A Corpus-Based Analysis of the Grammatical Status of Short Demonstratives in the Timok Dialect

Abstract

The present study addresses the question of the status of demonstrative enclitics (short demonstratives (SDs)) in Timok in the process  of their grammaticalization from a demonstrative into a definite article. It uses insights from neighboring Bulgarian and Macedonian  varieties where this process of grammatical change has resulted in a fully grammaticalized definite article. Different linguistic criteria are used to situate the Timok SD on the grammaticalization scale between a demonstrative, anaphoric article and a definite article. It analyzes the type of referential marking of the three demonstratives (ovaj, taj, onaj ‘this, that, yonder’; t-, v-, n-forms, respectively), as  well as their distribution in noun phrases and the type of noun they select. All findings point to their status as anaphoric articles.  However, when it comes to the type of reference, although there is variation, the t-form of the SD is dominantly used for anaphoric referencing, while v-form and n-form are more commonly used deictically. Insight into idiolects reveals that some speakers show a more advanced use of SDs on the grammaticalization scale than others, by using SDs more frequently and exhibiting a more anaphoric use. They tend to select countable and concrete nouns, linking SDs to the deictic meaning of the demonstrative. Within a nominal expression, SD attaches almost exclusively to adjectival modifiers, which suggests that it does not have the status of a functional element marking definiteness.