The Babyak dialect is a

Bulgarian Bulgarian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Bulgaria * Bulgarians, a South Slavic ethnic group * Bulgarian language, a Slavic language * Bulgarian alphabet * A citizen of Bulgaria, see Demographics of Bulgaria * Bul ...

dialect, member of the Rup or Southeastern Bulgarian dialects. It is spoken in several mountainous villages on the western fringes of the

Rhodopes The Rhodopes (; bg, Родопи, ; el, Ροδόπη, ''Rodopi''; tr, Rodoplar) are a mountain range in Southeastern Europe, and the largest by area in Bulgaria, with over 83% of its area in the southern part of the country and the remainder in ...

and is thus sandwiched between the

Chepino dialect The Chepino dialect is a Bulgarian dialect of the Rhodopean group of the Rup dialects. Its range includes the northwestern Rhodopes, i.e. the towns of Velingrad, Rakitovo and Kostandovo and the villages of Dragichevo and Dorkovo. Its immediate neig ...

on the east and northeast and the Razlog dialect to the south and west. It shares a number of phonological characteristics with both the Rup (especially the Rhodopean) and the Southwestern dialects. Because of its specific reflexes of

Old Church Slavonic Old Church Slavonic or Old Slavonic () was the first Slavic languages, Slavic literary language. Historians credit the 9th-century Byzantine Empire, Byzantine missionaries Saints Cyril and Methodius with Standard language, standardizing the lan ...

yat Yat or jat (Ѣ ѣ; italics: ) is the thirty-second letter of the old Cyrillic alphabet and the Rusyn alphabet. There is also another version of yat, the iotified yat (majuscule: , minuscule: ), which is a Cyrillic character combining a ...

, it is generally classified as a Rup dialect but is actually transitional between the two dialectal groups.

Phonological and morphological characteristics

* Broad e () for Old Church Slavonic

in all positions and regardless of the word stress and the character of the following syllable: ''бл/бли'' vs. formal Bulgarian ''бял/бели'' (white), ''гол'м''/''гол'ми'' vs. formal Bulgarian ''голям/големи'' (big). This is a feature the Babyak dialect shares with the Rhodopean dialects, and especially with the

Smolyan Smolyan ( bg, Смолян) List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, is a town and ski resort in the south of Bulgaria near the border with Greece. It is the administrative and industrial centre of the homonymous Smolyan Province. The town is built ...

and Hvoyna dialects * Vowel a for Old Church Slavonic big yus ѫ and little yus ѧ (as in the neighbouring Samokov and

Ihtiman dialect The Ihtiman dialect is a Bulgarian dialect, member of the Southwestern Bulgarian dialects, which is spoken in the regions of Ihtiman, Kostenets and Septemvri in central western Bulgaria. It is transitional between the Botevgrad and Samokov dialect. ...

s to the north and the Dorkovo subdialect of the Rhodopean

to the east): ''зап'' vs. Standard Bulgarian ''зъп'' (tooth), ''даж'до'' vs. Standard Bulgarian ''дъж'дът'' (the rain) * for Old Church Slavonic

little yus Little yus (Ѧ ѧ) and big yus (Ѫ ѫ), or jus, are letters of the Cyrillic script representing two Common Slavonic nasal vowels in the early Cyrillic alphabet, early Cyrillic and Glagolitic alphabet, Glagolitic alphabets. Each can occu ...

(ѧ) - as in Standard Bulgarian * Single masculine definite article -o (as in the neighbouring

Samokov dialect The Samokov dialect is a Bulgarian dialect, member of the Southwestern Bulgarian dialects, which is spoken in the region of Samokov in central western Bulgaria. Its immediate neighbours are the Sofia dialect and Elin Pelin dialect to the north, the ...

to the north): ''гар'бо'' vs. Standard Bulgarian ''гър'бът'' (the back). For other phonological and morphological characteristics typical for all Rup or Rhodopean dialects, cf. Rup dialects.

Sources

* Стойков, Стойко: Българска диалектология, Акад. изд. "Проф. Марин Дринов", 200

Dialects of the Bulgarian language {{DEFAULTSORT:Babyak Dialect