On the Different Plural Endings of Nouns with the Suffixes -(н)иk and -(н)ица in the Bulgarian Literary Language during the National Revival

The article examines the problem of identifying the dictionary form and grammatical gender of nouns with the suffixes -(н)ик and -(н)ица occurring only in the plural in Bulgarian Revival texts. This difficulty arises from several factors: 1) in the 19th century, many dialectal words, as well as specialised terms form various spheres of public life entered the Bulgarian literary language; 2) no comprehensive dictionaries documenting the lexical richness of the language existed; 3) the plural endings of nouns with the suffixes -(н)ик and -(н)ица historically converged (-ници and -ици). Given these circum-stances, researchers can rely on the written distinctions between the nominative and accusative forms of masculine plural nouns, as well as the graphical differentiation between the nominative plural endings of masculine and feminine nouns. Lexicographic works published after the Liberation also played an important role. Further, the article explores how 19th-century grammar books, published in the second and third quarters of the century, addressed the issue of differentiating plural noun endings. Several examples from the 1871 Bible, provided in the study, illustrate how the problem of determining the dictionary form of plural nouns with the suffixes -(н)ик and -(н)ица was resolved in practice.