The Ideological Aspects of Contemporary Cyrillic Alphabet Transliteration Practices in the Balkans

Abstract

This article illustrates the new rules on the transliteration of the Cyrillic alphabet adopted in Bulgaria, Serbia and the Republic of Macedonia over the last few years. It also considers the possible political and identity reasons underlying changes to such practices. To this aim, I contextualize the question within various ongoing debates in the respective countries, with reference to the ideologies that have emerged in the most recent post-socialist period.