Dialects
Shopi speak a group of related dialects that belong to the "et" (western) group of Bulgarian dialects. The dialects spoken by the Shopi are sometimes collectively referred to as Shopski (Шопски), although this is not the accepted term in Bulgarian dialectology. The Torlak dialect is classified by Bulgarian linguists as part of the Shopi dialect, although Serbian linguists deny this. The groups that tend to be closely associated with that term and to match the stereotypical idea of "Shopski" speech are the South-Western Bulgarian dialects which go through Rila mountain and the villages around Sofia to Danube towns such as Vidin. The Shopp dialect is most likely standard Bulgarian, having some characteristic features shared with standard Serbian.
People from Eastern Bulgaria also call the people who live in Sofia - Shopi, but as a result of the migration of whole Bulgaria, the dialect is not majority in the city of Sofia anymore. Instead, most of Sofia residents speak literary Bulgarian language with some elements of the western Bulgarian Shop dialect. The western Bulgarian dialect is still majority in the Sofia's villages and whole western Bulgaria, for example the big towns and cities of: (Sofia and Pleven- transitional speech with literary Bulgarian language), Pernik, Kyustendil, Vratsa, Vidin, Montana, Dupnitsa, Samokov, Lom, Botevgrad.
The exposition below is based on Stoyko Stoykov's Bulgarian dialectology (2002, first ed. 1962), although other examples are used. The Standard Bulgarian words and sentences are given in romanization, with no attempt at scientific transcription apart from stress marking.
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