Balkan sprachbund

See also: Paleo-Balkan languages

The Balkan sprachbund or Balkan language area is the ensemble of areal features—similarities in grammar, syntax, vocabulary and phonology—among the languages of the Balkans. Several features are found across these languages though not all need apply to every single language. The languages in question may be wholly unrelated as modern forms in that they belong to various branches of Indo-European (such as Slavic, Greek, Romance, Albanian and Indo-Aryan) or even outside of Indo-European (such as Turkish). Some of the languages use these features for their standard language (i.e. those whose homeland lies almost entirely within the region) whilst other populations to whom the land is not a cultural pivot (as they have wider communities outside of it) may still adopt the features for their local register; this in turn is viewed as non-standard by their respective peoples away from the region.

While they share little vocabulary, their grammars have very extensive similarities; for example they have similar case systems and verb conjugation systems and have all become more analytic, although to differing degrees.

History

The earliest scholar to notice the similarities between Balkan languages belonging to different families was the Slovenian scholar Jernej Kopitar in 1829. August Schleicher (1850) more explicitly developed the concept of areal relationships as opposed to genetic ones, and Franc Miklošič (1861) studied the relationships of Balkan Slavic and Romance more extensively.

Nikolai Trubetzkoy (1923), Kristian Sandfeld-Jensen (1930), and Gustav Weigand (1925) developed the theory in the 1920s and 1930s.

In the 1930s, the Romanian linguist Alexandru Graur criticized the notion of “Balkan linguistics,” saying that one can talk about “relationships of borrowings, of influences, but not about Balkan linguistics”.

The term "Balkan language area" was coined by the Romanian linguist Alexandru Rosetti in 1958, when he claimed that the shared features conferred the Balkan languages a special similarity. Theodor Capidan went further, claiming that the structure of Balkan languages could be reduced to a standard language. Many of the earliest reports on this theory were in German, hence the term "Balkansprachbund" is often used as well.

Languages

The languages that share these similarities belong to five distinct branches of the Indo-European languages:

• Albanian
• Hellenic (Greek)
• Romance languages (Romanian, Aromanian, Megleno-Romance and Istro-Romanian)
• Slavic languages (Bulgarian, Macedonian, Serbo-Croatian — especially the Torlakian dialect, which is transitional between Macedonian, Bulgarian and Serbo-Croatian)
• Indo-Aryan (Roma/Gypsy & Balkan "Egyptian")

The Finnish linguist Jouko Lindstedt computed in 2000 a "Balkanization factor" which gives each Balkan language a score proportional with the number of features shared in the Balkan language area. The results were:

Language	Score
Balkan Slavic	11.5
Albanian	10.5
Greek, Balkan Romance	9.5
Romani (Gypsy)	7.5

Another language that may have been influenced by the Balkan language union is the Judaeo-Spanish variant that used to be spoken by Sephardi Jews living in the Balkans. The grammatical features shared (especially regarding the tense system) were most likely borrowed from Greek.

Origins

Language contact and evolution since Jirecek, Gołąb, Kopitar, Sanfeld, Solta and Weigand : "Illyrian-Thracian" means Paleo-Balkan languages.

The source of these features as well as the directions have long been debated, and various theories were suggested.

Thracian, Illyrian or Dacian

Since most of these features cannot be found in languages related to those that belong to the language area (such as other Slavic or Romance languages), early researchers, including Kopitar, believed they must have been inherited from the Paleo-Balkan languages (e.g. Illyrian, Thracian and Dacian) which formed the substrate for modern Balkan languages. But since very little is known about Paleo-Balkan languages, it cannot be determined whether the features were present. The strongest candidate for a shared Paleo-Balkan feature is the postposed article.

Greek

Another theory, advanced by Kristian Sandfeld in 1930, was that these features were an entirely Greek influence, under the presumption that since Greece "always had a superior civilization compared to its neighbours", Greek could not have borrowed its linguistic features from them. However, no ancient dialects of Greek possessed Balkanisms, so that the features shared with other regional languages appear to be post-classical innovations. Also, Greek appears to be only peripheral to the Balkan language area, lacking some important features, such as the postposed article. Nevertheless, several of the features that Greek does share with the other languages (loss of dative, replacement of infinitive by subjunctive constructions, object clitics, formation of future with auxiliary verb "to want") probably originated in Medieval Greek and spread to the other languages through Byzantine influence.

Latin and Romance

The Roman Empire ruled all the Balkans, and local variation of Latin may have left its mark on all languages there, which were later the substrate to Slavic newcomers. This was proposed by Georg Solta. The weak point of this theory is that other Romance languages have few of the features, and there is no proof that the Balkan Romans were isolated for enough time to develop them. An argument for this would be the structural borrowings or "linguistic calques" into Macedonian from Aromanian, which could be explained by Aromanian being a substrate of Macedonian, but this still does not explain the origin of these innovations in Aromanian. The analytic perfect with the auxiliary verb "to have" (which some Balkan languages share with Western European languages), is the only feature whose origin can fairly safely be traced to Latin.

Multiple sources

The most commonly accepted theory, advanced by Polish scholar Zbigniew Gołąb, is that the innovations came from different sources and the languages influenced each other: some features can be traced from Latin, Slavic or Greek languages, while others, particularly features that are shared only by Romanian, Albanian, Macedonian and Bulgarian, could be explained by the substratum kept after Romanization (in the case of Romanian) or Slavicization (in the case of Bulgarian). Albanian was influenced by both Latin and Slavic, but it kept many of its original characteristics.

Several arguments favour this theory. First, throughout the turbulent history of the Balkans, many groups of people moved to another place, inhabited by people of another ethnicity. These small groups were usually assimilated quickly and sometimes left marks in the new language they acquired. Second, the use of more than one language was common in the Balkans before the modern age, and a drift in one language would quickly spread to other languages. Third, the dialects that have the most "balkanisms" are those in regions where people had contact with people of many other languages.

Features

Grammatical features

Case system

The number of cases is reduced, several cases being replaced with prepositions, the only exception being Serbo-Croatian. In Bulgarian and Macedonian, on the other hand, this development has actually led to the loss of all cases except the vocative.

A common case system of a Balkan language is:

• Nominative
• Accusative
• Dative / Genitive (merged)
• Vocative

Syncretism of genitive and dative

In the Balkan languages, the genitive and dative cases (or corresponding prepositional constructions) undergo syncretism.

Example:

Language	Dative	Genitive
English	I gave the book to Maria.	It is Maria's book.
Albanian	Librin ia dhashë Marisë.	Libri është i Marisë.
Aromanian	Vivlia lju dedu ali Marii.	Vivlia easti ali Marii.
Bulgarian	Дадох книгата на Мария [dadoh knigata na Marija]	Книгата е на Мария [knigata e na Marija]
Romanian	I-am dat cartea Mariei. colloq. for fem. (oblig. for masc.): I-am dat cartea lui Marian.	Cartea este a Mariei. colloq. for fem. (oblig. for masc.): Cartea este a lui Marian.
Macedonian	Ѝ ја дадов книгата на Марија. [ì ja dadov knigata na Marija]	Книгата е на Марија. [knigata e na Marija]
Greek	Έδωσα το βιβλίο στην Μαρία. [édhosa to vivlío stin María]      or Έδωσα το βιβλίο της Μαρίας. [édhosa to vivlío tis Marías]	Είναι το βιβλίο της Μαρίας. [íne to vivlío tis Marías]
	Της το έδωσα [tis to édhosa] 'I gave it to her.'	Είναι το βιβλίο της. [íne to vivlío tis] 'It is her book.'

Syncretism of locative and directional expressions

language	"in Greece"	"into Greece"
Albanian	në Greqi	për/brenda në Greqi
Aromanian	tu Gârția; tu Grecu	tu Gârția; tu Grecu
Bulgarian	в Гърция (v Gărcija)	в Гърция (v Gărcija)
Greek	στην Ελλάδα (stin Elládha)	στην Ελλάδα (stin Elládha)
Macedonian	Во Грција (vo Grcija)	Во Грција (vo Grcija)
Romanian	în Grecia	în Grecia (Note: In Romanian this is an exception, and it only applies when referring to individual countries, e.g. în Germania, în Franța, etc. The rule is that into translates as ”la” when trying to express destination, e.g. la Atena, la Madrid, la vale, la mare, etc.)

Verb tenses

Future tense

The future tense is formed in an analytic way using an auxiliary verb or particle with the meaning "will, want", referred to as de-volitive, similar to the way the future is formed in English. This feature is present to varying degrees in each language. Decategoralization is less advanced in fossilized literary Romanian voi and in Serbo-Croatian ću, ćeš, će, where the future marker is still an inflected auxiliary. In modern Greek, Bulgarian, Macedonian, and Albanian, Aromanian, and spoken Romanian, decategoralization and erosion have given rise to an uninflected tense form, where the frozen third-person singular of the verb has turned into an invariable particle followed by the main verb inflected for person (cf. Rom 1.sg. voi, 2.sg. vei, 3.sg. va > invariable va > mod. o). Certain Torlakian dialects also have an invariant future tense marker in the form of the proclitic third-person-singular present form of the verb want: će vidim (ће видим) 'I will see', će vidiš (ће видиш) "you will see", će vidi (ће види) 'he/she/it will see'.

Language	Variant	Formation	Example: "I'll see"
Albanian	Tosk	do (invariable) + subjunctive	Do të shoh
	Gheg	kam (conjugated) + infinitive	Kam me pa
Aromanian		va / u (inv.) + subjunctive	Va s'vedu / u s'vedu;
Greek		θα (inv.) + subjunctive	Θα δω / βλέπω (tha dho / vlépo); "I'll see / be seeing"
Bulgarian		ще (inv.) + present tense	Ще видя (shte vidya)
Macedonian		ќе (inv.) + present tense	Ќе видам (kje vidam)
Serbo-Croatian	(standard Serbian)	"хтети/hteti" (conjugated) + infinitive	Ја ћу видети (видећу) (ja ću videti [videću])
	(colloquial Serbian)	"хтети/hteti" (conjugated) + subjunctive	Ја ћу да видим (ja ću da vidim)
Romanian	(literary, formal)	"voi, vei, va, vom, veți, vor" + infinitive	Voi vedea (cf. Spanish "voy a ver")
	(archaic)	va (inv.) + subjunctive	Va să văd
	(modern)	o (inv.) + subjunctive	O să văd
	(colloquial alternative)	a avea (conjugated) + subjunctive	Am să văd
Romani	(Erli)	ka (inv.) + subjunctive	Ka dikhav

Analytic perfect tense

The analytic perfect tense is formed in the Balkan languages with the verb "to have" and, usually, a past passive participle, similarly to the construction found in Germanic and other Romance languages: e.g. Romanian am promis "I have promised", Albanian kam premtuar "I have promised". A somewhat less typical case of this is Greek, where the verb "to have" is followed by the so-called απαρέμφατο ('invariant form', historically the aorist infinitive): έχω υποσχεθεί. However, a completely different construction is used in Bulgarian and Serbo-Croatian, which have inherited from Common Slavic an analytic perfect formed with the verb "to be" and the past active participle: обещал съм, obeštal sǎm (Bul.) / обећао сам, obećao sam (Ser.) - "I have promised" (lit. "I am one who has promised"). On the other hand, Macedonian, the third Slavic language in the sprachbund, is like Romanian and Albanian in that it uses quite typical Balkan constructions consisting of the verb to have and a past passive participle (имам ветено, imam veteno = "I have promised"). Macedonian also has a perfect formed with the verb "to be", like Bulgarian and Serbo-Croatian.

Avoidance or loss of infinitive

The use of the infinitive (common in other languages related to some of the Balkan languages, such as Romance and Slavic) is generally replaced with subjunctive constructions, following early Greek innovation.

• in Bulgarian, Macedonian and Tosk Albanian, the loss of the infinitive is complete
• in demotic (vernacular) Greek, the loss of the infinitive was complete, whereas in literary Greek (Katharevousa, abolished in 1976) it was not; the natural fusion of the vernacular with Katharevousa resulted in the creation of the contemporary common Greek (Modern Standard Greek), where the infinitive, when used, is principally used as noun (e.g. λέγειν "speaking, fluency, eloquence", γράφειν "writing", είναι "being", etc.) deriving directly from the ancient Greek infinitive formation. But its substitution by the subjunctive form when the infinitive would be used as a verb is complete. Most of the times, the subjunctive form substitutes the infinitive also in the cases when it would be used as a noun (e.g. το να πας/το να πάει κανείς "to go, the act of going", το να δεις/βλέπεις "to see/be seeing, the act of seeing" instead of the infinitive "βλέπειν", etc.)
• in Aromanian and Southern Serbo-Croatian dialects, it is almost complete
• in Gheg Albanian and Megleno-Romanian, it is used only in a limited number of expressions
• in standard Romanian (prepositional phrase: a + verb stem) and Serbo-Croatian, the infinitive shares many of its functions with the subjunctive. In these two languages, the infinitive will always be found in dictionaries and language textbooks. However, in Romanian, the inherited infinitive (-are, -ere, and -ire) is now only used as a verbal noun, if at all.
• Turkish as spoken in Sliven and Šumen has also almost completely lost the infinitive, clearly due to the influence of the Balkan sprachbund.

For example, "I want to write" in several Balkan languages:

Language	Variant	Example	Notes
Albanian		"Dua të shkruaj"	as opposed to Gheg me fjet "to sleep" or me hangër "to eat"
Aromanian		"Vroi să scriu / ăngrăpsescu"
Macedonian		"Сакам да пишувам" [sakam da pišuvam]
Bulgarian		"Искам да пиша" [iskam da piša]
Modern Greek		"Θέλω να γράψω"	as opposed to Ancient Greek "βούλομαι γράψειν"
Romanian		"Vreau să scriu" (with subjunctive) Vreau 'a scrie""(with infinitive)	The use of the infinitive is preferred in writing in some cases only. In speech it is more commonly used in the northern varieties (Transylvania, Banat, and Moldova) than in Southern varieties (Wallachia) of the language.
Serbo-Croatian	Serbian	"Želim da pišem"/"Желим да пишем	as opposed to the more literary form: "Želim pisati"/"Желим пиcaти, where pisati/пиcaти is the infinitive. Both forms are grammatically correct in standard Serbian and do not create misunderstandings, although the colloquial one is more commonly used in daily conversation.
Bulgarian Turkish		"isterim yazayım"	In Standard Turkish in Turkey this is "yazmak istiyorum" where "yazmak" is the infinitive.
Romani (Erli)		"Mangav te pišinav"	Many forms of Romani add the ending -a to express the indicative present, while reserving the short form for the subjunctive serving as an infinitive: e.g. "mangava te pišinav". Some varieties outside the Balkans have been influenced by non-Balkan languages and have developed new infinitives by generalizing one of the finite forms (e.g. Slovak Romani varieties may express "I want to write" as "kamav te irinel/pisinel" - generalized third person singular - or "kamav te irinen/pisinen" - generalized third person plural).

But here is an example of a relict form, preserved in Bulgarian:

Language	Without infinitive	With relict "infinitive"	Translation	Notes
Bulgarian	"Недей да пишеш."	"Недей писа."	Don't write.	The first part of the first three examples is the prohibitative element недей ("don't", composed of не, "not", and дей, "do" in the imperative). The second part of the examples, писа, яде, зна and даде, are relicts of what used to be an infinitive form (писати, ясти, знати and дати respectively). This second syntactic construction is colloquial and more common in the eastern dialects. The forms usually coincide with the past aorist tense of the verb in the third person singular, as in the case of писа; those that don't coincide (as in the last three examples) are highly unusual today, but do occur, above all in older literature.
	"Недей да ядеш."	"Недей яде."	Don't eat.
	"Недей да знаеш."	"Недей зна."	Don't know.
	"Можете ли да ми дадете?"	"Можете ли ми даде?"	Can you give me?

Bare subjunctive constructions

Sentences that include only a subjunctive construction can be used to express a wish, a mild command, an intention, or a suggestion.

This example translates in the Balkan languages the phrase "You should go!", using the subjunctive constructions.

Language	Example	Notes
Macedonian	Да (си) одиш!	"Оди" [odi] in the imperative is more common, and has the identical meaning.
Bulgarian	Да си ходиш!
Torlakian	Да идеш!	"Иди!" in the imperative is grammatically correct, and has the identical meaning.
Albanian	Të shkosh!	"Shko!" in the imperative is grammatically correct. "Të shkosh" is used in sentence only followed by a modal verbs, ex. in these cases: Ti duhet të shkosh (You should go), Ti mund të shkosh (You can go) etc.
Modern Greek	Να πας!
Romany (Gypsy)	Te dža!
Romanian	Să te duci!	compare with similar Spanish "¡Que te largues!" in Romanian, the "a se duce" (to go) requires a reflexive construction, literally "take yourself (to)"
Meglenian	S-ti duts!
Aromanian	S-ti duts!

Morphology

Postposed article

With the exception of Greek, Serbo-Croatian, and Romani, all languages in the union have their definite article attached to the end of the noun, instead of before it. None of the related languages (like other Romance languages or Slavic languages) share this feature and it is thought to be either an innovation or Albanian borrowing spread in the Balkans.

However, each language created its own internal articles, so the Romanian articles are related to the articles (and demonstrative pronouns) in Italian, French, etc., whereas the Bulgarian articles are related to demonstrative pronouns in other Slavic languages.

Language	Feminine		Masculine
	without article	with article	without article	with article
English	woman	the woman	man	the man
Albanian	grua	gruaja	burrë	burri
Aromanian	muljari	muljarea	bărbat	bărbatu
Bulgarian	жена	жената	мъж	мъжът
Greek	γυναίκα	η γυναίκα	άντρας	ο άντρας
Macedonian	жена	жената	маж	мажот
Romanian	femeie muiere	femeia muierea	bărbat	bărbatul
Torlakian	жена	жената	муж	мужът

Numeral formation

The Slavic way of composing the numbers between 10 and 20, e.g. "one + on + ten" for eleven, called superessive, is widespread.
Greek does not follow this.

Language	The word "Eleven"	compounds
Albanian	"njëmbëdhjetë"	një + mbë + dhjetë
Aromanian	"unsprădzatsi", commonly, " unspră"	un + spră + dzatsi
Bulgarian	"единадесет"	един + (н)а(д) + десет
Macedonian	"единаесет"	еде(и)н + (н)а(д) + (д)есет
Romanian	"unsprezece" or, more commonly, "unșpe"	un + spre + zece < *unu + supre + dece; unu + spre; the latter is more commonly used, even in formal speech.
Serbo-Croatian	"jedanaest/једанаест"	jedan+ (n)a+ (d)es(e)t/један + (н)а + (д)ес(е)т. This is not the case only with South Slavic languages. This word is formed in the same way in most Slavic languages, e.g. Polish - "jedenaście", Czech - "jedenáct", Slovak - "jedenásť", Russian - "одиннадцать", Ukrainian - "одинадцять", etc.

Clitic pronouns

Direct and indirect objects are cross-referenced, or doubled, in the verb phrase by a clitic (weak) pronoun, agreeing with the object in gender, number, and case or case function. This can be found in Romanian (although mostly optional), Greek, Bulgarian, Macedonian, and Albanian. In Albanian and Macedonian, this feature shows fully grammaticalized structures and is obligatory with indirect objects and to some extent with definite direct objects; in Bulgarian, however, it is optional and therefore based on discourse. In Greek, the construction contrasts with the clitic-less construction and marks the cross-referenced object as a topic. Southwest Macedonia appears to be the location of innovation.

For example, "I see George" in Balkan languages:

Language	Example
Albanian	"E shoh Gjergjin"
Aromanian	"U- ved Yioryi"
Bulgarian	"Виждам го Георги." (colloquial form; see note)
Macedonian	"Гo гледам Ѓорѓи."
Greek	"Τον βλέπω τον Γιώργο"
Romanian	"Îl văd pe Gheorghe." or simply "Văd pe Gheorghe."

Note: The neutral case in normal (SVO) word order is without a clitic: "Виждам Георги." However, the form with an additional clitic pronoun is also perfectly normal and can be used for emphasis: "Виждам го Георги." And the clitic is obligatory in the case of a topicalized object (with OVS-word order), which serves also as the common colloquial equivalent of a passive construction. "Георги го виждам."

Adjectives

The replacement of synthetic adjectival comparative forms with analytic ones by means of preposed markers is common. These markers are:

• Bulgarian: по-
• Macedonian: по (prepended)
• Albanian: më
• Romanian: mai
• Modern Greek: πιο (pió)
• Aromanian: (ca)ma

Macedonian and Modern Greek have retained some of the earlier synthetic forms. In Bulgarian and Macedonian these have become proper adjectives in their own right without the possibility of [further] comparison. This is more evident in Macedonian: виш = "higher, superior", ниж = "lower, inferior". Compare with similar structures in Bulgarian: висш(-(ия(т))/а(та)/о(то)/и(те)) = "(the) higher, (the) superior" (по-висш(-(ия(т))/а(та)/о(то)/и(те)) = "(the) [more] higher, (the) [more] superior"; 'най-висш(-(ия(т))/о(то)/а(та)/и(те))' = "(the) ([most]) highest, supreme"; нисш (also spelled as низш sometimes) = "low, lower, inferior", it can also possess further comparative or superlative as with 'висш' above.

Suffixes

Also, some common suffixes can be found in the language area, such as the diminutive suffix of the Slavic languages (Srb. Bul. Mac.) "-ovo" "-ica" that can be found in Albanian, Greek and Romanian.

Vocabulary

Loan words

Several hundred words are common to the Balkan union languages; the origin of most of them is either Greek, Bulgarian or Turkish, as the Byzantine Empire, the First Bulgarian Empire, the Second Bulgarian Empire and later the Ottoman Empire directly controlled the territory throughout most of its history, strongly influencing its culture and economics.

Albanian, Aromanian, Bulgarian, Greek, Romanian, Serbo-Croatian and Macedonian also share a large number of words of various origins:

Source	Source word	Meaning	Albanian	Aromanian	Bulgarian	Greek	Romanian	Macedonian	Serbo-Croatian	Turkish
Latin	mensa	table	mësallë (not in use anymore)	mãsalea	маса (masa)	-	masă	маса (masa)	-	masa
Thracian	rompea	spear	colloq. rrufe "thunderbolt"	rofélja	dial. руфия (rufiya) "thunderbolt"	ρομφαία (rhomphaía)		colloq. ровја (rovja) and dial. рофја (rofja) "thunder"		-
Byzantine Greek	λιβάδιον (livádion)	meadow	colloq. livadh	livadhi	ливада (livada)	λιβάδι	livadă	ливада (livada)	livada ливада (livada)	-
Byzantine Greek	διδάσκαλος (didáskalos)	teacher	dhaskal/icë (not in use anymore)	dascal	colloq. даскал (daskal)	δάσκαλος	dascăl	colloq. даскал (daskal)	colloq. даскал (daskal)	-
Byzantine Greek	κουτίον (koutíon)	box	kuti	cutii	кутия (kutiya)	κουτί	cutie	кутија (kutija)	kutija кутија (kutija)	kutu
Turkish	boya	paint, color	colloq. bojë	boi	colloq., dial. боя (boya)	μπογιά (boyá)	boia	боја (boja)	boja боја (boja)	boya

Calques

Apart from the direct loans, there are also many calques that were passed from one Balkan languages to another, most of them between Albanian, Macedonian, Bulgarian, Greek, Aromanian and Romanian.

For example, the word "ripen" (as in fruit) is constructed in Albanian, Romanian and (rarely) in Greek (piqem, a (se) coace, ψήνομαι), in Turkish pişmek by a derivation from the word "to bake" (pjek, a coace, ψήνω).

Another example is the wish "(∅/to/for) many years":

Language		Expression	Transliteration
Greek	(medieval)	εις έτη πολλά	is eti polla
	(modern)	χρόνια πολλά	khronia polla
Latin		ad multos annos
Aromanian		ti mullts anj
Romanian		la mulţi ani
Albanian		për shumë vjet
Bulgarian		за много години	za mnogo godini
Macedonian		за многу години	za mnogu godini
Serbo-Croatian		за многo годинa	za mnogo godina

Idiomatic expressions for "whether one <verb> or not" are formed as "<verb>-not-<verb>". "Whether one wants or not":

Language	expression	transliteration
Bulgarian	ще - не ще	shte - ne shte
Greek	θέλει δε θέλει	theli de theli
Romanian	vrea nu vrea
Turkish	ister istemez
Serbo-Croatian	хтео - не хтео	hteo - ne hteo
Albanian	do - s'do
Macedonian	сакал - не сакал / нејќел	sakal - ne sakal / nejchel
Aromanian	vrea - nu vrea

Phonetics

The main phonological features consist of:

• the presence of an unrounded central vowel, either a mid-central schwa /ə/ or a high central vowel phoneme
  • ë in Albanian; ъ in Bulgarian; ă in Romanian; ã in Aromanian
  • In Romanian and Albanian, the schwa is obtained via centralizing unstressed /a/
    • Example: Latin camisia "shirt" > Romanian cămașă /kə.ma.ʃə/, Albanian këmishë /kə.mi.ʃə/)
  • The schwa phoneme occurs across some dialects of the Macedonian language, but is absent in the standard.
• some kind of umlaut in stressed syllables with differing patterns depending on the language.
  • Romanian:
    • a mid-back vowel ends in a low glide before a nonhigh vowel in the following syllable.
    • a central vowel is fronted before a front vowel in the following syllable.
  • Albanian: back vowels are fronted before i in the following syllable.

This feature also occurs in Greek, but it is lacking in some of the other Balkan languages; the central vowel is found in Romanian, Bulgarian, some dialects of Albanian, and Serbo-Croatian, but not in Greek or Standard Macedonian.

Less widespread features are confined largely to either Romanian or Albanian, or both:

• frequent loss of l before i in Romanian and some Romani dialects
• the alternation between n and r in Albanian and Romanian.
• change from l to r in Romanian, Greek and very rarely in Bulgarian and Albanian.
• the raising of o to u in unstressed syllables in Bulgarian, Romanian and Northern Greek dialects.
• change from ea to e before i in Bulgarian and Romanian.

See also

• Albanian grammar
• Balkan languages
• Bulgarian grammar
• Greek grammar
• Macedonian grammar
• Paleo-Balkan languages
• Serbo-Croatian grammar

References

• Victor A. Friedman, "After 170 years of Balkan Linguistics: Whither the Millennium?", Mediterranean Language Review 12:1-15, 2000.PDF—an excellent survey article
• Thomason, Sarah G. Language Contact: An Introduction. Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press, 2001, pp. 108–9.
• Andrej N. Sobolev (Ed.) Malyi dialektologiceskii atlas balkanskikh iazykov. Muenchen: Biblion Verlag, 2003-
• Andrej N. Sobolev, "Antibalkanismy", 'Južnoslovenski filolog' 2011 PDF