Gender Form Usage of the Bulgarian Pronouns by Non-Native Learners

The article presents results from a large-scale study of several grammatical categories that learners of Bulgarian as a foreign language find challenging. The gender forms of the Bulgarian pronouns are discussed and a number of problems they present to non-native learners of the language are elicited via an extensive research programme. A taxonomy of the problems encountered is developed and each error type is amply exemplified. Cases of asymmetrical grammatical forms are explored between Bulgarian and several learner mother tongues.