Bulgarian Graphics and Orthography: Historical and Contemporary Aspects

Vocabulary flashcards covering the components of written Bulgarian, historical alphabetic stages, orthographic principles, nineteenth-century spelling schools, and 20th-century spelling reforms.

Graphics (Графика)

The totality of written signs used to denote spoken speech, encompassing the alphabet, numbers, punctuation marks, and other graphic symbols (§, +, %, etc.).

Grapheme (Графема)

Any individual graphic sign or written character in a graphic system.

Alphabet (Азбука)

The organized list of letters used to denote phonemes. In modern Bulgarian, it consists of 30 letters, each existing in four variants: uppercase, lowercase, handwritten, and printed.

Glagolitic script (Глаголица)

The first stage of the Bulgarian alphabet, created in the 9th century (IX в.) by Cyril and Methodius (Кирил и Методи).

Cyrillic script (Кирилица)

The second stage of the Bulgarian alphabet, whose probable author is Kliment Ohridski (Климент Охридски), used to produce Bulgarian literary works during the Middle Ages.

Civil Cyrillic (Гражданска кирилица)

The third stage of the alphabet, developed in Russia in the early 18th century for typography; it introduced simplified grapheme shapes as well as the new letters Я and Й.

"Аритметика" (1833)

The first Bulgarian book printed using the new Civil Cyrillic alphabet, written by Hristaki Pavlovich (Христаки Павлович).

Orthography / Spelling (Правопис)

A normative system of rules governing the practical application of graphic signs, punctuation, abbreviations, hyphenation, and the spelling of compound words.

Phonetic spelling principle (Фонетичен принцип)

An orthographic principle where words are written strictly as pronounced; in Bulgarian, it is primarily applied to monosyllabic words that undergo no phonetic reductions or devoicing (e.g., куп, пет, лек, свой, крак, меч, скок).

Morphological spelling principle (Морфологичен принцип)

The foundational principle of modern Bulgarian spelling, requiring morphemes, roots, and prefixes (such as из-, от-, въз-, с-, под-) to retain a constant spelling regardless of pronunciation changes like devoicing, assimilation, or reduction.

Etymological spelling principle (Етимологичен принцип)

A principle dictating that words be spelled according to earlier historical stages of the language. In contemporary Bulgarian, its only residual trace is the alphabet's retention of the grapheme Щ instead of writing Ш and Т.

Plovdiv School (Пловдивска школа)

A 19th-century orthographic school represented by Gavril Krastevich, Nayden Gerov, and Yoakim Gruev, which strictly defended an etymological spelling model that retained Old Bulgarian letters even when they lost phonetic value.

Tarnovo School (Търновска школа)

A 19th-century orthographic school represented by Nikola Mihaylovski and Ivan Momchilov, advocating a moderate etymological model closer to the living language and dropping distinctions between nominative and accusative case forms.

Phonetic School (Фонетична школа)

A 19th-century trend represented by Belgrade graduates such as Vasil Aprilov and Nikola Parvanov, which favored a simplified Serbian-style phonetic system that sought to abolish letters like Ъ, Й, Щ, Ю, and Я.

"За новобългарското азбуке" (1870)

An article by Marin Drinov published in issue 2 of "Периодическо списание", proposing that standard orthography combine spoken speech as the primary basis with Old Bulgarian as a corrective when dialects diverge.

Drinov-Ivanchev Orthography (Дриново-Иванчевски правопис)

The first official Bulgarian orthography, introduced in 1899 by Minister of Education Todor Ivanchev based on Marin Drinov's 31-letter model; it remained in effect until 1921 and was later restored from 1923 to 1945.

Agrarian Orthographic Reform of 1921 (Земеделска правописна реформа)

A short-lived spelling reform enacted under the government of Aleksandar Stamboliyski that was abolished in 1923, restoring the Drinov orthography.

1945 Orthographic Reform (Правописна реформа от 1945 г.)

A major reform aimed at updating and democratizing spelling; it removed the big yus (голямата носовка) and yat (ят), eliminated word-final silent Ъ and Ь on masculine nouns, and established official punctuation rules.

Elision of [т] (Закон за елизията на [т])

A phonetic law whose phonetic spelling without [т] was selectively and inconsistently adopted during the 1945 reform for a small set of words (e.g., расна, лешник, овошка, сърце, празник, плешка, прошка).

"Официален правописен речник на българския език" (2012)

The most recent official normative spelling dictionary codifying Bulgarian orthography and punctuation rules.