VOWELS
The vowel system of Contemporary Standard Bulgarian comprises 6
phonemes, as follows.
SYMBOL GLOSS TRANSCRIPTION
i peak pik
e sunshine pek
a again pak
@ but p@k
O under pOt
u crack! puk
In unstressed positions there is considerable qualitative reduction of vowels.
CONSONANTS
The consonant system comprises 21 ``hard'' (non-palatalised) phonemes,
as follows.
SYMBOL | GLOSS | TRANSCRIPTION | |
p | again | pak | |
b | ball | bal | |
t | there | tam | |
d | I give | dam | |
k | how | kak | |
g | gas | gas | |
ts | czar | tsar | |
dz | clang | dz@n | |
tS | teak | tSam | |
dZ | glass | dZam | |
f | fall | fal | |
v | wall | val | |
s | alone | sam | |
z | dice | zar | |
S | shawl | Sal | |
Z | pity | Zal | |
x | bad luck | xal | |
m | displacement | max | |
n | us | nas | |
l | polish | lak | |
r | once | ras |
There are also 18 ``soft'' (palatalised or palatal) consonants, which are shown by the symbol ``''' (ASCII 39) written after the consonant symbol. Before /i, e/ they do not contrast with the corresponding ``hard'' consonants, but elsewhere they do.
SYMBOL | GLOSS | TRANSCRIPTION | |
p' | sang | p'al | |
b' | white | b'al | |
t' | them | t'ax | |
d' | apart | d'al | |
k' | prophet | k'ar | |
g' | rose | g'ul | |
ts' | whole | ts'al | |
dz' | have bad luck | dz'an | |
f' | Fyut (name) | f'ut | |
v' | feeble | v'al | |
s' | sowed | s'al | |
z' | be badly off | z'an | |
x' | Hume (name) | x'um | |
m' | wineskin | m'ax | |
n' | mute | n'am | |
l' | poured | l'ax | |
r' | cut | r'as | |
j | ate | jal |