ONOMASTIC STUDY OF THE VILLAGES IN THE UPPER DERVEN REGION
Meral VESELI, Luljeta ADILI-ÇELIKU, Qazibane HASHIMI
Abstract
This study examines the microtoponymy of the villages of the Upper Derven region in North Macedonia (Zhelinë, Dëbërcë, Çiflig, Rogle, Merovë, Novosellë, Kopaçindoll, Grupçin, and Llërcë). Despite the presence of several partial studies on Balkan and Albanian toponymy, the microtoponymic corpus of this region has not yet been systematically collected, classified, and analyzed within a unified linguistic and statistical framework.
The main objective of this research is to document and classify the microtoponyms of the region according to their linguistic origin and to analyze their lexical-semantic and phonetic characteristics. The study combines qualitative linguistic analysis with quantitative statistical procedures. The corpus was collected through field data, existing literature, and comparative linguistic sources, while statistical analysis was used to determine the distribution of microtoponyms by origin (Slavic, Turkish, mixed, and other authentic forms).
The results show that microtoponyms of Slavic origin constitute the largest group within the corpus, followed by Turkish and mixed formations, while a considerable number of authentic local microtoponyms remain preserved in several villages. The village of Llërcë shows the highest concentration of Slavic and Turkish microtoponyms, whereas Novosellë and Merovë display a larger number of authentic regional names. Statistical correlation analysis also indicates a significant positive relationship between the presence of Slavic and Turkish microtoponyms across the villages. The findings contribute to the documentation of the linguistic heritage of the Upper Derven region and provide new empirical data for further comparative studies in Balkan and Albanian onomastics.
Pages: 108 - 118