Macedonian language

Macedonian is a South Slavic language spoken as a first language by around two million people, principally in the Republic of North Macedonia and the Macedonian diaspora, with a smaller number of speakers throughout the transnational region of North Macedonia. It is the official language of the Republic of North Macedonia and a recognized minority language in parts of Albania, Romania, and Serbia. Standard Macedonian was implemented as the official language of the Socialist Republic of Macedonia in 1945 and has since developed a modern literature. Most of the codification was formalized during the same period. Macedonian dialects form a continuum with Bulgarian dialects; they in turn form a broader continuum with Serbo-Croatian through the transitional Torlakian dialects. The name of the Macedonian language, as well as is its distinctiveness compared to Bulgarian, are a matter of political controversy in Bulgaria.

Quotes

 * The (modern) Macedonian language is actually an artifact produced for primarily political reasons.
 * Vittore Pisani (1899-1990), Italian linguist, "Il Macedonico, Paideia, Rivista Letteraria di informazione bibliografica", vol. 12, p. 250 (1957).


 * Macedonian national conscience and from that conscientious promotion of Macedonian as a written language, first appears just in the beginning of our century and is strengthened particularly during in the years between the two world wars.
 * Friedrich Scholz, "Slavische Etymologie", 1966, p. 61.


 * Macedonian is Bulgarian typed on a Serbian type-writer.
 * Otto Kronsteiner, “Der Zerfall Jugoslawiens und die Zukunft der makedonischen Literatursprache: Der späte Fall von Glottotomie?”, Herausgeber Schriftenreihe Die slawischen Sprachen, Erscheinungsjahr 1992, Seiten 142-171.


 * Macedonian is similar to Bulgarian and is sometimes been regarded as a variety of that language.
 * "Encyclopedia of Bilingualism and Bilingual Education", Colin Baker, Sylvia Prys Jones, p. 415.


 * From a strictly linguistic point of view Macedonian can be called a Bulgarian dialect, as structurally it is most similar to Bulgarian.
 * "Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics", R.E.Asher, J.M.Y.Simpson (editors), 1994, vol.1, p. 429.


 * The ethnic Macedonians and the Macedonian language are a result of a Comintern conspiracy.
 * Venko Markovski, Yugoslavian writer, poet and Communist politician (who in 1945 participated in the Commission for the Creation of the Macedonian Alphabet) in an interview for Bulgarian National Television on 31/12/1987. Mitewa, Yulia (2001), "ИДЕЯТА ЗА ЕЗИКА В МАКЕДОНСКИЯ ЛИТЕРАТУРЕН КРЪЖОК — ЕСТЕТИЧЕСКИ И ИДЕОЛОГИЧЕСКИ АСПЕКТИ", Veliko Tarnovo: Litera.