Teteven dialect

Phonological and morphological characteristics

• The articulation of yat generally follows the Central Balkan dialect. However, the Teteven dialect features a much greater number of cases of articulation of than either the Balkan dialects or Standard Bulgarian, e.g. before ж, ш, ч, in one-syllable words and in certain verbs. This brings the Teteven dialect closer to certain Rup dialects: черша vs. formal Bulgarian череша, мт vs. formal Bulgarian мет

• Articulation of Old Church Slavonic ѫ and ъ as broad е in a stressed syllable and as a slightly reduced a in an unstressed syllable, as in the Erkech dialect: зп vs. formal зъп, дажд vs. formal дъждът
• for Old Church Slavonic little yus with palatalisation of the preceding consonant: кл҄етва vs. formal Bulgarian клетва
• Transition of a into e only after a soft consonant and ч but not before ж and ш and лъ/ъл in Standard Bulgarian - дрво, слза instead of дърво, сълза
• The masculine definite article is broad е in a stressed syllable and as a slightly reduced a in an unstressed syllable: даж'д vs. formal Bulgarian дъж'дът
• Ending e instead of formal Bulgarian i for plural past active aorist participles, as in the Northwestern Bulgarian dialects
• Ending e instead of formal Bulgarian i''' for multi-syllable masculine nouns