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The Sound System of Standard Bulgarian

Mitko Sabev
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1. CONSONANTS

table: consonants

place → manner ↓

bilabial

labio- dental

dental

alveolar

palato- alveolar

palatal

velar

voicing (+/–)

–

+

–

+

–

+

–

+

–

+

–

+

–

+

plosive

p

b

—

—

t

d

—

—

—

—

—

—

k

g

nasal

—

m

—

[ɱ]

—

—

—

n

—

—

—

—

—

[ŋ]

fricative

—

—

f

v

s

z

—

—

ʃ

ʒ

—

—

x

[ɣ]

affricate

—

—

—

—

ʦ

ʣ

—

—

ʧ

ʤ

—

—

—

—

trill

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

r

—

—

—

—

—

—

approximant

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

j

—

—

lateral appr.

—

—

—

—

—

l

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

—

EXAMPLES:

Cyrillic script	transcription	meaning	Cyrillic script	transcription	meaning
пия	[ˈpijɐ]	'I drink'	пазва	[ˈpazvɐ]	'bosom'
бия	[ˈbijɐ]	'I beat'	шал	[ʃaɫ]	'scarf, shawl'
там	[tam]	'there'	жал	[ʒaɫ]	'pity'
дам	[dam]	'give'	хал	[xaɫ]	'plight'
кост	[kɔst]	'bone'	цирк	[ʦirk]	'circus'
гост	[gɔst]	'guest'	дзифт	[ʣift]	'tar'
мие	[ˈmi.ɛ]	's/he washes'	час	[ʧas]	'hour'
ние	[ˈni.ɛ]	'we'	джаз	[ʤas]	'jazz'
фрак	[frak]	'tailcoat'	рев	[rɛf]	'roar' (sb)
враг	[vrak]	'enemy'	лев	[lɛf]	'lev'
пасва	[ˈpasvɐ]	'fit' (vb)	ясен, мой	[ˈjasɛn], [mɔĭ]	'clear', 'my/mine'

table: note_cons.

NOTES:

(1) In traditional accounts of the Bulgarian sound system a set of the so-called "soft" (i.e. palatal or palatalised) consonants is also included: [pʲ, bʲ, tʲ, dʲ, c (=kʲ ), ɟ (=gʲ ), ʦʲ, ʣʲ, mʲ, ɲ (=nʲ ), rʲ, fʲ, vʲ, sʲ, zʲ, ç (=xʲ ), ʎ (=lʲ )].
[ʣʲ] and [ç] do not occur in native words, though they do in foreign names: Дзян [ʣʲan] 'Jian', Хюс/Хюз [çus] 'Hughes'.
However, the phonemic status of the "soft" consonants is questionable. Before front vowels they should be regarded as allophones of the corresponding "hard" (i.e. non-palatal or non-palatalised) consonant phonemes, since the palatalisation here is occurs naturally, to facilitate articulation.
Before non-front vowels these can be interpreted as combinations of C + /j/.

(2) Voiceless stops are unaspirated in all positions; the distinction between /p, t, k/, on the one one hand, and /b, d, g/, on the other, is based exclusively on voicing.
However, the distinction "voiced vs voiceless" obtains only in a restricted number of positions: (i) prevocalically in word-initial or -medial position (i.e. not across word boundaries): кол [kɔɫ] 'pole'—гол [gɔɫ] 'naked'; (ii) before sonorants: смей [smɛj] 'dare' (imper. sg)—змей [zmɛj] 'dragon'; (iii) before /v/: творец [tvoˈrɛʦ] 'creator, artist'—дворец [dvoˈrɛʦ] 'palace'. ( (i) and (ii) can be united into "/ __ [+son]", provided "sonorant" is taken to subsume both vowels and consonants).
In all other positions the opposition is neutralised and, depending on the specific environment, either the voiced or the voiceless correlate will occur.

(3) /x/ is the only voiceless consonant phoneme that does not enter into opposition of voicing. [ɣ] only exists as an allophone of /x/ and its distribution is rather restricted: /x/ → [ɣ] / __ C^{[–son],[+voi]} (before voiced obstruents other than /v/—see (2 iii) above): видях го [viˈdʲaɣgo] 'I saw him'. (Such sequences exist only across word boundaries.)

(4) Since there are no voiceless sonorants (not even allophones), they do not enter into oppositions of voicing.

(5) The phoneme /l/ exists in two allophones: "dark" or velarised [ɫ] and "clear" [l]. [l] occurs before front vowels, and [ɫ] elsewhere.
Lenition of [ɫ], similar to that in Cockney and putative Estuary, is very common among younger speakers, esp. in preconsonantal position: вълк [vɤŭk] 'wolf', also, though less regularly, in лампа [ˈwampɐ] 'lamp'.
(The same vocalisation of "dark L" is the regular historical development in Serbian: Beograd 'Belgrade'; and Polish: mgła [mgwa] 'fog' = B. мъгла [mɐgˈɫa], also [mɐgˈwa].)

(6) [ɱ] is an allophone of both /m/ and /n/ — /m, n/ → [ɱ] / __ C^labiodent.: нимфа [ˈniɱfɐ] 'nymph', инфлация [iɱˈflaʦijɐ] 'inflation'. In other words, /m/ and /n/ are neutralised before /f/ and /v/.

(7) /n/ is often elided before fricatives, nasalising (and usually lengthening) the preceding vowel —
V /n/ → V^nasalised ∅ / __ C^fric.: конски [ˈkɔ̃ːski] 'of a horse' (adj.), бранш [brãːʃ] 'branch (of business)', инхалация [ ĩhɐˈɫaʦijɐ] 'inhalation'.

(8) /n/ → [ŋ] / __ C^{velar plos.}: тънко [ˈtɤŋko] 'thin' (neut.), танго [tɐŋˈgɔ] 'tango'.

(9) /j/ is the only native semivowel. [w] only occurs (i) in some recent (English) borrowings and names: уиски [ˈwiski] 'whisk(e)y', Уилям [ˈwiʎɐm] 'William', or (ii) as a vocalised realisation of "dark L" [ɫ] (see (5) above).

2. VOWELS

table: vowels

	front	central	back
close	i	—	u
semi-close	—	—	—
close-mid	—	—	[o]
mid	—	—	ɤ
open-mid	ɛ	—	ɔ
semi-open	—	[ɐ]	—
open	—	a	—

EXAMPLES:

Cyrillic script	transcription	meaning	Cyrillic script	transcription	meaning
пик	[pik]	'peak'	пък	[pɤk]	'but, yet'
пек	[pɛk]	'heat'	покрив	[ˈpɔk.rif]	'roof'
пак	[pak]	'again'	пук	[puk]	'crack' (onom. intj)

table: note_voc.

NOTES:

(10) The backmost vowels, [ɔ, o, u], are rounded. [ɤ] is near-back and is unrounded.

(11) /a/ and /ɤ/ are neutralised to [ɐ] in unstressed positions: ритам 'I kick'—ритъм 'rhythm' [ˈritɐm]. Similarly, [o] is the unstressed neutralisation of /ɔ/ and /u/: оказвам 'I exert, render' —указвам 'I indicate' [oˈкazvɐm].
The neutralised realisations may be further reduced to closer values, [ɜ, ə] and [o˔], in the following positions: (i) in the syllable following the stressed one: ритам—ритъм  [ˈritəm]; кактус [ˈkakto̝s] 'cactus'—радост [ˈrado̝st] 'joy'; (ii) in a syllable preceding the pre-stressed syllable: закачалка [zəkɐˈʧaɫkə] 'hanger'—гълъбарник [gəɫɐˈbarnik] 'dovecote'; ocтроумен [o̝stroˈumɛn] 'witty'—услужливост [o̝sɫoˈʒlivo̝st] 'helpfulness'.
Thus a gradient of vowel reduction can be postulated: [ə-ɐ-ˈa/ɤ-ə], [o˔ -o-ˈɔ/u-o˔] (where the hyphens stands for syllable boundaries).
/ɛ/ and /i/ are not neutralised in Standard Bulgarian.

(12) If on the horizontal scale the distinction made is only binary, i.e. between "front" and "non-front", the Bulgarian stressed vowels may be phonemicised according to three distinctive features (correlations): (i) front — non-front, (ii) rounded — unrounded, (iii) (relatively) close — (relatively) open (also known as "narrow"—"wide"). All front vowels are phonetically unrounded, therefore distinction (ii) is not relevant there. 

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BIBLIOGRAPHY:
1. Бояджиев Т., Ив. Куцаров, Й. Пенчев „Съвременен български език“, Sofia 1998: „Петър Берон“
2. Бояджиев Т., Д. Тилков „Фонетика на българския книжовен език“, Veliko Turnovo 1997: „Абагар“
3. Ternes E., T. Vladimirova-Buhtz "Bulgarian" (sound system) in "Handbook of the International Phonetic Association", Cambridge 1999: CUP, 55—57
4. "Bulgarian in SAMPA": http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/sampa/bulgar.htm

Feb 00 / Dec 00

Any comments, suggestions and questions are welcome.