Abstract

SUBORDINATE CLAUSES OF TIME BOUNDARY IN OLD LITHUANIAN WRITINGS Summary The article gives an overview of the structure and semantics of subordinate clauses of time boundary with conjunctions net , neg , kol , iki in Old Lithuanian writings (in texts of J. Bretkūnas’ Postilla (1591), M. Dauksa’s Postilla (1599) and K. Sirvydas’ Punktai sakymų (I – 1629, II – 1644). The comparative analysis of the material shows that the temporal conjunction net has a peculiarity to fit semantically with one of the other conjunctions of time limit or boundary ( iki , kol , neg ). The closeness of meaning between the conjunctions net and iki , net and kol , net and negu depends on the grammatical structure of the complex sentence. Temporal clauses with conjunctions net have a fixed final clause order, clauses with iki are also often (~88%) used in the final position. The temporal clauses introduced by con­junctions net , iki can include finite and / or non-finite verb forms. Temporal clauses with net and correlative word of duration taip ilgai show the closeness of meaning between the conjunctions net and kol . The tendency to change conjunction net to conjunction kol is seen in temporal clauses with the subjunctive. There is also a semantic similarity between temporal clauses with net (together with correlative word pirm ) and temporal clauses with neg . Temporal clauses with compound conjunction pirm neg are most frequent in all these texts, temporal clauses introduced by single conjunction neg are identified in Dauksa and Sirvydas. In most cases a correlation between clause order and iconicity is seen: ~72% of grand total of subordinate clauses of time boundary used in Bretkūnas’, Dauksa’s and Sirvydas’ writings are the posterior temporal clauses.

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