Next closest Slavic language (Specific Languages) Language Learning Forum

Next closest Slavic language
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Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages

22 messages over 3 pages: 1 2 3

Merv
Bilingual Diglot
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United States
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Speaks: English*, Serbo-Croatian*
Studies: Spanish, French

Message 17 of 22

25 September 2011 at 1:34am | IP Logged

Kartof wrote:

How do Russian and Serbian cases compare? Do they cover similar morphological structures or are
they used in a
drastically different manner? What about the verbal systems? I've heard that Russian only has three tenses but
what about Serbian? Are Serbian verbs more similar to Bulgarian verbs or to Russian verbs?

This book by a Bulgarian linguist may be just what you were looking for:

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Kartof
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Senior Member
United States
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Speaks: English*, Bulgarian*, Spanish
Studies: Danish

Message 18 of 22

25 September 2011 at 3:25am | IP Logged

Wow! Thanks for all of the information! Unfortunately, the last link that you sent (about the book by a Bulgarian
linguist) didn't appear...it only says, "Image not available".

I find it fascinating that the languages most similar to Bulgarian (excluding Macedonian, of course) have such vastly
different grammatical and phonetic paradigms.
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Merv
Bilingual Diglot
Senior Member
United States
Joined 5277 days ago
414 posts - 749 votes

Speaks: English*, Serbo-Croatian*
Studies: Spanish, French

Message 19 of 22

25 September 2011 at 5:11am | IP Logged

Kartof wrote:

Wow! Thanks for all of the information! Unfortunately, the last link that you sent (about the
book by a Bulgarian
linguist) didn't appear...it only says, "Image not available".

I find it fascinating that the languages most similar to Bulgarian (excluding Macedonian, of course) have such
vastly
different grammatical and phonetic paradigms.

Here's another link to her book: http://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Morphological-Rules-Subt raction-
Serbo-Croatian/dp/9048195462/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=13169197 79&sr=8-1

Well, Bulgarian is part of the Balkan sprachbund. Fascinating stuff. I'm not sure how much you know about it, but
for reasons that are unclear there is a sort of relatedness between Bulgarian, Romanian and Albanian, and to a
lesser degree Greek, Serbian, Romani, and even Turkish, that has nothing to do with genetic relation. I mean, we
are talking Hellenic, Albanian, Slavic, Romance, and Indic branches of Indo-European + Altaic Turkish.

Many have postulated that this is due to pre-Slavic influences, such as Thracian/Dacian/Illyrian. Certainly an
interesting notion.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balkan_sprachbund

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Марк
Senior Member
Russian Federation
Joined 5060 days ago
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Speaks: Russian*

Message 20 of 22

25 September 2011 at 8:45am | IP Logged

Хвала, Мерве!
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egill
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Speaks: Mandarin, English*
Studies: German, Spanish, Dutch

Message 21 of 22

25 September 2011 at 10:22am | IP Logged

Thanks for all the info!
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Kartof
Bilingual Triglot
Senior Member
United States
Joined 5070 days ago
391 posts - 550 votes

Speaks: English*, Bulgarian*, Spanish
Studies: Danish

Message 22 of 22

25 September 2011 at 3:43pm | IP Logged

Merv wrote:

Well, Bulgarian is part of the Balkan sprachbund. Fascinating stuff. I'm not sure how much you know about it, but
for reasons that are unclear there is a sort of relatedness between Bulgarian, Romanian and Albanian, and to a
lesser degree Greek, Serbian, Romani, and even Turkish, that has nothing to do with genetic relation. I mean, we
are talking Hellenic, Albanian, Slavic, Romance, and Indic branches of Indo-European + Altaic Turkish.

Many have postulated that this is due to pre-Slavic influences, such as Thracian/Dacian/Illyrian. Certainly an
interesting notion.

Yeah, I've heard of the Balkan Sprachbund and from what I understand, it explains the similarities in these
languages through the sharing of areal features. It's due to this that Bulgarian and Macedonian have lost the
complex case systems of other Slavic languages and have become more synthetic than the other, more fusional
Slavic languages. I've even heard that the Turkish spoken by the Turkish minority of Bulgaria has experienced a
series of grammatical changes that differentiate it from standard Turkish and bring it closer to the other Balkan
languages through the Balkan Sprachbund.

Also, for those interested, the Jirecek line shown on the map posted by Merv indicates the most common language
used in the region in classical times, Greek or Latin. North of the line Latin inscriptions are more common in
artifacts while south of it Greek inscriptions are more common. If you look closely, you can tell that the line
follows the Balkan mountains through Bulgaria, indicating the geographic nature of this linguistic divide. As you
can tell, the Romans couldn't compete with Greek hegemony and influence during classical times in the southern
Balkan Peninsula, but I digress.

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