Strandzha dialect
Encyclopedia
The Strandzha dialect is a dialect of the Bulgarian language
Bulgarian language
Bulgarian is an Indo-European language, a member of the Slavic linguistic group.Bulgarian, along with the closely related Macedonian language, demonstrates several linguistic characteristics that set it apart from all other Slavic languages such as the elimination of case declension, the...

, member of the Rup
Rup dialects
The Rup dialects, or the Southeastern dialects, are a group of Bulgarian dialects located east of the yat boundary, thus being part of the Eastern Bulgarian dialects. The range of the Rup dialects includes the southern part of Thrace, i.e. Strandzha, the region of Haskovo, the Rhodopes and the...

 or Southeastern Bulgarian dialects. The present range of the dialect includes the Bulgarian part of Strandzha
Strandzha
Strandzha is a mountain massif in southeastern Bulgaria and the European part of Turkey, in the southeastern part of the Balkans between the plains of Thrace to the west, the lowlands near Burgas to the north and the Black Sea to the east. Its highest peak is Mahya Dağı in Turkey, while the...

. In the past, the dialect was spoken on a much larger territory and extended far down into Eastern Thrace, now in Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

. Following the Balkan wars
Balkan Wars
The Balkan Wars were two conflicts that took place in the Balkans in south-eastern Europe in 1912 and 1913.By the early 20th century, Montenegro, Bulgaria, Greece and Serbia, the countries of the Balkan League, had achieved their independence from the Ottoman Empire, but large parts of their ethnic...

, the Bulgarian population there was forced to flee to Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...

, settling mostly in the regions of Burgas
Burgas
-History:During the rule of the Ancient Romans, near Burgas, Debeltum was established as a military colony for veterans by Vespasian. In the Middle Ages, a small fortress called Pyrgos was erected where Burgas is today and was most probably used as a watchtower...

 and Varna
Varna
Varna is the largest city and seaside resort on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast and third-largest in Bulgaria after Sofia and Plovdiv, with a population of 334,870 inhabitants according to Census 2011...

 in eastern Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...

.

Phonological and morphological characteristics

  • Existence of long soft consonants л /l/, н /n/, к /k/ and г /ɡ/: vs. formal Bulgarian сирене (cheese)
  • Transition of soft t and d into soft k and g (also typical for the Kotel-Elena-Dryanovo dialect
    Kotel-Elena-Dryanovo dialect
    The Kotel-Elena-Dryanovo dialect is a Bulgarian dialect, which is part of the Balkan group of the Eastern Bulgarian dialects. Its range includes the eastern parts of the Balkan Mountains, i.e. the regions of Dryanovo, Kotel and Elena)...

    , cf. article): вæ vs. formal Bulgarian вежди (eyebrows)
  • The masculine definite article is -ът after a hard syllable and -ет after a soft syllable: гърбът, мъжет vs. formal Bulgarian гърбът, мъжът (the back, the man)
  • A number of lexical peculiarities, e.g. потон vs. common Bulgarian под (floor)


For other phonological and morphological characteristics that are typical for all Rup dialects, cf. article
Rup dialects
The Rup dialects, or the Southeastern dialects, are a group of Bulgarian dialects located east of the yat boundary, thus being part of the Eastern Bulgarian dialects. The range of the Rup dialects includes the southern part of Thrace, i.e. Strandzha, the region of Haskovo, the Rhodopes and the...

.

Sources

Стойков, Стойко: Българска диалектология, Акад. изд. "Проф. Марин Дринов", 2006 http://www.promacedonia.org/jchorb/st/st_2_b_izt_3.htm#strandzhanski
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