The Upper Savinja dialect (zgornjesavinjsko narečje, zgornja savinjščina) is a Slovene dialect in the Styrian dialect group

Styrian dialect group

The Styrian dialect group is a group of closely related dialects of Slovene. The Lower Carniolan dialects are spoken in central and eastern Slovenian Styria and in the Lower Sava Valley and Central Sava Valley....

. It is spoken in the upper Savinja

Savinja

The Savinja is a river in northeast Slovenia which flows mostly in the Upper and Lower Savinja valley and through the cities of Celje and Laško. The Savinja is the main river of the Savinja Alps . It flows into Sava River at the town of Zidani Most. It has often flooded, such as in the 1960s,...

 Valley and along the Dreta

Dreta

Dreta is a river in Lower Styria, Slovenia. The river is 29 km in length. Its source is near Črnivec Pass in Kamnik Alps. It flows through the town of Gornji Grad, Bočna, and Šmartno ob Dreti, and merges with the Savinja River in Nazarje.-See also :...

 River, extending eastwards to east of Mozirje

Mozirje

Mozirje is a small town and municipality on the Savinja River in northern Slovenia. The area was part of the traditional region of Styria. It is now included in the Savinja statistical region....

 and Nazarje

Nazarje

Nazarje is a town and a municipality in Slovenia. It lies around the confluence of the Savinja and Dreta rivers. Traditionally it belonged to the region of Styria and is now included in the Savinja statistical region....

, up to the Solčava subdialect

Solčava subdialect

The Solčava subdialect is a Slovene subdialect in the Styrian dialect group. It is a subdialect of the Upper Savinja dialect spoken around Solčava and the Logar Valley. It is the westernmost of the dialects in the Styrian dialect group.-Phonological and morphological characteristics:The Solčava...

 northwest of Luče

Luce

- Places :* Luče, a town in Slovenia* Luce, California, former town in Butte County* Luce Bay, a large Bay in Wigtownshire in southern Scotland* Luce County, Michigan, a county in the U.S...

 in Solčava

Solcava

Solčava is a village and a municipality in northern Slovenia close to the Austrian border. Traditionally it belonged to the region of Styria and is now included in the Savinja statistical region....

 and the Logar Valley. It includes the settlements of Ljubno

Ljubno

Ljubno is a town and a municipality on the upper course of the Savinja River in Slovenia. The town is referred to as Ljubno ob Savinji in order to distinguish it from other settlements with the same name. Traditionally it belonged to the region of Styria and is now included in the Savinja...

, Luče

Luce

- Places :* Luče, a town in Slovenia* Luce, California, former town in Butte County* Luce Bay, a large Bay in Wigtownshire in southern Scotland* Luce County, Michigan, a county in the U.S...

, Gornji Grad, and Bočna

Bočna

Bočna is a settlement in the Municipality of Gornji Grad in Slovenia. Traditionally the area belonged to the Styria region and is now included in the Savinja statistical region....

.

Phonological and morphological characteristics

The Upper Savinja dialect does not have pitch accent

Pitch accent

Pitch accent is a linguistic term of convenience for a variety of restricted tone systems that use variations in pitch to give prominence to a syllable or mora within a word. The placement of this tone or the way it is realized can give different meanings to otherwise similar words...

. It has a late lengthened acute, soft l and n, palatalization of consonants before (former) front vowels, and a very dark l

Velarized alveolar lateral approximant

-See also:* Lateral consonant* Velarization* l-vocalization* Ł...

.