Bulgarian (Български)
The Bulgarian language is the earliest written Slavonic language. It belongs to the southern branch of the Slavonic languages of the Indo-European language group, so it is closely related to Macedonian, Serbian, Croatian and Slovene. In all, there are about 8.5 million speakers in Bulgaria, Ukraine and Macedonia.
The development of Bulgarian comprises four main periods: pre-literal (till the 9th century), Old Bulgarian (9th-12th centuries), Middle Bulgarian (12th-14th centuries), and Modern Bulgarian (15th century and later). The beginnings of the Old Bulgarian language date back to the creation of an alphabet (the Glagolitsa) in 862 by Constantine Cyril the Philosopher and Methodius. At the end of the 9th century another Old Bulgarian alphabet was created - the Cyrillic alphabet. The first Glagolitic and Cyrillic Old Bulgarian manuscripts were written. Bulgaria became a center of Slavonic culture and literacy. The Old Bulgarian language is a basis for the creation of Russian, Serbian, Slovene and Croatian variants and gained the significance of a universal literary Slavonic language. During the Bulgarian National Revival the modern Bulgarian literary language is formed.
Among other things, Bulgarian is characterized by:
The Bulgarian language is the earliest written Slavonic language. It belongs to the southern branch of the Slavonic languages of the Indo-European language group, so it is closely related to Macedonian, Serbian, Croatian and Slovene. In all, there are about 8.5 million speakers in Bulgaria, Ukraine and Macedonia.
The development of Bulgarian comprises four main periods: pre-literal (till the 9th century), Old Bulgarian (9th-12th centuries), Middle Bulgarian (12th-14th centuries), and Modern Bulgarian (15th century and later). The beginnings of the Old Bulgarian language date back to the creation of an alphabet (the Glagolitsa) in 862 by Constantine Cyril the Philosopher and Methodius. At the end of the 9th century another Old Bulgarian alphabet was created - the Cyrillic alphabet. The first Glagolitic and Cyrillic Old Bulgarian manuscripts were written. Bulgaria became a center of Slavonic culture and literacy. The Old Bulgarian language is a basis for the creation of Russian, Serbian, Slovene and Croatian variants and gained the significance of a universal literary Slavonic language. During the Bulgarian National Revival the modern Bulgarian literary language is formed.
Among other things, Bulgarian is characterized by:
- the dropping of the case forms
- the use of the definite article
- nine tenses
- four moods