Most notable Serbian linguists (like Pavle Ivić and Asim Peco) classify Torlakian as an Old-Shtokavian dialect, referring to it as the Prizren-Timok dialect.[8]
Serbian linguist Pavle Ivić, in his textbook of Serbo-Croatian dialectology (1956), treated the "Prizren-Timok dialect zone" as part of the overall Shtokavian zone.[9]
Serbian linguist Aleksandar Belić classified the Prizren-Timok dialect as "fundamentally Serbian", as well as claimed that the Western Bulgarian dialects were Serbian.[10]
Croatian linguist Milan Rešetar classified the "Svrljig dialect" (Torlak) as a different group from Shtokavian.[11]
Bulgarian researchers such as Benyo Tsonev, Gavril Zanetov and Krste Misirkov[12] classified Torlakian as dialect of Bulgarian language. They noted the manner of the articles, the loss of most of the cases, etc. Today Bulgarian linguists (Stoyko Stoykov, Rangel Bozhkov) also classify Torlakian as a "Belogradchik-Tran" dialect of Bulgarian, and claim that it should be classified outside the Shtokavian area. Stoykov further argued that the Torlakian dialects have a grammar that is closer to Bulgarian and that this is indicative of them being originally Bulgarian.[13]
In Macedonian dialectology, the Torlakian varieties spoken in Macedonia (Kumanovo, Kratovo and Kriva Palanka dialect) are classified as part of a northeastern group of Macedonian dialects.[14]