The Brda dialect (briško narečje, briščina) is a Slovene dialect in the Littoral dialect group, spoken northwest of Gorizia and Nova Gorica in Slovenia and Italy.
Contents
It's spoken on a territory with around 6,000 Slovene speakers, most of whom have a degree of knowledge of the dialect.
Geographical extension
The dialect is spoken west of the Soča River in the Brda Hills (Slovene: Brda), extending from north of Anhovo to north of Gorizia.
In Slovenia, the dialect is spoken in most of the territory of the Municipality of Brda (except for its northwesternmost strip, where the Natisone Valley dialect is spoken) and in the westernmost part of the Municipality of Kanal ob Soči.
In Italy, it is spoken in the northeastern area of the Province of Gorizia, in the municipalities of San Floriano del Collio, and in part of the municipalities of Cormons and Dolegna del Collio. It is also spoken in the western suburbs of the town of Gorizia (Podgora, Piuma, Oslavia).
Phonological and morphological characteristics
The Brda dialect does not have pitch accent, unlike the nearby Natisone Valley and Torre Valley dialects. The dialect shows the development of ə > a and e, and nasal e > a, and some degree of influence from the Karst dialect. The dialect shows general features associated with Venetian Slovenian dialects such as soft ľ > j and -m > -n. The sequence čre- is pronounced čere-, and the 3rd person plural verbal ending -ojo is typical.