Manol Ivanov’s Point of View on Bulgarian Spelling

Authors:

Pages: 111-126
DOI: https://doi.org/10.54664/UHYH1080

Abstract:

In 1892 a seven-member commission was formed on Ceorgi Zhivkov’s initiative who was the Minister of Public Education at that time. The aim of the commission was to draw up a project for all-Bulgarian spelling. The commission, which remained in history under the name of The Philological Commission, comprised young scholars, mostly PhDs and university lecturers, who had either gained their degree or specialized in prestigious universities in Europe. As a whole, the project put forward by the Philological Commission aimed at revising the spelling introduced by Marin Drinov. Although that type of spelling was not officialized by law or regulation, it had gradually become the established spelling in the written tradition of the country. Moreover, it was persistently imposed by the Bulgarian Society of Letters mostly through its official printed organ The Bulgarian Society of Letters Periodical. The project of The Philological Commission was actually a revision of the spelling asserted by the society of letters. The public reaction against the project was extremely negative. Manol Ivanov (1867–1906), who held PhD in Slavic Philology from the University of Vienna (1893), was not a member of the Philological Commission. However, he took part in the discussion of the project with an extensive critical article in The Periodical. In Balgarski pregled (The Bulgarian Review) Journal the commission rejected almost all critical comments by Manol Ivanov, which forced him to defend his positions again this time in Misal (The Thought) Journal. It can be said that Manol Ivanov’s articles contributed significantly to the final rejection of the project, which was put forward by The Philological Commission. The fact that he defended the type of spelling introduced by Marin Drinov facilitated Manol Ivanov’s selection in the following years as a member of the highly prestigious Bulgarian Society of Letters.

Keywords:

Manol Ivanov, Marin Drinov’s spelling, The Philological Commission, the spelling project of The Philological Commission, discussion of the project, Manol Ivanov’s point of view on Bulgarian spelling

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