The Mežica dialect lacks pitch accent and has a large ratio between the length of accented and unaccented vowels. Mid vowels tend to become open (e.g., e > ε) but there is also some diphthong development (e.g., ě > ie, o > uo). The dialect underwent the Slovenian third accentual retraction, the feminine nominal instrumental singular ending is -oj, and the addition of š- before deictics in t- (e.g., štam for tam 'there'; known as štekanje in Slovene) is typical.[3]
References
^Smole, Vera. 1998. "Slovenska narečja." Enciklopedija Slovenije vol. 12, pp. 1–5. Ljubljana: Mladinska knjiga, p. 2.
^Rigler, Jakob. 1986. Razprave o slovenskem jeziku. Ljubljana: Slovenska matica, p. 155.
^ abToporišič, Jože. 1992. Enciklopedija slovenskega jezika. Ljubljana: Cankarjeva založba, p. 107.