Hvoyna Dialect - Phonological and Morphological Characteristics

Phonological and Morphological Characteristics

• Merger of Old Church Slavonic big yus ѫ, little yus ѧ, ь and ъ into ъ (ə) in a stressed syllable and into a slightly reduced a in an unstressed syllable: къшта (as in formal Bulgarian – house), клʲътва vs. formal Bulgarian клетва (oath)
• Broad e (æ) for Old Church Slavonic yat in all positions and regardless of the word stress and the character of the following syllable: бæл/бæли vs. formal Bulgarian бял/бели (white), голʲæм/голʲæми vs. formal Bulgarian голям/големи (big). The broad e has also replaced Old Bulgarian я in all positions: доашʲтʲерʲæ vs. formal Bulgarian дъштерʲа (daughter)
• Triple definite article: -ът, -та, -то, -тæ for general cases, -ъс, -са, -со, -сæ for objects situated close to the speaker and -ън, -на, -но, -нæ for objects situated far from the speaker. The Batak subdialect, however, has a single definite article, as in formal Bulgarian
• A number of well-preserved case forms: common oblique case forms for family and personal names (as in the Central Balkan dialect, cf. article); dative forms for sing. nouns: сину vs. formal Bulgarian на сина, etc.

For other phonological and morphological characteristics typical for all Rup or Rhodopean dialects, cf. Rup dialects.