Journal of Slavic Linguistics

Czech, Mate: Grammatical Replication and Shift in South Australian Czech

2022-09-14T10:46:22+00:00

Historical linguistics aims to investigate the innovation stage of a grammatical variant as well as the later community-wide propagation in order to fully understand the change (Fischer 2004). This paper focuses on individual contact-based grammatical innovations in a community setting, viewing the speaker as the “locus of change” (Weinreich 1953/1968: 1; Romaine 2005; Wei 2013). This provides a window into the types of innovations community members produce in a situation of shift, wherein such innovations may never become complete changes. The community studied in this article is the Czech South Australian community, whose language situation is previously unstudied. Utilizing Thomason’s (2001) steps for proving whether contact-induced structural change has occurred, this paper identifies several instances of possible grammatical “replication” innovations in the speech of individuals in this community (Heine and Kuteva 2005, 2008: 2; Kuteva 2017), as well as the influence of shift driven by “divergent attainment” (Polinsky 2018: 18) and intergenerational attrition. This is supported by findings of significant authors in the tradition of Czech diasporic linguistic research (Henzl 1982; Vašek 1996; Dutková 1998; Dutková-Cope 2001a, 2001b; Zajícová 2009, 2012). It is suggested here that the features found are possibly the result of shift and attrition processes and contact-induced language transfer acting together within a Dynamic System (Herdina and Jessner 2002).

Zone-Flooding as a Discursive Strategy of Czech Anti-System News Portals

2023-02-23T14:57:25+00:00

The anti-system media (ANTS)—known for spreading disinformation—might seem to “flood [the media] zone” with a chaotic multitude of information: truths, untruths, and half-truths alike. The main goal of this study is to find evidence of systematicity in this seeming chaos: persistent and recurring narrative lines that run through the media class irrespective of the news topic. Two empirical methods (Keyword Analysis and Market Basket Analysis) are applied to large data from Czech online media (all articles, regardless of topic, from 40 ANTS web portals over three months in 2020). ANTS’ narratives are advanced by creating specific associations. The current approach is based on the idea that texts can be characterized with the help of conceptual associations, pursuing concepts which co-occur within the same text regardless of sentence or paragraph boundaries. This approach thus differs from the frequently-used strategy in discourse analysis of examining phenomena such as collocations, use of passive voice, or nominalization. The distinct properties of ANTS can be highlighted by contrasting it to the mainstream media class and to reader expectations in journalistic practice. The results, culled from servers including those not explicitly sponsored by the Kremlin, indicate that a schematic set of narrative lines permeate ANTS: a model of the world divided into the West (USA, NATO, and the EU) and Russia, in which the West has a negative image relative to that of Russia. These narrative lines lead to an argumentation for Czechia’s separation from the West (Czexit, leaving NATO) and for alignment with Russia.

The semantics of clausal complementation

2021-12-15T06:17:12+00:00

This paper offers a new approach to post-verbal complement constructions in present-day Polish. The study is couched in the framework of construction grammar theory (cf. Goldberg 1995, 2006; Croft 2001; Diessel 2015). The focus is on four types of complement clauses—the infinitive, gerund, subjunctive, and indicative clauses, which, in keeping with the constructional framework, are taken to represent distinct form-meaning pairings. The main goal of the study is to examine the extent to which these four morphosyntactically different types of complements exhibit differences in meaning and whether there is any semantic patterning in their distribution in present-day Polish. The study employs the method known as collostructional analysis to determine the sets of predicates with which each of the complement constructions is significantly associated and by which it is repelled. The research findings contribute to the semantically based theories of complementation by revealing systematic correspondences between the form and the function of complement clauses, which are modeled in terms of a radial (prototype-based) network of senses. The study provides empirical evidence in support of the thesis that the distribution of (post-verbal) complement constructions is semantically motivated rather than random or arbitrary.

Binding in South Slavic and DP

2021-11-02T13:12:23+00:00

This paper reports on a set of experiments designed to test the binding potential of prenominal possessives in Bulgarian, Macedonian, and Serbian. Despić (2013) argues that the differences in binding possibilities observed between English and Serbian provide support for the Parameterized DP Hypothesis (e.g., Fukui 1988; Zlatić 1997; Bošković 2003, 2005, 2008). LaTerza (2016) tests whether the claim holds true for two South Slavic DP-languages, Bulgarian and Macedonian, and concludes that it does not. Data provided in LaTerza 2016 is further discussed in Franks 2019. Based on three interesting observations—the use of a clitic vs. full pronoun, different binding behavior of pronominal and nominal possessives in Bulgarian, and acceptability judgments reported for Macedonian and Serbian—Franks (2019) concludes that Bulgarian and Macedonian have the same binding potentials as English, confirming Despić’s original hypothesis. Srdanović and Rinke (2020) provide Serbian experimental data focusing on possessives in subject position and coreferential readings of pronouns in object positions. The authors show that Serbian allows coreferential readings just like English, especially when clitics are used. Our paper provides experimental data for Bulgarian, Macedonian, and Serbian. Our conclusions are that the three languages exhibit almost identical binding potentials. This finding is in line with the ones in Srdanović and Rinke 2020 since it also disproves the claim that the differences in binding result from the nominal structure present in a language: DP or NP.

The syntax of Bulgarian edin 'one'

2021-07-09T16:07:27+00:00

The present paper aims at offering a syntactic model for the grammaticalization of the numeral edin ‘one’ in Bulgarian. Edin is argued to be at the beginning of the last stage of grammaticalization, i.e., the stage of the indefinite article (cf. Geist 2013). It may function as (i) a cardinal numeral; (ii) a specificity marker (individuating the referent); or (iii) an article-like element with non-referential interpretation in generic sentences. The proposal put forth here is that these different functions are the manifestation of three different structural positions: (i) the specifier of a functional projection (NumP) below the DP for the cardinal; (ii) SpecDP for the specific marker; and (iii) the head D for the article-like marker of genericity. This model represents a perfect linguistic cycle, which suggests that the present analysis may be on the right track.

Threatening in Russian with or without sja: grozit’ vs. grozit’sja

2022-07-04T14:03:28+00:00

This article explores the two verbs, grozit′ and grozit′sja, which can both be translated as ‘threaten’. We adopt a “local” approach and offer a thorough analysis of corpus data, which indicates that the two verbs, although they share a number of properties, are semantically and syntactically distinct. We show that the two verbs collocate with different parts of speech and tend to occur in different syntactic constructions. Grozit′sja is typically used with regard to interactions between two persons, while grozit′ has a wider range of uses. This tendency has become more pronounced over time. As for the meaning of the verbs, grozit′sja tends to express verbal threats, while grozit′ often conveys non-verbal threats. On a more theoretical level, our study contributes to our understanding of the morpheme sja. While labels like “reflexive”, “middle”, and “passive” are helpful as far as they go, we demonstrate how detailed studies of individual verb pairs (a “local” approach) may shed light on the complex syntactic and semantic properties of sja. On the methodological level, our study underscores the value of corpus data for the study of sja, both data from large internet corpora such as the Araneum Russicum Russicum Maius and the Russian National Corpus (RNC). While the former corpus enables us to identify general tendencies through collocations and semantic vectors, a smaller curated corpus like the RNC is suitable for detailed analysis of semantic and syntactic properties.

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

2022-05-25T22:54:54+00:00

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.

Senahid Halilović (chief of the project), Mehmed Kardaš, Amela Ljevo-Ovčina, Emira Mešanović-Meša 2020. Bosanskohercegovački lingvistički atlas I: Fonetika. Sarajevo: Slavistički komitet. ISBN 978-9958-648-28-1.

2023-11-16T16:07:15+00:00

Dialectology, in the broadest sense, studies language variation. Although the term “dialect” can have several referents, it most often denotes traditional rural speech, as unaffected as possible by interference from the standard language or other contact elements. Linguists normally record this speech in situ, either by immersing themselves in the local speech through extensive residence (and then writing a full grammar of this local speech system), or by visiting a number of different areas and then comparing the results along different parameters.

Thomas Rosén. Russian in the 1740s. Boston, MA: Academic Studies Press, 2022. xiv + 198 pp. ISBN: 9781644694145 (hardback); 9781644694979 (paperback); 9781644694169 (ePub); 9781644698303 (Open Access).

2022-12-22T13:44:09+00:00

The Russian language in the eighteenth century can be compared to a sausage: we know pretty well what ingredients are used and we have an exact knowledge of what the final product is like, but what is less well understood is the bit in between. There is still much to discover about the processes by which the raw ingredients, in this case the various forms of Russian and Church Slavonic that co-existed in Muscovite Russia at the beginning of the eighteenth century are converted into this final product, the linguistic variety recognisable as something close to Modern Russian that emerges just over a century later. Dr Rosén seeks to expand our knowledge and understanding of some of these processes by concentrating, as the title indicates, on a specific decade, the 1740s.

Anna-Maria Sonnemann. Language Families in Contact: The Mutual Impact of Slavic and Romani.

2023-12-16T21:35:29+00:00

For specialists in Slavic linguistics, the study of Slavic contacts with Romani is important for discussions of the kinds of grammatical change that can occur in a non-Slavic system under the influence of various Slavic languages, as well as changes in the lexicon in both directions. This useful work, based on the author’s habilitation thesis at the University of Cologne (2021)—which itself expands and revises some of the author’s previously published work—provides an excellent survey of all the key issues.

Prekmurje Slovene Grammar: Avgust Pavel’s Vend Nyelvtan (1942)

2023-11-14T13:53:08+00:00

Marc Greenberg’s translation and annotation of Avgust Pavel’s 1942 Prekmurje Slovene Grammar is important for several reasons. First, it is often noted that the Slovene speech territory is a contact zone for the major language families of Europe. It is the place where Slavic, Romance, Germanic, and Hungarian meet. This is true in a more concentrated way for the Prekmurje region of Slovene.

Tomasz Kamusella. Politics and the Slavic languages.

2023-11-29T15:05:35+00:00

The book Politics and the Slavic Languages written by Tomasz Kamusella is published in the respected Routledge series Histories of Central and Eastern Europe. As stated in the preface of the series, "the nations of Central and Eastern Europe experienced a time of momentous change in the period following the Second World War", but also later, during the Hungarian uprising and the Prague Spring, to name just the most prominent ones, as well as during tumultuous 1990s and onwards. Therefore, as the editors underline, "the volumes in this series will help shine a light on the experience of this key geopolitical zone and offer many lessons to be learned for the future".

Katarzyna Bednarska, Dorota Kruk, Borislav Popov, Olga Saprikina, Traci Speed, Kamil Szafraniec, Svitlana Terekhova, Radislav Tsonev, and Aneta Wysocka, eds. Contributions to the 23rd Annual Scientific Conference of the Association of Slavists (Polyslav).

2023-11-18T14:32:02+00:00

The book Contributions to the 23rd Annual Scientific Conference of the Association of Slavists (Polyslav) is a volume of conference proceedings. The Polyslav group was established in 1997 at the University of Konstanz, and it has held annual conferences since then. The group was originally dedicated to sharing research in Slavic linguistics by German-speaking Slavic specialists, and since then it has expanded to encompass a more international scope (Polyslav 2014).

Jan Fellerer. Urban Multilingualism in East-Central Europe: The Polish Dialect of Late Habsburg Lviv.

2023-11-21T08:02:21+00:00

Jan Fellerer is associate professor in non-Russian Slavonic languages at Wolfson College of the University of Oxford. His Urban Multilingualism is a masterful demonstration of how one can conduct a sociolinguistic study without direct access to speakers of the language(s) in question. His portrayal of what he calls “Lviv borderland Polish” (LBP) is based on close reading of two kinds of material: Polish and Ukrainian popular satirical periodicals and perhaps surprisingly, police and court records. His reading is informed by his profound knowledge of Polish and Ukrainian, both their standard versions and geographically relevant dialects.

Predrag Piper, Ivan Klajn and Rajna Dragićević. Normativna gramatika srpskoga jezika [Normative Grammar of the Serbian Language], 4th revised and enlarged edition. Novi Sad: Matica Srpska, 2020. 766 pp. ISBN 978-86-7946-377-7.

2022-12-15T14:03:21+00:00

Speakers of English may marvel at the word normative in the title of this grammar. This word simply rolls off the tongue of Slavic linguists, in sharp contrast to their English-speaking colleagues.

T. I. Vendina. Praslovjanskoe slovo vo vremeni i prostranstve Slavii [Proto-Slavic Words in Time and Space of the Slavia].

2023-12-18T11:21:37+00:00

The book under review represents another important study which draws upon the ultimate treasure trove of Slavic linguistics, the Slavic Linguistic Atlas, better known by its Russian abbreviation OLA (Obščeslavjanskij lingvističeskij atlas, https://www.slavatlas.org). The present study is a welcome contribution to Slavic lexicology and historical, areal, and typological linguistics. Its author, Professor Tatjana Ivanovna Vendina, is a leading global authority on this subject.

Franks, Steven. Microvariation in the South Slavic Noun Phrase. Bloomington, Indiana: Slavica Publishers, 2020.

2024-01-05T13:50:23+00:00

The structure of the nominal domain poses many interesting questions for linguistic theory, both from perspectives that focus on individual languages and from cross-linguistic perspectives. Despite the volume of available research on this topic, how much functional structure (if any) is projected in the extended domain of N of a given language and whether all languages have uniform extended domains of N is still largely debatable.

The taming of the clitics

2023-11-16T08:07:14+00:00

The reviewed book offers an empirically-oriented description of Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian (BCS) clitics, with focus on those features that are subject to parametric microvariation in regional varieties of BCS and across them (p. 5). Descriptive grammars of BCS include a brief mention of BCS proclitics including the conjunctions i, a and the negation ne (Browne & Alt 2004: 15), but the authors of the reviewed book restrict their analysis to BCS clustering enclitics representing two kinds of sentence categories — oblique pronouns and auxiliaries.