Езиковата концепция на Паисий
Paisij's Linguistic Conception

Summary/Abstract: Istorija slavjanobalgarska is written in a strange and even chaotic mixture of Church Slavonic and New Bulgarian vernacular. It has often been claimed that Paisij tried to write basically in New Bulgarian but did not quite succeed. However, if he had wanted to write in the vernacular, he could easily have done so, since there existed a fully developed vernacular pattern in the many damaskini manuscripts, including those of his prolific contemporary Josif Bradati. This gives rise to the question why Paisij didn't follow the example of Josif and many other writers of damaskini: that is, why didn't he simply copy the New Bulgarian vernacular pattern from religious manuscripts? The answer lies in the aim of Paisij's book and the linguistic conception on which it was based. Istorija slavjanobalgarska is fiercely anti-Hellenistic. In this respect, it differs radically from the religious literature of the time. The book is aimed not only, or even mainly, at ordinary illiterate Bulgarians. On the contrary, it is intended for those who had social ambitions, i.e., those who were at risk of giving up their “Bulgarianness" and become Hellenized.

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