“Artificial Intelligence” with 45%, “sglobka” (assemblage) with 37%, and “time shelter” with 35% of the votes are the standout words and expressions for 2023 in Bulgaria. This was the decision of those who participated in the annual "Words of the Year" survey on the literacy platform “kaksepishe.com”. The campaign aims to track public sentiment regarding the most important topics of the past year through linguistic attitudes.

Among the first ten words are: “war”, “Schengen”, “disassembly”, “rotation”, “Booker”, “Euro-Atlantic” and PISA.

The winning phrase “artificial intelligence” connects us with global trends. Its use has increased almost 5 times compared to 2022, note the organizers of the initiative - Dr. Pavlina Varbanova, creator of “kaksepishe.com” platform, and Dorothea Nikolova, teacher of Bulgarian language and literature and journalist.

"This year we observe something positive, namely a breakthrough in political topics through two additional words that made it to the final top ten. They are from the cultural sphere – 'time shelter' and 'Booker', and are related to the novel by Georgi Gospodinov," Dr. Varbanova highlights.

The editor and the member of the jury, Veselina Sedlarska, is convinced that words "sglobka" with 37% and “time shelter” will remain in world politics and world literature, which confirms the international scale of this year's word of the year selection. “I just wish that 'war' would stop sounding relevant and disappear from the list,” notes Dr. Ivan Landzhev, who is among the jury members.

The word “war”, which led the rankings in the previous survey, is now in 4th place, points out Dorothea Nikolova. In 2022, the leading positions were “war”, “inflation”, “Ukraine” and “elections”.

*”sglobka” - a word literally meaning “an assembly” or "assemblage", refers to the current ruling coalition in Bulgaria, and is used rather ironically.

*Georgi Gospodinov is the first Bulgarian writer who won the prestigious award “Booker” for his novel “Time Shelter”, translated into English by Angela Rodel. 

Also, check Bulgaria’s Google searches in 2023!