Bulgarian Grammar

The object of study in the article is the problem of the nature of the opposition aorist - imperfect in the contemporary Bulgarian language. Different opinions on the issue are systematized with an emphasis on the main differences between them. A conclusion is drawn that the relationship between the aorist and the imperfect is of neopositive type; it is a functional semantic difference, implemented in the field of narrativity.

ON ONE SPECIFIC CASE IN THE CONTEMPORARY BULGARIAN WORD FORMATION

The paper analyses the formation of derivatives from primary iterative verbs. A starting point of a scientific analysis is the belief that iterative verbs are an independent component of the so called ‘aspectual triad’, grammatically opposing the perfective aspect, which, however, poses difficulties with defining the iterative morpheme – va (and its allomorphs). On the one hand, it cannot be defined as a suffix (due to its grammatical character), on the other hand – as an inflection (since it contains a marker of the base). In conclusion, an answer to the question of the character of this morpheme and its role in the process of word formation has been sought.

The research paper focuses on the question of the typology of functional semantic fields in the contemporary Bulgarian language. In the analysis comments have been made on A. V. Bondarko and I. Kutsarov’s popular classification models of FSF in the Russian and Bulgarian languages, emphasizing on some problematic parts in the points of view of the two authors.
The new classification of FSF presented in the exposition is based on several main criteria: 1) a sphere of functioning; 2) presence/ absence of a structural centre (nucleus); 3) structure of the field periphery; 4) a degree of the functional autonomy; 5) semantic scope. There are arguments in favour of the belief that FSF build microfields not only around the marked members of the nucleus - the morphological category, but also around the unmarked members (having both general and main meaning).

ON THE ISSUE OF THЕ STRUCTURE
OF THE FUNCTIONAL–SEMANTIC FIELD OF GENDER
IN THE CONTEMPORARY BULGARIAN LANGUAGE

The object of analysis in the present study is the structural characteristics of the functional-semantic field of gender in the contemporary Bulgarian Language, which has not been thoroughly investigated yet. Some of the key opinions on the topic are subjected to critical review, followed by a discussion of the debatable issue of the class membership in the core field. A detailed analysis of the peripheral linguistic means of expressing gender semantics in the contemporary Bulgarian Language (word-formation patterns, lexical, morphological, syntactical) is carried out and the focus is on their main functions. The most important characteristics of the functional-semantic field are commented on in the conclusion.

This paper focuses on the so-called common gender nouns in Modern Bulgarian. Their formal and semantic characteristics have been presented in detail. Special emphasis has been placed on the nouns of common masculine-feminine gender (e.g.  budala, piyanitsa, simpatyaga, etc.) which are characterized by connotative load and  functional style restrictedness.

This article examines the status of the non-prefixal imperfectives such as: пиша, чета, нося, ям, etc. in the aspectual system of contemporary Bulgarian language. The paper discusses their formal-semantic and functional characteristics, as well as their relation with the other components of the so called “aspectual triad” (perfective and iterative).

Molta è la soddisfazione di chi scrive per l'assolutamente inaspettato successo della prima "bozza" di questo libretto e ciò nonostante - o forse proprio per questo - fosse stata concepita come una raccolta amatoriale di nozioni ed esempi estrapolati da fonti della più svariata provenienza nel tempo e nello spazio e dunque, per forza di cose, sottratta da qualsivoglia mira di scientificità prima ancora che di ufficialità.
Non appena il testo è divenuto patrimonio della rete, tuttavia, è cominciata forse la parte più interessante di questa esperienza, ossia un'opera di costante correzione, revisione, smussamento, per farla breve: di generale miglioramento, sollecitata direttamente dai fruitori del volumetto e dagli amici bulgari ed italiani cultori della materia o semplici "empirici profani" incuriositi dagli "Appunti".
Tutto ciò, unitamente alla ininterrotta ricerca di chi scrive, la cui passione per l'amato idioma non ha smesso un istante di ardere, ha fatto sì che il testo primigenio, più simile ad un collage ordinato che ad un'opera originale, assumesse sempre più un proprio carattere distintivo, una propria unicità, pur non perdendo mai di vista lo scopo per cui era stata ideata: fornire al neofita una guida pratica alla lingua bulgara secondo uno schema il più possibile organico e razionale dove la regola formale conservasse un'esposizione sintetica e la sua attuazione pratica trovasse immediato riscontro in una quantità sufficiente di esempi.
Frutto di tale metamorfosi è proprio questa "seconda edizione" (mi si conceda la licenza) dove ormai a stento possono rinvenirsi tracce della prima, ai cui suddetti scopi che la informarono si sono aggiunti quelli sempre meno eludibili di una maggiore completezza e precisione.
Fermo restando il carattere "amatoriale" del volumetto che continuerà a rimanere tale almeno fintanto che a scriverlo sarà un avvocato con la passione per la slavistica.

This paper researches the Bulgarian perfective verbs, defined by linguists as a marked grammeme in the system of the aspect of the verb. Emphasis has been put on their semantic and functional characteristics. It has been done an analysis of the state of the research into these verbs, the reasons for the popular term ‘particular aspectual meanings’ being also discussed. A conclusion has been reached that perfective verbs have one main aspectual meaning which is combined with additional aspectual meanings.

The focus of the scientific analysis is placed on the category caritivity (non-possession), interpreted by linguists as the opposite of possessivity. The herein presented paper makes a short review of the existing studies on the subject and examines the means for expressing caritive semantics in modern Bulgarian language. Special emphasis has been made on the relation between caritivity and the functional-semantic category status.

Pur ispezionando meticolosamente ogni singola bancarella della Piazza dei libri di Sofia, quella che spacca a metà la romantica Uliza Graf Ignatiev, non ho trovato un solo libro che spiegasse ad un italiano - in italiano - la lingua bulgara, e ciò nonostante lo sfavillare di centinaia, migliaia!, di manuali di lingua di ogni risma disordinatamente esposti in quel luogo.
Analoga carenza l'ho riscontrata, in piena era tecnologica, nell'offerta del web, dove però non mancano generosi tentativi di fornire al povero italiano - gratuitamente - almeno qualche rudimento del misterioso idioma.
Di fronte a questi fallimenti, non potendo tornare in Italia per spulciare le librerie internazionali, mi sono "accontentato" di un manuale di lingua bulgara per studenti anglofoni.
Inutile dire che il "modello anglosassone" mi è subito risultato lontano anni luce dalle mie aspettative: troppo confusionario, troppo incompleto, troppo empirico.
Da buon giurista italiano, che coltiva l'hobby dello slavismo, infatti, la totale assenza di teoria, di ordine, di logica, in una parola: di sistematicità, dell'approccio anglosassone allo studio di una lingua slava, è apparso, e tuttora appare, assolutamente infruttuoso.
Per questi motivi, avendo ormai reperito attraverso le mie inefficaci ricerche più di una "fonte", seppure ciascuna frammentata ed incompleta, ho pensato bene di tentarne un riordino secondo uno schema il più possibile razionale e di facile comprensione per un italiano (ho applicato la ripartizione tradizionale in fonetica, morfologia e sintassi), andando a costituire un "manualetto", una raccolta di appunti di lingua bulgara in italiano per italiani, da offrire gratuitamente sul web.
Ciò anche nella consapevolezza della grande ascesa che la Bulgaria sta compiendo nella classifica delle mete predilette dagli italiani, di ogni età e livello sociale, come luogo ove coltivare l'aspirazione di una vita piacevole, serena e gratificante.
Prima di incominciare, però, devo premettervi che anche io, come voi, sono solo uno studente, un aspirante conoscitore della lingua bulgara, non un insegnante, un professore o addirittura un accademico, di conseguenza questo lavoro non avrà alcuna pretesa di risultare immune da errori ed imprecisioni, così come di essere completo o scientifico.
Buon divertimento!

The paper discusses a corpus of Bulgarian colloquial speech developed by Tzvetanka Nikolova and Tzvetomira Venkova at two stages: 1975-79 as speech recordings and transcriptions and 1993–95 as an electronic corpus. The focus is on the place of the corpus in Bulgarian linguistics. The active usage of this corpus over the years by linguists in Bulgaria and abroad motivated the need of an overview of its role over the years. In addition, a presentation of the basic textual and technical parameters of the corpus aimed to facilitate its users is included. Ultimately, the paper aims at revealing the spirit of cooperation and passing of knowledge in modern Bulgarian linguistic tradition.

В статията се разглеждат проблеми при морфосинтактичната адаптация на нови лексеми, заети от английски език, към граматичната система на българския език. Материалът надгражда и допълва заключенията, изложени в Христов (2015), и набелязва най-новите тенденции при приспособяването на някои проблематични англицизми. Ще се спрем на адаптацията по род и число на съществителните, (не)склоняемостта на прилагателните и приспособяването на глаголите. Резултатите показват, че принципите за одомашняване на чуждата лексика, очертани в специализираната литература, като цяло се спазват последователно, но не липсват и изключения. Макар и значителен брой прилагателни да получават славянски словообразувателни наставки, голяма част от новозаетите прилагателни остават несклоняеми и дори може да се размият границите между прилагателно и съществително във функция на определение-закономерна нова стъпка в утвърдилата се вече тенденция към неизменяеми форми с чужд произход. Ограниченият брой глаголни заемки чрез словообразувателни наставки също успешно се вписват в българската глаголна система, но същевременно се отчитат и неочаквани резултати, които свидетелстват за явления, нехарактерни за българския език. На съществителни, назоваващи само лица от женски пол, е възможно да се припише формален мъжки род, без да са от т.нар. общ граматически род, което е крайно нетипично за езика ни. В събрания материал фигурират и нулеви окончания за множествено число, както и английското окончание-s. При анализа се обръща специално внимание на конкуренцията между домашните и чуждите форми и структури и на въпроса дали тези иновационни процеси биха имали потенциал да навлязат потрайно в българската граматична система. Ключови думи: англицизми, граматическа адаптация, съществителни, прилагателни, глаголи, български език PROBLEMS OF THE MORPHOSYNTACTIC ADAPTATION OF RECENT ENGLISH LOANWORDS IN BULGARIAN BOZHIL HRISTOV SOFIA UNIVERSITY ST. KLIMENT OHRIDSKI

The article examines the nature of the Bulgarian verbal combinations with the negative particle "ne", which are traditionally defined as syntactic constructions for expressing negation. Special emphasis has been placed on the position, expressed by Ivan Kutsarov, that the above-mentioned constructions function as a group of analytical verbal forms – a marked grammeme within a separate morphological category named "status". The main objectives of this scientific analysis are two: a) to present additional arguments in favour of the differentiation of the verbal category status in modern Bulgarian; b) to characterize the semantics of the marked status forms by further clarifying the definition suggested by I. Kutsarov.

LEXICAL MEANS OF EXPRESSING NEGATION
IN MODERN BULGARIAN

The scientific analysis is focused on part of the peripheral means in the field of the functional semantic category of polarity in the modern Bulgarian language, i.e. the lexical means of expressing negation. After a brief presentation of the semantic and structural characteristics of the field under study, the individual groups of negative lexical modifiers are thoroughly analysed. Special attention is paid to the specificity in the function of these modifiers and to their combination with the core explicators of negation in particular.

The object of analysis in the paper is the question of the character of the constructions of the type ima + da + V (cf. ima da hodya, ima da chakash, etc.) in modern Bulgarian. The formal and semantic variants in their functioning are examined, with the aim of establishing their status in the morphological system – analytical verbal forms (positive variants of the negative future forms of the type nyama da hodya, nyama da chakash) or syntactic combinations. In support of the theoretical conclusions, the results are presented of the analysis of the translation equivalents of the examined formations in Russian.

THE IMPERATIVE MOOD
IN THE MODERN BULGARIAN JOURNALISTIC STYLE
A matter of study in the article is the use of grammatical category ‘imperativ’ in the modern Bulgarian journalistic style. By means of a statistical method there is an attempt to specify a correlation between the synthetic and analytic forms widely used in journalese. A certain stress is put on the usage of the imperative in newspaper headlines - a very successful media strategy. An approach is made to analyze some specific functions of the imperative mood in Bulgarian publicism.

The paper examines the question of the aspectual nature and functional specifics of one group of Bulgarian verbs formed via the formant -va from singe act perfectives with the suffix -n- (cf. bodvam < bodna, migvam < migna, tropvam < tropna, etc.). Emphasis is placed on the peculiarities in the building of the aspectual "triads", in which these verbs take part, while the important role of the initial multiplicatives (cf. boda, migam, tropam, etc.) is highlighted. The conclusion is reached that in semantic and functional respect, the analyzed verbal forms are grammatical iteratives, which are realized mainly in non-actual use.

The object of analysis in the paper is the functional and semantic characteristic of the Bulgarian past participles, formed by various aspectual bases – perfective, imperfective and iterative. The so-called past imperfective active participle, which is regarded as a quasi-participle, remains outside the scope of scientific analysis. Special emphasis is places on some debatable questions, related to the specifics of the aspectual system of the modern Bulgarian language

The article discusses the syntactic realizations and functional characteristics of the formal subject and object "it" (то) in English and Bulgarian. The aim is to contribute to the discussion on impersonal sentences in both languages (and the subjectless sentences in Bulgarian) by comparing their constructions and uses. The examples come from the Corpus of Contemporary American (COCA) and the Bulgarian  National Corpus (BulNC). Some of the examples are manually collected from fiction and media sources.

The problem of the functional and semantic analogues of the Bulgarian perfective imperfectum in modern Russian is in the focus of this paper. Different views are presented of the nature of the verb form in question, of the characteristic features in the use in the sentence structure. The main goal is to look for an answer to the question of what the are the translation strategies in choosing the successful translational equivalent regardless of the lack of imperfectum in Russian.

SEMANTIC-FUNCTIONAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE CONSTRUCTIONS OF THE TYPE KOY (LI) NE IN MODERN BULGARIAN

The object of scientific analysis in this paper are the structural-semantic, functional and stylistic characteristics of a type of quasi-negative constructions with generalizing meaning in the modern Bulgarian language, which are formed by interrogative pronouns (or adverbs) by adding the particles li or ne (or just ne)-cf. koy (li) ne, kakav (li) ne, kade (li) ne, etc. Based on the observations on a rich corpus of excerpted examples, an answer to the question of the status of the combinations in question, the degree of their idiomatization, the semantic difference between them and the corresponding generalizing pronouns, the role of context in their use in speech is sought. Attention is drawn to the fact that, unlike the generalizing pronouns, these combinations are not used in sentences with a verb negation, nor in real interrogative sentences. It is concluded that in the current stage of development of the Bulgarian language there is a process of lexicalization of composites of the type koy (li) ne, but it has not reached its final phase. Evidence of this is the uncertainty of the constituent model of the combinations (there are the following structural variants-koy li ne (koy li nyama-in rhetorical questions), koy li ne, koy li ne shtesh), their dependence on the context, the situation and partly on intonation (when used in rhetorical questions), as well as their functional limitations.

ON THE ASPECTUAL RESTRICTIONS IN EXPRESSING PROHIBITION IN CONTEMPORARY BULGARIAN
The object of research in this article are the aspectual restrictions in the grammatical expression of prohibition in contemporary Bulgarian. An important goal of the analysis is not only to present the cases in which the aspectual semantics of the verbs in perfective aspect restricts the functioning of the prohibitive forms, but also to explore the causes of this manifestation of defectivity. The non-prohibitive realizations of the negative imperative formed by the perfectives, have also been considered in the analysis.

The subject of the scientific analysis in the present book is the paradigm of the language means used for expressing verbal quantity. The book presents cogent arguments as regards the existence of a genetic, typological and formal disparity among the quantitative systems of nouns, adjectives and numerals in comparison to the one of verbs, on account of which the study subsequently discards the popular concept of the hyper-categorial nature of quantity. The book presents a new model of the different types of aspectual relations in the Modern Bulgarian language. The Verbal Aspect is interpreted as a three-member category, formed as a result of the complex interactions between the separate functional-semantic fields in the area of Aspectuality

Abstract: The paper discusses the connection between the emergence of the fields of formal grammar and machine translation in Bulgarian linguistics in 1960-1965. In the context of intercultural transfer, the core ideas of machine translation are outlined as motivating the first generative grammars. The officially proclaimed total front of mathematics in Bulgaria, including machine translation and formal grammar, is described. The text focuses on the leading figures, research groups and specific ideas, determining the beginning of these fields in Bulgaria in their correlation.



Съвременната формална граматика (ФГ) 1 трудно може да бъде раз-брана извън общата ѝ ориентация към компютърната обработка на езика, и по-конкретно към машинния превод (МП). Първоначалното установяване на взаимовръзката машинен превод-формална граматика (МП-ФГ) в България между 1960 и 1965 е обект на разглеждане в тази статия.
Резюме: Статията се спира на връзката между появата на дисциплините фор-мална граматика и машинен превод в България в периода 1960-1965 г. В кон-текста на междукултурен пренос се показва как водещите идеи на машинния пре-вод мотивират първите генеративни граматики. Описва се официално зададеният "цялостен фронт на математиката" в България от 1960, към който се приобщават машинният превод и формалната граматика. Открояват се водещите фигури, научните звена и специфичните идеи, определящи началото на тези дисциплини у нас в тяхната взаимовръзка. Kлючови думи: български машинен превод, българска формална граматика

ONCE AGAIN ON THE QUESTION OF THE MORPHOLOGICAL STATUS
OF THE BULGARIAN DETERMINATIVES

The focus of the present research has been placed on the question of current interest about the so-called determinatives in modern Bulgarian (cf. tykmo, imenno, chak , etc.), proclaimed by some authors as an independent class of invariable words, different from the adverbs. An attempt has been made at classifying the above-mentioned lexemes; their most distinctive semantic and functional characteristics are pointed out; their place in the morphological system has been analyzed.