Vrlo svestrani znanstveni opus Dalibora Brozovića u znatnoj je mjeri obilježen
dijalektološkim
i lingvogeografskim radom. Prvenstveno je bio zainteresiran
za cjelinu srednjojužnoslavenskoga
dijasistema dijalekata, pa je u tom
smislu naročito plodno njegovo zalaganje za primjenu
strukturalnih i genetskih
kriterija u klasifikaciji dijalekata. Dijalektološke zasluge odnose se većinom
na proučavanje štokavštine, a posebno je važno Brozovićevo uočavanje i
dokazivanje
da je istočnobosanski (ijekavskošćakavski) poseban štokavski dijalekt.
Za nacionalnu filologiju
naročito su bitni prinosi u kojima se pouzdano
određuje predmigracijsko dijalekatno stanje, npr. gdje se u srednjem vijeku
govorilo hrvatski i o kakvim se upravo dijalekatnim fizionomijama
radilo. Tu
je poglavito važno uočavanje značenja staroga zapadnoštokavskoga narječja.
Veoma je opsežan Brozovićev rad u okviru lingvističke geografije, ponajprije
u izradbi lingvističkih
atlasa, jer je bio angažiran u mnogim projektima, u Općeslavenskom
lingvističkom atlasu, u Općekarpatskom dijalektološkom atlasu,
u Europskom lingvističkom atlasu itd. U svim tim pregnućima Brozovićeve su
zasluge goleme, od zamisli, organizacije i terenskoga rada do najzahtjevnijih
poslova i uredničkih dužnosti.The extremely versatile work of Dalibor Brozović is considerably marked by
research in dialectology and linguistic geography. He was primarily interested in
the Middle South Slavic dialects diasystem as a whole; consequently, his engagement
in the application of structural and genetic criteria in the classification of
dialects yielded particularly prolific results. As far as his merits in dialectology
are concerned, these are mostly related to the study of Štokavian, and here what
is especially important is the fact that he recognized and demonstrated that East
Bosnian (ijekavian-šćakavian) is a separate Štokavian dialect. Regarding national
philology, outstandingly relevant are his contributions in which the premigrational
state of dialects is reliably reconstructed, for example where was Croatian
spoken in the Middle Ages and which were its dialectal physiognomies. In this
respect, his insight into the importance of the Old Western Štokavian dialect is
particularly significant. The work of Brozović in the domain of linguistic geography
is substantial, especially in the drawing up of linguistic atlases, since he was
engaged in numerous scientific projects, such as the Slavic Linguistic Atlas, the
Carpathian Dialectological Atlas, the European Linguistic Atlas, etc. In all these
endeavours, the merits of Dalibor Brozović are immense, from his ideas, organization
and fieldwork to his most demanding tasks and editorial duties
