Phonological and Morphological Characteristics
- Old Church Slavonic ѣ (yat) is always pronounced as ɛ vs. formal Bulgarian я/е (ʲa~ɛ) – бел/бели (white, white pl.)
- щ~жд (ʃt~ʒd) for Proto-Slavic *tʲ~*dʲ (as in Standard Bulgarian) - леща, между (lentils, between). The future tense particle is, however, different in the different dialects: ще, ше, че, к҄е, к҄у
- The reflex of Old Church Slavonic ѫ (yus) is generally a, with the exception of the Sofia dialect where it is ъ (ə): каща vs. formal Bulgarian къща (house)
- The reflex of Old Church Slavonic ъ gradually shifts from north to south from only a to both a and o. The northern dialects (e.g. the Vratsa dialect) have only a, the central ones (e.g. the Ihtiman dialect) have mostly a with occurrences of o only in certain suffixes and prefixes, the southern ones (e.g. the Maleševo-Pirin dialect) have only o in suffixes and prefixes and some roots and a in other roots
- Preserved transition of o into e after ж /ʒ/, ш /ʃ/, ч /t͡ʃ/: ножеве vs. formal Bulgarian ножове (knives)
- Single masculine definite article -o (as in the Moesian dialects) or a (as in the Balkan Pirdop dialect), depending on the dialect: гар'бо/гар'бa vs. Standard Bulgarian гър'бът (the back).
- Widespread formation of past passive participles with -н: чуен vs. formal Bulgarian чут (heard)
- Suffix -чки instead of -шки for formation of certain adjectives: човечки vs. човешки
For the phonological and morphological characteristics of the individual dialects included in the dialectal group, cf. individual articles.
Read more about this topic: Southwestern Bulgarian Dialects