The Teteven 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, which is part of the

Balkan The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...

group of the Eastern Bulgarian dialects. It is spoken in the town of

Teteven Teteven ( bg, Тетевен, ) is a town on the banks of the Vit river, at the foot of Stara Planina mountain in north central Bulgaria. It is the administrative centre of the Teteven Municipality which is a part of Lovech Province. As of Decembe ...

and several neighbouring villages and is almost completely surrounded by the

Central Balkan dialect The Central Balkan dialect is a Bulgarian dialect that is part of the Balkan group of the Eastern Bulgarian dialects. Its range includes most of north-central Bulgaria (without the regions of Dryanovo and Elena), as well as the regions of Karlov ...

, except on the west where it borders on the Western Bulgarian

Botevgrad dialect The Botevgrad dialect is a Bulgarian dialect, member of the Southwestern Bulgarian dialects, which is spoken in the region of Botevgrad and Etropole in northwestern Bulgaria. It is located on the yat boundary and is closely related to the Eastern ...

. The most significant feature of the dialect, as in all

Balkan dialects The Balkan dialects are the most extensive group of dialects of the Bulgarian language, covering almost half of the present-day territory of Bulgaria. Their range includes north-central Bulgaria and most of the Bulgarian part of Thrace, excluding ...

, is the pronunciation of Old Church Slavonic ѣ (yat) as or , depending on the character of the following syllable.

Phonological and morphological characteristics

* The articulation of yat generally follows the

. However, the Teteven dialect features a much greater number of cases of articulation of than either the

or Standard Bulgarian, e.g. before ж , ш , ч , in one-syllable words and in certain verbs. This brings the Teteven dialect closer to certain

Rup dialects The Rup dialects, or the Southeastern dialects, are a group of Bulgarian dialects located east of the yat boundary, thus being part of the Eastern Bulgarian dialects. The range of the Rup dialects includes the southern part of Thrace, i.e. Stra ...

: ''черша'' vs. formal Bulgarian ''череша'' (cherry), ''мт'' vs. formal Bulgarian ''мет'' (honey) * Articulation of Old Church Slavonic ѫ (yus) and ъ as broad е () in a stressed syllable and as a slightly reduced a in an unstressed syllable, as in the

Erkech dialect The Erkech dialect is a Bulgarian dialect, which is part of the Balkan group of the Eastern Bulgarian dialects. It originates from two villages in the eastern parts of the Balkan Mountains, Kozichino (formerly Erkech) near Pomorie and Golitsa sou ...

: ''зп'' vs. formal ''зъп'', ''дажд'' vs. formal ''дъждът'' * 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) with palatalisation of the preceding consonant: ''кл҄етва'' The diacritic ◌҄ indicates palatalization. vs. formal Bulgarian ''клетва'' (oath) * Transition of a into e only after a soft (palatal) consonant and ч but not before ж and ш (cf.

* Vocalic r and l for Old Church Slavonic ръ/рь and лъ/ль as in the

Northwestern Bulgarian dialects The Northwestern Bulgarian dialects are two closely related dialects of the Bulgarian language, which are located west of the yat boundary and thus are part of the Western Bulgarian dialects. The range of the dialects includes most of northweste ...

instead of the combinations ръ/ър (~) and лъ/ъл (~) in Standard Bulgarian - ''дрво, слза'' instead of ''дърво, сълза'' (tree, tear) * The masculine definite article is broad е () in a stressed syllable and as a slightly reduced a in an unstressed syllable: ''даж'д'' vs. formal Bulgarian ''дъж'дът'' * Ending e instead of formal Bulgarian i for plural past active aorist participles (''биле'' instead of ''били''), as in the

* Ending e instead of formal Bulgarian i for multi-syllable masculine nouns (''българе'' instead of ''българи'') Most of the other phonological and morphological characteristics of the Erkech dialect are similar to the general features typical for all

, cf. article for details.

Sources

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

References

{{Bulgarian dialects Dialects of the Bulgarian language