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Razlog dialect

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The Razlog dialect is a Bulgarian dialect, member of the Rup dialects. Its range includes the valley of Razlog in southwestern Bulgaria and its immediate neighbours are the Rup Serres-Nevrokop dialect to the south, the Babyak dialect to the east, the Samokov and Ihtiman dialects to the north and the Blagoevgrad-Petrich dialect to the west. It shares a number of phonological characteristics with both the Rup (especially the Rhodopean) and the Southwestern dialects.

Contents

Phonological and morphological characteristics

  • Broad e (æ) for Old Bulgarian yat in a stressed syllable and ordinary e (ɛ) in an unstressed syllable (as in the Rhodopean Chepino dialect): бæл/бæли vs. formal Bulgarian бял/бели (white) but деца as in Standard Bulgarian (children).
  • Broad e (æ) for Old Bulgarian я in all positions (as in the Rhodopean Smolyan and Hvoyna dialect): вунæ vs. formal Bulgarian воня (stink)
  • Vowel a for Old Bulgarian big yus ѫ and back yer ъ (as in the neighbouring Samokov and Ihtiman dialects to the north and the Dorkovo subdialect of the Rhodopean Chepino dialect to the east): зап vs. Standard Bulgarian зъп (tooth), даж'до vs. Standard Bulgarian дъж'дът (the rain)
  • Schwa (ə) for Old Church Slavonic лъ/ль (as in most Southwestern dialects): съза vs. formal Bulgarian сълза (tear)
  • Moderate vowel reduction, as in the rest of the Rup dialects and Standard Bulgarian
  • The masculine definite article is о (in a stressed syllable) and у (in an unstressed syllable) as in the Moesian dialects, compared to formal Bulgarian –ът/ъ (гърˈбо, ˈстолу vs. гърˈбът, ˈстолът). However, after a historically soft consonant, the article is e (cf. a similar trait in the Rup Strandzha dialect): дене vs. formal Bulgarian ден'ъ(т) (the day), коне vs. formal Bulgarian кон'ъ(т) (the horse). The masculine definite article for adjectives is -йъ as in Standard Bulgarian: гулæмийъ (the big one)
  • Dynamic stress (as in Standard Bulgarian): маж/ма'же vs. formal Bulgarian мъж/мъ'жъ(т) (the man)
  • Lack of ending -т in the forms for 3rd person pl. present tense: яда vs. formal Bulgarian ядът (they eat)

    • For other phonological and morphological characteristics typical for all Rup or Rhodopean dialects, cf. Rup dialects.

    Noteworthy

  • The first grammatical treatise of Modern Bulgarian published by Serbian scholar Vuk Karadzic in 1822 (Додатак к санктпетербургским сравнитељним pjeчницима свиjу jезика и нaрjечиjа c особитим огледом Бугарског jезика) is based on the grammatical and morphological characteristics of the Ralog dialect
  • The first full grammar of Modern Bulgarian published by Bulgarian scholar Neofit Rilski in 1835 (Болгарска граматика) is also based on the grammatical and morphological characteristics of the Ralog dialect

    • References

    Razlog dialect Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA