Resources for Bulgarian Linguistics

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Resources found on this page include works about Bulgarian language/ linguistics regardless of the language of publication and works about linguistics in general that are published in Bulgarian. Resources about Slavic linguistics or other Slavic languages that are published in Bulgarian will appear on the pages devoted to the individual languages or the General Resources for Slavic Linguistics page. Cross references are provided for works that could be listed under multiple categories. Also, please note that there are two special sections on the page for General Resources for Slavic Linguistics that are particularly relevant for Bulgarian, South Slavic and Balkanistika. Works on the “Old Bulgarian” language will be found on the page concerning Old Church Slavic/Church Slavic. Scholars interested in Macedonian linguistics may also find some of these early resources useful as Macedonian was not formally declared a language independent of Bulgarian and Serbian until 1944. As is true for all of the pages in this guide, clicking on either portraits or names of bibliographers and authors will lead to their biographical data.

Bibliographies of Bibliographies

One of the standard sources for Bulgarian bibliography, the annual Bibliografiia na bulgarskata bibliografiia, is very helpful for finding bibliographies of Bulgarian linguistics. One of its sections is devoted to “Ezikoznanie.” See the page on Bulgarian Bibliographies of Bibliographies for annotations and call numbers for this publication and two retrospective bibliographies of bibliographies with coverage going back to 1852. These sources cover not only bibliographies that were published as monographs, but also ones that appeared in journals. Thus, for example, citations for the many specialized linguistic bibliographies that were printed in the journal Bulgarski ezik can be found here.

Bibliographies

The main Bulgarian bibliography for the field of linguistics is published annually in serialized form in the journal Bulgarski ezik. Most bibliographies of Bulgarian works in the field of linguistics appear as articles rather than books. Those separately published bibliographies that do exist tend to be bio-bibliographies or those devoted to special topics.

Ezikovite vuprosi v bulgarskiia pechat prez XIX vek.

Konstantinova, Violeta. Sofiia: Izd-vo na Bulgarskata akademiia na naukite, 1979. 229 p.
U of I Library Call Number: International & Area Studies Slavic — Bulgarian Reference 016.41 K8376e

With coverage of the years 1824-1900 this retrospective bibliography in an excellent source for locating books, textbooks, articles and reviews written in Bulgarian about linguistics. Every item included in this bibliography (over 1200 of them) was examined in person (de visu) by the compiler. All of the citations  are arranged into four main groups: general topics, the Bulgarian language, other languages, language learning/textbooks. Within each of these four groups the items are further subdivided by subjects such as dialectology, etymology, onomastics, and by individual languages as subjects. In addition to full bibliographic citations the entries also provide a one-line annotation on the content. The bibliography is equipped with an index for names, a list of sources, and many see references. The table of contents at the end elucidates the subject arrangement of the citations in the volume. See the image below for an article citation about a Bulgarian dialect.

Bibliografiia po ezikoznanie za…g.

in Izvestiia na Instituta za bulgarski ezik pri BAN, v.1, 1952, pp.291-295 (covers June 1950-Dec. 1951); v.3, 1954, pp.374-381 (covers 1952); v.4, 1956, pp.483-487 (covers 1953).
Ivanova, Ekaterina. Sofiia: Izdanie na Bulgarskata Akademiia na naukite, 1952-1956.
U of I Library Call Number: Main Stacks 491.81 B872i v.1-26

This serialized bibliography covers just a few years of Bulgarian work on linguistics, 1950-1953. The citations are for books, textbooks, dictionaries, and articles, but the contents of collections are also provided. The entries are arranged by author’s surname and just give a bibliographic citation. Textbooks and dictionaries are listed in a separate section from the other citations. See the entries above left from the volume covering 1953.

Statii i trudove po ezikovi vuprosi v bulgarskiia pechat ot … do… in Bulgarski ezik,

Ivanova, Ekaterina; Ikonomova, Zhivka. Kurpacheva, Marta. Sofiia: Izd. na Bulgarskata akademiia na naukite, 1951- .
U of I Library Call Number: Main Stacks 491.81 B874 v.4 (1954) – v. 48:2 (1999-2000) [U of I lacks v.1-3, 5, 10, 11]

This serialized bibliography of current works on linguistics by Bulgarian scholars has been appearing in the journal Bulgarski ezik since 1951 and was still being printed at least up to 1997 under a slightly different title, “Bibliografiia na bulgarskata ezikovedska literatura.” Annually it publishes hundreds of citations for books, articles, and reviews arranged in different ways depending on the years of the bibliography. Earlier it was a strict author arrangement, but later the citations were grouped by subjects with an author index. The table below gives the citations for each installment of the bibliography. The image to the right is an example of what the citations look like in the 1994 bibliography.

Abstracts of Bulgarian scientific literature. Linguistics and literature = Bulletin d’analyse de la litterature scientifique bulgare. Linguistique et litterature.

Sofiia: The Academy, 1959-1990.
U of I Library Call Number: Main Stacks Q. 405 SOF (1959-1962); Q. 405 SO (1963-1970:1) [U of I lacks 1970:2-1990:3]

Produced for over 30 years by the Academy of Sciences in Sofia, this periodical presents abstracts in English or French of more important books and articles from Bulgaria on the topics of literature, language and linguistics. (Uof I  holds only volumes of the French version). The year of coverage is one year earlier than the year of publication, thus works from 1962 appear in the volume that was printed in 1963. The abstracts for linguistics are arranged into five sections: general linguistics, the Bulgarian language, Slavic languages, Indo-European languages, non-Indo-European languages. Every entry provides a full bibliographic citation and an abstract that is signed by the contributor. The abstracts range in length from a short paragraph to a full column. The abstract on the right is one of the shorter ones from the 1970:1 issue.

Bulgarski ezik i literatura. Preporuchitelna bibliografiia v pomosht na uchitelite po bulgarski ezik i literatura.

Ivanova, Liliana. Sofiia: Narodna biblioteka “Kiril i Metodii”, 1973. 392 p.
U of I Library Call Number: Main Stacks 016.49181 Iv1b

This is the only example of a recommendatory bibliography in this guide to Bulgarian linguistic resources. A recommendatory bibliography, one of the favored bibliographic genres under Communism, selects the “best sources” for a particular topic. The drawback to this kind of compilation is that it is not comprehensive, but if done properly, a recommendatory bibliography will help the user focus on the most important works covering his/her topic. The first half of this bibliography is devoted to general resources, language and linguistics, the second half to literature. It includes citations for both books and articles, but only from the 1960’s-1970’s. Earlier, important works in linguistics are not mentioned. The linguistic citations appear under two different main headings: methodology of teaching Bulgarian and linguistics. The citations are further arranged by more specific subjects. See the image below for a few examples from the section on stress.

Bulgarian Bibliographies on Assorted Topics in Linguistics

Pokazalets na obnarodvanitie materiali po bulgarska dialektologiia.

Stoikov, Stoiko. Sofiia: Pechatnitsa P. Glushkov, 1937. 141 p. (Sbornik na Bulgarskata akademiia na naukite ; kniga XXXI).
U of I Library Call Number: International & Area Studies Slavic — Bulgarian Reference 016.49181 St6p

This atypical bibliography is devoted to works on Bulgarian/Macedonian dialectology. It is atypical in that it does not provide citations to books or articles, but rather helps to locate dialect texts such as proverbs, songs, stories, words, etc. that appear within various books or journals. The list of sources is a helpful guide to sources about dialectology except when it just lists journals that were consulted without giving individual article citations. It contains over 1700 citations for locating texts related to a particular dialect or village. The citations are arranged alphabetically by village or place of dialect without article titles or authors’ names, but they do provide detailed page references and indications of the genre of text found on each page as well as the village districts in brackets. There are indexes for places and genres. You must use the abbreviation key to sources to understand the citations. Since this work was compiled before Macedonian was officially declared a language it is also extremely useful for the study of Macedonian dialectology. It contains many villages and districts located in the current territory of Macedonia (FYROM). See the citations below for works on the town of Krushovo. In the citations Gat. = gatanki (riddles), Posl. = poslovitsi (proverbs), etc. and SbNU = Sbornik za narodni umotvoreniia, nauka i knizhnina.

Bulgarska leksikologiia i leksikografiia 1944-1968. Bibliografiia.

Balevska, Elka. Sofiia: Izd-vo na Bulgarskata akademiia na naukite, 1973. 165 p.
U of I Library Call Number: International & Area Studies Slavic — Bulgarian Reference 016.49181 B19b; also available in Oak Street Facility

Works on Bulgarian lexicology and lexicography from 1944-1968 are the subject of this specialized bibliography from the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. More than 1800 citations for books, articles, and reviews are arranged into 8 sections including lexicological and phraseological works, textbooks, dictionaries and phrasebooks, criticism and reviews, the language of Bulgarian writers and publicists, etc. The works cited are either in the Bulgarian language or published in Bulgaria. The body of the work is supplemented by an author index and a list of sources. The University of Illinois copy of this bibliography is poorly printed with a couple of blank pages that represent a loss of about 40-50 citations. See the citations below which are the first two listed under the section for the language of Bulgarian writers and publicists.

Bibliografiia na bulgarskata onomastika, 1940-1970.

Bibliografiia na bulgarskata onomastika, 1960-1970.

Bibliografiia na bulgarskata onomastika, 1971-1980.

Choleva, Anna. et al. Veliko Turnovo, 1993. 158 p.
U of I Library Call Number: Main Stacks 016.491812 B471

Onomastics is a branch of linguistics that studies various types of names. These three bibliographies present citations for both books and articles related to Bulgarian names and works of Bulgarian scholars on onomastics that do not necessarily concern Bulgaria. The slim volume covering 1960-1970 has been superseded by the one encompassing 1940-1970. The two larger volumes are arranged according to similar schemes: general works, bibliographies, congresses, the Bulgarian language, Slavic languages, Indo-European languages, non-Indo-European languages, reviews. Within these broader categories there are smaller subjects delineated such as geographic names, onomastics and ethnography, personal names, etc. Many of the entries have a brief annotation explaining what kind of names are discussed in the work and from what area these names come. There are indexes for authors and names of all kinds. See the citations below from the general section of the 1971-1980 volume.

Die bulgarischen Phraseologismen. Auswahlbibliographie. Mit einem Index zur Geschichte und Etymologie.

Bulgarian phraseology from 1861-2000 is the subject of this bibliography. The first half of the volume lists citations for articles, books, and reviews on the topic, while the second half lists actual Bulgarian phrases and refers the user to the works that discuss them. The citations are arranged into three groups (dictionaries, books, articles/reviews) and then by author with the author’s name in bold face. The phrases are organized by significant word. Finally, there is an alphabetical index of complete phrases which also refers the user to the works that contain them. See the image below for some citations in the phrase index.

Tendenzen der Syntaxforschung der bulgarischen Gegenwartssprache. Beitrag zur Bulgaristik, Slawistik und Balkanologie.

This book combines a review of research in the area of Bulgarian syntax with a bibliography. Various topics are discussed and citations for relevant works are included within each discussion. Some topics include an overview of the development of linguistic Bulgaristika, the Academy grammar, Maslov’s 1981 grammar, morphosyntax, children’s speech, etc. A full bibliography of works arranged by author is appended at the conclusion of the discussions. The works are for both books and articles published in Bulgaria, other European countries and North America. Note the citations below which are from the bibliography.

Periodical Indexes

The University of Illinois does not hold any true periodical indexes for Bulgarian linguistics. However, many of the bibliographies annotated on this page provide citations for articles from Bulgarian and foreign language periodicals. The sections of the Bulgarian national bibliography devoted to journal and newspaper articles and their precursor are annotated on the page concerning Bulgarian Periodical Resources. These sources both contain sections for linguistics. In addition, the Modern Language Association Bibliography online and the Russian Academy of Sciences Bibliographies online index many relevant periodicals, both Bulgarian and foreign, that deal with Bulgarian language and linguistics.

Bulgaristika

Under this heading can be found bibliographies that cover Bulgaristika produced by scholars in various countries. Many of the citations are for linguistic items and items about teaching Bulgarian, but Bulgaristika covers Bulgarian literature and culture as well. Publications of Bulgaristika often are cataloged with the subject headings “Bulgarian philology” or “Bulgaria–Study and teaching.” Try searching WorldCat using those headings or the title keyword “bulgaristika” to find other works in this category.

One of the main bibliographies of foreign linguistic Bulgaristika is produced annually in serialized form in the journal Bulgarski ezik. Details are given below. Of course, the main bibliography for Bulgaristika is Bulgariia v chuzhdata literatura, series 7 of the Bulgarian national bibliography, and its precursors. It has sections devoted to linguistics. An example of a bibliography found as part of a collection of Bulgaristika is on pages 334-359 of the book Ezikovedskata Bulgaristika v Chekhoslovakiia. Sofiia: Nauka i izkustvo, 1987.

Bulgaristikata chuzhbina prez … g. in Bulgarski ezik.

Naumova, Mariia; Bekhar-Zakhariia, T.; Tsonkova, Mariia. et al. Sofiia: Izd. na Bulgarskata akademiia na naukite, 1970-1993/1994.
U of I Library Call Number: Main Stacks 491.81 B874 v.20 (1970) – v. 48 no. 1-2 (1999-2000)

This serialized bibliography of linguistic Bulgaristika from foreign sources has been published since 1969, but may have ceased with the 1993/1994 volume. It has citations for both articles and books. In earlier years the citations are arranged by author’s surname, in later years by broad subject categories. In later years the title was changed to “Bulgaristikata v chuzhdata ezikovedska periodika prez …g.” and ceases to cover book titles. Some of the bibliographies contain supplements for previous years and author indexes. The table below gives the particulars for each installment.

Encyclopedias

Entsiklopediia na suvremenniia bulgarski ezik.

Rusinov, Rusin; Georgiev, Stan’o. V. Turnovo: IPK “Sveti Evtimii Patriarkh Turnovski”, 2000. 583 p.
U of I Library Call Number: International & Area Studies Slavic — Bulgarian Reference 491.81014 En874

This volume is the first encyclopedia of the Bulgarian language. It includes articles on many topics related to the history of Bulgarian, the contemporary language, and linguistic concepts such as Bulgarian dialects, dissimilation, syntax, Bulgarian language journals, notable Bulgarian linguists, important Bulgarian dictionaries, etc. The articles which are of a more general nature begin by describing a phenomenon and usually follow with examples from Bulgarian. All of the articles are signed by the scholars who wrote them and many of them have bibliographical references for further reading. The encyclopedia concludes with bibliographies of sources about the Bulgarian language, about Bulgarian grammars, about collections that include Bulgarian linguistics works, a bio-bibliography of sources on Bulgarian linguists, and an index of contributors and entries. Follow the link for the entry on the famous linguist Aleksandur Teodorov Balan.

Dictionaries

There are several bibliographies of dictionaries annotated in this guide that include Bulgarian dictionaries. For annotations of Bulgarian dictionaries published before 1850 see Stankiewicz which is described on the page Sources for Dictionaries and Language Resources. Another major source for identifying Slavic dictionaries including Bulgarian is Lewanski’s Bibliography of Slavic dictionaries. A Bulgarian guide to reference works, “Spravochno-bibliografski izdaniia” by Boris Desev [U of I Library Call Number: Bulgarian Reference 016.0287 D45s], also annotates major Bulgarian dictionaries as does the recent encyclopedia of the Bulgarian language.

Below are annotated a bibliography of Bulgarian dictionaries, only a few major dictionaries such as the Academy dictionary, the main etymological dictionary, a reverse dictionary, and three dialect dictionaries. The first annotation, however, is a dictionary of Bulgarian linguistic terminology.

Kratuk rechnik na bulgarskata ezikovedska terminologiia.

Manolova, Liliia. Sofiia: Izd-vo na Bulgarskata akademiia na naukite, 1993. 107 p.
U of I Library Call Number: Main Stacks 413.91811 M317k

This small volume published by the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences is a dictionary of Bulgarian linguistic terminology. In fact, it is the first one of its kind to be compiled for Bulgarian. The bibliography opens with a brief overview of the historical development of linguistic vocabulary in Bulgarian including a discussion of earlier works that can be considered precursors to this dictionary. Terms are arranged alphabetically and appear in all capital letters and bold face. Most of the definitions are about several lines in length with some spanning up to two pages. A greatly expanded second edition of this dictionary was published in 1999 under the title Rechnik na lingvistichnite termini v bulgarskiia ezik, but the University of Illinois does not hold the volume. A list of sources appears at the end. See the definition below for the dual number.

Rechnitsi, izdadeni v Bulgariia, i chuzhdi izdaniia s bulgarski tekst, 1944-1980. Bibliografski ukazatel.

The 360 dictionaries in this bibliography are arranged by type of dictionary: single-language dictionaries, bilingual dictionaries, and subject/terminological dictionaries. The citations are further subdivided in each section. Unfortunately, none of the citations are annotated, but full bibliographic information is provided including pagination, editions and print runs if known. This volume is the first attempt to bibliographically trace Bulgarian dictionary output for the post-war period. There are indexes for languages, subjects, and names. See the image below for a Bulgarian-Arabic dictionary.

Rechnik na bulgarskiia ezik.

Sofiia: BAN, 1977- .
U of I Library Call Number: International & Area Studies Slavic — Bulgarian Reference 491.81 R2432 v.1-14; v. 1, 4, 6-8 available in the Main Stacks.

Rechnik na bulgarskiia ezik.

Cholakova, Kristalina; Boiadzhiev, Simeon. Sofiia: Akad. izd-vo “Prof. Marin Drinov”, 2001. 2nd revised and expanded edition.
U of I Library Call Number: International and Area Studies Slavic– Bulgarian Reference 491.813 R2431 v.1-3

This title is the standard Bulgarian scholarly dictionary produced by the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. In 2001 a second, revised edition began publication in spite of the fact that the first edition was never finished. As of 2002 the first edition has eleven volumes out of a projected twenty covering up through the letter O. As of 2002 only two volumes of the second edition have appeared covering up through the letter V (Cyrillic alphabetical order). In 2006, the third volume was published, covering G – Deiatel. These dictionaries present the modern Bulgarian lexicon from the second quarter of the 19th century through the present day. The goal is comprehensive coverage of words and definitions with substantial coverage of usage in special phrases and expressions. For a more scholarly annotation of this dictionary see the entry for it in Entsiklopediia na suvremenniia bulgarski ezik annotated above. Like most standard, scholarly dictionaries this one provides not only definitions but also some grammatical forms and excerpts from literature to show usage. The first volumes in both editions contain the extremely long list of sources including the literary texts used to establish the definitions and usage. See the entry on the left for the word “Bairam” from volume 1 of the first edition.

Rechnik na suvremenniia bulgarski knizhoven ezik.

Romanski, Stoian. Sofiia: BAN, 1955-1959. 3 vols.
U of I Library Call Number: Main Stacks Q. 491.81 B87r v.1-3

This normative dictionary is a classic reference source for the contemporary Bulgarian literary language. Although the Academy dictionary will eventually supersede it, the Academy dictionary is not yet finished so this dictionary can give you coverage to the end of the alphabet. Also, in three volumes it is more convenient than the planned 20-volume Academy set. The introduction explains the contents of the entries and furnishes a list of sources consulted during the compilation. The main lexicographer was Stoian Romanskii, a distinguished Bulgarian linguist and member of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. Entries provide definitions, grammatical forms, part of speech, and passages from Bulgarian literature to show usage. Note the entry on above right for the word “izba.”

Bulgarski etimologichen rechnik.

Georgiev, V.; Gulubov, I.; Zaimov, I.; Ilchev, S. Sofiia: BAN, 1962- .
U of I Library Call Number: Main Stacks 491.81 B87bu sv.1-24, 27-28 (= v.1-3, up through the word Mingo)

Bulgarski etimologichen rechnik.

Georgiev, V.; Gulubov, I.; Zaimov, I.; Ilchev, S. Sofiia: BAN, 1971- .
U of I Library Call Number: Main Stacks 491.812 B8711971 v.1-5 [up through the word Puska] [U of I lacks v.6]

This dictionary and its 1971 revision are the standard etymological dictionaries for the Bulgarian language. Scholars at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences compiled and revised both editions. To date neither edition has been completed, but the University of Illinois also lacks the latest volume. Volume 6 of the later edition published in 2002 goes up through the word Slovar’. The entries provide a definition in Bulgarian, a posited derivation, forms of the word in other languages including other Slavic languages as well as citations to the sources in which these forms were found. Dialectal forms are also mentioned. The first volume of the 1971 edition opens with a long bibliography of sources. See the entry below showing the derivation of the word “bankrut” or bankruptcy.

Rechnik na redki, ostareli i dialektni dumi v literaturata ni ot XIX i XX vek.

Ilchev, Stefan; Ivanova, Ana, et al. Sofiia: BAN, 1974. 606 p.
U of I Library Call Number: International & Area Studies Slavic — Bulgarian Reference 491.81 R243

Compiled by scholars at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, this volume is probably the best dictionary to date for Buglarian dialects even though it lacks certain features desirable in a dialect dictionary. For example, the entries designate each word as rare, archaic, or dialectal, but it does not indicate from which dialect the word originates. The entries indicate parts of speech, provide a definition in modern standard Bulgarian and give a passage to show usage with the name of the author who used the form. Unfortunately, the entries do not indicate which works of a particular author are the source of a form. At the back of the book there is a bibliography of sources, mostly from Bulgarian literature of the 19th and 20th centuries, which includes not only the individual works of authors, but also a list of journals and newspapers used in the compilation. Note the entry below for the word “nogavitsa.”

Rechnik na starobulgarski dumi v dneshnite bulgarski govori.

Muzhlekova, Mariia. Sofiia: BAN, 1990. 221 p.
U of I Library Call Number: Main Stacks 491.817 M987r

Although this dictionary of Old Bulgarian words in modern Bulgarian dialects is somewhat specialized, it is included here because there is not yet a truly comprehensive and scholarly dictionary of the dialects. By Old Bulgarian the compiler is referring to what we commonly call Old Church Slavic/Slavonic. The dictionary lists OCS words followed by modern Bulgarian forms, gives definitions in modern Bulgarian, citations to OCS texts in which they can be found and then shows the forms from the various contemporary dialects, also with citations to sources. The volume concludes with a bibliography of sources and a key to geographic abbreviations. See the entries below for the word “gold.”

Kratuk rechnik na dialeknite dumi.

Antonova-Vasileva, Luchiia; Keremidchieva, Slavka. Sofiia: Planeta, 2001. 284 p.
U of I Library Call Number: Main Stacks 491.81703 An88k

This dictionary of Bulgarian dialect forms is also an interim selection until a truly comprehensive Bulgarian dialect dictionary complete with full scholarly apparatus is produced. The entries are all signed with the initials of scholars who identified the forms or the writers who used them and they show part of speech, a definition in standard Bulgarian, and an example of usage. Unfortunately, they do not provide information about from what region or dialect the forms originate nor do they note the titles of the works from which the forms were extracted. Note the entry above left for the word “pitezh.”

Bulgarski tulkoven rechnik s ogled kum narodnite govori

compiled by Stefan Mladenov.

This is another important dictionary that includes dialect forms and which is held by the University of Illinois library U of I Library Call Number: Main Stacks 491.81 M69b v.1], but it is not annotated here since it was never finished and has been superseded to some extent by the Academy dictionary listed above. Volume One covers the letters A-K.

Obraten rechnik na suvremenniia bulgarski ezik.

Andreichin, Liubomir D.; Georgieva, Elena. Sofiia: BAN, 1975. 655 p.
U of I Library Call Number: Oak Street Facility 491.81 Ob61

Reverse dictionaries are useful tools for both poets and linguists. They present the words of a language in reverse alphabetical order so the user can find words that rhyme or, more importantly, words that are formed by the same derivational suffixes. This Bulgarian reverse dictionary contains over 70,000 words and shows for each word the source that includes that word. Five standard Bulgarian dictionaries are used as sources and they are indicated by means of a letter abbreviation A, T, M, R, or P (for more details about the symbols read the introduction). Like many of the other sources glossed on this page this dictionary was created by scholars at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. See the image below for some words ending in -nik.

Grammars

Grammars often appear in library catalogs with subject headings such as Bulgarian language–Grammar. Specialized grammars sometimes further delineate this subject heading with additional terms such as “History” or “Comparative.” Try some of these headings in WorldCat or in your online catalog to find other Bulgarian grammars. You should also consider looking at language textbooks since most of them have grammatical explanations. Many of them can also be found with the same subject heading. For an annotated bibliography of Slavic grammars and dictionaries published before 1850, see Stankiewicz which is described in the Sources for Dictionaries and Language Resources section of this course. Many Bulgarian titles are included in this work. There is also a list of Bulgarian grammars, including modern ones, at the back of Entsiklopediia na suvremenniia bulgarski ezik.

Below we cite only two standard reference grammars out of the many grammars that exist for Bulgarian, the Academy grammar and a reference grammar in English that is commonly used in US universities that teach Bulgarian. Also included in this category are orthographic manuals and we describe a recent one from the Academy of Sciences to give you an idea of what they contain. One subject heading for locating other orthographic manuals is Bulgarian language–Orthography and spelling.

Gramatika na suvremenniia bulgarski knizhoven ezik.

Boiadzhiev, Todor Apostolov; Tilkov, Dimitur; Stoianov, Stoian; Popov, Konstantin Petrov. Sofiia : Izd-vo na Bulgarskata akademiia na naukite, 1982-1983. 3 vols.
U of I Library Call Number: Oak Street Facility 491.815 G761 v.1 [U of I lacks v.2, 3]

This grammar published by the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences consists of three volumes: tom 1. Fonetika — tom 2. Morfologiia — tom 3. Sintaksis. Volume One opens with a brief overview of notable Bulgarian grammars and then launches into phonetics, the subject of the volume. The subject matter is divided into sections typical for the topic – vowels, consonants, stress, intonation, etc. and every section has a number of examples from Bulgarian to illustrate the points. There is a very detailed table of contents at the end of the volume, but no index. In 1993 a second, “fototipno” edition of the set was issued.

A Reference grammar of modern Bulgarian.

Scatton, Ernest A. Columbus, OH: Slavica, 1983. 448 p.
U of I Library Call Number: Main Stacks 491.815 Sc88r

Compiled by an American scholar of Bulgarian linguistics, this English-language reference grammar of Bulgarian is widely held by US libraries. The introduction provides some historical background for the Bulgarian language as well as a list of primary sources consulted. The grammar is divided into 6 section plus appendices: the structure of Contemporary Standard Bulgarian, phonology, orthography, inflectional morphology, derivational morphology, syntax. The appendices provide examples and further details on certain topics such as accent shifts in nouns or alternative plurals. The grammar concludes with a bibliography.

Nov pravopisen rechnik na bulgarskiia ezik.

Sofiia : Izd-vo “Kheizul”, 2002. 1069 p.
U of I Library Call Number: Main Stacks 491.8181 N859

Produced by scholars at the Institut za bulgarski ezik at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, this is one of the most recent orthographic manuals for Bulgarian. Like most orthographic dictionaries the bulk of the volume is a dictionary of words which shows proper spelling and stress. Some words such as verbs also provide various grammatical forms. The first 136 pages is the manual explaining the rules of spelling, punctuation, capitalization, etc. The appendices present groups of special words such as personal names, geographic names, countries and capital cities, abbreviations, etc.

Biographical Resources for Bulgarian Linguistics

Most subject guides and bibliographies have sections entitled “Personalia” that list materials about the life and works of important individuals for a particular discipline. These citations often cover bio-bibliographies. In addition to using guides and bibliographies to find bio-bibliographies, try searching WorldCat using the surname of the individual and the word bibliography as keywords in the subject field. Many of the bibliographies glossed above include citations for biobibliographies of Bulgarian linguistics. Do not overlook them in your search.

At the back of Entsiklopediia na suvremenniia bulgarski ezik there is a bibliography of biographical resources that either are devoted to Bulgarian linguists or contain biographical entries for them. One source that contains entries for Bulgarian linguists is Biografsko-bibliografski sbornik, annotated on the page devoted to Resources for Bulgarian Literature. A few others are listed below including an example of a bio-bibliography, in this case of the famous Bulgarian linguist Stefan Mladenov. Some older, general biographical sources for Bulgaria that may include linguists are discussed on pp.106-112 of Boris Desev’s Spravochno-bibliografski izdaniia, a guide to Bulgarian reference sources (U of I LibraryCall Number: International and Area Studies Slavic–Bulgarian Reference 016.0287 D45s.

Suzdateli i tvorii na bulgarskoto ezikoznanie.

Purvev, Khristo. Sofiia: Narodna prosveta, 1987. 374 p.
U of I Library Call Number: International & Area Studies Slavic — Bulgarian Reference 491.810922 P977s

Essentially this source is a biographical dictionary of Bulgarian linguists from the 19th and 20th centuries, but one of its most interesting features is the lengthy introductory article that surveys the development of Bulgarian linguistics from the Middle Ages to the mid 1980’s. The biographical articles include full name, place of birth, dates of life, educational background, career data, areas of specialty, and a bibliography of more important publications. The citations in the individual bibliographies are all given numbers so that the user has access to the citations via the subject index. Each entry is also accompanied by a portrait of the linguist. In addition to the subject index there is an indexes of names. Follow the link for the entry on Stoiko Stoikov.

Stefan Mladenov. Bibliografski prinos.

Mikhailova, Ekaterina D. Sofiia: Izd. na BAN, 1956. 308 p.
U of I Library Call Number: Main Stacks 016.49181 M69m

Stefan Mladenov, 1880-1963, was a leading Bulgarian linguist who wrote on numerous subjects such as Indo-European, dialectology, and the history of the Bulgarian language. This volume is an example of a biobibliography. It begins with a brief biography of the scholar written by one of his colleagues, follows with a chronology of important dates, a bibliography of works about Mladenov, and then presents an annotated bibliography of his works. The bibliography is divided into several sections: scholarly works, reviews of scholarly works, biographical and bibliographical works, other reviews and sketches, editing, prefaces and translations. All citations in the sections are arranged chronologically. There are indexes for titles, names, and words and parts of words. See the image below for the first citation in the second section of the bibliography of works by Mladenov.

Bibliotheca Slavica. Universitetski ucheni-slavisti.

URL: http://www.libsu.uni-sofia.bg/slavica/slavist_idx.html

Created by the Bibliotheca Slavica team (see below for main site) at the University of Sofiia, this site offers biographies and bibliographies of notable Bulgarian Slavists. The entries have a photograph of each scholar, biographical and career data, citations for the doctoral dissertation and a bibliography of major publications. The site is still under development with the profiles of some major figures yet to be completed.

 

Subject Websites

Bibliotheca Slavica.

URL: http://www.libsu.uni-sofia.bg/slavica/

Compiled by the Bibliotheca Slavica team at the Biblioteka za bulgarska slavistika, University of Sofiia, this site is a portal for Slavic philology in Bulgaria. The site is still under development, but looks ambitious if all of the rubrics eventually are given content. Among the parts that have content there are detailed descriptions of the Glagolitic and Cyrillic alphabets, articles with bibliographies on Old Bulgarian manuscripts, illustrations of old letters, biographies of major Bulgarian Slavists (see annotation above), details about rare Slavica editions in the University Library, and full-text of certain key works in the field. Although much of this site is devoted to OCS, there is content related to later stages of Bulgarian too.