The Kumanovo dialect (Macedonian: Кумановски дијалект, Kumanovski dijalekt) is a member of the eastern subgroup of the Northern group of dialects of Macedonian. It belongs to the so-called Prizren-Timok dialects, also known as Torlakian.[1] The dialect is typical for the northern dialect of Macedonian and is very well known because of the use of some cases, such as the locative case. The Kumanovo dialect is spoken mainly in the city of Kumanovo and the surrounding villages. The dialect is closely related to the neighboring Kriva Palanka dialect. The Kumanovo dialect can be found in literary works, such as the famous play “Lenče Kumanovče” written by Vasil Iljoski in 1928.[2] The Kumanovo dialect is especially popular as a source of humor in the spoken media, whereas the print media tend to favor Western dialect forms for humorous anecdotes and quotations in local news stories.[3] The most significant example where the Kumanovo dialect is used in a humorous way is the festival Tumba Fest.
Кумановци не се претопуев лăко, на свој дијалект зборив куде и да су
Kumanovci ne se pretopuev lăko, na svoj dijalekt zboriv kude i da su ("The people from Kumanovo cannot be assimilated easily, they speak their own dialect wherever they are")
Полăко ќе научиш англиски да пишуеш и читаш неголи кумановски
Polăko ḱe naučiš angliski da pišueš i čitaš negoli kumanovski ("You will learn to write and read English more easily than the Kumanovo dialect")
1 Also considered a dialect of Bulgarian. 2 Considered to be a part of the transitional Torlak dialect and as a subdialect of Bulgarian, Macedonian, and Serbo-Croatian.
