Editing Bulgarians (section)

===Language===
{{Main|Bulgarian language}}
Bulgarians speak a [[Bulgarian language|South Slavic language]] which is [[mutually intelligible]] with [[Macedonian language|Macedonian]] and to a lesser degree with [[Serbo-Croatian]], especially the eastern dialects.<ref>Стойков, Стойко: Българска диалектология, Акад. изд. "Проф. Марин Дринов", 2006.</ref> The [[Lexical similarity|lexical similarities]] between Bulgarian and Macedonian are 86%, between Bulgarian and other Slavic languages between 71% and 80%, but with the Baltic languages they are 40–46%, while with English are about 20%.<ref>Girdenis A., Maziulis V. Baltu kalbu divercencine chronologija // Baltistica. T. XXVII (2). – Vilnius, 1994. – P. 9.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://s7.hostingkartinok.com/uploads/images/2014/11/8961e8d7dbfed620c32c2f2be38da936.jpg|title=Топоров В.Н. Прусский язык. Словарь. А – D. – М., 1975. – С. 5|website=S7.hostingkartinok.com|access-date=20 December 2017|archive-date=22 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171222050920/http://s7.hostingkartinok.com/uploads/images/2014/11/8961e8d7dbfed620c32c2f2be38da936.jpg|url-status=live}}</ref> Less than a dozen Bulgarian words are derived from [[Turkic languages|Turkic]] [[Bulgar language|Bulgar]].<ref name=fine/>

Bulgarian demonstrates some linguistic developments that set it apart from other Slavic languages shared with [[Romanian language|Romanian]], [[Albanian language|Albanian]] and [[Greek language|Greek]] (see [[Balkan language area]]). Bulgarian was influenced lexically by medieval and modern Greek, and [[Ottoman Turkish language|Turkish]]. [[Old Bulgarian language|Medieval Bulgarian]] influenced the other South Slavic languages and Romanian. With Bulgarian and Russian there was a mutual influence in both directions. Both languages were official or a lingua franca of each other during the Middle Ages and the Cold War. Recently, Bulgarian has borrowed many words from German, French and English.

The Bulgarian language is spoken by the majority of the [[Bulgarian diaspora]], but less so by the descendants of earlier emigrants to the U.S., Canada, [[Argentina]] and [[Brazil]].

Bulgarian linguists consider the officialized [[Macedonian language]] (since 1944) to be a local codified variation of Bulgarian, just as most ethnographers and linguists until the early 20th century considered the local Slavic speech in the Macedonian region as Bulgarian dialects.{{cn|date=September 2023}} The president of Bulgaria, [[Zhelyu Zhelev]], declined to recognize Macedonian as a separate language when North Macedonia became a new independent state. The Bulgarian language is written in the [[Cyrillic script]].

====Cyrillic alphabet====
{{Main|Cyrillic alphabet}}
[[File:Ocslavonic.gif|thumb|right|Cyrillic alphabet of the medieval [[Old Bulgarian]] language]]

In the first half of the 10th century, the [[Cyrillic script]] was devised in the [[Preslav Literary School]], [[First Bulgarian Empire|Bulgaria]], based on the [[Glagolitic alphabet|Glagolitic]], the [[Greek alphabet|Greek]] and [[Latin alphabet|Latin]] alphabets. Modern versions of the alphabet are now used to write five more [[Slavic languages]] such as [[Belarusian language|Belarusian]], [[Macedonian language|Macedonian]], Russian, [[Serbian language|Serbian]] and [[Ukrainian language|Ukrainian]] as well as [[Mongolian language|Mongolian]] and some other 60 languages spoken in the former [[Soviet Union]]. [[First Bulgarian Empire|Medieval Bulgaria]] was the most important cultural centre of the [[Slavic people]]s at the end of the 9th and throughout the 10th century. The two literary schools of [[Preslav Literary School|Preslav]] and [[Ohrid Literary School|Ohrid]] developed a rich literary and cultural activity with authors of the rank of [[Constantine of Preslav]], [[John Exarch]], [[Chernorizets Hrabar]], [[Clement of Ohrid|Clement]] and [[Naum of Ohrid]]. Bulgaria exerted similar influence on its neighbouring countries in the mid- to late 14th century, at the time of the [[Tarnovo Literary School]], with the work of [[Patriarch Evtimiy]], [[Gregory Tsamblak]], [[Constantine of Kostenets]] (Konstantin Kostenechki). Bulgarian cultural influence was especially strong in [[Wallachia]] and [[Moldova]] where the Cyrillic script was used until 1860, while [[Church Slavonic language|Church Slavonic]] was the official language of the princely [[chancellor|chancellery]] and of the church until the end of the 17th century.

====Name system====
{{Main|Bulgarian name}}

There are several different layers of Bulgarian names. The vast majority of them have either Christian (names like Lazar, [[Ivan (name)|Ivan]], Anna, Maria, Ekaterina) or [[Slavic languages|Slavic]] origin (Vladimir, Svetoslav, Velislava). After the Liberation in 1878, the names of historical [[Bulgars|Bulgar]] rulers like [[Asparuh]], [[Krum]], [[Kubrat]] and [[Tervel]] were resurrected. The Bulgar name [[Boris (first name)|Boris]] has spread from Bulgaria to a number of countries in the world.

Most Bulgarian male surnames have an ''-ov'' [[family name affix|surname suffix]] ([[Cyrillic]]: {{lang|bg|-ов}}), a tradition used mostly by Eastern Slavic nations such as [[Russia]], [[Ukraine]] and [[Belarus]]. This is sometimes [[Transcription (linguistics)|transcribed]] as ''-off'' or ''-of'' (John Atanasov—[[John Atanasoff]]), but more often as ''-ov'' (e.g. [[Boyko Borisov]]). The ''-ov'' suffix is the Slavic gender-[[agreement (linguistics)|agreeing]] suffix, thus ''Ivanov'' ({{langx|bg|Иванов}}) literally means "Ivan's". Bulgarian middle names are patronymic and use the gender-agreeing suffix as well, thus the middle name of Nikola's son becomes ''Nikolov'', and the middle name of Ivan's son becomes ''Ivanov''. Since names in Bulgarian are gender-based, Bulgarian women have the ''-ova'' surname suffix (Cyrillic: {{lang|bg|-овa}}), for example, ''Maria Ivanova''. The plural form of Bulgarian names ends in ''-ovi'' (Cyrillic: {{lang|bg|-ови}}), for example the ''Ivanovi'' family ({{lang|bg|Иванови}}).

<!-- too verbose... -->Other common Bulgarian male surnames have the ''-ev'' surname suffix (Cyrillic: {{lang|bg|-ев}}), for example ''Stoev'', ''Ganchev'', ''Peev'', and so on. The female surname in this case would have the ''-eva'' surname suffix (Cyrillic: {{lang|bg|-ева}}), for example: ''Galina Stoeva''. The last name of the entire family then would have the plural form of ''-evi'' (Cyrillic: {{lang|bg|-еви}}), for example: the ''Stoevi'' family ({{lang|bg|Стоеви}}).

Another typical Bulgarian surname suffix, though less common, is ''-ski''. This surname ending also gets an ''–a'' when the bearer of the name is female (''Smirnenski'' becomes ''Smirnenska''). The plural form of the surname suffix ''-ski'' is still ''-ski'', e.g. the ''Smirnenski'' family ({{lang|bg|Смирненски}}).

The ending ''–in'' (female ''-ina'') also appears rarely. It used to be given to the child of an unmarried woman (for example the son of ''Kuna'' will get the surname ''Kunin'' and the son of ''Gana'' – ''Ganin''). The surname suffix ''-ich'' can be found only occasionally, primarily among the Roman Catholic Bulgarians. The surname ending ''–ich'' does not get an additional ''–a'' if the bearer of the name is female.