Archives
Archives of Department for Bulgarian Dialectology and Linguistic Geography
Archive of the Bulgarian Dialect Atlas
The Archive includes dialect material from 2400 villages found on the entire language territory both within and outside of the state borders. 470 researchers have taken part in the dialectological expeditions – researchers from the Department for Bulgarian Dialectology and Linguistic Geography, lecturers from Sofia University, teachers and students. For the purposes of material collection a special programme has been created by prof. St. Stoykov which covers specific features of the Bulgarian dialects. The rich authentic material of the folk speech has been presented in special questionnaires which led to the creation of 1450 card-indices. This is a unique archive with authentic material collected over many years which preserves the living folk speech. It presents the microsystem of every single Bulgarian dialect and the archive as a whole serves as a description of the Bulgarian language at dialectal level.
The Archive is unique nationally as well as internationally as a comprehensive study of the dialects. The material has proven useful to dialectologists, ethnolinguists, historians of the language, ethnologists, etc. It is of significance for Slavic, Balkan, European studies, for research in Humanities, as well as for the spiritual culture of Bulgarians.
Archive of the Bulgarian Dialect Dictionary
The Archive contains over 2 million entries and represents the linguistic wealth of Bulgarian dialects both within and outside of the state borders. The dialect words have been excerpted from archives and published sources. The authentic records from various regions made during the numerous dialectological expeditions are of special value. The Archive contains some extremely rare and even extinct archaic words which are significant for uncovering the history of the Bulgarian language. The comprehesive dialectal material can be used for solving many fundamental research tasks of linguistics. Many Bulgarian and foreign scientists in Slavic, Bulgarian and Balkan Studies, linguists and ethnolinguists, use the Archive as a reliable source of authentic material.
Archive of the European Linguistic Atlas
The Archive contains indexed material from the Bulgarian network (32 villages) collected using Questionnaire I. Onomasiology. Basic vocabulary. It consists of 546 questions covering: Universe, Humans, Universe and Humans, subdivided into lexical-semantic groups, e.g. Universe contains: sky and celestial bodies, plants, animals, etc.; Humans – general information about humans, body and body parts, actions, human needs (foods, drinks), clothing, feelings, mind and memory, etc.
Archive of the Slavic Linguistic Atlas
The Archive contains linguistic material from 36 villages, five of which are found outside of the state borders. The field work have been performed using a specially designed Questionnaire of SLA (Moscow, 1965), which contains 3454 questions concerning different linguistic levels. The material has been collected for over 10 years (1965-1975) by researchers from the Department of Bulgarian Dialectology and Linguistic Geography, who led teams of students from Sofia University. The Archive includes over 100 000 entries. They represent the microsystem of each of the 36 Bulgarian dialects and as a whole the archive contains linguistic material describing the macrosystem of the Bulgarian language at dialect level.
Archive of the Carpathian Dialect Atlas
The Archive includes dialect material from 15 villages in Bulgaria. The Questionnaire contains 785 questions concerning mainly the semantics of the entries, distributed in various lexical-semantic groups: Folk lifestyle; Beliefs, rituals, customs; Physical features of humans and related activities; Plants; Agriculture; Animals; Livestock; etc.
Archives of Department for Bulgarian Lexicology and Lexicography
The Archives of DBLL are the first and only systematically collected textual resource which includes samples from all genres of the original Bulgarian literature and the best translations of the world classics. They contain 7 million index cards. The material has been collected for over 60 years (1942-1985) following a special lexicographical programme, so that the Archives to be a base for compiling different dictionaries of the Bulgarian language.
The Archives are invaluable and unique resource among other European analogues because of the methodology followed in their collection and technical design. Texts from various genres and historical period have been processed using specially developed philological instructions. The original orthography and syntax of the texts have been preserved. This complex approach turns the archives into a widely varied corpus. The archives can be applied for the purposes of lexical and lexicographic studies, as well as other linguistic research on Bulgarian: morphological, syntactic, spelling, orthography and punctuation in synchrony and diachronic.
General Archive
The General Archive comprises the main part of the archives. It contains materials from literature and periodicals throughout the 20th century. The classic Bulgarian literature and the most popular published texts from that time were also included. The Archive presents the Bulgarian Language in its genre and lexical diversity. This ensures the Archive is representative of the variety of the language in terms of functional features and genres.
Archive of the Bulgarian Revival
The Archive includes material from the first printed book in new Bulgarian “Nedelnik” by Sofroniy Vrachanski (1806) up to the end of 19th century with authentic graphics and orthography. Printed books from all literature genres have been included. Graphics and orthography have been preserved – this method in terms of volume and precision is used only in Bulgaria at the Department of Lexicology and Lexicography. This approach allows the study of the entire development of modern standard Bulgarian: lexical and grammatical structure, syntax development, interrelations and influences between Bulgarian and the other European and non-European languages during the 19th century.
Folklore Archive
The Archive comprises materials from published folklore and dialect descriptions in the multi-volume “Collection of Bulgarian Folklore”. It gives information about widely used dialect words and phrases, which have spread across dialect borders.
Terminological Archive
The Terminological Archive contains material from Bulgarian school and university textbooks, as well as popular science literature. The aim is to present widely spread terms from various specialised areas.
Archive of Authentic Spoken Language
The Archive contains material from the spoken language of different social and professional circles so that typical lexis from these circles can be analysed.
Archive of Hristo Botev
The Archive contains material from the complete works of Hristo Botev for the purposes of compiling a dictionary of the language of the author.
Archive of Lyuben Karavelov
The Archive contains material from the complete works of Lyuben Karavelov for the purposes of compiling a dictionary of the language of the author.
