Paper Title
Locus in Contemporary Bulgarian: Theoretical Implications

Abstract
This paper explores phenomena in the morphology and syntax of contemporary colloquial Bulgarian from a functionalist and typological perspective and in a synchronic framework. Most European languages are regarded traditionally as predominantly dependent-marking. I explore phenomena in contemporary colloquial Bulgarian that are typical of head marking. From a diachronic point of view, these phenomena are relatively new but they show a tendency towards head marking that is consistent with other older innovations that have been widely recognized as a shift in the same direction. At the phrase level, I demonstrate that definite possessive phrases with a pronominal possessor are typically head-marking. At the clause level, I demonstrate that pronominal clitics which are attached to predicate verbs are typical head-marking devices that, together with the lack of case in nouns, parallel constructions in typical head-marking languages, geographically quite distant from Bulgarian. Constructions from the colloquial language show even stronger trends towards head-marking than the conservative written language, which proves that the tendency is strong and still in process. Key words- linguistic typology, (marking) locus, head marking, dependent marking, pronominal clitics, clause, noun phrase Note on transcription: Bulgarian words are written in the Romanization system currently used by the Bulgarian government. Abbreviations used in the glosses: 1 – first person; 2 – second person; 3 – third person; Acc – accusative (direct object case); Aor – aorist; Dat – dative (indirect object case); F – feminine; M – masculine; Pl – plural; Poss – possessive (marker); Sg - singular