Editing Bulgarian language (section)

==Dialects==
{{Main|Bulgarian dialects}}
[[File:Bulgarian dialects by Todor Bozhinov.png|right|thumb|upright=1.6|Map of the Bulgarian dialects within Bulgaria]]
[[File:Bulgarian dialect map-yus.png|right|upright=1.2|thumb|Extent of Bulgarian dialects according to the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences<ref>{{cite book |title=Български диалектен атлас (Bulgarian dialect atlas)|last=Кочев (Kochev)|first=Иван (Ivan) |year=2001 |location=София |publisher=Bulgarian Academy of Sciences |language=bg |isbn=954-90344-1-0 |oclc=48368312 }}</ref> shown encompassing the [[Eastern South Slavic languages|Eastern South Slavic dialects]]. Subregions are differentiated by pronunciation of ''man'' and ''tooth''.]]
The language is mainly split into two broad dialect areas, based on the different reflexes of the [[Proto-Slavic language|Proto-Slavic]] [[yat]] vowel (Ѣ). This split, which occurred at some point during the Middle Ages, led to the development of Bulgaria's:
*Western dialects (informally called твърд говор/''tvurd govor'' – "hard speech")
**the former ''yat'' is pronounced "e" in all positions. e.g. млеко (''mlekò'') – milk, хлеб (''hleb'') – bread.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.promacedonia.org/jchorb/st/st_2_b_izt_0.htm |title=Стойков, Стойко. 2002 (1962) Българска диалектология. Стр. 101 |publisher=Promacedonia.org |access-date=17 April 2010}}</ref>
*Eastern dialects (informally called мек говор/''mek govor'' – "soft speech")
**the former ''yat'' alternates between "ya" and "e": it is pronounced "ya" if it is under stress and the next syllable does not contain a [[front vowel]] (''e'' or ''i'') – e.g. мл'''я'''ко (''ml'''yà'''ko''), хл'''я'''б (''hl'''ya'''b''), and "e" otherwise – e.g. мл'''е'''кар (''ml'''e'''kàr'') – milkman, хл'''е'''бар (''hl'''e'''bàr'') – baker. This rule obtains in most Eastern dialects, although some have "ya", or a special "open e" sound, in all positions.

The literary language norm, which is generally based on the Eastern dialects, also has the Eastern alternating reflex of ''yat''. However, it has not incorporated the general Eastern umlaut of ''all'' synchronic or even historic "ya" sounds into "e" before front vowels – e.g. поляна (''polyana'') vs. полени (''poleni'') "meadow – meadows" or even жаба (''zhaba'') vs. жеби (''zhebi'') "frog – frogs", even though it co-occurs with the yat alternation in almost all Eastern dialects that have it (except a few dialects along the yat border, e.g. in the [[Pleven]] region).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.promacedonia.org/jchorb/st/st_2_b_izt_0.htm |title=Стойков, Стойко. 2002 (1962) Българска диалектология. Стр. 99 |publisher=Promacedonia.org |access-date=17 April 2010}}</ref>

More examples of the ''yat'' umlaut in the literary language are:
*''mly'''à'''ko'' (milk) [n.] → ''ml'''e'''kàr'' (milkman); ''ml'''è'''chen'' (milky), etc.
*''sy'''à'''dam'' (sit) [vb.] → ''s'''e'''dàlka'' (seat); ''s'''e'''dàlishte'' (seat, e.g. of government or institution, butt<ref>{{cite web |url=http://rechnik.info/%D1%81%D0%B5%D0%B4%D0%B0%D0%BB%D0%B8%D1%89%D0%B5 |title=Речник на думите в българският език |website=rechnik.info|access-date=28 November 2020}}</ref>), etc.
*''svy'''a'''t'' (holy) [adj.] → ''sv'''e'''tètz'' (saint); ''sv'''e'''tìlishte'' (sanctuary), etc. (in this example, ''ya/e'' comes not from historical ''yat'' but from ''small yus ''(ѧ), which normally becomes ''e'' in Bulgarian, but the word was influenced by Russian and the ''yat'' umlaut)

Until 1945, Bulgarian orthography did not reveal this alternation and used the original [[Old Church Slavonic|Old Slavic]] [[Cyrillic]] letter ''yat'' (Ѣ), which was commonly called двойно е (''dvoyno e'') at the time, to express the historical ''yat'' vowel or at least root vowels displaying the ''ya – e'' alternation. The letter was used in each occurrence of such a root, regardless of the actual pronunciation of the vowel: thus, both ''ml'''ya'''ko'' and ''ml'''e'''kar'' were spelled with (Ѣ). <!--If anyone doubts, as the previous wording seemed to suggest, that the Eastern alternation was already considered literary norm at the time, see e.g. Младенов, Стефан. Български етимологичен речник. 1941. p.XV-XVII.--> Among other things, this was seen as a way to "reconcile" the Western and the Eastern dialects and maintain language unity at a time when much of Bulgaria's Western dialect area was controlled by [[Serbia]] and [[Greece]], but there were still hopes and occasional attempts to recover it. With the 1945 orthographic reform, this letter was abolished and the present spelling was introduced, reflecting the alternation in pronunciation.

This had implications for some grammatical constructions:
*The third person plural pronoun and its derivatives. Before 1945 the pronoun "they" was spelled тѣ (''tě''), and its derivatives took this as the root. After the orthographic change, the pronoun and its derivatives were given an equal share of soft and hard spellings{{clarify|reason=Does this mean that artificial spellings, unrelated to the pronunciation of any dialect, were introduced?|date=March 2024}}:
**"they" – т'''е''' (''te'') → "them" – т'''я'''х (''tyah'');
**"their(s)" – ''t'''e'''hen'' (masc.); ''t'''ya'''hna'' (fem.); ''t'''ya'''hno'' (neut.); ''t'''e'''hni'' (plur.)
*adjectives received the same treatment as тѣ:
**"whole" – ''ts'''ya'''l'' → "the whole{{nbsp}}...": ''ts'''e'''liyat'' (masc.); ''ts'''ya'''lata'' (fem.); ''ts'''ya'''loto'' (neut.); ''ts'''e'''lite'' (plur.)

Sometimes, with the changes, words began to be spelled as other words with different meanings, e.g.:
*свѣт (''svět'') – "world" became свят (''svyat''), spelt and pronounced the same as свят – "holy".
*тѣ (''tě'') – "they" became те (''te'').

In spite of the literary norm regarding the yat vowel, many people living in Western Bulgaria, including the capital [[Sofia]], will fail to observe its rules. While the norm requires the realizations ''vidyal'' vs. ''videli'' (he has seen; they have seen), some natives of Western Bulgaria will preserve their local dialect pronunciation with "e" for all instances of "yat" (e.g. ''videl'', ''videli''). Others, attempting to adhere to the norm, will actually use the "ya" sound even in cases where the standard language has "e" (e.g. ''vidyal'', ''vidyali''). The latter [[hypercorrection#Bulgarian|hypercorrection]] is called свръхякане (''svrah-yakane'' ≈"over-''ya''-ing").

;Shift from {{IPA|/jɛ/}} to {{IPA|/ɛ/}}
Bulgarian is the only Slavic language whose literary standard does not naturally contain the [[Iotation|iotated]] ''e'' {{IPA|/jɛ/}} (or its variant, ''e'' after a palatalized consonant {{IPA|/ʲɛ/}}, except in non-Slavic foreign-loaned words). This sound combination is common in all modern Slavic languages (e.g. [[Czech language|Czech]] ''medv'''ě'''d'' {{IPA|/ˈmɛdvjɛt/}} "bear", [[Polish language|Polish]] ''p'''ię'''ć'' {{IPA|/pʲɛ̃tɕ/}} "five", [[Serbo-Croatian]] '''''je'''len'' {{IPA|/jělen/}} "deer", [[Ukrainian language|Ukrainian]] ''нема'''є''''' {{IPA|/nemájɛ/}} "there is not{{nbsp}}...", [[Macedonian language|Macedonian]] ''пишува'''ње''''' {{IPA|/piʃuvaɲʲɛ/}}{{fix|text=stress?|date=December 2017}} "writing", etc.), as well as some Western Bulgarian dialectal forms – e.g. ''ора̀н'е'' {{IPA|/oˈraɲʲɛ/}} (standard Bulgarian: ''оране'' {{IPA|/oˈranɛ/}}, "ploughing"),<ref>[http://www.promacedonia.org/jchorb/st/st_2_b_zap_0.htm Bulgarian Dialectology: Western Dialects], Stoyko Stoykov, 1962 (p.144). Retrieved May 2013.</ref> however it is not represented in standard Bulgarian speech or writing. Even where {{IPA|/jɛ/}} occurs in other Slavic words, in Standard Bulgarian it is usually transcribed and pronounced as pure {{IPA|/ɛ/}} – e.g. [[Boris Yeltsin]] is "Eltsin" ([[:bg:Борис Елцин|Борис Елцин]]), [[Yekaterinburg]] is "Ekaterinburg" ([[:bg:Екатеринбург|Екатеринбург]]) and [[Sarajevo]] is "Saraevo" ([[:bg:Сараево|Сараево]]), although – because of the stress and the beginning of the word – [[Jelena Janković]] is "'''Ye'''lena Yankovich" ([[:bg:Йелена Янкович|Йелена Янкович]]).