Bulgarian

Language

Bulgarian is a Slavic language from the Indo-European language family that is spoken in Bulgaria. It uses the Cyrillic writing form.

IPA Chart

Bulgarian Language

History

In 850 AD, Proto-Bulgarian subjects of the Byzantine empire had the benefit of developing the Cyrillic alphabet. The fact that the Cyrillic Alphabet originated in Bulgaria and not other Slavic states, is a point of pride for Bulgaria. Missionaries, Cyril and Methodius are generally agreed to be the creators, who collaborated with Bulgarians to develop the alphabet in order to allow Bulgarians to translate Christian documents as well as establish their own literature Crampton, 2005).

Phonology

• Words ending with consonants are always voiceless.

• Consonant clusters are more common in Bulgarian and do not require the presence of a vowel to separate them (i.e., /dd͡ʒ/,/tz/, /sdr/,/zdr/,/br/).

• Unstressed vowel pronunciation and differentiation is always phonemic and frequently used to differentiate words, meaning and gender (where in English sometimes two different vowels can become /ə/ allophonically).

Difference Between Bulgarian & English Syntax/Morphology

• Definiteness Attribute:

  • Bulgarian word order less definitive of syntactic meaning than English

• Morphemes are more important for syntactic function, and especially to determine pronoun, so pronouns are less necessary than in English.

The sentence “I want milk” in Bulgarian is more commonly expressed as:

“Искам мляко” = /iskam mlyako/ → “want milk”; where the pronoun is dropped to the conjugation of the verb.

• Dropping the pronoun in English may be more reflective of linguistic effects of the Bulgarian language.

Tenses

• Bulgarian has 9 verb tenses, where English has 12. English tenses NOT present in Bulgarian include:

Present Perfect Progressive Tense

“You have been waiting here for two hours.”

Past Perfect Progressive Tense

“I had been playing music for two hours, when he arrived.”

Future Perfect Progressive Tense

“I will have been driving for more than two hours when we reach the I-5 highway.”

These tenses are subject to avoidance or error by a Bulgarian-English language learner as they are not present in Bulgarian.

Reflexive Verbs

• Bulgarian transitive verbs when personally reflexive require an additional grammatical indicator (“се” -/sej/) to indicate that the action is being done to one’s self. In English this is not required (see example below).

• “I will say ‘hello’” = “Ще се казвам ‘здравей’” → “will (myself) say ‘hello’”

• This may result in Bulgarian-English bilinguals adding “myself” to phrases when unnecessary.

Comparatives & Superlatives

• In Bulgarian the degree aspect of adjectives is formed through an auxiliary particle indicating comparative (“По”) or superlative (“Най”). Since this can applied to all adjectives, it is similar to Englishs morphological indicators “-er, and -est.”

• English adjectives that are exceptional to the “-er, “ and “-est” conjugations such as “good” or “stupid” may be incorrectly conjugated as “gooder” “goodest"

• Such mistakes likely reflect influences of Bulgarian second language.

Stress/Prosody/Intonation

• Stress in Bulgarian words is more commonly found to be placed on the second or third syllable compared to the first. Word stress is also frequently used to differentiate words. For example, the word for “time” and “weather” are differentiated by stressing a different syllable.

Narratives

• Where English narratives are often focused on the settings, problems and resolutions of the story, Bulgarian narratives are often more focused on the symbolism of the setting, and a characters’ actions.

• Bulgarian-English language learners may spend more time describing the setting and seemingly minor actions of the characters in order to evoke emotion than establishing a full story arch.

• A sample translation of Bulgarian author Yordan Yovkov’s “Albena”: http://christopherbuxton.com/index.php/writing/translations/yordan-yovkov/

Pragmatics

• Bulgarian conversation with close friends, colleagues or family often consists of more imperatives than English. For example, the word “хайде” (“haide”) which directly translates to “Come on” or “let’s go” can easily be used as a means of coercion, politeness marker, pragmatic repair, as well as convey impatience.

• Where the imperative form is often considered rude in American English, in Bulgarian it can indicate a close relationship with someone.

• In Bulgaria, nodding the head indicates a negative response whereas shaking the head from side-to-side indicates a positive response. This is often reflected when Bulgarians shake their heads to indicate understanding during conversations.

• Newly immigrated Bulgarians may nod for “no” and shake their heads for “yes” (reverse of American gesture)

Child-Adult Interactions

• Traditional child-adult interactions in Bulgaria rely on a power dynamic. For example, an adult using the formal pronouns with children results in confusion.

• Adults are relied on as an authority, not a play-mate or peer.

• Drill-based therapy activities reflect Bulgarian educational values and will therefore may be interpreted as more beneficial than play-based.

Generational Interactions

• Bulgarian cultural value of looking to elders for guidance is fundamental in all social and especially familial interactions. For example, there was not a word for “babysitting” until very recently in Bulgaria, the preferred term is “Baba” or “Grandma.” Grandmothers are not only respected as one of the primary caregivers for children, but also a reliable resource for young families and towns for guidance.

References and Resources

"2001 Census in Bulgaria". National Statistical Institute of Bulgaria. 2001.

Bakker, P., Kiuchukov, K. (2000). What is the Romani Language? Hertfodshire: Univ of Hertfordshire Press.

Central Intelligence Agency. (2014 & 2011). Bulgaria. In The World Factbook. Retrieved from

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/bu.html

Cigularov, K.P., (2008). Achievement motivation in Bulgaria and the United States: cross-country comparison (Doctoral Dissertation). Retrieved from ProQuest Dissertations and Theses (Accession Order No. 3346440).

Crampton, R.J., (1987). A short history of modern Bulgaria. Cambridge, London, New York: Cambridge

University Press.

Crampton, R. J., (2005). A Concise History of Bulgaria: 2nd Edition. New York, NY: Cambridge University

Press.

Csepeli, G., Simon, D., (2007) Construction of Roma Identity in Eastern and Central Europe: Perception and

Self-Identification. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 30 (01), pp. 129-150.

Davidkov, T. (2004). Where does Bulgaria stand?. Papeles del Este: transiciones poscomunistas, (8), 1.

'Desegregation Effort Begins in Bulgaria,' Roma Rights, no. 4, 2000.

Dimitrova, R., Bender, M., Chasiotis, A., & van de Vijver, F. J. (2013). Ethnic identity and acculturation of

Turkish-Bulgarian adolescents. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 37(1), 1-10.

Dimitrova, Ludmila, Radovan Garabík, and Daniela Majchráková. "Comparing Bulgarian and Slovak

Multext-East morphology tagset." Mondilex Second Open Workshop: Organization and Development of Digital Lexical Resources. 2009.

Eminov, A. (1999). The Turks in Bulgaria: post-1989 developments.Nationalities Papers, 27(1), 31-55.

Giatzidis, E. (2002). An introduction to post-Communist Bulgaria: Political, economic, and social transformation. Manchester, U.K, New York, NY: Manchester University Press.

Hofstede, G. (2001). Culture's Consequences: Comparing Values, Behaviors, Institutions and Organizations across Nations. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage (co-published in the PRC as Vol. 10 in the Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press SFLEP Intercultural Communication Reference Series, 2008).

Koranso, A. (2012) Roma Go Home: The Plight of European Roma. Law & Inequality, 30, 125.

Maeva, M., (2005). Bulgarian Turks and the European Union.Proceedings from a Round Table for youngSocial Scientists. Sibiu: Psihomedia Publ. House, 119, 126.

Pencheva, A. (2013). Communicative competences and intercultural differences--How to achiever effective communication under conditions of globalization. Šiuolaikinio specialisto kompetencijos: teorijos ir praktikos dermė.

Petkova, L. (2002). The ethnic Turks in Bulgaria: Social integration and impact on Bulgarian‐Turkish relations, 1947–2000. The Global Review of Ethnopolitics,1(4), 42-59.

Stoyanova, S. (2011). Attitudes towards Young People in Bulgaria. Psychology,2(07), 669.

Tchizmarova, I.K., (2005) Hedging Functions of the Bulgarian DIscourse Marker Xajde, Journal of Pragmatics. 37, 1143-1163.

Topalova, V. (1997). Individualism/Collectivism and Social Identity. Journal Of Community & Applied Social Psychology, 7(1), 53-64.

Vasileva, D. (1992). Bulgarian Turkish emigration and return. International migration review, 342-352.

Vassilev, R. (2007). The Roma of Bulgaria: A Pariah Minority. Global Review of Ethnopolitics: Formerly Global Review of Ethnopolitics, 3:2, 40-51, DOI: 10.1080/14718800408405164 .

Yovkov, Y.(1927) Balkan Legends.