On certain particularities of the Serbian comparative against the background of its situation in other Slavonic languages)

Abstract

The paper deals with a special kind of comparative without an overt secundum comparationis, as exemplified by, say, Pale su jače kiše 'stronger rains have fallen', which is freely used in Serbian; it is called, according to the grammatical tradition, absolute comparative. Attention has been drawn, while attempts were made at revealing the crucial features of the absolute comparative, to the fact that it is marked for its "amplified extension" on the scale of gradation; this shows that the comparative in the kind of use now under consideration has not lost its nature of an instrument of comparison. The grammatical structure in question has also been characterized as displaying sui generis semantic indefiniteness: the point is that the lack of the second object of comparison makes the scope of application of a given feature on the gradation scale rather fuzzy. The first part of the paper presents the distribution of the absolute comparative within the Slavonic linguistic area; the presentation is based on the existing grammars of particular Slavonic languages (however, Bulgarian and Macedonian have not been accounted for; the reason was that these languages have been "balcanized"). The evidence supplied by grammars allows us to distinguish, within the Slavonic area, two zones: the zone of marginal use of the form in question (Russian) or its limited use (Polish), and the zone of its active use, including Slovak, Czech, Sorbian, Slovenian and Serbian. The second part of the work describes the contrast between the situation in Serbian, on the one hand, and the situation in Polish, on the other: the focus is on the distinct divergence of the two languages in terms of textual distribution, frequency of occurrence and stylistic characteristics of the investigated structure. On the basis of the materials of bilateral translations of belletristic works, as well as those of the Serbian journalistic texts (as appearing in Internet), selected types of translational equivalences of the Serbian absolute comparative in Polish texts have been discussed; these are: the basic adjective in the positive, the negated antonym of the source adjective, and the construction "co + adjective in the comparative degree". In the last part of the article some selected differences concerning the use of the absolute comparative in Serbian and Polish journalistic texts have been pointed out. As shown in the course of the analysis, the Polish journalistic style tends to express sharp appraisals and distinct evaluations. This is particularly evident in isolated elements of press, such as titles, notices, advertising slogans. As a result, the absolute comparative, with its considerable degree of indefiniteness, appears to be less appropriate here. In contrary to this, the Serbian linguistic norm admits of a milder form of utterance, it admits of formulating less categorical judgments, even in journalistic style; this enhances the use of the absolute comparative which is well anchored both in the grammatical system and in linguistic awareness of the users of Serbian.