The Balkan dialects are the most extensive group of dialects of the
Bulgarian language
Bulgarian (; , ) is an Eastern South Slavic, Eastern South Slavic language spoken in Southeast Europe, primarily in Bulgaria. It is the language of the Bulgarians.
Along with the closely related Macedonian language (collectively forming the ...
, covering almost half of the present-day territory of
Bulgaria
Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...
. Their range includes north-central Bulgaria and most of the Bulgarian part of
Thrace
Thrace (, ; ; ; ) is a geographical and historical region in Southeast Europe roughly corresponding to the province of Thrace in the Roman Empire. Bounded by the Balkan Mountains to the north, the Aegean Sea to the south, and the Black Se ...
, excluding the
Rhodopes, the region of
Haskovo
Haskovo ( ) 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 Development of Bulgaria ...
and
Strandzha
Strandzha (, also transliterated as ''Strandja'', ; , or ) is a mountain massif in southeastern Bulgaria and East Thrace, the European part of Turkey. It is in the southeastern part of the Balkans between the plains of Thrace to the west, th ...
. 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 ( ; ; ) 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 Dobrudzha. It is located in the northeastern part of the cou ...
and
Varna
Varna may refer to:
Places Europe
*Varna, Bulgaria, a city
** Varna Province
** Varna Municipality
** Gulf of Varna
** Lake Varna
**Varna Necropolis
* Vahrn, or Varna, a municipality in Italy
* Varna (Šabac), a village in Serbia
Asia
* Var ...
. 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, 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