Natural Syntax of Slovenian: The Complex Sentence

Abstract

This paper applies the framework of Natural Syntax to complex sentences in Slovenian, with the twin goals of introducing the framework to Slavicists and showing how it deals with Slavic language data. The framework of Natural Syntax as initiated by Janez Orešnik, in the tradition of (morphological) naturalness as established by Wolfgang Dressler and Willi Mayerthaler, is a developing deductive theory. The naturalness judgments are couched in naturalness scales, which follow from the basic parameters (or "axioms") listed at the beginning of the paper. The predictions of the theory are calculated in what are known as deductions, the chief components of each being a pair of naturalness scales and the rules governing the alignment of corresponding naturalness values. Parallel and chiastic alignment are distinguished and related to Henning Andersen's early work on markedness.