Northwestern Bulgarian Dialects - Phonological and Morphological Characteristics

Phonological and Morphological Characteristics

• Old Church Slavonic ѣ (yat) is always pronounced as ɛ instead of formal Bulgarian я/е (ʲa~ɛ) – бел/бели
• Vocalic r and l for Old Church Slavonic ръ/рь and лъ/ль instead of the combinations ръ/ър (rə~ər) and лъ/ъл (lə~əl) in Standard Bulgarian - дрво, слза instead of дърво, сълза (tree, tear). However, there are words where the schwa (ə) is pronounced as in Standard Bulgarian - връх, слънце (summit, sun)
• ending e instead of formal Bulgarian i for plural past active aorist participles (биле instead of били)
• The masculine definite article is (ə) (in a stressed syllable) and slightly reduced a (in an unstressed syllable) - гърбъ́, сто́ла (the back, the chair)

Most other phonological and morphological features of the Northwestern Bulgarian dialects are similar to the characteristics of the Eastern Bulgarian dialects and the formal language: щ~жд (ʃt~ʒd) for Proto-Slavic *tʲ~*dʲ and Old Church Slavonic щ~жд (ʃt~ʒd), ъ (ə) for both Old Church Slavonic ѫ (yus) and ъ (ə), vowel reduction, etc.