The Skopje-Veles dialect (Macedonian: Скопско-велешки дијалект, Skopsko-veleški dijalekt) is a member of the central subgroup of the Western group of dialects of Macedonian. The dialect is spoken by a larger group of people in the cities Skopje and Veles and in the surrounding villages: Volkovo, Katlanovo, Petrovec and Čaška among others. This dialect is of historical importance for Macedonian because it is considered by many to be a prestige dialect.[citation needed] On August 2, 1945, the Skopje-Veles dialect, together with the other dialects of the central group was officially regulated as a basis of standard Macedonian. Many Macedonian writers and linguists were writing on this dialect and considered it to be standard Macedonian.[citation needed] One of them was Krste Petkov Misirkov and in his book For Macedonian affairs wrote that this dialect should be standard Macedonian. He has been writing on Skopje-Veles dialect and on Prilep-Bitola dialect.[1]
Internal migration to the capital Skopje in the 1950s and 1960s led to the development of a new, urban slang where newly arrived people attempted to incorporate elements of the Skopje-Veles dialect into their own speech, often confusing local elements with those from Serbo-Croatian. Language contact with Serbo-Croatian, then a more prestigious language in SFR Yugoslavia, also reached its height during this period. This variety has been described as a "creolized form of Serbian"[2] (cf. also Surzhyk in Ukraine, Trasianka in Belarus) and is distinct from the 'authentic' Skopje-Veles dialect.
- ^ Koneski, Blaže (Блаже Конески) (1967). Gramatika na makedonskiot literaturen jazik Граматика на македонскиот литературен јазик (in Macedonian). Skopje: Kultura. pp. 68–69.
- ^ Kortmann, Bernd; Auwera, Johan van der, eds. (2011). The Languages and Linguistics of Europe: A Comprehensive Guide. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. p. 420. ISBN 978-3110220261.