| Revision as of 07:38, 9 August 2005 view source203.23.27.1 (talk) →Greek view on the Macedonian language← Previous edit | Revision as of 08:04, 9 August 2005 view source 203.23.27.1 (talk) →HistoryNext edit → | ||
| Line 26: | Line 26: | ||
| == History == | == History == | ||
| ⚫ | The 19th century, accompanied by pan-Slavic nationalism, saw the first attempts to resolve the question of linguistic norms in the Bulgarian-Macedonian ]. Writers from Macedonia advocated a common ] based on the Slavic dialects in Macedonia or on a compromise between the upper-Bulgarian (northeastern Bulgarian) and the western Macedonian dialects. Writers from Bulgaria, however, insisted on the adoption of the northeastern Bulgarian dialect only. The establishment of an autonomous ]n principality north of the ] led eventually to the adoption of the Eastern literary variant although the preservation of the letters {{IPA|ѣ}} and {{IPA|ѫ}} even after the codification of the Bulgarian language in ] maintained some differences between eastern Bulgarian and western Bulgarian and Macedonian dialects. |
||
| According to the theory that says ] tribes come from "behind ]", ] that populate southernmost part of ] were ]. They comply ] and sell ] customs and language to ] but they accepted deployed production activities, keeping cattles and agriculture. Populating the land that was known as ], Slavic tribes got names Dragoviti (Dragovitty), Smoljani (Smollyany), Strumjani (Strummyany), Brsjaci (Brsyazy) etc. We do not have any artefact that will tell us the name of the tribes that used to live "behind ]", between River Dnjepar (Dnyeparr) and River Dnjestar (Dnyestarr). For the time being we'll use the term ] (Sloveni, pronounced Slovenny). | |||
| The word Sloveni (] in Slavic, pronounced in Slavic as Slovenny) and the word slovo (letter in Slavic) have a same root. Both words appeared in a same period of time. We know that Kiril (]) and Metodij's (]') mission was miraculous because ] quickly accepted Slavic alphabet (Glagolica, pronounced as Glagolytsa) and Slavic language. Kiril (]) and Metodij (]), of mother Marija (Mariya) and father Lav (Love) are from Solun (Thessaloniki, pronounced as Solunn). Lav is ] name. According to the theory that says Slavic tribes come from "behind ]", Slavic tribes didn't succeed to conquer Solun (]). Hence ] and ] did not come from the tribes that attempted to conquer ]. ] and ] translate the ] and some Christian books in ] only in a couple of months and Slavic people accepted them very quickly. Hence ] had to speak some very similar dialects to ] language. Thousands of years people of ] lived together. ]'s neighbors were Ilirija (Ilyriya, present ], ] and ]) and Trakija (Trakiya, present ]). It is very possible that ] (Sloven in Slavic) means "one that begin to write in letters (slova in Slavic)". | |||
| ⚫ | The 19th century, accompanied by pan-Slavic nationalism, saw the first attempts to resolve the question of linguistic norms in the Bulgarian-Macedonian ]. Writers from Macedonia advocated a common ] based on the Slavic dialects in Macedonia or on a compromise between the upper-Bulgarian (northeastern Bulgarian) and the western Macedonian dialects. Writers from Bulgaria, however, insisted on the adoption of the northeastern Bulgarian dialect only. The establishment of an autonomous ]n principality north of the ] led eventually to the adoption of the Eastern literary variant although the preservation of the letters {{IPA|ѣ}} and {{IPA|ѫ}} even after the codification of the Bulgarian language in ] maintained some differences between eastern Bulgarian and western Bulgarian and Macedonian dialects. | ||
| == Bulgarian view on the Macedonian language == | == Bulgarian view on the Macedonian language == | ||
Revision as of 08:04, 9 August 2005
- This article is about the Slavic Macedonian language. For the language spoken by the ancient Macedonians, see: Ancient Macedonian language.
error: ISO 639 code is required (help)
The Macedonian language (Македонски, Makedonski) is a language in the Eastern group of South Slavic languages. It is spoken by some 2 million people, primarily in the Republic of Macedonia, the Macedonian Slavs.
The Macedonian language is most closely related to the Bulgarian language. Macedonian also has similarities with Serbian, particularly Old Serbian. Bulgarian and Macedonian share typological similarities with Romanian, Greek, and Albanian. These five languages make up the Balkan language league, even though they are all from different language families (Romanian is a Romance language, while Greek and Albanian comprise their own branches in the Indo-European family).
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. All the languages of the ethnic communities with over 20% of representation in municipalities are municipal official languages. These include Albanian, Turkish, Serbian and Romany. Macedonian is the only Slavic language apart from Bulgarian which has no noun cases, but three different definite articles (-ot,-ta,-to,-te:-ov,-va,-vo,-ve;-on,-na,-no,-ne), 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 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.
History
According to the theory that says Slavic tribes come from "behind Carpathian Mountains", Slavs that populate southernmost part of Balkans were Macedonian Slavs. They comply Ancient Macedonians and sell Slavic customs and language to Ancient Macedonians but they accepted deployed production activities, keeping cattles and agriculture. Populating the land that was known as Macedonia, Slavic tribes got names Dragoviti (Dragovitty), Smoljani (Smollyany), Strumjani (Strummyany), Brsjaci (Brsyazy) etc. We do not have any artefact that will tell us the name of the tribes that used to live "behind Carpathian Mountains", between River Dnjepar (Dnyeparr) and River Dnjestar (Dnyestarr). For the time being we'll use the term Slavs (Sloveni, pronounced Slovenny).
The word Sloveni (Slavs in Slavic, pronounced in Slavic as Slovenny) and the word slovo (letter in Slavic) have a same root. Both words appeared in a same period of time. We know that Kiril (Cyril) and Metodij's (Methodius') mission was miraculous because Slavic people quickly accepted Slavic alphabet (Glagolica, pronounced as Glagolytsa) and Slavic language. Kiril (Cyril) and Metodij (Methodius), of mother Marija (Mariya) and father Lav (Love) are from Solun (Thessaloniki, pronounced as Solunn). Lav is Ancient Macedonian name. According to the theory that says Slavic tribes come from "behind Carpathian Mountains", Slavic tribes didn't succeed to conquer Solun (Thessaloniki). Hence Kiril and Metodij did not come from the tribes that attempted to conquer Solun. Kiril and Metodij translate the Bible and some Christian books in Old Slavic only in a couple of months and Slavic people accepted them very quickly. Hence Slavic people had to speak some very similar dialects to Old Slavic language. Thousands of years people of Balkans lived together. Macedonia's neighbors were Ilirija (Ilyriya, present Croatia, Hercegovina and Montenegro) and Trakija (Trakiya, present Bulgaria). It is very possible that Slav (Sloven in Slavic) means "one that begin to write in letters (slova in Slavic)".
The 19th century, accompanied by pan-Slavic nationalism, saw the first attempts to resolve the question of linguistic norms in the Bulgarian-Macedonian diasystem. Writers from Macedonia advocated a common Bulgarian language based on the Slavic dialects in Macedonia or on a compromise between the upper-Bulgarian (northeastern Bulgarian) and the western Macedonian dialects. Writers from Bulgaria, however, insisted on the adoption of the northeastern Bulgarian dialect only. The establishment of an autonomous Bulgarian principality north of the Stara Planina led eventually to the adoption of the Eastern literary variant although the preservation of the letters ѣ and ѫ even after the codification of the Bulgarian language in 1899 maintained some differences between eastern Bulgarian and western Bulgarian and Macedonian dialects.
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 regarded as a Bulgarian dialect before the 1940s and that Macedonian linguists resort to falsifications of history and documents in order to further the opinion that there was a consciousness of a separate Macedonian language before that time. Apart from this historical argument, the supporters of the Bulgarian view often state that the differences between Bulgarian and Macedonian, from an everyday and/or linguistical point of view, are insufficient to justify the recognition of the latter as a separate language. To assess the validity of these arguments in a broader perspective, see dialect.
Greek propaganda on the Macedonian language
After Treaty of Bucharest, 1913 Aegean part of Macedonia was annexed by Greece. Around a million of Macedonians have to leave their homes and immigrate in the rest of the world. Greek military and army burned many Macedonian villages. Greek government prohibited Macedonian language. A lot of books that were written in Macedonian - burned. So, the name of the language is considered "offensive" by Greece and many Greeks, who assert that the Ancient Macedonian language 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. Quite often Greek "arguments" are similar to the Bulgarian ones, mainly that Macedonian was created artificially by Tito for political reasons. 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, as any Slavic Cyrillic alphabet, is ultimately based on the Cyrillic alphabet of Saint Cyril and Saint Methodius; it is an adaptation of Vuk Karadžić's phonetic alphabet.
| Macedonian alphabet | ||
|---|---|---|
| Upper case | Lower case | IPA |
| А | а | /a/ |
| Б | б | /b/ |
| В | в | /v/ |
| Γ | г | /g/ |
| Д | д | /d/ |
| Ѓ | ѓ | /gʲ/ |
| Е | е | /e/ |
| Ж | ж | /ʒ/ |
| З | з | /z/ |
| Ѕ | ѕ | /dz/ |
| И | и | /i/ |
| Ј | ј | /j/ |
| К | к | /k/ |
| Л | л | /l/ |
| Љ | љ | /ʎ/ |
| М | м | /m/ |
| Н | н | /n/ |
| Њ | њ | /ɲ/ |
| О | о | /o/ |
| П | п | /p/ |
| Р | р | /r/ |
| С | с | /s/ |
| Т | т | /t/ |
| Ќ | ќ | /kʲ/ |
| У | у | /u/ |
| Ф | ф | /f/ |
| Х | х | /x/ |
| Ц | ц | /ts/ |
| Ч | ч | /tʃ/ |
| Џ | џ | /dʒ/ |
| Ш | ш | /ʃ/ |
Similarities to other languages
The Macedonian, Bulgarian, and Serbian languages are related, but they are significantly different. A lexicological comparison between Macedonian and Bulgarian reveals that 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. Compared to other languages the statistical differences between Bulgarian and Macedonian are similar to those between Afrikaans and Dutch language. Generally, there is little trouble for a Macedonian speaker to understand and communicate with Serbian, Bulgarian, Russian and Ukranian speakers, and vice versa.
External links
- Ethnologue report for Macedonian
- BBC Education - Languages: Macedonian, Makedonski
- Macedonian - English Dictionary
- Reading and Pronouncing Macedonian: An Interactive Tutorial
Note
¤ The use of the terms Republic of Macedonia and Macedonian(s) throughout this article is not meant to imply an official position on the naming dispute between Athens and Skopje. See Foreign relations of the Republic of Macedonia: Naming Dispute, Republic of Macedonia: Naming Dispute and United Nations Resolution 817 (1993)
Categories: