The Gorani or Goranski, also Našinski ("Our language") language, is a regiolectal variety of South Slavic spoken by the Gorani people in the border area between Kosovo, North Macedonia, and Albania. It is part of the Torlakian dialect group,Browne, Wayles (2002): Serbo-Croat. In: Bernard Comrie, Greville G. Corbett (eds.), The Slavonic Languages. London: Taylor & Francis. [1]. p. 383 which is transitional between Eastern and Western South Slavic languages.
Related to the neighbouring Torlakian dialect varieties spoken in the Prizren–South Morava area to the northeast, also spoken in the southern half of Kosovo and in southeastern Serbia, as well as to the northernmost dialects of North Macedonia. In relation to Macedonian dialectology, it is described as having particular close links to the Tetovo dialect of the Polog and Tetovo regions,B. Koneski (1983), A Historical Phonology of the Macedonian Language by Blaže Koneski which are situated just opposite the Gora area on the other side of the Šar Mountains.
Gorani has also been classified as a part of the Bulgarian dialect area, by BulgariaМладенов, Стефан. Пътешествие из Македония и Поморавия, в: Научна експедиция в Македония и Поморавието 1916, София 1993, с. 184. (Mladenov, Stefan. Journey through Macedonia and Pomoraviya, in: Scientific expeditions in Macedonia and Pomoraviya 1916, Sofia 1993, p. 184) Асенова, Петя. Архаизми и балканизми в един изолиран български говор (Кукъска Гора, Албания), Балканистични четения, посветени на десетата годишнина на специалност "Балканистика" в СУ "Св. Климент Охридски", ФСлФ, София, 17-19 май 2004 (Assenova, Petya. Archaisms and Balkanisms in an isolated Bulgarian dialect (Kukas Gora, Albania), Balkan studies readings on the tenth anniversary of the major Balkan studies in Sofia University, May 17–19, 2004) as well as some foreign anthropologists. In 2007, the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences sponsored and printed the first Gorani–Albanian dictionary (with 43,000 words and phrases) by Goranian researcher Nazif Dokle, who considers the language a Bulgarian dialect.Dokle, Nazif. Reçnik Goransko (Nashinski) - Albanski, Sofia 2007, Peçatnica Naukini akademiji "Prof. Marin Drinov", s. 5, 11, 19 (Nazif Dokle. Goranian (Nashinski) - Albanian Dictionary, Sofia 2007, Published by Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, p. 5, 11, 19)
On the other hand, former Yugoslav linguists Vidoeski, Brozović and Ivić identify the Slavic dialect of the Gora region as Macedonian.http://www.seelrc.org:8080/grammar/mainframe.jsp?nLanguageID=3 Macedonian by Victor Friedman, pg 4 (footnote) According to some sources, in 2003, the Kosovo government acquired Macedonian language and grammar books to be taught in Gorani schools.
The dialect makes a distinction between three genders (masculine, feminine and neuter), seven cases (nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, vocative, locative, instrumental) and two numbers (singular and plural).
Grammar
Nouns have three grammatical genders (masculine, feminine and neuter) that correspond, to a certain extent, with the word ending so most nouns with -a are feminine, -o and -e neuter, and the rest mostly masculine but with some feminine. The grammatical gender of a noun affects the morphology of other parts of speech (adjectives, pronouns, and verbs) attached to it. Nouns are declined into seven cases: Nominative case, Genitive case, Dative case, Accusative case, Vocative case, Locative case, and instrumental.
Nominative: Dōmà ni je ubava. Our house is good. Šo?
Genitive: Dǒmà ni je ubava. Our house is good. Koj?
Dative: Dǒmī´je ubavo. The house is fine. Komu?
Accusative: Nacrtau negua Dōmā. He drew his house. Kogo?
Vocative: Dómā, ni trebe! We need a house!
Instrumental: Ja živuem so dǒmā. I live with a house. So šo?
Locative: Ja som (vo) Dōmá. I am at the house. Če de?
| Singular | Plural | |||||
| Nominative | dōmà, masc. (home, house) | sēlò, neutr. (village) | rānā, fem. (wound) | dōmē | sēlá | rāně |
| Genitive | dǒmà | sélō | ránā | dōmě | sélā | ránē |
| Dative | dǒmī | sēlū | rānī | dōmévém | sélātàm | rānǐj |
| Accusative | dōmā | sēló | rǎnā | dōmēvé | sělā | rāném |
| Vocative | dómā | sělō, sélōū | ránō, ráná | dómēvē | sélātá | rāné |
| Instrumental | dǒmā | sēlǒ | rǎnǎ | dōmēvē | sēlà | rǎnē |
| Locative | dōmá | sēlò | rānà | dǒmēvē | sēlā | rāně |
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