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 |