Abstract
The paper presents a corpus-based typological and diachronic study of nonverbal clauses with demonstrative identifiers in Croatian. As one of the four types of demonstratives proposed by H. Diessel, demonstrative identifiers occur in copular and non-verbal clauses. They are used to focus the hearer’s attention on entities in the surrounding situation or in the universe of discourse. The paper reviews the typologies of demonstratives discussed in recent literature with respect to the status of demonstrative identifiers. Furthermore, it investigates the history of non-verbal clauses with demonstrative identifiers in Croatian: 1. se človêkь 2. evo čovjeka DEM man-NOM.SG DEM man-GEN.SG ‘Here is the man!’ ‘Here is the man!’ The main change occurred in the case marking on the argument. In the first Croatian literary language, Croatian Church Slavonic (1), the argument appears in the nominative case. In contemporary Croatian (2), the demonstrative identifier is predominantly followed by a genitive argument. Apart from shedding some light on the diachronic development of non-verbal clauses with demonstrative identifiers and their constituents in Croatian, the paper shows how they differ from similar constructions in other Slavic languages, as well as in some major European languages. In addition, they are compared to other non-verbal constructions with genitive and nominative arguments in Croatian.
Highlights
NON-VERBAL CLAUSES WITH DEMONSTRATIVE IDENTIFIERS IN THE HISTORY OF CROATIAN rukopis primljen: 18. veljače 2019.; prihvaćen za objavljivanje: 31. svibnja 2019
It investigates the history of non-verbal clauses with demonstrative identifiers in Croatian: 1. se človêkь
Diessel (1999: 57) formally distinguishes four types of demonstratives with respect to their specific syntactic context: (i) pronominal demonstratives, which independently substitute a noun or a noun-phrase, (ii) adnominal demonstratives, which accompany a co-occurring noun or a noun phrase, (iii) adverbial demonstratives, which function as verb modifiers, and (iv) identificational demonstratives, which are used in copular and non-verbal clauses to focus the hearer’s attention on entities in
Summary
Demonstratives are deictic expressions that serve the purpose of orienting the hearer in the surrounding situation (cf. Diessel 1999: 2) and as such they are language universals (Dixon 2003: 61). The majority of the world’s languages, 127 out of 234 (54%), express a two-way deictic contrast, while 88 (38%) express a three-way contrast. Croatian is one such language, having e.g. adverbial demonstratives ovdje ‘here’, tu ‘there’, ondje ‘over there’. Demonstratives are often discussed in the context of grammaticalization.. Demonstratives are often discussed in the context of grammaticalization.1 They seem to “represent ideal candidates for the grammaticalization process” (Brala-Vukanović 2015: 48). The develop ment of the definite article from demonstrative pronouns in Indo-European languages (cf. Catasso 2011) is perhaps one of the best-known cases of gramm aticalization of demonstratives
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
