Comparative Analysis of the Local Dialects of Biljane Donje and Škabrnja

Abstract

This article compares the speeches of two neighbouring places in the Zadar hinterland - Donje Biljane, whose vernacular is Neo-Štokavian Jekavian, and Škabrnje, whose speech is Neo-Štokavian Ikavian. The speeches are described on the phonological, morphological, syntactic and lexical level following standard dialectological procedures. Although these speeches of Ravni kotari have been adjacent for centuries, they hardly ever influenced each other. The speech of Donje Biljane, to the best of our knowledge, is the first in more detail described speech of the Orthodox population in Ravni kotari. Škabrnje’s speech fits in well with the image of the previously researched Neo-Štokavian Ikavian speeches in the Zadar region.