Български
EnglishLittera et Lingua Series Dissertationes. 9
From Linguistic Geography to Areal Linguistics. Theory and Practice of the Analysis of Recent Phenomena in Bulgarian: The Terms for Tomato and Eggplant
Darina Mladenova
This book explores the linguo-geographic landmarks of the Bulgarian language; it builds on the achievements of Bulgarian linguistic geography and outlines the steps scholars in the field of Bulgarian studies can take to make the transition from linguistic geography to areal linguistics. I use the map of the Bulgarian terms for ‘tomato’ as a testing ground on which I experiment with different approaches so that I can interpret the areal data in depth and bring to the fore the research questions that arise at different junctions of the analysis. Prompted by the researcher’s intuition, these questions would under ordinary circumstances remain hidden from readers.
Starting with a routine linguo-geographic analysis, I situate the tomato map within the framework of the typical macro-divisions of Bulgarian language territory, interpret it in light of the origin of the mapped terms and determine their relative chronology.
At the next stage, I turn to the specific features of the individual areas, shed light on their internal divisions and draw conclusions from their compact or indented shapes.
The following stage aims to overcome the atomistic character of lexical linguistic geography, in which studies are typically devoted to individual words and treated as ends for themselves, and to discover the dynamic relations of areas and the processes that have brought an areal configuration into being. To tackle this prevailing atomism, I look into three approaches that may be taken either in isolation or in combination with each other. The first is areal typology. Within this approach, the configuration of the set of terms for ‘tomato’ as well as the areas of the individual terms are correlated with similar configurations and areas, and conclusions are drawn on the basis of this correlation. The second approach is based on lexical systematicity and takes into account phenomena, interconnected with the mapped terms, which have participated in the linguistic processes, leading to the formation of the areal configuration. This includes study, on one hand, of the overlapping use of duplicate terms which clarifies the dynamics of areas and, on the other, of the relations between the ‘tomato’ and ‘eggplant’ terminologies. Their analysis provides a key to the nomination processes unfolding when these two plants are given names and highlights the specifics of their areal configurations not only in Bulgarian dialects but throughout Southeastern Europe. The third approach involves the linguo-geographic comparison of two chronological cross-sections. In my case study, I compare the areal configurations of the terms for ‘tomato’ and ‘eggplant’ south of the Danube River with those in the Transdanubian Bulgarian dialects, separated from the metropolis roughly between the last quarter of the eighteenth and the first quarter of the nineteenth century.
The final layer of analysis deals with any cultural, social, political and economic factors that may have contributed to the formation of an areal configuration. I show that roads, urban centres and migration, as well as professional gardening, have had important roles to play in shaping the areas of the ‘tomato’ and ‘eggplant’ terms.