DIASTRATY AND DIACHRONY. CHANGES IN THE LEXIS OF MEDIEVAL BULGARIAN MANUSCRIPTS

Vanya Micheva
Institute for Bulgarian Language, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences

Abstract

The paper examines the lexical changes in two copies of Hagiography of s. Mary of Egypt and in two texts of Hagiography of s. Paraskeva. The first copy of Hagiography of s. Mary of Egypt is in Bdinski zbornik from 14th c. and the second copy is in New Bulgarian damascene of Tihonravov from 17th c. The author of the original Hagiography of s. Paraskeva from 14th c. is Patriarch Euthimius and the copy is in New
Bulgarian damascene of Tihonravov from 17th c. Some words and phrases are analyzed in a relation with diastratic variation, or variation according to the social class or to the social group to which the authors and recipients of the texts feel they belong, and with diachronic
variation, or variation through time. The linguistic facts show that diastratic lexical changes are very important in the history of Bulgarian language.

Keywords: diastratic variation, diachronic variation, history of Bulgarian language, lexical changes