Orthography
The writing system used by the Bulgarian language is an alphabet with 30 letters adapted from the Cyrillic Script.
| Letter | Name | Phonemic Value |
|---|---|---|
| А а | а [a] | /a/ |
| Б б | бъ [bɤ] | /b/ |
| В в | въ [vɤ] | /v/ |
| Г г | гъ [gɤ] | /g/ |
| Д д | дъ [dɤ] | /d/ |
| Е е | е [ɛ] | /ɛ/ |
| Ж ж | жъ [ʒɤ] | /ʒ/ |
| З з | зъ [zɤ] | /z/ |
| И и | и [i] | /i/ |
| Й й | и кратко [i.‘krat.ko] | /j/ |
| К к | къ [kɤ] | /k/ |
| Л л | лъ [ɫɤ] | /l/ |
| М м | мъ [mɤ] | /m/ |
| N n | нъ [nɤ] | /n/ |
| О о | о [ɔ] | /ɔ/ |
| П п | пъ [pɤ] | /p/ |
| Р р | ръ [rɤ] | /r/ |
| С с | съ [sɤ] | /s/ |
| Т т | тъ [tɤ] | /t/ |
| У у | у [u] | /u/ |
| Ф ф | фъ [fɤ] | /f/ |
| Х х | хъ [xɤ] | only slightly fricative /x/ |
| Ч ч | чъ [t͡ʃɤ] | /t͡ʃ/ |
| Ш ш | шъ [ʃɤ] | /ʃ/ |
| Щ щ | щъ [ʃtɤ] | /ʃt/ |
| Ъ ъ | ер голям [‘ɛr.go.‘ʎjam] | /ɤ/ |
| ь | ер малък [‘ɛr.‘ma.ɫɐk] | /j/ |
| Ю ю | ю [ju] | /ju/ |
| Я я | я [ja] | /ja/ |
Tip: Ер малък
The letter “ь” always follows a consonant and is always followed by “о”. It is used only the following cases:
- In words which come from French where they end in “-eur”.
- In the vocative of some nouns
Diacritics
The grave accent is used in the following cases:
- To distinguish the possessive pronoun “ѝ” from the conjunction “и”.
- To distinguish heteronyms such as “вълна̀” (wave) and “в̀ълна” by showing which syllable is stressed.
- To distinguish the verb comparative particle “по̀” (more) from the preposition “по”.
Phonology
Bulgarian features
Vowels
There are six vowel phonemes in Bulgarian.
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | /i/ | /u/ | |
| Mid | /ε/ | /ɤ/ | /ɔ/ |
| Open | /a/ |
The phonemes /a/, /ɤ/, /ɔ/, /u/, /ɛ/, /i/ are indicated by the letters а, ъ, о, у, е, и, respectively. In practice, however, most of these are often represented by different allophones depending on whether they are stressed:
- The phonemes /a/ and /ɤ/ are actualized as respectively [a] and [ɤ] when stressed but commonly neutralize to [ɐ] when unstressed;
- The phonemes /ɔ/ and /u/ are actualized as respectively [ɔ] and [u] but commonly neutralize to [o] when unstressed.
| Phoneme | Allophones | Example |
|---|---|---|
| /a/ | [a] when stressed | бар ['bar] |
| [ɐ] when unstressed | черна ['t͡ʃɛr.nɐ] | |
| /ɤ/ | [ɤ] when stressed | път ['pɤt] |
| [ɐ] when unstressed | кротък ['krɔ.tɐk] | |
| /ɔ/ | [ɔ] when stressed | пот ['pɔt] |
| [o] when unstressed | кора [ko.'ra] | |
| /u/ | [u] when stressed | удар ['u.dɐr] |
| [u] when unstressed | укрит [o.'krit] |
Many speakers also tend to actualize /ε/ as [i], but this practice is considered incorrect.
Consonants
Phonation
Bulgarian divides obstruent consonants into distinct pairs of voiced and voiceless consonants.
| Voiced | Voiceless |
|---|---|
| [b] | [p] |
| [v] | [f] |
| [t] | [d] |
| [d͡z] | [t͡s] |
| [z] | [s] |
| [ʒ] | [ʃ] |
| [d͡ʒ] | [t͡ʃ] |
| [g] | [k] |
| - | [x] |
There are many situations where voiced consonants become voiceless and vice versa:
- Voiced consonants become voiceless at the end of words, unless the next word starts with a voiced consonant as well.
- Voiced consonants become unvoiced before voiceless consonants.
- Voiceless consonants become voiced before voiced consonants. However, [s] does not turn into [z] when followed by [v].
Example: Voicing and Devoicing
град [grat], боб [bɔp]
вход [fxɔt], изток [‘ist.ok]
сватба [‘svad.bɐ]