The Research Center for Areal Linguistics is a scholarly unit within the Macedonian Academy of Arts and Sciences (MANU), established on 28 September, 2000. The Center is a continuation of the informal linguistics cell created in 1991 within the Academy by Professor Božidar Vidoeski, Member of MANU, as a base for work on International linguistic atlases.
The Center researches the role of spatial factors in the development and function of language.
The multicultural and multilingual environment of the Balkans is an ideal basis for research in the field of areal linguistics, i.e. for developing a theory of languages in contact and for studying the mechanisms of linguistic interference. At the same time, such research contributes to a better understanding of the place of the Macedonian language and its dialects within the Slavic and the Balkan linguistic worlds.
Numerous scientists and scholars from various scientific and educational Centers in the Republic of Macedonia and abroad are involved in the work of the Center. The following scholars work at the Center: Professor Zuzanna Topolińska, Director of the Center and Member of Macedonian Academy of Arts and Sciences, Professor Marjan Markoviќ, Deputy Director and regular research fellow, Angelina Pančevska, research assistant, and Sonja Milenkovska, junior research assistant. Other research fellows from the Institute of the Macedonian Language, the Blaže Koneski Faculty of Philology, Skopje, and from some other institutions take an active part in the work of the Center. In addition to these, many scientists and scholars from foreign linguistic Centers are regular research associates, among them Professor Victor Friedman (University of Chicago; External Member of Academy), Professor Christina Kramer (University of Toronto), Professor Jan Sokolowski (Poland), Professor Yumi Nakajima (Hitotsubashi University, Tokyo), Professor Andrej Sobolev (University of Marburg/University of St. Petersburg), and many others.
Center Publications
Numerous publications reflect the activity of the Center. From 1998 to 2008 the following works have been published:
Works of Professor Božidar Vidoeski:
- The Dialects of the Macedonian Language (Volume 1) [1998];
- The Dialects of the Macedonian Language (Volume 2) [1999];
- The Dialects of the Macedonian Language (Volume 3) [1999];
- Geographical Terminology in the Dialects of the Macedonian Language [1999];
- Phonological Bases of the Dialects of the MacedonianLanguage [2000]
Other publications:
- Contribution to the Bibliography of the Macedonian Language 2
(1954-70)[2002]
- Общеславянский лингвистический атлас, Серия фонетико- грамматическая, выпуск 4б, рефлекси *ь, *ъ. вторичные гласные. [2004]
- Overview of the Macedonian dialects (CD with audio recordings of the dialect texts), [2002]
- Areal Linguistics (Theories and Methods), Proceedings, Materials from the Symposium on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the death of Professor Božidar Vidoeski [2005]
- Contribution to the Bibliography of the Macedonian Language 3 (1971- 1985) [2006]
- Vidoeski B., Topolińska Z., From the History of Slavic Vocalism [2006]
- Markoviќ M., Arumanian and Macedonian Dialects of the Ohrid-Struga Region (in Balkan context) [2007]
- Contribution to the Bibliography of the Macedonian Language 3
(1971-1985) [2008]