The Transitional Bulgarian dialects are a group of
Bulgarian dialects, whose speakers are located west of the
yat boundary and are part of the
Western Bulgarian dialects. As they have most of the typical characteristics of the North-Western Bulgarian dialects, they are sometimes classified as belonging to this subgroup under the name of Extreme North-Western dialects. On Bulgarian territory, the Transitional dialects occupy a narrow strip of land along the Bulgarian border with
Serbia, including the regions of
Tran,
Breznik,
Godech,
Chiprovtsi and
Belogradchik. They also cross the border to include the dialects or
subdialects of the Bulgarian minority in the
Western Outlands (the regions of
Tsaribrod and
Bosilegrad). The Transitional dialects are part of the
Torlak dialectal group also spoken in southeastern Serbia and
North Macedonia and are part of the gradual transition from
Bulgarian to
Serbian.[citation needed] The Bulgarian Transitional dialects and the Serbian
Prizren-Timok dialects are loosely characterised by mixed, predominantly Serbian phonology and predominantly Bulgarian morphology. The features described here are characteristic only of the Transitional dialects within Bulgaria.
Phonological characteristics
Old Bulgarian ѣ (yat) is always pronounced as ɛ vs. standard Bulgarian я/е (ʲa/ɛ) – бел/бели
ч/дж (t͡ʃ/d͡ʒ) for Proto-Slavic *tʲ/*dʲ - леча, меджу ("lentils", "between"). Partial manifestation of reflex ʒd for Proto-Slavic *dʲ (as in standard Bulgarian) in words like чужд ("foreign").[1] The future tense particle is че
у for Old Bulgarian ѫ (yus) (as in standard Serbo-Croatian): мука vs. Standard Bulgarian мъка ("sorrow")
ə for Old Bulgarian ь and ъ in all positions: сън ("sleep")
Complete loss of consonant х (x) in all positions (preserved in both Bulgarian and Serbian): мъ vs. Standard Bulgarian мъх ("moss")
Preservation of final l (as in Bulgarian): бил ("was")
Articulation of voiced consonants at the end of the word (as in Serbian) in some areas/subdialects (
Tran,
Breznik) and devoicing (as in Bulgarian) in others (
Bosilegrad,
Tsaribrod,
Godech,
Belogradchik)[2]
Lack of phonemic pitch (as in standard Bulgarian)
Lack of phonemic length (as in standard Bulgarian)
Frequent stress on the final syllable in polysyllabic words (as in standard Bulgarian, not possible in standard Serbo-Croatian, though frequent in
archaic Serbo-Croatian dialects): жен'а ("woman")
Complete loss of consonant f. It does not exist even in new words where it is usually replaced by v: венер vs. Standard Bulgarian фенер ("lantern")
Grammatical and morphological characteristics
Definiteness realized with post-positive articles. The definite articles are usually -ът, -та, -то, -те as in standard Bulgarian
Breakup of the Old Bulgarian case system (as in standard Bulgarian). Apart from nominal forms, there is an agglomerative[clarification needed] form only for masculine animate names and feminine names
Full retention of the
aorist and the
imperfect (as in standard Bulgarian)
Doubling of objects with an additional object pronoun (as in standard Bulgarian)
Ending -e for plural of feminine nouns and adjectives (as in standard Serbo-Croatian): жене ("women")
The plural endings of adjectives vary from three (for each gender, as in standard Serbo-Croatian), to two (one for masculine and neuter and one for feminine) and one (as in standard Bulgarian), depending on dialect/subdialect
Ending -мо for 1st person pl. present time (as in standard Serbo-Croatian): носимо ("we carry")
Ending -ше for 3rd person pl. past tense (vs. -ха in Bulgarian): плетоше equal to Serbian imperfect tense, vs. standard Bulgarian плетоха ("they knitted")
For the phonological and morphological characteristics of the individual dialects included in the dialectal group, cf. individual articles.
Sources
Sprachatlas Ostserbiens und Westbulgariens,
Andrej N. Sobolev. Vol. I-III. Biblion Verlag, Marburg, 1998.