Criteria For Classification
The division of Slovenian into dialects is based on various non-linguistic and linguistic factors. Non-linguistic factors include settlement patterns and geographical features (rivers, mountains) that helped shape various isoglosses. Linguistic factors include language contact with non-Slavic languages to some extent, phonological and prosodic elements in particular, and to a lesser extent word-formational, lexical, and inflectional elements. Specifically, the primary distinguishing linguistic features are 1) preservation or loss of pitch accent, 2) reflexes of nasal *ę, nasal *ǫ, jat (ě), and the yers (ъ, ь), and 3) (to a lesser extent) vowel inventory, diphthongization, and degree and type of vowel reduction.
Read more about this topic: Slovene Dialects
Famous quotes containing the word criteria:
“There are ... two minimum conditions necessary and sufficient for the existence of a legal system. On the one hand those rules of behavior which are valid according to the system’s ultimate criteria of validity must be generally obeyed, and on the other hand, its rules of recognition specifying the criteria of legal validity and its rules of change and adjudication must be effectively accepted as common public standards of official behavior by its officials.”
—H.L.A. (Herbert Lionel Adolphus)