Saldzhiev, HristoKonaç, Ayşe2025-08-052025-08-0520253033-0181https://doi.uni-plovdiv.bg/handle/store/696The article touches on the social and cultural aspects of Bulgarian-Turkish bilingualism in the 19th century. The Cyrillic transliteration of the Turkish (Karamanli) translation of the religious play of the Cretan poet Vincenzo Kornaros has been used as a basis for the present investigation. Initially, this work was writ-ten in Greek at the beginning of the 17th century during the Venetian rule of the is-land. The work apparently followed the model of Jesuitical religious drama and ex-emplified the Cretan Renaissance which developed under direct Italian influence. Sophronios of Sille in 1836 translated it into the Turkish dialect of Karamanli using Greek letters. The Cyrillic transliteration was published in 1845 by the Bulgarian hierodeacon Hadzhi Yoanikiy in the printing house of the Constantinople Patriar-chate in Istanbul. This new edition contained a long list of the names and residences of the people who pre-ordered the Cyrillic variant of the drama. The list also in-cluded fragmentary information about the social and professional status of the readers. The analysis of the evidence from the list, as well as other Cyrillic Turkish editions indicate that Bulgarian-Turkish bilingualism from this period could not be limited to a certain region, social, or professional group. In many regions it was a popular phenomenon and was spread among different groups. The final part of the article comments on the discontinuation of this bilingualism.endramaBulgarian-Turkish bilingualismreadersBulgarian Orien-talismKaramanli literatureArticle