Handbook of the International Phonetic Association: A Guide to the Use of the International Phonetic Alphabet

Bulgarian

Elmar Ternes* and Tatjana Vladimirova-buhtz**

*Institutftir Phonetik, Allgemeine

Bogenallee
**Aumattenweg 2, D-

Sprac hwissenschaft und Indogermanistik, Universitdt Hamburg
*"** 11 D-20144 Hamburg, Germany

U

791 1 7 Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany

The style of speech illustrated is Star dard Bulgarian as used by people with an academic
background. Historically, the Standard contains elements of western and eastern Bulgarian,
but in its present form, it cannot be localized in any particular region.

The speech on the recording is that of a 33-year-old speaker holding a post at the
University of Sofia. Bulgarian examples are given in a transliteration from Cyrillic script.

Consonants

Bilabial

Labi(
dent;

>-
1

Alveolar

Post-
alveolar

Palatal

Velar

Plosive

P b

t d

k g

Nasal

m

n

Fricative

f

/

s z

J 3

X

Affricate

ts dz

tf d 3

Trill

r

Approximant

J

Lateral
Approximant

1

P

pija

T drink'

t

b

bija

'I beat'

d
ts
dz

m

most

'bridge'

n

f

far

'lighthouse'

s

V

var

'limestone'

z

r

roza

'rose'

1

The phonemic analysis underlying the
palatalized consonants. An alternat
consonants: /pi, b j , t j , dJ, kJ, gj, tsJ,

&/),

torn
dom
tsar
dzift

zarna

'volume'

k

kol

'pole'

'home'

g

gol

'naked'

'tsar'

tj

tsar

'charm'

'tar'

d 3

dzob

'pocket'

'nose'

X

hatha

'ring'

'roe'

;

sal

'scarf

'corn' (pi)

3

zed

'pity'

'tulip'

J

jak

'strong'

present transcription does not assume the existence of
ve analysis postulates the following palatalized

mi, nJ, rJ, fi, v*, si, zi, xi, V/.

56 Handbook of the IP A

The nature of palatalization in Bulgarian is different from that in Russian. Its occurrence
is very restricted. Before front vowels and [j], palatalization does not go beyond the degree
that is conditioned by the inevitable play of coarticulation. Before back vowels palatalization
may unambiguously be interpreted as C plus [j]. In syllable and word final position it does
not occur.

Vowels

i

kit

* whale'

e

pet

'five'

a

mlad

'young'

rod

'kin'

u

lud

'crazy'

Y

pat

'path'

[o] (unstressed only)

[ko'ga]

koga

'when'

[e] (unstressed

only)

['dume]

duma

'word'

[o] is a neutralization of /u/ and hi, [b] is a neutralization of /a/ and /y/, both in unstressed
syllables.

Stress

Stress is distinctive:

['pare]

para

'steam

[psra]

para

'coin'

Conventions

/p, t, k/ aire unaspirated. /b, d, g/ are fully voiced, /t, d, ts, dz, n, r, s, z, 1/ are prealveolar.
/r/ is a trill, Ixl has only slight friction. HI is velarized [i] before [a, 0, u, y, o, b] as well as
in syllable and word final position.

[o, b] may be somewhat more closed than shown in the figure in unstressed syllables
after stress.

Transcription of recorded passage

'severnijet 'vjater i 'shrntseto se pre'pirexB 'koj e 'posilen, ko'gato edin
'prtnik, zB'vit f 'topte 'drexe, 'mine pokrej 'tjax. te re'Jlxe tfe 'tozi, 'kojto
'prrf nB'kare 'pvtnike dB si sve'li 'drexete, Jte se 'stfite 'posilen od 'drugiJB.
to'gavB 'severniJBt 'vjater ze'potfne dB 'duxe s 'fsitJkB 'site, no 'kolkoto
'posilno 'vjateret 'duxBfe, 'tolkove 'popletno 'prtnikBt o'vivefe 'drexBte
okolo 'sebe si. 'naj 'posle 'severnij^t 'vjater pre'kvsne o'silijete si. to'gave
'slvntseto zB'potfn^ cte 'gree 'silno, i 'pvtnikEt ved'nage sve'li 'drexfcte si. i
te'ka, 'severniJBt 'vjater 'beje pri'nuden de pri'znae, tfe 'shrntseto e 'posilno
ot 'nego.

Illustrations of the IP A 57

Orthographic Version

CeBepHHHT BHTtp h cjn>HijeTo ce npennpaxa, kom e no-cmieH, xoraTO
eflHH jtbthhk, saBMT b Ton ji a flpexa, MMHa noxpaH Tax. Te peniHxa,
ne tosh, komto nptB Haxapa m>THHKa fla cm cBajin flpexaTa, me ce
cHHTa no-cH,jieH ot flpyrHH. ToraBa ceBepHMHT b strop 3anoHHa fla
^yxa c BCMMxa cMJia, ho kojikoto jto-cmjiho BsiroptT qyxanie,
TOjiKOBa no-njitTHo m>THH*:T>T yBMBaine apexaTa okojio ce6e cm.
HaH-nocjie ceBepHHHT Barop npeictCHa ycMJiMHTa cm. ToraBa
cji-LHi^eTO 3anoHHa fla rpea cmjiho, m m>THMKi>T BeflHara cBajiM
ApexaTa cm. H Taica, ceBepHHHT Barop 6enie npMHyfleH fla npHSHae, ne
ontHijeTO e no-cMJiHo ot Heipo.

Acknowledgement

We are grateful to Mohammad- Reza Majidi for help with the computer program used in preparing the
original manuscript of this paper.

Handbook of the International Phonetic Association :
A Guide to the Use of the International Phonetic Alphabet
International Phonetic Association, July 1999.