Reforms of Bulgarian orthography

Front cover of the first grammar book of the modern Bulgarian language published byNeofit Rilskiin 1835 in unstandardized orthography, printed in Serbian royal printing office inKragujevac.

TheReforms of Bulgarian Orthographyare historical changes to the spelling and writing system of theBulgarian language.

Ottoman Era

Until the 19th century, Bulgarian was predominantly a spoken language, with no standardized written form of thevernaculardialects.Formal written communication was usually in theChurch Slavonic language.For a long, time theCyrillic scriptwas primarily associated withreligious texts,and as such, it was more resistant to changes. Theearly Cyrillic Alpha betfrom the 9th century, developed in the First Bulgarian Empire, contained 44 letters for 44 sounds. However, by the 19th century, the Bulgarian sound system had reduced its size, which would necessitate reforms.

Formally, people would still write the language with the Church Slavonic writing system. However, informally, most would instead write with Russian rules (adapted to suit Bulgarian), such asоandеfor etymologicalъandьorіfor /i/ before vowels (for example, "Болгарія" instead of modern "България" ). The definite article, which was unique to Bulgarian among Slavic languages, would be written variously as a suffix (човекътъ), a suffix with a hyphen (човекъ-тъ), and a particle after the word (човекъ тъ). Two schools of thought would emerge in the 19th century relating to the question of the Bulgarian orthography - the conservative Plovdiv school and the more moderate Tarnovo school. They agreed on the following issues:

• The traditional lettersѣ(pronounced asяor е) andы(pronounced asи) are fully retained in their etymological locations (вѣра/вяра, рыба/риба).
• Following the Russian model, the letterіis used instead ofиbefore vowels (мнѣніе, періодъ).
• The lettersѫandъ,which represent the same sound, are used etymologically based on the origin of the word (мѫка, мъхъ).
• The lettersѫandѭare retained in verb conjugations (плетѫ, плетѫтъ, знаѭ, знаѭтъ).
• The lettersъandьare retained as silent letters at the end of words (човекъ, конь). At the time it was believed that, when the word was suffixed with a definite article, the silentYerwould be voiced -човекъbecameчовекътъorчовекъ-тъ,коньbecameконьтъorконь-тъ(theьwould be pronounced as an iotatedъ- similar to aѭor unstressedя).

The two schools would differ on many cases, such as the treatment of the definite article (the supporters of the Tarnovo school would fuse the article with the word, while their counterparts from Plovdiv would put a hyphen before it), the remnants of the old Slavic vocalic (syllabic)рandл,and the treatment of the archaic case forms, which only remained in writing (other than the vocative case, which would be fully retained). However, by the 1870's, the two schools were falling out of fashion, being seen as too conservative by keeping archaic letters likeыandі,both pronounced as /i/. Instead, a more decentralised era would again take hold, similar to previous decades. Many people, such asLyuben Karavelov,would write in their own personal orthographies, with changes depending on the author's preference.

As Bulgaria was then part of theOttoman Empire,in 1869, Bulgarian émigrés founded the so calledBulgarian Literary SocietyinBrăila,Kingdom of Romania,withMarin Drinovas its chairman. In a number of articles for the magazine "Periodic Magazine," he examined problems of orthography and grammar in the Bulgarian language. In the end, it was indeed Drinov's reform which would become the most widely used, even during the Ottoman Empire. It was defined by the following characteristics:

• The lettersыandіare removed from the Alpha bet (along with archaic characters such asѥandѳ).
• The lettersѫandъare retained in etymological positions (мѫка, мъхъ).
• The lettersѫandѭare retained in verb conjugations (плетѫ, плетѫтъ, знаѭ, знаѭтъ).
• The silent lettersъandьat the end of words are retained, and pronounced as vowels when a definite article is added.
• The partial article (used when the noun is not the subject) is abolished, and the full article (when the noun is the subject) is always used instead.
• Drinov also believed that the letterщand the silent yers should be removed, however, this was never put into practice.

Drinov's spelling system would play an important role after the liberation of Bulgaria, and many of its innovations can be seen in the modern language today.

Late 19th Century

In 1878 a newBulgarian Principalitywas founded. For the first 15 years of its life, the orthography question would be put on hold, as the government would worry about other things instead. During this time, Marin Drinov's writing system would remain the most used, and alternatives would not catch on.

The first new reform would come in 1892, during the rule ofStefan Stambolov.The then-Minister of Enlightenment, Georgi Zhivkov, would appoint a commission to solve the problem of the orthography. It included high-profile teachers and philologists. After a short period, the commission would come up with a radical new writing system. It was characterised by its removal of traditional letters, moving away from Russian and closer to Serbian. Most agree that this was politically motivated, likely due to Stambolov's notoriously anti-Russian government. The reform is defined by these traits:

• The lettersйandьare removed. Instead they are replaced by the former decimal i,і,named the iota or yota (маіка, коі, синіо).
• The lettersюandяare removed and replaced by the sequencesіуandіа(коіа, іабълка, съіуз).
• The letterѫis replaced byъnormally andаin verb conjugations (мъж, ръка, чета, четат).
• The letterѭ,which is only used in verb conjugations, is replaced byіа(търпіа, правіа).
• The letterѣis retained only when pronounced asя,otherwise, it is replaced byе(млѣкоbutмлечно,голѣмоbutголеми).
• The silentьandъat the end of words are abolished.
• The usage of doubled consonants in loanwords is removed. This change is still in modern Bulgarian (програма, акумулатор).

The reform was not liked by the population, who saw it as too radical by removing so many traditional letters, and it never managed to be implemented before the end of Stambolov's regime. Most people would continue writing with Drinov's spelling.

Another reform was created by a commission by Konstantin Velichkov, the next minister of enlightenment. The reform entailed:

• The traditional lettersю,яandйare retained.
• The letterѫis replaced byъandа.
• The letterѭis replaced byя.
• The letterѣis replaced byеorяdepending on the pronunciation (голямъ, големи).
• The word-final yers are retained.

Despite this reform being considerably less radical, it would not catch on either.

In 1898, the minister of enlightenment wasIvan Vazov,and he too would attempt to reform the Bulgarian spelling. His reforms were:

• The partial article is reinstated.
• The suffixньеis written how its pronounced, asне(правенеinstead ofправенье).
• The definite article-ийis replaced by -иятъand-ия.

This reform would fail to catch on simply because Vazov would resign before it could be implemented. The new minister,Todor Ivanchov,would immediately start addressing the spelling. His new orthography would be the same as Vazov's, with the following changes:

• The lettersѫandѭare removed from verb conjugations and replaced byаandя.The letterѭitself is fully removed, as verb conjugations are the only place where it is used.
• The use of doubled consonants in foreign words is abolished (програма, клас, Русия).
• Consonants are always used in their traditional locations even if they are devoiced (градъ,notгратъ).
• The letterѣcan be written asеin words where it is never pronouncedя(река, беда).

Being a mixture of traditional spelling and practical reform, this orthography would become widely accepted. It would go on to be used until 1945.

20th Century

In 1923, under the prime ministership ofAleksandar Stamboliyski,Stoyan Omarchevski would form another commission on reforming the Bulgarian spelling. He wanted to simplify the spelling so that, in his eyes, people and learners would have an easier time. The reform was:

• The removal of theъandьfrom the Alpha bet. They are removed at the end of words and replaced with another letter otherwise.
• The soundъis represented by the letterѫ,regardless of the origin (мѫка(fromмѫка),мѫх(fromмъхъ),пѫрво(fromпьрво)).
• The letterѣis abolished and replaced byяorеdepending on its pronunciation (голям, големи).
• The letterьin the definite article-ьтis replaced byя(конят, денят).
• Theьas a letter representing softness is replaced byй(синйо, актйор).
• The full & partial definite articles become not grammatical, but phonetic. The full article is used when the word afterwards begins with a vowel, while the partial article is used when it begins with a consonant.

This spelling would not be seen well by the more conservative, who saw it as destroying symbols of "bulgarianness". However the reform would remain popular among communists and agrarians.

The orthography would, in the end, last only two years, because after Stamboliyski's murder, it would be repealed. Several parts of it were, however, kept, such as the removal of the vowelьand its replacement byъandя.The spelling would remain used by communists, which led to it being banned in 1928.

The last spelling reform would happen in 1945. The new communist government, the Fatherland Front ( "Отечествен фронт" ), would create a new spelling, less radical than the one of Omarchevski. The reform would be:

• The full and partial articles are fully retained as in the orthography of Ivanchov (this was not popular among the people making the reforms, but it was still retained).
• The letterѫis abolished and replaced byъin all cases, except for the wordсѫ( "са", meaning "(they) are" ), where it is replaced byаinstead.
• The letterѣis abolished and replaced byяandeaccording to pronunciation.
• Theъat the end of words is abolished, where it makes no sound.
• Theьat the end of words is abolished, but the letter is retained for softness before the letterо.

The orthography was published in 1945 by the regency council, and the old orthography was deemed illegal. The reform was executed in 6 months, but its implementation continued for over 20 years.

See also

• Bulgarian Alpha bet