Some peculiarities of enclitic system in Polotsk charts

Abstract

The article is devoted to the enclitic system in Polotsk charts of the 13th — 16th centuries. They were written in «rusьka mova», i.e. the language of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The three major issues discussed in the paper are the set of enclitics, the clitic placement in the phrase, and the position of the conjunctive and conditional enclitic бы. The set of enclitics consists of old particles (же, ли), pronoun enclitics and perfect auxiliaries. Also, it includes new enclitics, namely the particles деи, таки, пакъ. The conclusion about their nature is based on their second position in the phrase. Moreover, these particles can occupy the position before the other Wackernagel’s clitics in cluster. The pluperfect forms былъ, была are placed in the phrase according to Wackernagel’s law. Also, we suppose the dative plural имъ to be an enclitic. As for the placement of the enclitic cluster, in Polotsk charts enclitics may adjunct to a group consisting of two or more words. Τhe same word order exists in other Slavic languages. It has been discovered that бы as a part of subjunctive mood was not a second position clitic because it had an extra function as a conjunction. Additionally, the paper discusses the Old Russian second conditional mood with auxiliaries replacing personal pronouns to avoid redundant emphasis.