The Linguistic Situation of Bulgaria

To help understand the significance of these similarities, James Frazer’s theory

The next four lines describe how language changes. The change in language is compared to a river. The change, like a river eroding a landscape, takes time. In order for a river to change course it must erode away land for years upon years. In the same way, a language slowly evolves. New words and pronunciations may change its course. Not only can spoken words change the course, but gestures and written language can change it as well.

“The History of the English Language”. http://www.uni-due.de/SHE/. Univ. of Duisburg Essen. April 2013. Web 4 Oct. 2013.

If two dialects of a language change enough–because of the combination of geographic distance and time–so that the dialect from one region is not understandable by the people using the other dialect, then the two are no longer dialects of one language. Instead, they have become two entirely different languages. Although it is, for the most part, impossible to isolate geography from time, it is possible to isolate time from geography. The rule of mutual intelligibility still applies: when a language changes to the point where its modern users cannot understand its traditional texts, then the traditional language and the modern one can be considered two separate languages.

Language change happens every day. New words are constantly being added and new dialects are forming. People have always argued about the causes of language change and tried to control the changes that occurred but ultimately they accomplished nothing. Languages changes and spread as a result of the people who use it daily. African American English and California English are both examples of the different ways language can change. People try to resist the changes in their language because they do not want to see it change. Language change is a natural process that can be affected by others but never stopped. This course has done an excellent job explaining how language change starts and spreads.

From 1396 until 1878 the Ottoman Empire ruled over Bulgaria (Embassy of the Republic of Bulgaria to the United States, year unknown, herein referred to as “Embassy”). For nearly 500 years the Bulgarian people were oppressed and mistreated by the Ottoman rulers. Very little was done by the Bulgarians to stop this. Until 1762, when a Bulgarian monk studying in Greece wrote a book, and this book inspired the Bulgarian people to fight for their freedom (Georgiev E, 1972). Paisiy Hilendarski, otherwise known as Saint Paisius of Hilendar or Father Paisiy, was a monk from Bansko in Bulgaria; his book “Istoriya Slavanobulgarska” changed the course of Bulgarian history, and is believed to have been the beginning of the Bulgarian National Revival (Georgiev).

Finally I will comment on what implications any trend may hold for natural language change in AAVE and for cultural events during this time and compare the results with previous studies on the environmental constraints for the copula in AAVE and HHNL.

Languages that are spoken and studied today have been transformed, molded and evolved into their current state. Many different factors have influenced the changes and explain the evolution each language has made. The Hebrew Bible illustrates the tale of Babylon. This tale provides a simple explanation that accounts for the difference seen among languages. Demographics and geography attribute to the evolution languages have made as well. Each approach gives a different perspective to the transformation languages have made.

Among the most important concepts to emerge are those relating to dialects and language standards. Sociolinguists have documented the presence of dialects in every language. These dialects, all of which are legitimate, are associated with educational, economic, social and historical conditions. Hence, even if an individual scrupulously studies all the possible dictionaries of a random language, he would still be somewhat of a stranger to that language since he is unaware of all the dialectal changes.

Talking about “dialects”, a term often mentioned along is “standard language”. When being brought into comparison with “dialect”, “standard language” usually serves as a legitimate variant with the highest level of excellence (Bex & Watts, 1999). Though positive in nature, standardization - the procedure of standardizing a language – often raises heated controversy because of its consequences on not only linguistics field but also the society. In the second part of the essay, I will focus on the disadvantages of language standardization.

Think of things that morph over time. What comes to mind? People may think about a music artist’s change from YouTube videos recorded on iPhones to sold-out concerts. Or, they may think about the changes an athlete makes from childhood to becoming a professional athlete. However, did you think about how much a language changes over a couple of years? Every year words are added to and taken from the dictionary. Words are formed and forgotten. Language changes because of a person’s vocabulary and location, but what happens to a language, like the English language, that is spread across the whole world?

“To understand Bulgaria, you must live here a long time, be intimate with people, live like a Bulgarian, and speak our language. Even then I don't know how close you can be to the real truth. All you see is what is left of us” (Ward, 2002). The significant of this quote is that it exemplifies just how reserved Bulgaria is on a wide scale which is helpful when trying to better understand the common demeanor of this culture. Though the world sees a side of Bulgaria that is generalized through media stereotypes, ethnocentrism, and other national opinions, there is a deeper community within that peeks through. Just like any other culture, it is important to set aside one’s own perspective on the unknown so that there is a greater understanding of the culture, an improved cultural bridge, and ultimately better communication. In conclusion, although there are many stereotypical themes in the media regarding Bulgaria, it is important for members within different cultures to take them with a grain of salt and refrain from damaging communication and respect for another’s values.

The following research paper will give an introduction to an important part of sociolinguistic that called “Diglossia”. The first part will be a theoretical part explaining expressions and terms related to the topic. The aim of my research is to explore which language is used by bunch of people in many different situations.

It has been noted that while considering changing word meanings is vital to the diachronic study of language, the notion and practice of studying them has been historically belittled as an intellectual pursuit. Semantic change is often irregular and arbitrary as a concept, as its causes are wide-ranging and multi-faceted. However, critics such as Willem B. Hollmann now give weight and notoriety to studying semantics synchronically . By considering individual cases, one can explain some word changes and apply common rules. These often occur intra-linguistically or through common social or political changes, especially surrounding class conflict. However, although we can catalogue the semantic change of similar or groups of words, word

The paper consists of four parts which touch upon questions of the history of translation in Russia and its development, some points of tranlsating theory, the consideration of some ways of the translation of English phrasal verbs, and