Bulgarian alphabet

Template:Short description Template:Infobox writing system Template:Contains special characters The Bulgarian Cyrillic alphabet (Template:Langx) is used to write the Bulgarian language. The Cyrillic alphabet was originally developed in the First Bulgarian Empire during the 9th – 10th century AD at the Preslav Literary School.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

It has been used in Bulgaria (with modifications and exclusion of certain archaic letters via spelling reforms) continuously since then, superseding the previously used Glagolitic alphabet, which was also invented and used there before the Cyrillic script overtook its use as a written script for the Bulgarian language. The Cyrillic alphabet was used in the then much bigger territory of Bulgaria (including most of today's Serbia), North Macedonia, Kosovo, Albania, Northern Greece (Macedonia region), Romania and Moldova, officially from 893. It was also transferred from Bulgaria and adopted by the East Slavic languages in Kievan Rus' and evolved into the Belarusian, Russian and Ukrainian alphabets and the alphabets of many other Slavic (and later non-Slavic) languages. Later, some Slavs modified it and added/excluded letters from it to better suit the needs of their own language varieties.

History

Template:Main Template:See also In the 9th century, the Bulgarian Empire introduced the Glagolitic alphabet, devised by Saint Cyril and Saint Methodius. The Glagolitic alphabet was gradually superseded in later centuries by the Cyrillic script, developed around the Preslav Literary School, Bulgaria at the end of the 9th century.

Several Cyrillic alphabets with 28 to 44 letters were used in the early and middle 19th century during the effortsTemplate:Clarify on the codification of Modern Bulgarian until an alphabet with 32 letters, proposed by Marin Drinov, gained prominence in the 1870s: it was used until the orthographic reform of 1945, when the letters yat (uppercase Template:Lang, lowercase Template:Lang) and yus (uppercase Template:Lang, lowercase Template:Lang) were removed from its alphabet, reducing the number of letters to 30. Yat was also known as "double e" (Template:Lang), and yus was also known as "big nasal sign" (Template:Lang), crossed yer (Template:Lang), and "wide yer" (Template:Lang).

Although Bulgarian uses the Cyrillic alphabet, some letter shapes in Bulgaria were made to look more 'Latin' in the 20th century<ref name="Soyuz Grotesk Temporary State">Template:Cite web</ref> (see the pictures on the right in the article), however they are rarely used today and most typefaces do not support them.Template:Cn

With the accession of Bulgaria to the European Union on 1 January 2007, the Cyrillic script became the third official script of the European Union, following the Latin and Greek scripts.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

List

Overview

The Bulgarian Cyrillic alphabet (uppercase/lowercase)

А а	Б б	В в	Г г	Д д	Е е	Ж ж	З з	И и	Й й
К к	Л л	М м	Н н	О о	П п	Р р	С с	Т т	У у
Ф ф	Х х	Ц ц	Ч ч	Ш ш	Щ щ	Ъ ъ	Ь ь	Ю ю	Я я

A modern form of the Bulgarian alphabet, derived from the cursive forms of the letters

Differences from other Cyrillic alphabets: alternate variants of lowercase Cyrillic letters: Б/б, Д/д, Г/г, И/и, П/п, Т/т, Ш/ш. Template:Legend Template:Legend Template:Legend
See also:

Detailed table

The following table gives the letters of the Bulgarian alphabet, along with the IPA values for the sound of each letter. The listed transliteration in the Official transliteration column (known as the Streamlined System) is official in Bulgaria and is listed in the Official orthographic dictionary (2012). For other transliteration standards see Romanization of Bulgarian.

Bulgarian alphabetTemplate:Efn	ISO 9	Official transliteration	IPATemplate:Efn	Name of letter	English equivalent
Template:Lang	A a	A a	Template:IPAslink, Template:IPAslink or Template:IPAslink	Template:Lang	a as in "part"
Template:Lang	B b	B b	Template:IPAslink or Template:IPAslink	Template:Lang	b as in "bug"
Template:Lang	V v	V v	Template:IPAslink or Template:IPAslink	Template:Lang	v as in "vet"
Template:Lang	G g	G g	Template:IPAslink or Template:IPAslink	Template:Lang	g as in "good"
Template:LangTemplate:Efn	D d	D d	Template:IPAslink or Template:IPAslink	Template:Lang	d as in "dog"
Template:Lang	E e	E e	Template:IPAslink	Template:Lang	e as in "best"
Template:Lang	Ž ž	Zh zh	Template:IPAslink or Template:IPAslink	Template:Lang	s as in "treasure"
Template:Lang	Z z	Z z	Template:IPAslink or Template:IPAslink	Template:Lang	z as in "zoo"
Template:Lang	I i	I i	Template:IPAslink	Template:Lang	i as in "machine"
Template:Lang	J j	Y y	Template:IPAslink	Template:Lang	y as in "yes" or "yoyo"
Template:Lang	K k	K k	Template:IPAslink or Template:IPAslink	Template:Lang	k as in "kick"
Template:Lang	L l	L l	Template:IPAslink before е and и, Template:IPAslink before ю, я and ь, Template:IPAslink elsewhere	Template:Lang	l as in "call" or "lend"
Template:Lang	M m	M m	Template:IPAslink	Template:Lang	m as in "man"
Template:Lang	N n	N n	Template:IPAslink	Template:Lang	n as in "normal"
Template:Lang	O o	O o	Template:IPAslink, Template:IPAslink	Template:Lang	o as in "order"
Template:Lang	P p	P p	Template:IPAslink or Template:IPAslink	Template:Lang	p as in "pet"
Template:Lang	R r	R r	Template:IPAslink	Template:Lang	trilled r as in Spanish "perro"
Template:Lang	S s	S s	Template:IPAslink or Template:IPAslink	Template:Lang	s as in "sound"
Template:Lang	T t	T t	Template:IPAslink or Template:IPAslink	Template:Lang	t as in "stick"
Template:Lang	U u	U u	Template:IPAslink, Template:IPAslink or Template:IPAslink	Template:Lang	оо as in "boot"
Template:Lang	F f	F f	Template:IPAslink or Template:IPAslink	Template:Lang	f as in "food"
Template:Lang	H h	H h	Template:IPAslink	Template:Lang	ch as in Scottish English loch
Template:Lang	C c	Ts ts	Template:IPAslink	Template:Lang	ts as in "fits"
Template:Lang	Č č	Ch ch	Template:IPAslink	Template:Lang	ch as in "chip"
Template:Lang	Š š	Sh sh	Template:IPAslink or Template:IPAslink	Template:Lang	sh as in "shot"
Template:Lang	Št štTemplate:Efn	Sht sht	Template:IPA	Template:Lang	sht as in "shtick"
Template:Lang	Ǎ ǎTemplate:Efn	A a	Template:IPAslink, Template:IPAslink or Template:IPAslink	Template:Lang	u as in "turn"
Template:Lang	Template:Softsign Template:Efn	Y y	Template:IPAslink or not pronounced	Template:Lang	soft sign: y as in "canyon"
Template:Lang	Ju juTemplate:Efn	Yu yu	Template:IPA, Template:IPA, Template:IPA or Template:IPA	Template:Lang	you as in "youth"
Template:Lang	Ja jaTemplate:Efn	Ya ya	Template:IPA, Template:IPA, Template:IPA or Template:IPA	Template:Lang	ya as in "yarn"

Most letters in the Bulgarian alphabet stand for just one specific sound. Five letters stand for sounds written in English with two or more letters. These letters are Template:Lang (ch), Template:Lang (sh), Template:Lang (sht), Template:Lang (yu), and Template:Lang (ya). Two additional sounds are written with two letters: these are Template:Lang (Template:IPA) and Template:Lang (Template:IPA). The letter Template:Lang marks the softening (palatalization) of any consonant (except Template:Lang, Template:Lang, and Template:Lang) before the letter Template:Lang, while Template:Lang and Template:Lang after consonants mark the palatalization of the preceding consonant in addition to representing the vowels Template:IPA and Template:IPA.<ref>pg. 11–12 of Template:Lang. (Orthography and punctuation of the Bulgarian language). Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. 2011.</ref>

The names of most letters are simple representations of their phonetic values, with consonants being followed by Template:IPA – thus the alphabet goes: Template:IPA – Template:IPA – Template:IPA, etc. However, the name of the letter Template:Lang is "i-kratko" (short i), the name of Template:Lang is "er-golyam" (large yer), and the name of Template:Lang is "er-malak" (small yer). People often refer to Template:Lang simply as Template:IPA.

The Bulgarian alphabet features:

• The Bulgarian names for the consonants are Template:IPA, Template:IPA, Template:IPA etc. instead of Template:IPA, Template:IPA, Template:IPA etc.
• Template:Lang represents Template:IPA and is called "е" Template:IPA.
• The sounds Template:IPA (Template:IPA) and Template:IPA (Template:IPA) are represented by Template:Lang and Template:Lang respectively.
• Short I (Template:Lang) represents Template:IPA.
• Template:Lang represents Template:IPA (Template:IPA) and is called "Template:Lang" Template:IPA (Template:IPA).
• Template:Lang represents the vowel Template:IPA, and is called "Template:Lang" Template:IPA ('big er'). In spelling however, Template:Lang is referred to as Template:IPA where its official label "Template:Lang" (used only to refer to Ъ in the alphabet) may cause some confusion. The vowel Template:Lang Template:IPA is sometimes approximated to the Template:IPA (schwa) sound found in many languages for easier comprehension of its Bulgarian pronunciation for foreigners, but it is actually a back vowel, not a central vowel.Template:Citation needed
• Template:Lang is used on rare occasions (only after a consonant [and] before the vowel "Template:Lang"), such as in the words 'Template:Lang' (canyon), 'Template:Lang' (driver), etc. It is called "Template:Lang" ('small er').

The grave accent is used to distinguish the pronoun Template:Angbr 'her' from the conjunction Template:Angbr 'and'. Ѝ is not considered a separate letter but rather a special form of Template:Lang.

Writing

The early-20th-century Bulgarian typeface (top) is that of modern Russian. The contemporary Bulgarian typeface (bottom) is more distinctive.

Bulgarian is usually described as having a phonemic orthography, meaning that words are spelt the way they are pronounced. This is largely true, but there are exceptions. Three of the most cited examples are:

• The sounds Template:IPA and Template:IPA, which appear only in unstressed syllables, are written with two different letters each – "Template:Lang" or "Template:Lang", and "Template:Lang" or "Template:Lang" respectively.
• The vowel in stressed verb endings Template:Lang, Template:Lang, Template:Lang and Template:Lang and the stressed short definite articles Template:Lang and Template:Lang is pronounced Template:IPA. Thus Template:Lang ("I read") is pronounced Template:IPA, and Template:Lang ("the man") is pronounced Template:IPA.
• Voiced consonants are pronounced unvoiced when at the end of a word or when preceding an unvoiced consonant – e.g. Template:Lang ("second") is pronounced Template:IPA, and Template:Lang ("city") is pronounced Template:IPA. Similarly, unvoiced consonants are pronounced voiced when preceding a voiced consonant – e.g. Template:Lang ("building") is Template:IPA. (The voiced consonant "Template:Lang" is an exception – it does not cause the preceding unvoiced consonant to become voiced – Template:Lang (wedding) is Template:IPA.)

Modern developments

Cyrillic Script Monument at the Bulgarian base in Antarctica

Since the time of Bulgaria's liberation in the late 19th century, the Bulgarian language has taken on a large number of words from Western European languages. All of these are transcribed phonetically into Cyrillic, e.g.:

• French – e.g. Template:Lang (Template:Lang – sidewalk), Template:Lang (Template:Lang – corkscrew), Template:Lang (from Template:Lang – ground floor)
• German – e.g. Template:Lang (Template:Lang – bandage), Template:Lang (Template:Lang – digger), Template:Lang (Template:Lang – drill)

Notable is the transliteration of many English names through German, e.g.:

• Washington → Template:Lang (Template:Lang), Scotland → Template:Lang (Template:Lang)

In the years since the end of communism and the rise of technology, the tendency for borrowing has shifted mainly to English, where much computer-related terminology has entered and been inflected accordingly – again, in a wholly phonetic way. Examples include:

• Template:Lang (Template:Lang) – I click on the file
• Template:Lang (Template:Lang) – you download it onto the desktop
• Template:Lang (Template:Lang) – we chat on the net

The computer-related neologisms are often used interchangeably with traditional Bulgarian words, e.g. 'download' and 'upload' can be simply Template:Lang and Template:Lang (Template:Lang and Template:Lang – 'to bring down' and 'to put up').

Use of Roman script in Bulgarian

Template:See also The insertion of English words directly into a Cyrillic Bulgarian sentence, while frowned upon, has been increasingly used in the media. This is done for several reasons, including –

• To shorten what would otherwise be a longer word or phrase –

Template:Lang<ref>The Yanks oppose more US troops in Afghanistan Template:Webarchive (in Bulgarian) Monitor.bg, 13 Nov 2009. Retrieved 16 Sept 2012.</ref> (instead of Template:Lang - American)

The Yanks oppose more US troops in Afghanistan

• To avoid the need to transcribe to Cyrillic or translate to Bulgarian well known abbreviations:

Template:Lang<ref>Wikipedia: We are aware that we have not seen the end of SOPA, PIPA and ACTA (in Bulgarian) Darik News, 23 Feb 2012. Retrieved 16 Sept 2012.</ref> (instead of, for example, Template:Lang)

We have not seen the end of SOPA, PIPA and ACTA

Brand names are also often not transcribed: WikiLeaks, YouTube, Skype – as opposed to Template:Lang, Template:Lang, Template:Lang. However, this is not always the case, as in the headline "Template:Lang"<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> (official transliteration: Feysbuk vs. Gugal). Note the inconsistency here – despite the insistence on Cyrillic, the "vs." has been retained in Roman script.

The 2012 Official Orthographic Dictionary of the Bulgarian Language by the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences permits widely known proper names to remain in their original alphabet. Example sentences are given, all containing names of American IT companies: Yahoo, Microsoft, YouTube, PayPal, Facebook.

Keyboard layout

Template:See also The standard Bulgarian keyboard layout for personal computers is as follows:

See also

• Bulgarian Braille
• Cyrillic script in Unicode
• Macedonian alphabet
• Old Bulgarian
• Romanization of Belarusian
• Romanization of Greek
• Romanization of Macedonian
• Romanization of Russian
• Romanization of Ukrainian
• Scientific transliteration of Cyrillic
• Serbian Cyrillic alphabet

External links

• Campaign to promote the Bulgarian Cyrillic letter shapes
• Extended Cyrillic: Bulgarian