Linguistic Geography’s Role in Clarifying the Linguistic Situation in Specific Language Regions in Southeast Europe

Abstract

Ancient culture of the Balkan Peninsula is known for its originality and wealth. Along with this, there are specific linguistic phenomena in the Balkans, such as the Balkan linguistic league (Balkan sprachbund), supported by some and denied by others. The culture reflects the common features in languages from different families (e.g., definite article in the Greek, Bulgarian, Romanian, Albanian), which, on the one hand, unites them and, on the other hand, distinguishes them from their relative languages (cf., e.g., similarities and differences between Bulgarian and Serbian). The common features of languages from the so-called Balkan linguistic league are reflected to varying degrees in its individual representatives as well as in their dialects. The study of the development of these phenomena at the dialectal level is extremely complicated, but their depiction with the aid of linguistic geography provides a good opportunity to outline the unified areas at different linguistic levels – phonetic, morphological, and lexical.

In this chapter, a study of selected maps from the voluminous editions of the Atlas of Bulgarian Dialects, its associated Generalising Volume, and the European Linguistic Atlas (Atlas Linguarum Europae) will be made by comparing dialectal maps of some phenomena from the atlases of other Balkan countries (e.g., Atlasul lingvistic român). This discussion will help draw conclusions about the course of common language phenomena. Particular attention is paid to the Bulgarian and Albanian languages, which are usually characterized as representatives of highly developed Balkan phenomena.

The publication is related to the work in the project: “Geolinguistic Study of the Relationship between Bulgarian and European Dialectal Lexis” (GSBEUDL) – Fund “Science research” of the Ministry of Education and Science, Republic of Bulgaria – No. DH 20/11, 11.12.2017.