Editing Bulgarian language (section)

{{short description|South Slavic language}}
{{other uses|Bulgarian (disambiguation)}}
{{distinguish|text=the [[Bulgar language]]}}
{{More citations needed|date=April 2019}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2016}}
{{Use British English|date=October 2012}}
{{Infobox language
| name             = Bulgarian
| nativename       = {{Nobold|български език}}
| image            = 
| pronunciation    = {{IPA|bg|ˈbɤɫɡɐrski||bg-български.ogg}}
| states           = {{Plainlist|
* [[Bulgaria]] 
* [[North Macedonia]]<ref>Loring M. Danforth, The Macedonian Conflict: Ethnic Nationalism in a Transnational World, 1995, Princeton University Press, p.65 , {{ISBN|0-691-04356-6}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Djokić |first=Dejan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZMyZdvTympMC&dq=Djoki%C4%87,+Dejan+(2003).+Yugoslavism:+Histories+of+a+Failed+Idea&pg=PA1 |title=Yugoslavism: Histories of a Failed Idea, 1918-1992 |date=2003 |publisher=Hurst |isbn=978-1-85065-663-0 |page=122|quote=With such policies the new Yugoslav authorities largely overcame the residual pro-Bulgarian feeling among much of the population, and survived the split with Bulgaria in 1948. Pro-Bulgarians among Macedonians suffered severe repression as a result. However, while occasional trial continued throughout the life of Communist Yugoslavia, the vast bulk took place in the late 1940s. The new authorities were successful in building a distinct national consciousness based on the available differences between Macedonia and Bulgaria proper, and by the time Yugoslavia collapsed in the early 1990s, those who continued to look to Bulgaria were very few indeed.<sup>18</sup> The change from the pre-war situation of unrecognised minority status and attempted assimilation by Serbia to one where the Macedonians were the majority people in their own republic with considerable autonomy within Yugoslavia's federation/con-federation had obvious attractions...<br /> ''18 However, in Macedonia today remain those who identify as Bulgarians. Hostility to them remains, even if less than in Communist Yugoslavia, where it was forbidden to proclaim Bulgarian identity, with the partial exception of the Strumica region where the population was allowed more leeway and where most of the 3,000-4,000 Bulgarians in Macedonia in the censuses appearcd. Examples of the continuing hostility are: thc Supreme Court in January 1994 banned the pro-Bulgarian Human Rights Party led by Ilija Ilijevski and the refused registration of another pro-Bulgarian group in Ohrid and other harassment.''}}</ref>
* [[Ukraine]] 
* [[Moldova]] 
* [[Romania]] 
* [[Hungary]] 
* [[Serbia]] 
* [[Kosovo]] 
* [[Albania]]<ref name="Bulgarians in Albania">{{cite web |url=http://www.omda.bg/BULG/news/Bulgaria%20news/Bulgaria_Albania.htm |title=Bulgarians in Albania |website=Omda.bg |access-date=23 April 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080504035012/http://www.omda.bg/BULG/news/Bulgaria%20news/Bulgaria_Albania.htm |archive-date=4 May 2008}}</ref> 
* [[Greece]] 
* [[Turkey]] 
}}
| ethnicity        = [[Bulgarians]]
| speakers         = [[First language|L1]]: 7.6 million in Bulgaria
| date             = 2011 census
| ref              = <ref name="2011Census"/>
| speakers2        = [[First language|L1]] + [[Second language|L2]]: {{sigfig|7.882250|2}} million in all countries (2023)<ref name=e26>{{e26|bul}}</ref>
| speakers_label   = Speakers
| familycolor      = Indo-European
| fam2             = [[Balto-Slavic languages|Balto-Slavic]]
| fam3             = [[Slavic languages|Slavic]]
| fam4             = [[South Slavic languages|South Slavic]]
| fam5             = [[Eastern South Slavic]]
| ancestor         = [[Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European]]
| ancestor2        = [[Proto-Balto-Slavic language|Proto-Balto-Slavic]]
| ancestor3        = [[Proto-Slavic language|Proto-Slavic]]
| ancestor4        = [[Old Church Slavonic|Old Bulgarian]]
| ancestor5        = [[Middle Bulgarian]]
| dia1             = '''Eastern Bulgarian'''
| script           = {{ubl|[[Cyrillic script|Cyrillic]] ([[Bulgarian alphabet]], since 893)|[[Latin script|Latin]] ([[Banat Bulgarian dialect#Alphabet|Banat Bulgarian Alphabet]]) <small>([[Banat Bulgarian dialect]])</small>|[[Bulgarian Braille]]}}
| nation           = {{ubl|[[Bulgaria]]|[[European Union]]}}
| minority         = {{Plainlist|
* [[Albania]]
* [[Czech Republic]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.vlada.cz/assets/ppov/rnm/dokumenty/mezinarodni-dokumenty/duvodova_zprava_vlada_2005.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714223714/http://www.vlada.cz/assets/ppov/rnm/dokumenty/mezinarodni-dokumenty/duvodova_zprava_vlada_2005.pdf |archive-date=2014-07-14 |url-status=live |title=Národnostní menšiny v České republice a jejich jazyky|trans-title=National Minorities in Czech Republic and Their Language|publisher=Government of Czech Republic|page=2|quote=Podle čl. 3 odst. 2 Statutu Rady je jejich počet 12 a jsou uživateli těchto menšinových jazyků: ..., srbština a ukrajinština|language=cs}}</ref> 
* [[Hungary]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://languagecharter.eokik.hu/sites/StatesParties/Hungary.htm |title=Implementation of the Charter in Hungary|work=Database for the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages|publisher=Public Foundation for European Comparative Minority Research|access-date=16 June 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140227004902/http://languagecharter.eokik.hu/sites/StatesParties/Hungary.htm|archive-date=27 February 2014}}</ref> 
* [[Moldova]]
* [[Romania]]<ref>{{Cite book|last=Frawley|first=William|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sl_dDVctycgC|title=International Encyclopedia of Linguistics|date=2003|publisher=Oxford University Press, USA|isbn=978-0-19-513977-8|page=83|language=en}}</ref>
* [[Serbia]]
* [[Turkey]]<ref name=Bayır2013>{{Cite book |last=Bayır |first=Derya |title=Minorities and nationalism in Turkish law |date=2013 |publisher=[[Ashgate Publishing]] |isbn=978-1-4094-7254-4 |series=Cultural Diversity and Law |location=Farnham|url=https://www.academia.edu/37557239| pages=88, 203–204}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Toktaş |first1=Şule |last2=Araş |first2=Bulent |date=2009 |title=The EU and Minority Rights in Turkey |journal=Political Science Quarterly |volume=124 |issue=4 |pages=697–720 |doi=10.1002/j.1538-165X.2009.tb00664.x |jstor=25655744 |issn=0032-3195}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Köksal |first=Yonca |date=2006 |title=Minority Policies in Bulgaria and Turkey: The Struggle to Define a Nation |url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14683850601016390 |journal=Southeast European and Black Sea Studies |language=en |volume=6 |issue=4 |pages=501–521 |doi=10.1080/14683850601016390 |s2cid=153761516 |issn=1468-3857|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name=Özlem2019>{{Cite journal |first=Kader |last=Özlem |date=2019 |title=An Evaluation on Istanbul's Bulgarians as the "Invisible Minority" of Turkey |url=https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=802933 |journal=Turan-Sam |language=English |volume=11 |issue=43 |pages=387–393 |issn=1308-8041}}</ref>
* [[Ukraine]]
}}
| agency           = [[Institute for Bulgarian Language]], Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
| iso1             = bg
| iso2             = bul
| iso3             = bul
| glotto           = bulg1262
| glottorefname    = Bulgarian
| lingua           = 53-AAA-hb < [[South Slavic languages|53-AAA-h]]
| map              = Distribution of Bulgarian Speakers.png
| mapcaption       = The Bulgarian-speaking world:{{image reference needed|date=April 2021}} {{Legend|#0080FF|regions where Bulgarian is the language of the majority}} {{Legend|#88C4FF|regions where Bulgarian is the language of a significant minority}}
| notice           = IPA
| dia2             = [[Balkan dialects of Bulgarian|Balkan]]<br />
[[Rup dialects|Rup]]<br />[[Moesian dialects|Moesian]]
| dia3             = '''Western Bulgarian'''
| dia4             = [[Northwestern Bulgarian dialects|Northwestern]]<br />[[Southwestern Bulgarian dialects|Southwestern]]<br />[[Transitional Bulgarian dialects|Transitional]]
}}
{{Contains special characters}}

'''Bulgarian''' ({{IPAc-en|audio=En-us-Bulgarian.ogg|b|ʌ|l|ˈ|ɡ|ɛər|i|ə|n}}; {{langx|bg|label=none|български език|bŭlgarski ezik}}, {{IPA|bg|ˈbɤɫɡɐrski|pron|bg-български.ogg}}) is an [[Eastern South Slavic|Eastern South Slavic language]] spoken in [[Southeast Europe]], primarily in [[Bulgaria]]. It is the language of the [[Bulgarians]].

Along with the closely related [[Macedonian language]] (collectively forming the [[East South Slavic languages]]), it is a member of the [[Balkan sprachbund]] and [[South Slavic languages|South Slavic]] [[dialect continuum]] of the [[Indo-European language family]]. The two languages have several characteristics that set them apart from all other [[Slavic languages]], including the elimination of [[grammatical case|case declension]], the development of a suffixed [[definite article]], and the lack of a verb [[infinitive]]. They retain and have further developed the [[Proto-Slavic language|Proto-Slavic]] verb system (albeit analytically). One such major development is the innovation of [[evidentiality|evidential]] verb forms to encode for the source of information: witnessed, inferred, or reported.

It is the official [[Languages of Bulgaria|language of Bulgaria]], and since 2007 has been among the official languages of the [[European Union]].<ref name="Official Languages">{{cite web|title=Council Regulation (EC) No 1791/2006 of 20 November 2006|publisher=Europa web portal|author=EUR-Lex|work=Official Journal of the European Union|date=12 December 2006|url=http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:31958R0001:EN:NOT|access-date=2 February 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Languages in Europe – Official EU Languages|publisher=EUROPA web portal|url=http://ec.europa.eu/education/languages/languages-of-europe/doc135_en.htm|access-date=12 October 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090202112407/http://ec.europa.eu/education/languages/languages-of-europe/doc135_en.htm|archive-date=2 February 2009|df=dmy}}</ref> It is also spoken by the Bulgarian historical communities in [[Bulgarians in North Macedonia|North Macedonia]], [[Bulgarians in Ukraine|Ukraine]], [[Bessarabian Bulgarians|Moldova]], [[Bulgarians in Serbia|Serbia]], [[Bulgarians in Romania|Romania]], [[Bulgarians in Hungary|Hungary]], [[Bulgarians in Albania|Albania]] and [[Bulgarians in Greece|Greece]].