Bulgarian language
Countries (spoken in): |
Bulgaria, Ukraine, Moldova, the Western Outlands in Serbia, Romania, Greece, Turkey, Republic of Macedonia |
Official status: |
Bulgaria |
Total speakers: |
10 million speakers |
Bulgarian language — is an Indo-European language, a member of the Slavic linguistic group, official language of Bulgaria. In 2007 there are more than 12 million people around the world who speak Bulgarian.
Bulgarian was the first «Slavic» language attested in writing. As Slavic linguistic unity lasted into late antiquity, in the oldest manuscripts this language was initially referred to as языкъ словяньскъ, «the Slavic language».
During the Middle Bulgarian period, the language underwent dramatic changes, losing the Slavonic case system, but preserving the rich verb system.
Today one difference between Bulgarian dialects in the country and literary spoken Bulgarian is the significant presence of Old Bulgarian words and even word forms in the latter.
Modern Bulgarian was based essentially on the Eastern dialects of the language, but its pronunciation is in many respects a compromise between East and West Bulgarian.
Bulgarian alphabet
The following table gives the letters of the Bulgarian alphabet:
Аа Бб Вв Гг Дд Ее Жж Зз Ии Йй
Кк Лл Мм Нн Оо Пп Рр Сс ТтУу Фф
Хх Цц Чч Шш Щщ Чч Ъъ Ьь Юю Яя
Most letters in the Bulgarian alphabet stand for just one specific sound. Three letters stand for the single expression of combinations of sounds, namely щ (sht), ю (yu), and я (ya).
Bulgarian online translators
|