The term Maleševo-Pirin dialect (also spelt Maleshevo) is used in South Slavic

South Slavic languages

The South Slavic languages comprise one of three branches of the Slavic languages. There are approximately 30 million speakers, mainly in the Balkans. These are separated geographically from speakers of the other two Slavic branches by a belt of German, Hungarian and Romanian speakers...

 linguistics to refer to a group of related varieties that are spoken on both sides of the border between Bulgaria

Bulgaria

Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...

 and the Republic of Macedonia

Republic of Macedonia

Macedonia , officially the Republic of Macedonia , is a country located in the central Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991...

. Some linguists treat them as dialects of the Bulgarian diasystem

Bulgarian dialects

Bulgarian dialects are the regional spoken varieties of the Bulgarian language, a South Slavic language. Bulgarian dialectology dates to the 1830s and the pioneering work of Neofit Rilski, Bolgarska gramatika...

. while Victor Friedman views them as part of the Macedonian language

Macedonian language

Macedonian is a South Slavic language spoken as a first language by approximately 2–3 million people principally in the region of Macedonia but also in the Macedonian diaspora...

. According to some authors they are linguistically transitional between the two national languages, Bulgarian

Bulgarian language

Bulgarian is an Indo-European language, a member of the Slavic linguistic group.Bulgarian, along with the closely related Macedonian language, demonstrates several linguistic characteristics that set it apart from all other Slavic languages such as the elimination of case declension, the...

 and Macedonian

Macedonian language

Macedonian is a South Slavic language spoken as a first language by approximately 2–3 million people principally in the region of Macedonia but also in the Macedonian diaspora...

, and form part of the larger dialect continuum

Dialect continuum

A dialect continuum, or dialect area, was defined by Leonard Bloomfield as a range of dialects spoken across some geographical area that differ only slightly between neighboring areas, but as one travels in any direction, these differences accumulate such that speakers from opposite ends of the...

 between them. The dialect group is named after the mountain ranges of Pirin

Pirin

The Pirin Mountains are a mountain range in southwestern Bulgaria, with Vihren the highest peak, situated at . The range extends about 40 km northwest-southeast, and about 25 km wide. Most of the range is protected in the Pirin National Park...

 in Bulgaria and Maleševo in Macedonia. When referring specifically to the dialects on the Bulgarian side, the term Petrich-Blagoevgrad dialect, after the two major towns in the area, is also used.
Some Macedonian linguistics tend to treat the whole group as part of the Macedonian language, classifying it as part of a southeastern group of Macedonian dialects

Dialects of the Macedonian language

The dialects of Macedonian comprise the Slavic dialects spoken in the Republic of Macedonia as well as some varieties spoken in the wider geographic region of Macedonia. They exist as part of the dialect continuum of South Slavic languages that joins the Macedonian language with Bulgarian to the...

, others, like Krume Kepeski do not classifying it as part of it, whereas from the perspective of Bulgarian linguistics, the varieties in Bulgaria are classified as parts of the eastern subgroup of the southwestern group of Bulgarian.
This dialect is spoken in the towns of Delčevo

Delcevo

Delčevo is a small town in the eastern mountainous part of the Republic of Macedonia. It is the municipal seat of the eponymous municipality. The town is named after revolutionary Goce Delčev.-Demographics:Delčevo has 11,500 residents....

, Pehčevo

Pehcevo

Pehcevo is a small town situated in the eastern part of the Republic of Macedonia. The seat of the Municipality of Pehcevo is a town Pehcevo Pehčevo Municipality. Population in the Municipality is 5,517.-External links:*...

, Berovo

Berovo

Berovo is a small town near the Maleševo Mountains, from Skopje, from Strumica and from Kočani, in the Republic of Macedonia. It is the seat of Berovo Municipality.-Demographics:There are 7,002 residents in the town of Berovo.-Features:...

 and the surrounding villages in the east of the Republic of Macedonia,
and in the regions of Blagoevgrad

Blagoevgrad

Blagoevgrad is а city in southwestern Bulgaria, the administrative centre of Blagoevgrad Province, with a population of about 74,302 . It lies on the banks of the Blagoevgradska Bistritsa River....

, Petrich

Petrich

Petrich is a town in Blagoevgrad Province in southwestern Bulgaria, located at the foot of the Belasica Mountains in the Strumeshnitsa Valley. , the town has 29920 inhabitants.Petrich is located close to the borders with Greece and the Republic of Macedonia...

 and Sandanski

Sandanski

-Municipality:Sandanski is the seat of Sandanski municipality , which includes the following 54 places:-Honour:Sandanski Point on Livingston Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica is named after the town of Sandanski....

 in Bulgaria.

The Blagoevgrad-Petric dialect is also closely related to the neighbouring Kyustendil

Kyustendil dialect

The Kyustendil dialect is a Bulgarian dialect, member of the Southwestern Bulgarian dialects, which is spoken in the region of Kyustendil in central western Bulgaria. It borders on the Transitional dialects to the north, the Dupnitsa dialect to the east and the Blagoevgrad-Petrich dialect to the...

 and Samokov dialect

Samokov dialect

The Samokov dialect is a Bulgarian dialect, member of the Southwestern Bulgarian dialects, which is spoken in the region of Samokov in central western Bulgaria...

, and especially to the Dupnitsa dialect

Dupnitsa dialect

The Dupnitsa dialect is a Bulgarian dialect, member of the Southwestern Bulgarian dialects, which is spoken in the region of Dupnitsa in central western Bulgaria...

,
whereas the Maleshevo dialect is closely related especially with the Štip-Strumica dialect.

Linguistic properties

The following is a table of distinctive phonological and grammatical features, comparing the values found in the Maleshevo and Blagoevgrad-Petrich dialects with Standard Bulgarian, Standard Macedonian and two other neighbouring Western Bulgarian dialect areas.

Comparison of the Maleshevo dialect and the Blagoevgrad-Petrich dialect with Standard Bulgarian and Standard Macedonian
EWLINE Parameter Maleshevo dialect Blagoevgrad-Petrich dialect Standard Bulgarian (based on Eastern Bulgarian) Standard Macedonian Dupnitsa dialect Samokov dialect English Proto-Slavic *tʲ/*dʲ – Old Church Slavonic щ/жд (ʃt/ʒd) шч/жџ ʃtʃ//dʒ/ (in some areas also щ/жд (ʃt/ʒd) and ќ/ѓ (c/ɟ) – лешча/межџу (in some areas леща/между or леќа/меѓу) щ/жд (ʃt/ʒd) – леща/между щ/жд (ʃt/ʒd) – леща/между ќ/ѓ (c/ɟ) – леќа/меѓу щ/жд (ʃt/ʒd) – леща/между щ/жд (ʃt/ʒd) – леща/между lentils/between Proto-Slavic *ɡt/kt – Old Church Slavonic щ (ʃt) ќ (c) (in some areas also щ (ʃt) – ноќ (in some areas нощ) щ (ʃt) – нощ щ (ʃt) – нощ ќ (c) – ноќ щ (ʃt) – нощ щ (ʃt) – нощ night Old Church Slavonic (yat) е (ɛ) – бел/бели е (ɛ) – бел/бели я/е (ʲa/ɛ) – бял/бели е (ɛ) – бел/бели е (ɛ) – бел/бели е (ɛ) – бел/бели white Old Church Slavonic (yus), approx. ɔ̃ а (a) – маж а (a) – маж ъ (ə) – мъж а (a) – маж а (a) – маж а (a) – маж man Old Church Slavonic ъ (ə) о (ɔ) – сон о (ɔ) – сон ъ (ə) – сън о (ɔ) – сон о (ɔ) – сон а (a) – сан dream Old Church Slavonic ръ/рь vocalic r/ро (rɔ) – врох, крф ръ (rə) – връх, кръв ръ/ър (rə/ər) – връх, кръв vocalic r – врв, крв vocalic r – врх, крф vocalic r – врх, крф summit, blood Old Church Slavonic лъ/ль ъ (ə) – съза ъ (ə) – съза лъ/ъл (lə/əl) – сълза oл (ɔl) – солза vocalic l/ъ (ə) – слза/съза depending on region у (u) – суза tear Old Church Slavonic x /x/ Mixed – бех, убаво Mixed – бех, убаво Preserved – бях, хубаво Lost or replaced by ф/в (f/v) – бев, убаво Mixed – бех, убаво Mixed – бех, убаво was, nice Vowel reduction No No Yes No No No Definite article Single definite article – момчето Single definite article – момчето Single definite article – момчето Triple definite article – момчето, момчево, момчено Single definite article – момчето Single definite article – момчето the boy Ending of verbs in 1st person sing. present time а – 1st and 2nd conjugation, ам – 3rd – чета, пиша а – 1st and 2nd conjugation, ам – 3rd – чета, пиша а (я) – 1st and 2nd conjugation, ам (ям) – 3rd – чета, пиша only ам – читам, пишувам а – 1st and 2nd conjugation, ам – 3rd – чета, пиша only (и/е)м – четем, пишем (I) read, (I) write Formation of past perfect tense бeх + past participle – бех писал, бех молил бeх + past participle – бех писал, бех молил бях + past participle – бях писал, бях молил имам + past passive aorist participle – имам пишувано, имам молено бeх + past participle – бех писал, бех молил бех + past participle – бех писал, бeх молил (I) had read, (I) had written Word stress Dynamic – доˈбиток, пеˈре Dynamic – доˈбиток, пеˈре Dynamic – доˈбитък, пеˈре Fixed antepenultimate – ˈдобиток, ˈпере Dynamic – доˈбиток, пеˈре Dynamic – доˈбиток, пеˈре cattle, (he/she/it) washes

As shown by the table, the Maleshevo and the Blagoevgrad-Petrich dialect show mixed Bulgarian and Macedonian phonological traits and mostly Bulgarian grammatical traits (several instead of one conjugation, single definite article, formation of past perfect tense with бeх, etc.), with the Maleshevo dialect ranging mostly towards Macedonian and the Blagoevgrad-Petrich dialect ranging mostly towards Bulgarian (cf. table). The transitional nature of the dialect is further demonstrated by the reflexes of the Proto-Slavic *tʲ/*dʲ: from the typically Bulgarian щ/жд (ʃt/ʒd) in the Blagoevgrad-Petrich dialect and the far East of the Maleshevo dialect, along the border with Bulgaria, through the transitional шч/жџ (ʃtʃ//dʒ/) in the central parts, and to the typically Macedonian ќ/ѓ (c/ɟ) in the western parts of the Maleshevo dialect

Other phonological characteristics

• shortening of the words
• use of the plural suffix -ove as in Bulgarian instead of -ovi as in Macedonian: клучове ('keys')
• use of the old consonant group caf- instead of the consonant group cv-: цев- цаф (cev, 'pipe')
• use of /v/ at the beginning of the word as in Bulgarian instead of /j/ as in Macedonian: важе ('rope')

Morphological characteristics

• use of the preposition sus/sos: – сус/сос рака ('with the hand');
• the clitic possessive forms follow the verb: му рече – рече му ('He told him');
• use of the dative form with na: на нас ни рече ( na nas ni reche, 'He told us')
• the form of the verb to be for third person plural is sa as in Bulgarian, instead of se as in Macedonian: тие се – тие/тия са ('those are'), они са ('they are')
• use of the pronouns on, ona, ono, oni instead of toj, tja, to, te