Mappe semantiche tra sincronia e diacronia: l'evoluzione delle strategie congiuntive e avversative nelle lingue slave

Abstract

This paper takes a twofold perspective in examining the semantics of the conjunctive and adversative markers attested in the Slavic languages. First, it gives a unified picture of the synchronic variation by means of semantic maps, that highlight the regularity underlying the attested polysemy patterns. Then, it goes back to data from Old Church Slavonic, trying to outline the diachronic processes that led to the actual semantics of the attested markers. The identified semantic changes are not random, but appear to develop along the conceptual space identified on a synchronic basis. Finally, the theoretical implications of the correspondence between synchronic and diachronic data are discussed.