The Balkan dialects are the most extensive group of dialects of the
Bulgarian language
Bulgarian (, ; bg, label=none, български, bălgarski, ) is an Eastern South Slavic language spoken in Southeastern Europe, primarily in Bulgaria. It is the language of the Bulgarians.
Along with the closely related Macedonian l ...
, covering almost half of the present-day territory of
Bulgaria
Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...
. Their range includes north-central Bulgaria and most of the Bulgarian part of
Thrace
Thrace (; el, Θράκη, Thráki; bg, Тракия, Trakiya; tr, Trakya) or Thrake is a geographical and historical region in Southeast Europe, now split among Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey, which is bounded by the Balkan Mountains to ...
, excluding the
Rhodopes, the region of
Haskovo
Haskovo ( bg, Хасково ) is a city in the region of Northern Thrace in southern Bulgaria and the administrative centre of the Haskovo Province, not far from the borders with Greece and Turkey. According to Operative Program Regional Develo ...
and
Strandzha. As a result of the mass population movements that affected eastern Bulgaria during the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, the Balkan dialects are now spoken also in vast areas of northeastern Bulgaria, especially the regions of
Dobrich
Dobrich ( bg, Добрич ; ro, Bazargic, tr, Hacıoğlu Pazarcık) is the List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, 9th most populated city in Bulgaria, the administrative centre of Dobrich Province and the capital of the region of Southern Dobr ...
and
Varna. The most significant feature of the dialects, as in most
Eastern Bulgarian dialects, is the pronunciation of Old Church Slavonic ѣ (yat) as or , depending on the character of the following syllable. The Balkan dialects, and in particular, the
Central Balkan dialect
The Central Balkan dialect is a Bulgarian dialect that is part of the Balkan group of the Eastern Bulgarian dialects. Its range includes most of north-central Bulgaria (without the regions of Dryanovo and Elena), as well as the regions of Karl ...
, lie at the foundation of
formal Bulgarian. However, they are not identical to the standard language because many of its features derive from the Western Bulgarian dialects, including the Macedonian dialects, or are a compromise between Eastern and Western standard.
Phonological and morphological characteristics
* Pronunciation of Old Church Slavonic ѣ (yat) as я/е (/) – ''бял/бели'' (as in Standard Bulgarian)
* щ/жд (/) for Proto-Slavic / (as in Standard Bulgarian) - ''нощ, между'' (night, between)
* ъ () for Old Church Slavonic ѫ (yus) and ъ () (as in Standard Bulgarian) - мъж, сън (man, sleep)
* Strong reduction of unstressed broad vowels , and , which are usually transformed into , and . In contrast, Standard Bulgarian allows only moderate reduction of and and does not allow any reduction of , i.e. the formal norm is a compromise between Eastern and Western Bulgarian (Macedonian)
* Full mutation of a into e after a soft (palatal) consonant and ж , ш , ч and дж , before a soft syllable: ''жаба-жеби'' (frog-frogs), ''чаша-чеши'' (cup-cups), ''пиян-пиени'' (drunk sing. - drunk pl.). This is not accepted in Standard Bulgarian, which has instead adopted Western Bulgarian ''жаба-жаби'', ''чаша-чаши'', ''пиян-пияни''
For the phonological and morphological characteristics of the individual dialects included in the Balkan dialects, cf. individual articles.
Sources
Стойков, Стойко: Българска диалектология, Акад. изд. "Проф. Марин Дринов", 200
{{DEFAULTSORT:Balkan Dialects
Dialects of the Bulgarian language