North White Carniolan dialect

The North White Carniolan dialect ("severnobelokranjsko narečje") is a Slovene dialect in the Lower Carniolan dialect group. It is spoken in northern White Carniola north of the line from Kanižarica to Črnomelj. It includes the settlements of Semič and Metlika.
Phonological and morphological characteristics.
The North White Carniolan dialect lacks a pitch accent and underwent the third accentual retraction, which also applied to long syllables. Slovenian linguist Jože Toporišič states that there was no early mixing with Croatian in this dialect, and Croatian linguist Mijo Lončarić states that the dialect has a Croatian origin.