The history of Bulgarian linguistics in Bulgaria for the last 60 years is inextricably linked to UVT and the Department of Modern Bulgarian, which has changed its name over the years. At the time of its establishment, the Department was the second Bulgarian language teaching and research body in the country, but it quickly gained national and international recognition. According to many scholars today, the Department of Modern Bulgarian Language is a pillar of national Bulgarian studies, the most successful body in Bulgaria in the research of the Bulgarian language, with the best prospects for scientific development thanks to the personnel strategy pursued all these years.
Over the last 60 years the present Department of Modern Bulgarian Language, initially as part of the Department of Bulgarian Philology and later of the Department of Bulgarian Linguistics, has seen an ascension of its members as teachers and researchers. Proof of its high academic level are those who started as ordinary lecturers from the lowest academic position and rose to professors - Stanjo Georgiev, Dimitar Chizmarov, Rusin Rusinov, Boyan Baichev, Varban Vatov, Hristina Staneva, Stoyan Burov, Kiril Tsankov, Anton Getsov, Penka Radeva, Valentina Bondzholova, Maria Ilieva (the last six are alumni of UVT); associate professors Yordanka Marinova, Lyubka Stoichkova, Anelia Petkova, Verka Ivanova, Vladislav Marinov, Nia Radeva, Teodora Rabavyanova. Unfortunately, among them is no longer the late Associate Professor Stefan Gardev - the inspirer and founder of the Bulgarian Electronic Linguistic Library, which now bears his name.
The research output of the Department is a function of its staff. In 60 years hundreds of volumes have been published - monographic studies, thematic, jubilee and other collections, dictionaries, reference books, encyclopaedias. The amount of studies, articles and reports, language notes and other scholarly works of various genres is enormous. The current state of research at the Department of Modern Bulgarian Language can be viewed at the electronic scientific archive of the University of Veliko Tarnovo http://da.uni-vt.bg/pubsz.aspx?z=70. In 1990, the members of the Department of Modern Bulgarian Language initiated the conferences that have become established over the years, initially devoted to colloquial speech, and subsequently to oral communication in general.