This article will address the topic of Northwestern Bulgarian dialects, which has aroused great interest in today's society. The impact of Northwestern Bulgarian dialects is undeniable and its implications extend to different areas such as politics, economics, culture and people's daily lives. It is crucial to thoroughly understand this phenomenon in order to analyze its influence on our current reality and foresee possible future scenarios. Along these lines, different aspects related to Northwestern Bulgarian dialects will be explored, from its origins to its evolution over time, as well as its consequences and challenges it poses to society.
The Northwestern Bulgarian dialects are two closely related dialects of the Bulgarian language, which are located west of the yat boundary and thus are part of the Western Bulgarian dialects. The range of the dialects includes most of northwestern Bulgaria, to the west of the line between Nikopol, Pleven and Mezdra and to the north of the line between Vratsa and Belogradchik. They bear strong resemblance to their neighbouring Eastern Bulgarian dialects and with some exceptions, mainly the pronunciation of yat, have the same phonological and morphological features as the neighbouring subdialects of the Eastern Bulgarian Central Balkan dialect.
Most other phonological and morphological features of the Northwestern Bulgarian dialects are similar to the characteristics of the Eastern Bulgarian dialects and the formal language: щ~жд (ʃt~ʒd) for Proto-Slavic *tʲ~*dʲ and Old Church Slavonic щ~жд (ʃt~ʒd), ъ (ə) for both Old Church Slavonic ѫ (yus) and ъ (ə), vowel reduction, etc.