DIASTRATIC LEXICAL CHANGES – A WAY TO A LINGUISTIC COMPETENCE

Abstract

The paper examines the lexical changes in two copies of Hagiography of St. Mary of Egypt. The first copy is in Bdinski zbornik from the 14th c. and the second copy is in New Bulgarian damascene of Tihonravov from the ХVII c. Some words and phrases are analyzed in a relation to a diastratic variation, or a variation according to the social class or to the social group to which the authors and recipients of the text feel they belong, and with diachronic variation, or variation through time. The linguistic facts show that diastratic lexical changes form a linguistic competence.