„A PROGRAM FOR COLLECTING SAMPLES OF ORAL FOLK LITERATURE AND LOCAL DIALECTS“ (1868) BY TEОDOSIJ IKONOMOV IN THE CONTEXT OF THE OPEN LETTERS IN BULGARIAN PERIODICALS OF THE 3RD QUARTER OF THE 19TH CENTURY„A PROGRAM FOR COLLECTING SAMPLES OF ORAL FOLK LITERATURE AND LOCAL DIALECTS“ (1868) BY TEОDOSIJ IKONOMOV IN THE CONTEXT OF THE OPEN LETTERS IN BULGARIAN PERIODICALS OF THE 3RD QUARTER OF THE 19TH CENTURY

Abstract

During the second half of the 19th century, Bulgarian writers stressed the necessity of collecting and studying all Bulgarian dialects as one of the essential conditions of building a unified and common standard language. Feeling compelled to state their opinions openly by participating in the public debate, since the problems of the language were perceived as matters of paramount importance for the future development and well-being of the nation, they chose to voice their understandings by adopting the method of open letters. In this context, in 1868 the editor of the magazine “Obsht trud” Teodosij Ikonomov published his “Program for collecting samples of oral folk literature and local dialects”, which represents his “open letter” to the public concerned.