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Copyright of Studii şi Cercetări de Onomastică şi Lexicologie is the property of University of Craiova, Faculty of Letters and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The goal of present article is to outline an intensive method for learning Bulgarian as a foreign language. This model represents an optimal way of organizing grammatical content and its segmentation in study units, provided in 120 academic hours. In addition, specific topics are explained by PowerPoint presentations. The goal of this approach is to ensure successful understanding of the basic grammar and quick adaptation to the new language environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dialect classification is a classical problem in traditional dialectology. In the course of the last few decades, several quantitative approaches have been suggested as solutions for this problem, one of which uses 'Levenshtein distance' for measuring linguistic distances between dialects. In the present paper we shall introduce the Levenshtein algorithm as well as two methods with which the results of the measuring can be analyzed, viz. multidimensional scaling and clustering. Then we shall apply these methods to the Bulgarian language area and present a quantitative classification of Bulgarian dialects. Finally, we shall compare the classification obtained to the most widely accepted traditional Bulgarian dialect map, analyze the similarities and differences and evaluate our method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Russian Linguistics is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article discusses the Bulgarian language. It provides information on the origins of the language, including its socio-cultural history. It also provides a linguistic accounting of Bulgarian. The family of languages it belongs too, as well as its syntax and general grammatical structures are explained. The linguistic history of the evolution and development of various dialogues and regional usages, including the outside influences acting upon the language which created them, is examined. An academic as well as practical analysis of the language is given.

Abstract: The paper offers an analysis of Bulgarian relative clauses introduced by the invariant complementizer deto ‘that’, whose distribution also extends to factive contexts. Using reconstruction as primary evidence for movement, I review the basic facts for its presence (amount readings, idiom interpretation, binding and scope) and absence (Principle C) and argue that both a raising and a matching analysis must be available for the derivation of deto-relatives. I also discuss the distribution and structural properties of resumptive clitics which are shown to block reconstruction in all types of contexts and hence to be compatible with a matching derivation only. Given the structural ambiguity in the derivation of Bulgarian complementizer relatives and in search of a unified treatment of their potentially ambivalent behavior, the paper applies Cinque''s (2003, 2008) analysis of relative clauses, which postulates two identical copies of the relativized Head (internal and external) and exploits different movement options to account for the raising and the matching derivations. It is then argued that such a proposal, which also exploits distinct CP positions, can successfully accommodate all of the observed reconstruction effects (or lack thereof), including the option of resumption. The paper also offers a discussion of factive clauses introduced by the same complementizer and proposes that they are best treated as hidden relatives embedded under a more complex structure involving a PP projection and a silent D head. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The study set out to examine the effects of multicompetence on proficient L2 users' associative links. Three groups of 36 participants each were recruited – NSs of English, NSs of Bulgarian, and proficient Bulgarian L2 users of English – who completed a familiarity and word association test. The findings revealed that L2 users' natural drive to main connectivity of their lexicons was the motivation for their building lexicosemantic connectedness – which, however, was unlike the patterns of connectivity maintained by the native speakers of both their languages. This showed that, as a result of their developing multicompetence, the L2 users were unlike nativelike in that they developed their lexicosemantic associative links favoring diversity over communality and language-neutral idiosyncrasy over L1 or L2 nativelikeness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The existence of a connection between the loss of case inflection and the emergence of overt definiteness in Bulgarian can be supported with arguments of various weight. Among them are: (i) The comparison with parallel developments in Germanic and Romance, (ii) the ability of articles to perpetuate case distinctions after case marking on nouns and adjectives has been obliterated, (iii) their capacity to take over functions formerly performed by case, (iv) the participation of both processes in the analyticity-syntheticity cycle, (v) their involvement in the pendulum between hypo- and hyper-determination, and (vi) the parallel sequence of their implementation among noun classes defined by animacy, gender and number. I argue that the similarities of implementation between the two diachronic processes should be explained in terms of three interrelated variables: markedness, perceptual salience and frequency. The conclusions reached fit in with the predictions of the Usage-Based Model of Change espoused by Bybee and Phillips and those of Andersen’s Markedness Theory of Linguistic Change and show the potential of these models for the analysis of the core issues of the Balkan Sprachbund. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on a study which evaluates the relative salience of the main semantic features that distinguish Russian verbs and uses of such verbs. The study determines eight non-prefixed verbs and eight corresponding prefixed forms from several language background types including Ukrainian, native English, and Bulgarian. Results of the study show that there is no differences between the language groups, but there were differences among the features.

Children's ability to exercise selective trust is crucial for the development of their knowledge and successful socialization. For speakers of some languages, evidentials, which are grammatical source-of-knowledge markers, could provide valuable support of these processes. Focusing on Bulgarian, this chapter situates children's use of evidentials in reliability judgments within the broader context of research on decision making and foregrounds the role of informational goals in children's decisions. © Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The prominent Bulgarian musicologist Ivan Kamburov (1883-1955) wrote and published the book H'rvatska muzika. Minalo i s'vremenost [Croatian Music. Past and Present] in Sofia in 1942. On the 99 pages of that small book he presented material in several chapters, without illustrations, music examples etc. Proceeding from similarities in the Bulgarian and Croatian past, Kamburov laid stress upon their cultural and, in particular, music connections. His basic thesis was that Croatian secular music started to develop in the 19th century during the Illyrian Movement, that is, the National Revival. In the earlier periods, music in Croatia belonged to the category of church music. Although he mainly relied on Božidar Širola's Pregled povijesti hrvatske muzike [Survey of Croatian Music History, 1922], in which the writer mentioned the Croatian secular music of earlier centuries, Kamburov did not take that information into account for reasons that remain unclear. A significant amount of crudity and inaccuracy testifies to the fact that Kamburov did not consult his Croatian colleagues. Written in the Bulgarian language, Kamburov's book was obviously meant for the Bulgarian public. Its reception in Bulgaria has not been yet researched. To the best of our knowledge, two reviews were published in Croatian daily newspapers, and a very short note in the music journal Sv. Cecilija pointed out some of the factual mistakes. However, no strictly musicological review was published. It is possible that Croatian musicologists valued Kamburov's hard work and did not want to speak detrimentally about the book and its oversights and superficialities at that time of intensive revitalization of Croatian-Bulgarian relations. In any case, that book is still the only musico-historiographical synthesis on Croatian music by a non-Croatian author. As such, it must not be overlooked in works dealing with the very discipline of Croatian music historiography. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents an exploration into the relationship between nationalist movements in Bulgaria with the development of its language and orthography through the early 20th century. Details are given providing a framework of the orthographic reform movement and its connections to the reshaping of Bulgarian national ideology and identity. A brief overview of the scholastic history of the subject is given. A time line of linguistic-cultural movements since the 1830s is addressed, noting the dialectic between broad Slavic traditionalist elements and modern Bulgarian distinctions. Several instances of political dispute over the formation and usage of nationalistic ideas and linguistic appropriations are provided.

The article discusses South Slavic languages and their forms of address or other lexical elements used to identify a person as a leader. A comparison is given of leadership terms in the languages Serbian, Croatian, and Bulgarian, and it is noted that these languages contain terms that involve ideas of leading or being first. Further terms are described which relate to French terms for military leaders, to the notion of power, and to descriptions of size. The author analyzes both Slavic words and loan words from other languages and cultures in her presentation of research.

This paper discusses Bulgarian and Slovenian constructions with a dispositional reading and no apparent dispositional marker, such as Bulgarian Na Ivan mu se raboteše. Such a sentence combines a dative logical subject Ivan with an inflected verb raboteše ‘work’, and roughly corresponds to ‘Ivan was in a working mood’, so does not entail that Ivan worked. I argue that such constructions consist of two core ingredients that account both for their syntactic properties, and for their modal flavor as dispositions. One ingredient is an Imperfective Operator in Viewpoint Aspect as the source of modality. Such an Operator resembles in syntactic and semantic properties both the Progressive Operator in so-called English Futurates such as For two weeks, the Red Sox were playing the Yankees today, and the Spanish modal Imperfecto. The other ingredient is a High Applicative Phrase with an oblique subject, which, other than determining syntactic properties, contributes to a difference in modal flavor with English Futurates. English Futurates denote plans, and a hypothesis is that this is due to their nominative subjects being paired to a presupposition giving them control over the intended event. By contrast, the Slavic constructions in this paper denote dispositions, not plans, because their oblique subjects cannot be paired with a similar presupposition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The renarrated mood, sometimes called the "evidential", is an innovation in Bulgarian grammar. Although it is primarily expressed with inherited forms, it includes one innovative form, a participle built on the imperfect stem of the verb. Prescriptive grammars of the socialist period stated that this participle could be used only in the meaning "renarrated", and only without auxiliaries in the 3rd person. In the face of ample evidence that the participle is indeed used in a perfect-like compound form (i.e., with 3rd person auxiliaries), several grammarians proposed in the 1980s that this perfect-like form carried inferential meaning and should be termed the "conclusive mood". This paper claims that the form in question is currently taking on a different, much broader meaning than either of these, and that this meaning, roughly defined as "generalized durative action in the past" is rapidly gaining accept-ability among the younger generation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information about the scholarly contributions of 19th century German philologist Gustav Weigand to the department of language studies at the University of Leipzig in Leipzig, Germany. Weigand's specialization in Balkan language studies is described, and note is taken of his broad academic activities as ethnographer, historian, and cultural scientist. Details about Weigand's education are given, such as his training under German philologist August Leskien in Romanian, Albanian, and Bulgarian languages. Comments about Weigand's scholarly publications are also included.

The article presents information about the relations between the development of a school of philology in 19th century Leipzig, Germany, and Slavic language studies completed by German philologist August Leskien. Statistics are given regarding subjects Bulgarian university students pursued between 1879 and 1899 at the University of Leipzig. Descriptions of August Leskien's role as professor of Bulgarian language studies are provided, and it is noted that the university's philology faculty influenced other European language studies departments. Notable students who worked with Leskien are listed, including Baudouin de Courtenay, Alexander Brückner, and Olaf Broch.

The article discusses the publication of Bulgarian language books in Hungary. Some Catholic Bulgarians immigrated to Bánát, Hungary following a rebellion against Turkish forces in 1688. In Hungary, Bulgarians established schools and published books utilizing the Latin alphabet and Croatian and Hungarian orthography and spelling. The author comments on how the books established Bulgarian dialects in literature and marked a transition from Cyrillic forms of Slavonic and vernacular language forms.

Based on a number of operations creating operator-variable chains, namely, wh-movement, focalization, topicalization, quantifier raising, and the NPI-licensing movement, the article argues that operators in operator-variable chains cannot undergo further operator movement. It is shown that the generalization in question can be deduced from Chomsky’s (2000, 2001a) Activation Condition. The article also discusses the contexts where Bulgarian, a multiple wh-fronting language, allows extraction out of wh-islands. A new generalization is proposed regarding the ability of languages like Bulgarian to violate the Wh-Island Constraint in the contexts in question, which dissociates it from multiple wh-fronting and ties it to a property of D, in particular, availability of affixal articles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Slavic languages show differences in the syntactic realization of arguments of ditransitive verbs as, e.g., 'give'. While Czech and Russian use dative indirect objects (IOs) which precede the direct object (DO), IOs of ditransitives in Bulgarian are marked by a preposition-like element na and follow the DO. The question arises what is the basic linearization of arguments of ditransitives in Russian, Czech, and Bulgarian. We argue that the two structures attested in the languages under investigation do not correspond to what has become known as Dative Alternation in English and that there is no need for specific semantic representations for Bulgarian ditransitives. The hierarchy of argument variables is changed through application of a semantic template.

This article presents the topic of the derivations of the names for the Lemon Balm plant, based on its common name and Latin name "Melissa officinalis." The plant's Latin name is borrowed from the Greek for honey bee, and the common name is due to the lemon scent the leaves give off. The author discusses the history of medical applications for lemon balm. The name "Melissa" is in Bulgarian is compared to other Slavic languages and related back to the Greek meaning and the plant uses and aromas.

This paper demonstrates that the Double Object Construction exists in Bulgarian, a fact that has so far escaped notice due to the disguise in which the construction appears. Bulgarian is a language that allows an indirect object to be optionally doubled by a dative clitic. I claim, however, that this optionality has formal consequences: ditransitives with dative clitic doubling are equivalent to Double Object Constructions (DOC), where the DP Goal is projected higher than the DP Theme. Variants without dative clitic doubling, on the other hand, are Prepositional Ditransitive Constructions (PDC), where the DP Theme is projected higher than the PP Goal. Although not evident from the surface word order and morphology in Bulgarian, the availability of these two distinct structures is confirmed through classic diagnostics such as binding, weak crossover, and scope. After attesting the DOC in Bulgarian, I offer an analysis in which the dative clitic is the morphological realization of an applicative head. I also draw parallels with Romance, suggesting that UG may be implicated in this type of doubling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper compares competing ways of understanding the fact that clitics but nothing else freely and necessarily intervene between the two verbal heads in Bulgarian compound tenses of the type [participle + (clitics +) auxiliary]. These involve a participle fronted for focus reasons. The problem is then how the clitics get in the middle. I argue that prosodic and morphological approaches are not adequate, nor is any PF-filtering necessitated. Instead, the complex head structure [[participle + clitics] + [auxiliary]] must be created syntactically, with the participle adjoining to the clitics before the resulting complex adjoins to the auxiliary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on the underlying IR problems encountered when indexing and searching with the Bulgarian language. For this language we propose a general light stemmer and demonstrate that it can be quite effective, producing significantly better MAP (around + 34%) than an approach not applying stemming. We implement the GL2 model derived from the Divergence from Randomness paradigm and find its retrieval effectiveness better than other probabilistic, vector-space and language models. The resulting MAP is found to be about 50% better than the classical tf idf approach. Moreover, increasing the query size enhances the MAP by around 10% (from T to TD). In order to compare the retrieval effectiveness of our suggested stopword list and the light stemmer developed for the Bulgarian language, we conduct a set of experiments on another stopword list and also a more complex and aggressive stemmer. Results tend to indicate that there is no statistically significant difference between these variants and our suggested approach. This paper evaluates other indexing strategies such as 4-gram indexing and indexing based on the automatic decompounding of compound words. Finally, we analyze certain queries to discover why we obtained poor results, when indexing Bulgarian documents using the suggested word-based approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A previous study among European-Americans (McClave, 2000) observed that particular forms of head movements occur in specific communicative environments. The present study investigates whether any of the form–function relationships observed in the original study are cross-cultural. The database consists of seven hours of videotaped spontaneous conversations in Arabic, Bulgarian, Korean, and African-American Vernacular English. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grammaticalization, the historical emergence of new items with grammatical function from earlier lexical items, is generally considered to be a unidirectional process. Much recent interest has, however, focused on degrammaticalization changes that run counter to this general direction. This article considers three cases of degrammaticalization from Bulgarian and Welsh, involving shifts from pronoun to noun, and from preposition to verb. These cases exhibit a common set of properties, such as the central role played by syntactic reanalysis and pragmatic inferencing, that justify viewing them as examples of a new type of degrammaticalization. Degrammaticalization via syntactic reanalysis appears to be cross-linguistically rare, because it is constrained by two factors: the requirement that the item undergoing degrammaticalization should have become grammatically or semantically isolated; and the requirement that it should match a possible morphological pattern for the lexical category that it is to join. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bulgarian verbs that denote change of location divide the space of linear motion in specific ways. Otivam 'go', a source-and-path oriented verb (Fillmore 1983), entails movement away from a starting point along a path. Associated adverbs and PPs express its goal or purpose. Idvam (perfective dojda) 'come', a path-and-goal oriented verb, entails movement along a path towards a goal at the speaker's or listener's location (deictic center). Zaminavam and trâgvam, both glossed as 'leave', are source-oriented verbs, which have movement away from starting point/source at departure time, t1, coded in their meaning. With zaminavam, ti is extended to include preparation prior to departure, while with trâgvam it is not. Xodja and vârvja, roughly 'walk', are path-oriented verbs denoting the homogenous activity of traversing a path. Both can refer to movement on foot, but normally only vârvja can refer to movement of vehicles. Pristigam 'arrive' is a goal-oriented verb which entails arrival at the goal, often at specific arrival time, t2. Elements of motion not coded in verbal meanings, e.g., the source of idvam, may be specified by PPs or AdvPs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Point of view and morphological structure are inseparable in accounting for the overlap phenomenon in Bulgarian. In view of the conceptual problems of the Binding Theory (Chomsky 1981), the overlap issue needs an approach taking them into account. In other words, it acquires a different dimension and will be treated according to the specific behavior of the forms in this language. To capture the overlap problem, I propose two additional pairs of feature distinctions with respect to point of view, [±subject] and [±speaker] which matter in order to draw the full picture of binding of overt Bulgarian NPs. Finally, the distinction [+refl] is reduced to [±point of view] after which the overlap problem practically disappears. Therefore, we end up with three different forms, i.e., sebe si, nego si and nego which have different interpretations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the properties of interrogative/focus particle li in Bulgarian, in the larger context of the clitic system of that language as well as from the perspective of how li and other clitics behave in related Slavic languages. A highly derivational model of grammar is assumed, with Minimalist syntax and Distributed Morphology. As an alternative to scattered deletion, prosodically sensitive principles of linearization apply on the post-syntactic side of the grammar. Bulgarian special clitics cannot be Utterance initial; hence, very late in the derivation, they undergo (Reordering) Merger to be linearized at the right of the prosodic word to their right. It is argued that interrogative li, as an enclitic, linearizes upon vocabulary insertion on the right of the prosodic word to its right. Focus li, however, occurs with a focused phrase in its specifier, hence is pronounced to the right of this phrase, with non-focus material elided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents the language of Muslim Roms, who form a trilingual community in the northeastern part of Bulgaria, discussing language mixing between Romani, Turkish, and Bulgarian, applying the model of Myers-Scotton (1993). Two different Roma linguistic groups are observed: speakers of Vlax (Zagondzi) and non-Vlax (Xoraxani). The non-Vlax language, which is full of Turkish loanwords, is more prestigious than the Vlax language, which is more conservative, but both show almost the same patterns of language mixing. The study argues for the connection between language mixing and language prestige and looks at the question: Why do Roma speakers use elements from other languages when speaking Romani? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Gypsies and their language have been an object of attention for centuries. Numerous accounts describing their arrival in a particular area attest to the fascination of local people with what they regarded as an unintelligible language. These “strange” nomads and their language have attracted the attention of a number of researchers. Attempts to describe their dialects can be found even in some of the earliest records related to the Roma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the likely candidates for the Parasitic Gap (PG) construction in Bulgarian. Focusing on the properties of PGs known from previously studied languages, I conclude that there are no genuine PGs in Bulgarian. I also argue that without-clauses are irrelevant for the study of PGs: They involve a different mechanism for licensing a null element inside the clause. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses in detail the design and implementation phases during the creation of the Bulgarian HPSG-based treebank (BulTreeBank). First, the interconnection of the HPSG language model, the linguistic parameters of the annotation scheme and the underlying formalism is considered. Then, the architecture of their implementation is described with respect to the interface compatibility between two software tools: the CLaRK System and the TRALE System. Also some innovative strategies are introduced concerning two problems: the HPSG grammar application to a less-processed language like Bulgarian and the controlling mechanisms over the manual annotation work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study investigates the on-line performance of a non-fluent Bulgarian-speaking aphasic patient and nine matched control participants in the recognition of prefixed verbs. A visual primed lexical decision experiment was employed to probe the role of aspect, semantic transparency, and root status (free vs. bound) in the recognition patterns obtained. Controls' results showed aspect and transparency effects. The patient demonstrated facilitation for verb forms featuring bound roots, while showing inhibition on transparent forms with free-standing roots, pointing to difficulties with decomposition, but not with accessing stored forms. These results suggest that the patient had a problem at the level of morphological decomposition-based mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A number of syntactic theories posit explicit bans on lowering operations. Such bans are largely redundant on cyclic approaches to the syntactic derivation, which can rule out most instances of lowering without an explicit ban. I concentrate here on one instance of lowering not ruled out by the cycle, namely, an Agree relation between a probe and a goal in the probe's own specifier. Facts about Bulgarian wh-movement suggest that operations of this kind are available in principle and that lowering therefore should not be banned. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates how semantic properties of functional categories are acquired by second language (L2) learners in an instructional setting. The following properties of the functional category (FC) of AspectP are under investigation: 1) English simple present tense cannot denote an ongoing event; 2) progressive morphology is needed for an ongoing interpretation; and 3) English bare verbal forms denote closed, or completed, events. All three properties are not instantiated in Bulgarian. Only the first two properties are explicitly taught in English classrooms in Bulgaria, while the third is not. A Truth Value Judgement Task, a guided composition task and a proficiency test were administered to 112 Bulgarian learners of English and 24 native speaker controls. Results indicate that L2 learners at all proficiency levels are aware of the English aspectual contrasts.These findings suggest that L2 learners are able to acquire interpretable formal features not transferable from their native language. Furthermore, they are able to acquire properties of the grammar that are not explicitly taught in language classrooms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses the fronting of past participle in Bulgarian language studies. Agreement between the past participle with the subject of the clause; Proposal of an XP-movement approach to participle fronting; Issues regarding case assignment in participle fronting.

This study investigates the processing of polymorphemic words in a highly inflected language, Bulgarian. The roles of semantic transparency, aspect, and bound or free root status in the recognition of aspectual verb forms were probed in the visual modality in a simple lexical decision and a masked priming experiment at a short SOA. Results from the two experiments yielded effects of semantic transparency and morphological complexity, demonstrating that both factors influence the recognition of prefixed aspectual forms in Bulgarian and pointing toward different access procedures. In contrast, the status of the root did not influence recognition patterns, suggesting that free-standing and bound roots are equivalent lexical units of access and representation in Bulgarian. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

I argue for a discourse-oriented projection in the CP field based on two seemingly unrelated phenomena: the penetrability of the wh-cluster in a multiple wh-fronting construction in Bulgarian and the order of topics with respect to fronted focused phrases. I show that an adjunct can break sequences of fronted wh-phrases in Bulgarian. However, it can follow only the first wh-phrase. Furthermore, no intervening material is allowed in the presence of a topic. My analysis of these facts provides support for Bošković's (1998a) Economy/Focus Movement account of multiple wh-fronting as an epiphenomenon with one modification: topic and focus are licensed in the same projection, ΔP which C takes as a complement (cf Uriagereka, 1995a, b). I claim that only one wh-phrase is in SpecCP while its copy and the rest of the wh-phrases are in SpecΔP. Intonation considerations force the pronunciation of the wh-cluster below the topic, and the same factor determines the order o f fronted topics and foci. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]