Torre Valley dialect

The Torre Valley dialect or Ter Valley dialect (tersko narečje,^[1] terščina^[2]) is the westernmost^[3] and the most Romanized Slovene dialect^[4]and one of its most archaic and typologically interesting dialects.^[5] It is spoken mostly in the Torre Valley in the Province of Udine in Italy, in the northern part of the historical region known as Venetian Slovenia, and in some villages in western Slovenia. It belongs to the Littoral dialect group.^[6]

The dialect was written already in the Cividale manuscript in 1479, but was later not used in written form.^[6] Nowadays, because of the lack of language policy and Italianization, the dialect has a very reduced number of speakers and is threatened with extinction.^[6] The Italian municipalities of Taipana and Lusevera and the village of Breginj in Slovenia are the only areas where the dialect is still maintained. In 2009, a dictionary of the Torre Valley dialect was published, based on material collected mainly at the end of the 19th century, but also in the 20th century.^[7]

Geographical extension

The Torre Valley dialect is spoken in the mountainous area of eastern Friuli, along the upper course of the Torre River to west of the Natisone River, in the historical region known as Venetian Slovenia. It is located south of the Resian and Soča dialect, and west of the Natisone Valley dialect. To the east, it is bordered by Friulian.

Most of the dialect’s territory is in Italy, except for the area around Breginj and Livek in Slovenia.^[8]

Phonological and morphological characteristics

The Torre Valley dialect is quite variegated because its territory covers rugged terrain. It has pitch accent, non-retracted accents (in comparison to Standard Slovene) on final syllables (e.g., wadȁ 'water'), the phonological development of soft l > j and g > ɦ, and preservation of soft n and č. The vocabulary has many Friulian loanwords.^[8]

References

1. Smole, Vera. 1998. "Slovenska narečja." Enciklopedija Slovenije vol. 12, pp. 1–5. Ljubljana: Mladinska knjiga, p. 2.
2. Šekli, Matej. 2004. "Jezik, knjižni jezik, pokrajinski oz. krajevni knjižni jezik: Genetskojezikoslovni in družbenostnojezikoslovni pristop k členjenju jezikovne stvarnosti (na primeru slovenščine)." In Erika Kržišnik (ed.), Aktualizacija jezikovnozvrstne teorije na slovenskem. Členitev jezikovne resničnosti. Ljubljana: Center za slovenistiko, pp. 41–58, p. 52.
3. Jakopin, Franc (1998). "Ocene – zapiski – poročila – gradivo: Krajevna in ledinska imena gornje Terske doline" [Reviews – Notes – Reports – Materials: Place Names and Cadastral Place Names of the Upper Torre Valley] (PDF). Slavistična revija: časopis za jezikoslovje in literarne vede [Journal of Slavic Linguistics: Journal for Linguistics and Literary Studies] (in Slovenian) (Slavic Society of Slovenia) 46 (4): 389. ISSN 0350-6894.
4. Kryński, Adam, ed. (1970). Prace filologiczne (in Slovenian and Polish) (Skł. gł. w Kasie im. Mianowskiego). 20–21: 84. ISSN 0138-0567 http://books.google.si/books?id=1qwoAQAAIAAJ. Missing or empty |title= (help)
5. Pronk, Tijmen (2011). "Narečje Ziljske doline in splošnoslovenski pomik cirkumfleksa" [The Gailtal Dialect and the Common Slovene Advancement of the Falling Tone] (PDF). Slovenski jezik [Slovene Linguistic Studies] (in Slovenian) (8): 15. ISSN 1408-2616. COBISS 33260845.
6. "Tersko narečje". Primorski dnevnik (in Slovenian). 2010. ISSN 1124-6669.
7. Spinozzi Monai, Liliana (2009). Il Glossario del dialetto del Torre di Jan Baudouin de Courtenay [The Glossary of the Torre Dialect by Jan Baudouin de Courtenay] (in Italian and Slovenian). Consorzio Universitario del Friuli. St. Petersburg Branch of the Archive of the Russian Academy of Science. Inštitut za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša, Znanstvenoraziskovalni center Slovenske akademije znanosti in umetnosti. ISBN 978-961-254-142-2.
8. Toporišič, Jože. 1992. Enciklopedija slovenskega jezika. Ljubljana: Cankarjeva založba, p. 327.