Niš speech through the prism of diglossia

• Main Author: Trajković Tatjana G.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Institute for the Serbian Language, Belgrade 2018-01-01
• Series: Južnoslovenski Filolog
• Subjects: Serbian language; Prizren-Timok dialect area; Niš speech; city speech; diglossia; code switching
• Online Access: http://www.doiserbia.nb.rs/img/doi/0350-185X/2018/0350-185X1802089T.pdf
• ISSN: 0350-185X; 2406-0763

This paper presents an analysis of the speech used by teachers and pupils in high schools in Niš, which linguistically and geographically belongs to the Prizren-Timok dialect area, and in a narrower sense to the Prizren-South Moravian dialect. Yet, it differs as an urban environment from the nearby rural speeches. The examination was done on the basis of an anonymous questionnaire which contained questions on the attitudes towards the dialect and its place in communication, while the other part of the questionnaire was related to the practical use of dialectal and standard forms of the Serbian language in different communicative circumstances. The data received were analyzed after the quantitative and qualitative methods. The statistic analysis contained the following segments: the attitudes towards the dialect, the use of dialect forms in all situations, the use of standard forms or those adapted to the standard in all situations, the use of linguistic forms according to gender and the use of standard forms or those adapted to the standard in formal circumstances. The descriptive method was used to analyze all the results, which led to the description of the basic characteristics of the observed idioms, the difference between the two groups and the portrait of the modern Niš vernacular from the angle of diglossia of the chosen groups of speakers. It was shown that the teachers decide to change the code more often when adapting to the interlocutor. In those cases, they usually adapt the place of accent which points to the fact that the dialectal place of the accent is an important characteristic of the speech of teachers in informal situations. In addition, the teachers decide to change the manner in which they use the Future Tense I, which shows that the usage of the analytic forms enclitic (+ da) + the Present Tense is also a characteristic of the teachers’ speech. The students most often decide to adapt the Future Tense I forms, which would mean that the construction enclitic (+ da) + the Present Tense is an important characteristic of the students’ speech. Furthermore, the place of the accent in a speech unit, which refers to the dialect in informal circumstances of communication, is also an important characteristic. Both speaker groups rarely decide to change the use of the locative case in speech. Such a state leads to the conclusion that both teachers and students use the standard form of the locative case in uncontrolled speech, that is, they rarely interchange it with the forms of the accusative case or the general case which marks it as an important characteristic of the Prizren-Timok speech. The analysis of the diglossic behavior of the two groups of Niš speakers pointed to the fact that there is a certain type of interdialect, which is especially noticeable in the group consisting of students. They use the standard and dialectal forms at the same time regardless of the interlocutor and that would be the basic characteristic of this idiom. Only one segment of Niš city speech is presented in this paper and it should be examined further and in greater detail, by using different methods. [Project of the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, Grant no. 178020: Dijalektološka istraživanja srpskog jezičkog prostora]