Informal Writing
Sometimes, especially in e-mail or text messaging, the Cyrillic alphabet is not available and people are forced to write in Roman script. This often does not follow the official or any other of the standards listed above, but rather is an idiosyncratic Bulgarian form of text speak. While most letters are straightforward, several can take different forms. The letter variants listed below are often used interchangeably with some or all of the above standards, often in the same sentence.
| Cyrillic letter | Latin variant | Examples | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| ж | j | darja (държа, hold) |
– |
| ч | 4 | 4e (че, that), |
The number "4" is chetiri; the shapes of "Ч" and "4" are also similar. |
| ш | 6 | Mi6o (Мишо, Mike) |
The number "6" is shest. |
| щ | 6t | 6te (ще, will) |
– |
| ъ | y | Bylgaria (Bulgaria) |
– |
| я | q | Bylgariq (Bulgaria) |
– |
There is no set rule, and people often vary the combinations within a single message, so that "ъ" may be presented as "u", "a" or "y" in three adjacent words, and "щ" can be "sht" in one word, and "6t" in the next. Conversely, "j" could be used to represent "й", "ж" and even "дж" in adjacent words, while "y" can be used for "ъ" in one word and for "й" in the next.
This unofficial email/SMS language is often referred to as "shlyokavitsa". The use of Latinised Bulgarian, while ubiquitous in personal communication, is frowned upon in certain internet contexts, and many websites' comment sections and internet forums have rules stating that posts in Roman script will be deleted.
Read more about this topic: Streamlined System For The Romanization Of Bulgarian
Famous quotes containing the words informal and/or writing:
“We as a nation need to be reeducated about the necessary and sufficient conditions for making human beings human. We need to be reeducated not as parents—but as workers, neighbors, and friends; and as members of the organizations, committees, boards—and, especially, the informal networks that control our social institutions and thereby determine the conditions of life for our families and their children.”
—Urie Bronfenbrenner (b. 1917)
“Good writing is a kind of skating which carries off the performer where he would not go, and is only right admirable when to all its beauty and speed a subserviency to the will, like that of walking, is added.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)