The Lower Carniolan dialect group (''dolenjska narečna skupina''Smole, Vera. 1998. "Slovenska narečja." ''Enciklopedija Slovenije'' vol. 12, pp. 1–5. Ljubljana: Mladinska knjiga, p. 2.) is a group of closely related dialects of Slovene. The Lower Carniolan dialects are spoken in most of

Lower Carniola Lower Carniola ( ; ) is a traditional region in Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south an ...

and in the eastern half of

Inner Carniola Inner Carniola ( ; ) is a traditional region of Slovenia, the southwestern part of the larger Carniola region. It comprises the Hrušica (plateau), Hrušica karst plateau up to Postojna Gate, bordering the Slovenian Littoral (the Goriška, Gor ...

Phonological and morphological characteristics

Among other features, this group is characterized by

pitch accent A pitch-accent language is a type of language that, when spoken, has certain syllables in words or morphemes that are prominent, as indicated by a distinct contrasting pitch (music), pitch (tone (linguistics), linguistic tone) rather than by vol ...

, extensive diphthongization (''ei, ie, uo''), an ''a''-colored semivowel, shift of ''o'' > ''u'', and partial akanye.

Individual dialects and subdialects

* Lower Carniolan dialect (''dolenjsko narečje'', ''dolenjščina''Logar, Tine. 1996. ''Dialektološke in jezikovnozgodovinske razprave''. Ljubljana: SAZU, p. 42.) ** Eastern Lower Carniolan subdialect (''vzhodnodolenjski govor'', ''vzhodna dolenjščina'') * North White Carniolan dialect (''severnobelokranjsko narečje'') * South White Carniolan dialect (''južnobelokranjsko narečje'', ''južna belokranjščina''Logar, Tine. 1996. ''Dialektološke in jezikovnozgodovinske razprave''. Ljubljana: SAZU, p. 203.) * Kostel dialect (''kostelsko narečje'', ''kostelska belokranjščina'', ''kostelščina''Horvat, Sonja. 1994. "Nekaj naglasnih in fonoloških značilnosti slovenskega kostelskega govora." ''Slavistična revija'' 42: 305–312, p. 305.)

References

Slovene dialects Lower Carniola {{Slavic-lang-stub