Macedonian language
The Macedonian language (Македонски, Makedonski) is a
language in the Eastern group of South Slavic languages. It is spoken by two million people, primarily in the Republic of Macedonia, the Macedonian Slavs.
The Macedonian language is closely related to the Bulgarian
language, and Bulgarian and Macedonian share similarities to Romanian, Greek, and Albanian. These five languages make up the Balkan language league. Macedonian also has similarities
with Serbian.
Macedonian is the official language in the Republic of
Macedonia, and officially recognized in the District of
Korçë in Albania. Native speakers are also found in Serbia and Montenegro, Greece, and Albania.
Macedonian is the only Slavic language apart from Bulgarian which has no noun cases, but three different definite
articles, which are used as suffixes.
A modified Cyrillic script, Macedonian Cyrillic with 31
letters, is used for writing.
Cyrillic, with Glagolitic, was an old Slavic script, used for the original
Old Slavonic language. Only Cyrillic is used today,
probably because the letters are simpler (derived by the Greek
alphabet) and more easily learnt when scholars like Saint Cyril
introduced Christian writings to the Slavic people.
Macedonian is taught as a subject in several university centres in the world, and is being taught in all universities of the
former Yugoslavia.
Bulgarian view on the Macedonian language
Although it was the first country to recognise the independence of the Republic of Macedonia, Bulgaria has refused to
recognise the existence of a separate Macedonian nation and a separate Macedonian language. It is argued that the language of the
Macedonian Slavs was usually regarded as a Bulgarian dialect before the 1940s and that Macedonian linguists resort to
falsifications of history and documents to prove the existence of a Macedonian language before that time. An example given is the
collection of folk songs published in 1861 by the Miladinov Brothers under the title 'Bulgarian Folk Songs'. The book has been re-printed in the Republic of Macedonia under the name 'Collection' and presented
as a collection of Macedonian lyrics.
Greek view on the Macedonian language
The name of the language is considered offensive by Greece and many Greeks, who
assert that the dialect spoken by Alexander the Great in
ancient Macedon is the only "Macedonian language". They further argue that since
Slavic immigration to the region did not begin until well after the decline of the Macedonian Empire, it is historically
inaccurate to refer to a Slavic language as Macedonian. However, most non-Greek parties such as international news
organizations and language scholars refer to the language as "Macedonian". See Republic of Macedonia for more on the related naming dispute.
Alphabet
The Macedonian alphabet is based on the Serbian alphabet. For more information and for differences with the Bulgarian
alphabet, see Cyrillic alphabet and Bulgarian language.
| Macedonian alphabet |
| Upper case |
Lower case |
SAMPA |
| А |
а |
/a/ |
| Б |
б |
/b/ |
| В |
в |
/v/ |
| Γ |
г |
/g/ |
| Д |
д |
/d/ |
| Ѓ |
ѓ |
/g_j/ |
| Е |
е |
/e/ |
| Ж |
ж |
/Z/ |
| З |
з |
/z/ |
| Ѕ |
ѕ |
/dz/ |
| И |
и |
/i/ |
| Ј |
ј |
/j/ |
| К |
к |
/k/ |
| Л |
л |
/l/ |
| Љ |
љ |
/L/ |
| М |
м |
/m/ |
| Н |
н |
/n/ |
| Њ |
њ |
/J/ |
| О |
о |
/o/ |
| П |
п |
/p/ |
| Р |
р |
/r/ |
| С |
с |
/s/ |
| Т |
т |
/t/ |
| Ќ |
ќ |
/k_j/ |
| У |
у |
/u/ |
| Ф |
ф |
/v/ |
| Х |
х |
/x/ |
| Ц |
ц |
/ts/ |
| Ч |
ч |
/tS/ |
| Џ |
џ |
/dZ/ |
| Ш |
ш |
/S/ |
Differences from Bulgarian
Bulgarian and Macedonian are very closely related. However, there are also certain significant differences between the two
languages. Roughly 15% of the whole vocabulary of both languages is different, although most words usually exist in the other
language with a different or slightly modified meaning. 65% of the words are only differently accented, and 20% are identical.
Lexical differences are owing to a great extent to loanwords borrowed by Bulgarian from Russian and by Macedonian from Serbian in
the middle and the end of the 20th century.
Generally, there is little trouble for a Bulgarian speaker to understand a Macedonian speaker, and vice versa.
External links
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