Macedonian language

The Macedonian language (Македонски, Makedonski) is a language in the Eastern group of South Slavic languages. It is spoken by two million people, primarily in the FYR of Macedonia, the Macedonian Slavs. The Macedonian language is closely related to the Bulgarian language, and Bulgarian and Macedonian share similarities to Romanian, Greek, and Albanian. These five languages make up the Balkan language league.

Macedonian is the official language in the Republic of Macedonia, and officially recognized in the District of Korçë in Albania. Native speakers are also found in Serbia and Montenegro, Greece, and Albania.

Unlike other Slavic languages, Macedonian, together with Bulgarian, has no noun cases, but three different definite articles, which are used as suffixes. Those are also present in certain Bulgarian dialects, unlike formal Bulgarian, which has only one.

A modified Cyrillic script, Macedonian Cyrillic, is used for writing. Cyrillic, with Glagolitic, was an old Slavic script, used for the original Old Slavonic language. Only Cyrillic is used today, probably because the letters are simpler (derived by the Greek alphabet) and more easily learnt when scholars like Saint Cyril introduced Christian writings to the Slavic people.

Although being the first country to recognise the independence of the Republic of Macedonia as early as January 1992, Bulgaria has refused to recognise the existence of a separate Macedonian nation and a separate Macedonian language. It is argued that the majority of the Macedonian Slavs before 1944 regarded themselves as Bulgarians and their language as Bulgarian. It is further argued that whereas the Macedonian language was standardised as late as 1945, all historical figures regarded by the Republic of Macedonia as representatives of the Macedonian Revival in the 19th century wrote in standard Bulgarian, as well as that allegations that the Macedonian language existed as early as the 10th century find no corroboration in documents and are purely fictional. It is claimed that Macedonian historians resort to systematic distortions and falsifications of history and documents so as to adjust them to their official version. A typical example given is the collection of folk songs written in the vernacular and published in 1861 by the Miladinov Brothers, regarded by the Republic of Macedonia as pioneers of the Macedonian language. The collection was initially published under the title "Bulgarian Folk Songs from Macedonia" but has later been re-printed in the Republic of Macedonia under the name "Folk Songs from Macedonia" with careful editions of the numerous references to "Bulgaria" and "Bulgarian" in the text.

The name of the language is considered offensive by Greece and many Greeks, who assert that the dialect of Greek spoken by Alexander the Great in ancient Macedon is the only "Macedonian language". They further argue that since Slavic immigration to the region did not begin until well after the decline of the Macedonian Empire, it is historically inaccurate to refer to a Slavic language as Macedonian. However, most non-Greek parties such as international news organizations and language scholars refer to the language as "Macedonian". See Republic of Macedonia for more on the related naming dispute.

External links

• Ethnologue report for Macedonian
• BBC Education - Languages: Macedonian, Makedonski
• Macedonian - English Dictionary