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This article uses Logar transcription.

The Soča dialect (obsoško narečje ), might also be translated as Isonzo dialect, is a Slovene dialect, spoken in upper Soča Valley. It is one of the most archaic Slovene dialects, together with Natisone Valley, Torre Valley, and Rosen Valley dialects. It borders Karst dialect to the south, Natisone Valley dialect to the southwest, Torre Valley and Resian dialects to the west, Fiulian and Carinthian Bavarian to the northwest, Gail Valley dialect to the north, Upper Carniolan dialect to the east, and Tolmin dialect to the southeast. The dialect belongs to the Littoral dialect group, and evolved from Soča–Idrija dialect plane.

Geographical extension
Soča dialect is the only dialect in the Littoral dialect plane that is not spoken in Italy. It spans from Volčanski Ruti in the south to Borjana and Žaga in the west, north up to Vršič Pass, with the northernmost settlements being Strmec na Predelu and Trenta. There is no geographical border on its eastern side, it s somehow spoken western from Tolmin, but still being spoken in villages like Tolminske Ravn e. It is thus spoken in the whole territory of the municipality of Bovec, in most of the municipality of Kobarid (except for the area around Breginj and Livek on the border with Italy, where the Torre Valley and Natisone Valley dialects are spoken), and in several villages in the western and southern parts of the municipality of Tolmin. Bigger settlements include Volče, Volarje, Idrsko, Drežnica, Kobarid, Borjana, Srpenica, Žaga, Bovec, Čezsoča, Soča, and Log pod Mangartom.

Accentual changes
Soča dialect has pitch accent on long syllables, which are differentiated from short. Southern microdialects have retained the Alpine Slovene accentuation, while northern microdialects have undergone *ženȁ → *žèna and *məglȁ → *mə̀gla accent shifts under the influence from Gail Valley dialect.

Phonology
All long and later lengthened e-like vowels (*ě, *ę, *e) turned into iẹ and o-like vowels (*ǫ, *o) turned into uo, except final *ō turned into uː or to eː after *w. Secundarly stressed *e and *o in northern microdialects turned into eː and oː, respectively, but oː changes into eː after *w. Vowels *ū, *ā and *ī stayed unchanged, while *ə̄ turned into aː. Syllabic *ł̥̄ turned into uː.

Vowel reduction affected all vowels. Ukanye (*o, *ǫ → u) is common, as well as simplification of *e, *ě, *ę, *i, *u, and *a after the stress into e̥.

Palatal consonants are only palatalized or completely hardened (*ĺ → l’; *ń → n’/ń; ŕ → r; t’ → č/č́). *ĺ and *ń turned into clusters lj and nj, respectively, before a vowel and *t’ turned into jč after stressed e. Before a front vowel, *w turned into ƀ (betacizem ), elsewhere it stayed. Consonant *g turned into ɣ and into voiced h at the end of a word or partially spirantized into ǥ. Consonants b and d also spirantized in some microdialects into ƀ and đ, respectively. Ending consonants are not always devoiced, only b → p and d → θ/t. Consonant *t in cluster tl and at the end of a word also turns into k. Consonant ǯ́ is present in loanwords and in some dialects *f turned into x.

Morphology
Soča dialect retains neuter gender in all numbers and dual still exists, but s used inconsistently. Feminine dual l-participle form merged with plural. It uses long infinitive. Verbs in i-m always have accent on the root (ˈɣóːri, SS gorȋ 'to burn') and with some reflexive verbs, the accent in imperative shifted to the end (uble̥ˈcìː se, SS oblẹ́ci se 'get dressed')

Vocabulary
There is a dictionary of words used in northern microdialects, particularly in Bovec, written by Barbara Ivančič Kutin in 2007.