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in Bulgaria:
General: Bulgaria (Bulgarian:
, IPA: [b?l'garij]), officially the Republic of
Bulgaria (Bulgarian:, IPA: [r?'publi?k b?l'garij]),
is a country in Southeastern Europe, and a member
state of the European Union. It borders the Black
Sea to the east, Greece and Turkey to the south,
Serbia and the Republic of Macedonia to the west,
and Romania to the north, mostly along the Danube.
Bulgaria also shares a maritime border with Turkey,
Romania, Ukraine, Russia, and Georgia.
Bulgaria joined NATO
on March 29, 2004 and the European Union on January
1, 2007. The country has been a member of the
United Nations since 1955, and is a founding member
of the Organization for Security and Co-operation
in Europe. As a Consultative Party to the Antarctic
Treaty, Bulgaria takes part in the governing of
the territories situated south of 60° south
latitude.
Currency: The lev (Bulgarian:,
plural - leva, ) is the currency of Bulgaria.
It is divided in 100 stotinki ( singular - stotinka,
). In archaic Bulgarian the word "lev"
meant "lion", akin to the Romanian and
Moldovan lei.
Language: Bulgarian
(, Balgarski ezik) is an Indo-European language,
a member of the Southern branch of the Slavic
languages. Bulgarian demonstrates several linguistic
innovations that set it apart from other Slavic
languages, such as the elimination of noun declension,
the development of a suffixed definite article
(see Balkan linguistic union), the lack of a verb
infinitive, and the retention and further development
of the proto-Slavic verb system. There are various
verb forms to express nonwitnessed, retold, and
doubtful action.
Bulgarian is closely related
to Macedonian, generally recognized as a distinct
language, although the prevalent opinion in Bulgaria,
to some extent in Greece, and that of certain
international linguists is that Bulgarian and
Macedonian are two standard forms of the same
diasystem.
Bulgarian and Macedonian form
part of the Balkan linguistic union, which also
includes Greek, Romanian, Albanian and Torlakian
dialect of the Serbian language. Most of these
languages share some of the above-mentioned characteristics
(e.g., definite article, infinitive loss, complicated
verb system) and many more.
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