welcome.
I also am aware that Risto Stefov has published a dictionary of words from Egej. I had been meaning to buy it ... and will when I remember to do it again.

Use it along with a normal Macedonian literary dictionary, you will see very little difference other than some shortening or inferred letters and the dreaded DARK VOWEL that we need to speak our dialect (and all Macedonian really).

Hey Ezerets...welcome aboard...I'd be glad to help out if I can.

A Macedonian in Canada, Kosta Peev, wrote a few books on the dialects in Aegean Macedonia (not sure if anything about Kostur)...i emailed the guy who was selling them online a month or so ago but no reply

ezeretz, nice of you to join the forum mate!

The Abecedar is a nice introduction to the aegean dialects, however it was written in latinica (that is, Macedonian but with the roman alphabet). Cyrillic is also a good way to learn. In fact, what i will do is create a new document with parallel Cyrillic and Latinica equivalents on either side of each page.

Ezerets, you should also be aware of MKD's transliterator tool. It will come in very handy.

http://maknews.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6222

Thanks for the welcomes and the tips.

MKD, I'm really appreciative but don't worry about the Cyrillic-Latin conversion, I already learned Cyrillic from when I borrowed that book, so now I have the privilege of being able to read Cyrillic without understanding what the hell I'm reading....real useful.

Yeah, I'll practice with some Egejci (and Maks in general) to pick up the language, I just think some written materials might make it easier to get off the ground, I tend to learn easier when I have a book to refer to. So I'll have a look at the stuff mentioned in the thread, as well as Christina Kramer's book. But I guess you guys are right in saying the only way I'll actually pick up the dialectal differences is just by speaking to Egejci, which of course I'll do as it's the whole idea behind learning the language.

Also, Ezerets is my grandfathers village - just in case you were wondering why I called myself 'lake guy' which probably sounds weird.

Ezerchanets, dobro ni doide

as mentioned above the abecedar would be the best bet for you. I don't know how Kosturski goes but it shouldn't be a great deal different from lerinski, which is what the abecedar is based on.

When reading the literary langauage just be aware that the southern dialects are more lazy. ie. we drop consonants. Mainly drop d, v, t.

otide = oide = went
kade odish = kai oish = where are you going
volovi = voloi = bulls
bukovo = buko'o = name of a village near Bitola

Its more fluid and less robotic. You will probably find a lot more turkisms in the egeiski dialects too.

alaf da ti ye (good on you) i dobra sreykya (and good luck)

I would agree with MakAus on most points only to say that in the Kosturski dialect I learned Kai is never used. Deka or Dja would be it's replacement.

Ezerets, get yourself a microphone and a headset for your computer so you can talk to Kosturchani.

There's gotta be Kosturchani that visit this site.

yeah true, my old mans side was from prespansko and he uses deka every now and then, but also 'gja' which is similar to your 'dja'

A lot of people use dea instead of deka.

Russian is "где" but pronounced "g'dyia".
I find it interesting that literary Macedonian says "kade", and in Egej we say "dea".

I must say, I have found it terribly interesting looking at both the consistencies AND departures between Macedonian and Russian lately.

How have I helped this discussion? Not at all.

Nice analysis.

Perhaps the kade and dea are related to kag dya => kade ye => dea ye. Interesting how the kade and deka seem to be reversed.

Our friend Companion has noted that pronunciations change over the centuries. At least that's true for languages that haven't been purified and imposed.

I've actually noticed that difference, we won't say od kade si ti, but od deka si ti. I'm not sure about dea or dja but if its quicker and lazier, it seems like it's said that way is Egej. I've also noticed when asking your name they'll say kako se imeto instead of kako se vikash. Dunno whether that's a regional difference or them just being grubby villagers, it sounds like a real dumbed down way to say it.

I guess there's so many little differences like this, it makes it interesting. I've also noticed there's differences between villages in the very same region, so it's completely roofless. I guess never being formally taught or standardised during Ottoman rule, and with the number of languages and influences in the region, there's such a natural, easy progression of dialectal idiosyncrasies. No wonder Dr. Peev has written 1500 pages of dictionary.

If you use the word imeto it would be sho ti je imeto

If you use vikash then kako se vikash is right on the money

Dea and Dja are definately lazy speak for Deka

Are Tuka and Tamo common for Here and There in other dialects? or are these words peculiar to the south-west.

we also say dja

Ezerets, start with this one first, it is a show for learning the Macedonian languege and Azbuka.

It is very good for beginners, when i was child it was on TV, i believe those who lived in Macedonia remember this, it is called Bushava Azbuka

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrYxdqlY ... re=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4BdtnKO ... re=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8NvN-3E ... re=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLjFecya ... re=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLjFecya ... re=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i74GRUWE ... re=related