Bulgarian language

E79813

Indo-European language South Slavic language standard language

Bulgarian is a South Slavic language spoken primarily in Bulgaria, notable for being the first Slavic language with a written literary tradition and for its distinctive grammatical features such as the loss of noun cases and the use of suffixed definite articles.

Observed surface forms (1)

Surface form	As subject	As object
Bulgarian	0	6

Statements (70)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	Indo-European language → South Slavic language → standard language →
belongsToSprachbund	Balkan Sprachbund →
closelyRelatedTo	Macedonian → surface form: Macedonian language Serbian language → Slovene → surface form: Slovene language
country	Bulgaria →
developedFrom	Middle Bulgarian →
earliestWritingSystem	Glagolitic script →
firstWrittenTradition	9th century →
hasApproximateSpeakers	around 7 million native speakers →
hasDefiniteArticleType	suffixed definite article →
hasDialects	Eastern Bulgarian dialects → Western Bulgarian dialects →
hasGlottocode	bulg1262 →
hasGrammaticalFeature	clitic doubling → definite and indefinite noun forms → evidentiality distinctions in the verb system → lack of infinitive → loss of most noun cases → postposed definite article → rich verbal morphology → three grammatical genders → two grammatical numbers → use of da-constructions instead of infinitive →
hasISO639-1Code	bg →
hasISO639-2Code	bul →
hasISO639-3Code	bul →
hasNativeName	български език →
hasPhonologicalFeature	contrast between hard and soft consonants → vowel reduction in unstressed syllables →
hasWritingSystem	Bulgarian Cyrillic alphabet → surface form: Modern Bulgarian Cyrillic alphabet
historicalAncestor	Church Slavonic → surface form: Old Bulgarian Church Slavonic → surface form: Old Church Slavonic
influencedBy	Church Slavonic → Greek language → Russian language → Turkish language →
isFirstSlavicLiteraryLanguage	true →
languageBranch	Balto-Slavic languages →
languageFamily	Indo-European language family → surface form: Indo-European languages
languageGroup	Slavic languages →
languageSubgroup	South Slavic languages → surface form: Eastern South Slavic languages South Slavic languages →
laterWritingSystem	Cyrillic script → surface form: Early Cyrillic script
officialLanguageOf	Bulgaria → European Union →
regulatedBy	Bulgarian Academy of Sciences → Institute for Bulgarian Language →
spokenIn	Bulgaria → Greece → Moldova → Romania → Serbia → Turkey → Ukraine → diaspora communities worldwide →
standardBasedOn	Eastern Bulgarian dialects →
status	minority language in neighboring countries → official language →
subclassOf	Balkan Sprachbund language → Slavic language →
usedAsLiturgicalLanguage	Bulgarian Orthodox Church →
usedIn	Bulgarian education system → Bulgarian literature → Bulgarian media →
usesAlphabet	Cyrillic script → surface form: Cyrillic alphabet
writingDirection	left-to-right →
writingSystem	Cyrillic script →