# Bulgarian: Yat vowel



## Kartof

In standard Bulgarian, the former yat vowel "Ѣ" is pronounced and spelled as "я" in stressed positions and as "e" in non-stressed positions.  I've noticed that in quick speech, sometimes I'll invert they're uses.  For example, occasionally I'll say "ейца" instead of the proper "яйца" or I'll say "ятаж" instead of "етаж" (granted, етаж is a French borrowing and I'm not sure if it was ever spelled with a yat).  I should not that I'm from eastern Bulgaria and so the я usage should come more readily to me.  However, in emphatic speech, the distinction between the я and е which replaced the yat vowel become blurred or even almost indiscernible to my ears.  Perhaps the yat vowel hasn't truly died off after all and this is the result of its remnants?


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## iobyo

But _яйце _didn't have a yat either_.
_
Perhaps you're describing a type of reduction or even interference from your dialect?


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## Kartof

Interesting! I had just assumed but I suppose that if the yat wasn't there, it wasn't there.  A type of reduction, maybe, but an interference from my dialect isn't likely since I don't usually speak to people who speak (using that much of) my dialect.  Then again, I have noticed some dialectalisms rise up occasionally in my speech and this may be one of them.  I'm fascinated to know if anyone has any explanation for this.


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## Vulcho

Pronouncing "e" instead of "ja" in unstressed position is pretty common in all of eastern Bulgaria. Many people from Sofia do it too (at least I do it). For example: обЕвявам, обЕснявам, съжЕлявам, Еде (яде), случЕй and so on. I think in the past jat merged with "ja" in eastern Bulgaria (that's why in the Glagolitic alphabet there's only one symbol for both sounds). It should be noted that jat is not always pronounced "ja" in stressed position, but only before hard consonants. However, today nobody says "е" instead of etymological stressed "ja" before a soft consonant, as one would expect if jat=ja. The only exception to this is the common "кафЕви", and a couple of words that have entered the standard language, like "печЕля" (but "печАлба"). I believe this is because people don't pay much attention to how they pronounce unstressed vowels, so saying "хилЕди" would not be seen as severe error as "прийЕтел" for example. So there was a tendency to eliminate the "e" in place of stressed "ja", but not in unstressed. This is my interpretation at least.


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## osemnais

> I'll say "ейца" instead of the proper "яйца"


to me this looks like secondary yat vowel(etymological a changing into e under specific conditions): чаша, but чеши, жаба, but жеби, ами becomes еми.


> I should not that I'm from eastern Bulgaria and so the я usage should come more readily to me.


There are many eastern dialects that have different reflexes of yat vowel than the literary language. Some have three or four vowels in the place of original yat, depending on the neighbouring sounds(sometimes there is also sandhi).


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## iobyo

osemnais said:


> to me this looks like secondary yat vowel(etymological a changing into e under specific conditions): чаша, but чеши, жаба, but жеби, ами becomes еми.



I thought this was because of the preceding 'soft' consonant: _чеша_, _чеши_; _жеба_, _жеби_.


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## osemnais

iobyo said:


> I thought this was because of the preceding 'soft' consonant: _чеша_, _чеши_; _жеба_, _жеби_.



that's a different thing, in the one case etimological a is confused with etimological yat(yat after soft consonant became a), whereas in the other the soft consonant changes the following vowel.


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## Kartof

I don't follow, can somebody explain what the vowels in Bulgarian were like before and after the yat merger?  Is there any reliable way to pick out which я/е were a yat before the merger and which aren't?


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## iobyo

osemnais said:


> that's a different thing, in the one case etimological a is confused with etimological yat(yat after soft consonant became a), whereas in the other the soft consonant changes the following vowel.



I see. Thank you.


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## osemnais

Kartof said:


> I don't follow, can somebody explain what the vowels in Bulgarian were like before and after the yat merger?  Is there any reliable way to pick out which я/е were a yat before the merger and which aren't?



before: Ѣ а е
after: different in various dialects; i suppose you know the rules when to use it in standard language
here you can see the reflex of yat in various dialects



> Is there any reliable way to pick out which я/е were a yat before the merger and which aren't?


 
There's no general rule, however there are several more or less reliable indications:
-я and е after р and л:  срѢда, прѢд, прѢ-, слѢдя, слѢд, брѢг, млѢко (this is due to the methathesis of liquid consonants)
-е in the end of pronouns, adverbs and numerals: двѢ, добрѢ, къдѢ, тѢ, злѢ, горѢ
-е and я in the aorist and imperfect tense suffixes (except for е in ше): видѢ, мислѢше
-я in the beginging of a nouns or adjevtice, adverb generally comes from an older а: ягода, ябълка, ярък, ясен from агода, абълка, арък, асен
these dont cover all cases of yat vowel though


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## Kartof

Thanks for your answer Osemnais.

What was the original pronunciation of Ѣ in Bulgarian?


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## osemnais

Kartof said:


> Thanks for your answer Osemnais.
> 
> What was the original pronunciation of Ѣ in Bulgarian?


Some say æ, but we cant really know. In Glagolatic script(which was made specifically based upon one dialect, cant recall which one) there was only one letter both for the yat and я, which undoubtably shows that in some dialects already in the 9th century the yat was pronounced я.


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## Vulcho

osemnais said:


> Some say æ, but we cant really know. In Glagolatic script(which was made specifically based upon one dialect, cant recall which one) there was only one letter both for the yat and я, which undoubtably shows that in some dialects already in the 9th century the yat was pronounced я.



Or more likely я was pronounced as æ, as it is in modern Rodopi dialects.


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## osemnais

Vulcho said:


> Or more likely я was pronounced as æ, as it is in modern Rodopi dialects.


If that was the case, ясьнъ would have sounded the same as Ѣсьнъ, which would have given есен, and not ясен. So я cant have changed its sounding to Ѣ, it was the other way round.


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## Vulcho

osemnais said:


> If that was the case, ясьнъ would have sounded the same as Ѣсьнъ, which would have given есен, and not ясен. So я cant have changed its sounding to Ѣ, it was the other way round.



Well, even if jat became /ja/ the expected descendent of ясьнъ would again be есен. I guess that was the eastern word, even though today it is not used. If the two sounds merged into one phoneme, it doesn't really matter which one, but modern dialects support more an /æ/ pronunciation.


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## osemnais

> Well, even if jat became /ja/ the expected descendent of ясьнъ  would again be есен.


First, yat did eventually became [ja] in  some positions and second, the reflex of ясьнъ would always have been  ясен and not есен since ясьнъ never had a jat vowel in it (we are  talking about literary language and not a dialect, or am i missing a  point somewhere?)


> I guess that was the eastern word, even though today it is not used. If


Im talking about ясен as in clear, not as in autumn. The old Bulgarian word for autumn was есень iirc.


> If the two sounds merged into one phoneme, it doesn't really matter which one,


 they didnt completely, the yat partly merged with я and partly with е.


> but modern dialects support more an /æ/ pronunciation.


Again, which dialect(s) are we talking about? I have left with the impression we're discussing the literary language.


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