My master's thesis focuses on the speech of the town of Črnomelj, which is a part of Dolenjska (Lower Carniola) dialect group, and northern Bela krajina (Nothern White Carniola) dialect. The theoretic part includes a brief description of historical conditions, which influenced the changes in the dialect in the area of Bela krajina; common stereotypes related to dialects, and reasons for the changes of dialects. There is a concise historical description of the origin of Slovenian dialects with the focus on the previous research on Bela krajina speech. In the empirical part of the thesis, there is a description of the method of collecting and handling the material. The speakers are divided in three age groups which are accompanied by transcripts of all audio recordings and diachronic analysis (with the emphasis on phonetics and accent elements), and followed by their analysis and comments. Based on the analysis, the vocal variable and their variants were determined, and presented in a table, which enabled a comparison of individual speakers within their age group, and consequently generalize the most common characteristics in their speech. According to my findings, I made a comparison between the speakers of all three age groups, mainly focusing on the changes, which slowly lead a dialect to form into a subdialect. I have also exposed dialect characteristics still used or even accentuated by young speakers, which shows their positive attitude to their dialect.
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