Transitional Bulgarian dialects
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The Transitional Bulgarian dialects are a group of
Bulgarian dialects Bulgarian dialects are the regional varieties of the Bulgarian language, a South Slavic language. Bulgarian dialectology dates to the 1830s and the pioneering work of Neofit Rilski, ''Bolgarska gramatika'' (published 1835 in ...
, whose speakers are located west of the yat boundary and are part of the
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 ...
. As they have most of the typical characteristics of the North-Western Bulgarian dialects, they are sometimes classified as belonging to this subgroup under the name of Extreme North-Western dialects. On Bulgarian territory, the Transitional dialects occupy a narrow strip of land along the Bulgarian border with
Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...
, including the regions of Tran, Breznik,
Godech Godech ( bg, Годеч ) is a small town located in the Sofia Province, of Bulgaria. The town is founded in a valley on the far west of Stara Planina, where the Nishava River passes. The settlement is about 20 km east of the Serbian bord ...
,
Chiprovtsi Chiprovtsi ( bg, Чипровци, pronounced ) is a small town in northwestern Bulgaria, administratively part of Montana Province. It lies on the shores of the river Ogosta in the western Balkan Mountains, very close to the Bulgarian-Serbian b ...
and
Belogradchik Belogradchik ( bg, Белоградчик ) is a town in Vidin Province, Northwestern Bulgaria, the administrative centre of the homonymous Belogradchik Municipality. The town, whose name literally means "small white town," is situated in the foo ...
. They also cross the border to include the dialects or
subdialect Subdialect (from Latin , "under", and Ancient Greek , "discourse") is a linguistic term designating a dialectological category between the levels of dialect and idiolect. Subdialects are basic subdivisions of a dialect. Subdialects can be divided ...
s of the Bulgarian minority in the
Western Outlands The Western (Bulgarian) Outlands () is a term used by Bulgarians to describe several regions located in southeastern Serbia. The territories in question were ceded by Bulgaria to the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes in 1920 as a result ...
(the regions of
Tsaribrod Dimitrovgrad ( sr-cyr, Димитровград) alternatively Caribrod ( bg, Цариброд, Tsaribrod) is a town and municipality located in the Pirot District of southeastern Serbia. According to 2011 census, the municipality of Dimitrovgrad ...
and
Bosilegrad Bosilegrad ( sr-cyr, Босилеград; bg, Босилеград) is a town and municipality located in the Pčinja District of southern Serbia. The municipality comprises an area of . According to 2011 census, town has a population of 2,624 i ...
). The Transitional dialects are part of the
Torlak dialect Torlakian, or Torlak is a group of South Slavic dialects of southeastern Serbia, Kosovo, northeastern North Macedonia, and northwestern Bulgaria. Torlakian, together with Bulgarian and Macedonian, falls into the Balkan Slavic linguistic ar ...
al group also spoken in southeastern Serbia and
North Macedonia North Macedonia, ; sq, Maqedonia e Veriut, (Macedonia before February 2019), officially the Republic of North Macedonia,, is a country in Southeast Europe. It gained independence in 1991 as one of the successor states of Socialist Feder ...
and are part of the gradual transition from
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 ...
to Serbian. The Bulgarian Transitional dialects and the Serbian Prizren-Timok dialects are loosely characterised by mixed, predominantly Serbian phonology and predominantly Bulgarian morphology. The features described here are characteristic only of the Transitional dialects within Bulgaria.


Phonological characteristics

* Old Bulgarian ѣ (yat) is always pronounced as vs. standard Bulgarian я/е (/) – ''бел/бели'' * ч/дж () for Proto-Slavic - ''леча, меджу'' ("lentils", "between"). Partial manifestation of reflex for Proto-Slavic (as in standard Bulgarian) in words like ''чужд'' ("foreign"). The future tense particle is ''че'' * у for Old Bulgarian ѫ (yus) (as in standard Serbo-Croatian): ''мука'' vs. Standard Bulgarian ''мъка'' ("sorrow") * for Old Bulgarian ь and ъ in all positions: ''сън'' ("sleep") * Complete loss of consonant х () in all positions (preserved in both Bulgarian and Serbian): ''мъ'' vs. Standard Bulgarian ''мъх'' ("moss") * Preservation of final l (as in Bulgarian): ''бил'' ("was") * Articulation of voiced consonants at the end of the word (as in Serbian) in some areas/subdialects ( Tran, Breznik) and devoicing (as in Bulgarian) in others (
Bosilegrad Bosilegrad ( sr-cyr, Босилеград; bg, Босилеград) is a town and municipality located in the Pčinja District of southern Serbia. The municipality comprises an area of . According to 2011 census, town has a population of 2,624 i ...
,
Tsaribrod Dimitrovgrad ( sr-cyr, Димитровград) alternatively Caribrod ( bg, Цариброд, Tsaribrod) is a town and municipality located in the Pirot District of southeastern Serbia. According to 2011 census, the municipality of Dimitrovgrad ...
,
Godech Godech ( bg, Годеч ) is a small town located in the Sofia Province, of Bulgaria. The town is founded in a valley on the far west of Stara Planina, where the Nishava River passes. The settlement is about 20 km east of the Serbian bord ...
,
Belogradchik Belogradchik ( bg, Белоградчик ) is a town in Vidin Province, Northwestern Bulgaria, the administrative centre of the homonymous Belogradchik Municipality. The town, whose name literally means "small white town," is situated in the foo ...
) * Lack of phonemic pitch (as in standard Bulgarian) * Lack of phonemic length (as in standard Bulgarian) * Frequent stress on the final syllable in polysyllabic words (as in standard Bulgarian, not possible in standard Serbo-Croatian, though frequent in archaic Serbo-Croatian dialects): ''жен'а'' ("woman") * Complete loss of consonant f. It does not exist even in new words where it is usually replaced by v: ''венер'' vs. Standard Bulgarian ''фенер'' ("lantern")


Grammatical and morphological characteristics

* Definiteness realized with post-positive articles. The definite articles are usually -ът, -та, -то, -те as in standard Bulgarian * Breakup of the Old Bulgarian case system (as in standard Bulgarian). Apart from nominal forms, there is an agglomerative form only for masculine animate names and feminine names * Loss of the
infinitive Infinitive (abbreviated ) is a linguistics term for certain verb forms existing in many languages, most often used as non-finite verbs. As with many linguistic concepts, there is not a single definition applicable to all languages. The word is deri ...
(as in standard Bulgarian) * Full retention of the
aorist Aorist (; abbreviated ) verb forms usually express perfective aspect and refer to past events, similar to a preterite. Ancient Greek grammar had the aorist form, and the grammars of other Indo-European languages and languages influenced by the I ...
and the
imperfect The imperfect (abbreviated ) is a verb form that combines past tense (reference to a past time) and imperfective aspect (reference to a continuing or repeated event or state). It can have meanings similar to the English "was walking" or "used to w ...
(as in standard Bulgarian) * Doubling of objects with an additional object pronoun (as in standard Bulgarian) * Ending -e for plural of feminine nouns and adjectives (as in standard Serbo-Croatian): ''жене'' ("women") * The plural endings of adjectives vary from three (for each gender, as in standard Serbo-Croatian), to two (one for masculine and neuter and one for feminine) and one (as in standard Bulgarian), depending on dialect/subdialect * Ending -мо for 1st person pl. present time (as in standard Serbo-Croatian): ''носимо'' ("we carry") * Ending -ше for 3rd person pl. past tense (vs. -ха in Bulgarian): ''плетоше'' equal to Serbian imperfect tense, vs. standard Bulgarian ''плетоха'' ("they knitted") For the phonological and morphological characteristics of the individual dialects included in the dialectal group, cf. individual articles.


Sources

* ''Sprachatlas Ostserbiens und Westbulgariens'', Andrej N. Sobolev. Vol. I-III. Biblion Verlag, Marburg, 1998. * Стойков, Стойко: Българска диалектология, Акад. изд. "Проф. Марин Дринов", 200

* Sussex, Roland and Cubberley, Paul: ''The Slavic Languages'', Cambridge, 2006


Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Transitional Bulgarian Dialects Dialects of the Bulgarian language