The Subbalkan dialect is a

Bulgarian Bulgarian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Bulgaria * Bulgarians, a South Slavic ethnic group * Bulgarian language, a Slavic language * Bulgarian alphabet * A citizen of Bulgaria, see Demographics of Bulgaria * Bul ...

dialect, which is part of the

Balkan The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...

group of the Eastern Bulgarian dialects. Its range includes the northeastern part of Bulgarian

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 t ...

, i.e. the regions of

Burgas Burgas ( bg, Бургас, ), sometimes transliterated as ''Bourgas'', is the second largest city on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast in the region of Northern Thrace and the fourth-largest in Bulgaria after Sofia, Plovdiv, and Varna, with a popu ...

Sliven Sliven ( bg, Сливен ) is the eighth-largest city in Bulgaria and the administrative and industrial centre of Sliven Province and municipality in Northern Thrace. Sliven is famous for its heroic Haiduts who fought against the Ottoman Turk ...

Yambol Yambol ( bg, Ямбол ) is a town in Southeastern Bulgaria and administrative centre of Yambol Province. It lies on both banks of the Tundzha river in the historical region of Thrace. It is occasionally spelled ''Jambol''. Yambol is the admi ...

Stara Zagora Stara Zagora ( bg, Стара Загора, ) is the sixth-largest city in Bulgaria, and the administrative capital of the homonymous Stara Zagora Province. Name The name comes from the Slavic root ''star'' ("old") and the name of the medieva ...

and

Chirpan Chirpan ( bg, Чирпан, ) is a town on the Tekirska River in Stara Zagora Province of south-central Bulgaria. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous Chirpan Municipality. As of 2021, the town had a population of 13,391 down from ...

. As a result of the mass population movements that affected eastern Bulgaria during the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, speakers of the Subbalkan dialect have moved en masse to northeastern Bulgaria and now form a vast portion of the population of the districts of

Varna Varna may refer to: Places Europe *Varna, Bulgaria, a city in Bulgaria **Varna Province **Varna Municipality ** Gulf of Varna **Lake Varna **Varna Necropolis *Vahrn, or Varna, a municipality in Italy *Varniai, a city in Lithuania * Varna (Šaba ...

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

Balchik Balchik ( bg, Балчик ; ro, Balcic) is a Black Sea coastal town and seaside resort in the Southern Dobruja area of northeastern Bulgaria. It is in Dobrich Province, 35 km southeast of Dobrich and 42 km northeast of Varna. It spra ...

. Some of these also went as far as

Bessarabia Bessarabia (; Gagauz: ''Besarabiya''; Romanian: ''Basarabia''; Ukrainian: ''Бессара́бія'') is a historical region in Eastern Europe, bounded by the Dniester river on the east and the Prut river on the west. About two thirds of Be ...

establishing numerous colonies there. Nowadays, a large part of the

Bessarabian Bulgarians The Bessarabian Bulgarians ( bg, бесарабски българи, ''besarabski bǎlgari'', ro, bulgari basarabeni, uk, бесарабські болгари, ''bessarabski bolháry'') are a Bulgarian minority group of the historical region o ...

speak this dialect. The most significant feature of the Subbalkan dialect, as in all

Balkan dialects The Balkan dialects are the most extensive group of dialects of the Bulgarian language, covering almost half of the present-day territory of Bulgaria. Their range includes north-central Bulgaria and most of the Bulgarian part of Thrace, excluding ...

, is the pronunciation of Old Church Slavonic ѣ (yat) as or , depending on the character of the following syllable.

Phonological and morphological characteristics

* The ending of the verbs in 1st and 2nd conjugation and female nouns is -a instead of -ъ as in 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 Karlov ...

: ''че'та'', ''же'на'' (I read, woman). This separates the Subbalkan dialect from most other

and brings it closer to the

Pirdop dialect The Pirdop dialect is a Bulgarian dialect, which is part of the Balkan group of the Eastern Bulgarian dialects. Its range includes the towns of Pirdop, Zlatitsa and Koprivshtitsa, as well as several neighbouring villages. The most significant feat ...

and all

Western Bulgarian dialects Bulgarian (, ; bg, label=none, български, bălgarski, ) is an Eastern South Slavic, Eastern South Slavic language spoken in Southeastern Europe, primarily in Bulgaria. It is the language of the Bulgarians. Along with the closely ...

* Ending for Old Church Slavonic ѣ (yat) in the end of the word instead of formal Bulgarian : ''зл҄а'' instead of formal Bulgarian ''зле'' (badly), ''добр҄а'' instead of formal Bulgarian ''добре'' (well) * reduction of i into in an unstressed syllable before hard syllables or a consonant in the suffixes ''-ин'', ''-ина'', ''-ино'' and ''-ик'': ''българ҄ън'' instead of formal Bulgarian ''българин'' (a Bulgarian), ''ист҄ъна'' instead of formal Bulgarian ''истина'' (truth) * Transition of the consonant group -дн into -нн: ''гланна'' vs. formal Bulgarian ''гладна'' (hungry) * Stress on the final syllable in past aorist tense of certain verbs: ''гли'дах'' (I watched) * The masculine definite article is () (in a stressed syllable) and slightly reduced a (in an unstressed syllable) - ''гърˈбъ, ˈстола'' (the back, the chair) * The plural definite article is -ти instead of formal Bulgarian -те: ''мъжети'' instead of formal Bulgarian ''мъжете'' (the men) * Lack of the oblique case in proper nouns: ''дадух на Иван'' (I gave to Ivan), cf.

As a result of its specific characteristics, the Subbalkan dialect is usually considered to be a transitional dialect between the

and the

Rup dialects The Rup dialects, or the Southeastern dialects, are a group of Bulgarian dialects located east of the yat boundary, thus being part of the Eastern Bulgarian dialects. The range of the Rup dialects includes the southern part of Thrace, i.e. Stra ...

. Most other phonological and morphological characteristics of the Subbalkan dialect are the same as the general features typical for all

, cf. article.

Sources

Стойков, Стойко: Българска диалектология, Акад. изд. "Проф. Марин Дринов", 200

{{Bulgarian dialects Dialects of the Bulgarian language