Vladimir Zhobov
Zabernovo
Commentary on the text:
When the investigator’s words are transcribed in brackets, it means they do not appear on the audio but are rather reconstructed to recreate the sense of the original conversation. These words appear in English translation only in Glossed View, in both English and Bulgarian in Line View, and in Bulgarian only in Cyrillic Line View
1 (a) [0:00] I was born in the year eighteen ninety-eight
| bear sg m P.part P | 1sg pres cop clt | thousand sg f | and | eight.hundred | ninety | and | eighth sg f adj | year sg f |
2 (a) [0:04] [in the] village of Zabernovo, Malko Tŭrnovo region and I live in the village of Zabernovo.
| village sg n | Zabernovo sg n place | of.Malko.Tŭrnovo sg n adj | and | dat refl clt | live 1sg pres I | in | village sg n | Zabernovo sg n place |
3 (a) [0:09] I had a brother, older than me. He was born
| and | have 1sg impf I | brother sg m | more | big sg m adj | than | acc 1sg | bear sg m P.part P | 3sg pres cop clt |
4 (a) [0:12] in the year eighteen ninety-five, and after that I [was born]
| thousand sg f | and | eight.hundred | ninety | and | fifth sg f adj | year sg f | after | this sg n med adj | 1sg pres cop clt | nom 1sg |
5 (a) [0:16] [in] the year nineteen (= eighteen) ninety-eight. After that I had a sister Todora,
| thousand sg f | nine.hundred | ninety | and | eighth sg f adj | year sg f | after | this sg n med adj | have 1sg impf I | sister sg f | Todora sg f name |
6 (a) [0:22] and she was born in – two years later. And after that
| and | nom f 3sg | 3sg pres cop clt | bear sg f P.part P | in | after | two f | year pl f | after | this sg n med adj |
7 (a) [0:26] I had my younger – the youngest of our brothers, Goro.
| have 1sg impf I | more | little sg m adj | most | little sg m def adj | dat 1pl clt | brother sg m | Goro sg m name |
8 (VZh) [What do you use to make] a fence?]
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9 (a) [0:29] Sticks, hornbeam sticks. We cut poles and pound them in, we split thick trees
| from | stick pl m | hornbeam pl adj | stick pl m | cut 1pl pres I | pole pl m | pound.in 1pl pres I | split 1pl pres P | thick pl adj | tree pl n |
10 (a) [0:34] and sharpen them. We make poles and pound them in, and after that
| and | acc 3pl clt | sharpen 1pl pres I | make 1pl pres I | pole pl m | and | acc 3pl clt | hammer.in 1pl pres I | after | this sg n med adj |
11 (a) [0:39] we [take] sticks and weave them all around. We build [the fences] with sticks.
| stick pl m | weave 1pl pres I | acc 3pl clt | around adv | build 1pl pres I | acc 3pl clt | with | stick pl m |
12 (VZh) [Are there enough trees in the forest for this?]
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13 (a) [0:42] God has given! There are [trees] in the forest as far as the eye can see.
| give sg m L.part P | Lord sg m | in | forest sg f | pres exist | rel | dat 2sg clt | eye pl n | look 3pl pres I |
14 (a) [0:45] If we let you loose in this forest, you’ll get lost here! You won’t [find your way out]!
| comp | acc refl clt | lose 2sg pres P | comp | release 1pl pres P | now adv | nom 2sg | fut | acc refl clt | lose 2sg pres P | here adv | neg exist |
15 (VZh) [What do you do with the corn after you pick it?]
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16 (a) [0:48] After we pick the corn we dry it, and the – and we winnow it and –
| corn sg f def | when conj | gather 1pl pres P | dry 1pl pres P | acc f 3sg clt | [...] | and | acc f 3sg clt | winnow 1pl pres I | and |
17 (a) [0:51] [then] we begin – in the old days we’d hack [the stems from the cobs] on grid racks.
| excl | now adv | nom 1pl | begin 1pl pres P | [...] | and | acc f 3sg clt | pound 1pl impf I | one sg n adj | time sg n | on | grid.rack pl f |
18 (VZh) Right.
| thus adv |
19 (a) [0:57] To – back in our time.
| comp | [...] | [...] | during | our sg n adj | time sg n |
20 (VZh) [How did you hack it?]
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21 (a) [0:58] With cudgels. Cudgels, cudgels. [For] such trees, yes.
| cudgel pl f | cudgel pl f | cudgel pl f | but | such pl med adj | tree pl n | yes |
22 (a) [1:03] Big cudgels, [so big] that they could hardly lift them.
| big pl adj | cudgel pl f | which pl rel adj | [...] | hardly adv | acc 3pl clt | lift 3pl impf I | and |
23 (VZh) [Did you gather things in the forest?]
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24 (a) [1:06] Ah we do! How could we not gather [anything]? We gather hazelnuts in the summer
| gather 1pl pres I | how interr | neg | gather 1pl pres I | gather 1pl pres I | hazelnut pl m | summer sg n adj | time sg n |
25 (a) [1:09] and dry them for the winter.
| dry 1pl pres I | acc 3pl clt | for | winter sg f def |
26 (VZh) [How did you go to Vizitsa?]
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27 (a) [1:11] [It’s best] if you go this way. That way is steep. So this [way] you go
| from.here adv | acc refl clt | walk 3sg pres I | from.there adv | there adv | nom n 3sg | 3sg pres cop clt | steep sg n adj | thus adv | disc |
28 (a) [1:15] you go right, left – [the road is] smoothed out, beaten down by the people
| to.the.right adv | to.the.left adv | go 2sg pres I | pres exist | wipe sg f P.part P | trample sg f P.part P | from | people pl def |
29 (a) [1:18] who travel [from here] to Vizitsa.
| rel | travel 3pl pres I | for | to | Vizitsa sg f place |
30 (VZh) [Was it a narrow road?]
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31 (a) [1:21] [It’s] narrow, narrow. A car can’t get through.
| narrow sg f adj | narrow sg f adj | car sg f | neg | can 3sg pres | comp | pass 3sg pres P |
32 (VZh) [How did you do the threshing?]
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33 (a) [1:23] When we gather the sheaves up to thresh, we gather it in the evening
| then adv | when conj | thresh 1pl pres P | sheaf pl m def | and | acc m 3sg clt | gather 1pl pres P | evening adv | acc m 3sg clt | gather 1pl pres I |
34 (a) [1:26] with rakes and push it together. We make it [all] into a pile.
| with | rake n pl | acc m 3sg clt | push 1pl pres I | acc m 3sg clt | [...] | in | pile sg m | acc m 3sg clt | make 1pl pres I |
35 (a) [1:29] We make it into a pile. The women sweep all around it,
| make 1pl pres I | acc m 3sg clt | in | pile sg m | sweep 3pl pres I | acc m 3sg clt | woman pl f def | around adv |
36 (a) [1:32] and the grain is all piled up, and we wait for the wind to blow.
| grain sg n def | acc refl clt | pile.up 3sg pres I | [...] | and | wait 1pl pres I | wind sg m | now adv | comp | blow 3sg pres P | comp |
37 (a) [1:36] [Then] we throw it up with these things we call “nihnitiri” (large pitchforks),
| throw 1pl pres I | with | large.pitchfork pl m | dat 3pl clt | say 1pl impf I | one pl adj | such pl med adj |
38 (a) [1:40] with four or five prongs. We rake it and throw it into the air.
| with | four | five | tooth ct m | scoop 1pl pres I | and | throw 1pl pres P | to | air sg m def |
39 (a) [1:43] The wind takes the straw, and the grain falls here on the other side.
| straw sg f def | acc f 3sg clt | take 3sg pres I | wind sg m def | grain sg n def | fall 3sg pres I | here adv | of | other sg f def adj | side sg f |
40 (a) [1:46] The women sweep it up with a broom – they sweep it up and we pile it like this in –
| and | sweep 3sg pres I | woman pl f def | with | broom sg f def | sweep 3sg pres I | and | acc n 3sg clt | push 1pl pres I | thus med adv | in |
41 (a) [1:51] we “dermonize” it, [run it] through a “dermon” (big sieve)!
| sift.coarsely 1pl pres I | acc n 3sg clt | later adv | through | large.sieve sg m |
42 (VZh) [And after that you winnow it?]
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43 (a) [1:54] It’s been winnowed already! The grain is winnowed.
| nom n 3sg | 3sg pres cop clt | winnow sg n P.part P | this sg n med adj | already adv | this sg n med adj | 3sg pres cop clt | winnow sg n P.part P | grain sg n def |
44 (VZh) [Ah, so you’ve winnowed it already?]
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45 (a) [1:57] Yes, before that it’s – we winnow it.
| yes | before | this sg n med adj | acc refl clt | and | acc n 3sg clt | winnow 1pl pres I |