Definiteness in Bulgarian: Modelling the Processes of Language Change

Definiteness in Bulgarian

≥

Trends in Linguistics Studies and Monographs 182

Editors

Walter Bisang Hans Henrich Hock Werner Winter (main editor for this volume)

Mouton de Gruyter Berlin · New York

Definiteness in Bulgarian Modelling the Processes of Language Change

by

Olga M. Mladenova

Mouton de Gruyter Berlin · New York

Mouton de Gruyter (formerly Mouton, The Hague) is a Division of Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, Berlin. This book was published with the financial assistance of the Faculty of Humanities at the author’s home institution, University of Calgary (Canada).

앝 Printed on acid-free paper which falls within the guidelines 앪 of the ANSI to ensure permanence and durability.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Mladenova, Olga M. Definiteness in Bulgarian : modelling the processes of language change / by Olga M. Mladenova. p. cm. ⫺ (Trends in linguistics. Studies and monographs ; 182) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-3-11-019557-6 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Bulgarian language ⫺ Definiteness. 2. Bulgarian language ⫺ History. 3. Bulgarian language ⫺ Dialects. I. Title. PG929.D42M57 2007 491.811⫺dc22 2007035013

ISBN 978-3-11-019557-6 ISSN 1861-4302 Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available in the Internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de. ” Copyright 2007 by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, D-10785 Berlin All rights reserved, including those of translation into foreign languages. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Cover design: Christopher Schneider, Berlin. Printed in Germany.

Contents

v

Contents

List of abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . List of tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . List of figures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2. Definiteness: expression and content . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1. Expression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1.1. Head nouns vs. head pronouns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1.2. Anomalous nominal structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2. Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2.1. The pragmatic level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2.2. The semantic-referential level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2.3. The lexical-morphological level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2.4. The syntactic level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.3. At the interface of expression and content . . . . . . . . . 3. The diachronic model of definiteness . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.1. Process 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.1.1. Anaphoric article vs. anaphoric demonstrative . . . . . . . 3.1.2. Explicit expression of anaphoric definiteness . . . . . . . 3.2. Process 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.3. Process 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.3.1. Nominals of Type 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.3.2. Nominals of Type 3 and equivalent . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.3.3. Nominals of Type 4 and equivalent . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.3.4. Nominals of Type 5 and equivalent . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.3.5. Nominals of Type 8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.3.6. Nominals of Type 9 and equivalent . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.3.7. Attributive definiteness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.4. Overview of identifiability-based definiteness . . . . . . . 3.5. From identifiability to inclusiveness . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.5.1. Emphatic sam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.6. Process 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.6.1. Explicit expression of inclusive definiteness . . . . . . . . 3.6.2. Proportional vs. non-proportional quantifiers . . . . . . . 3.7. Process 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.8. Overview of generics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.8.1. Word formation at the intersection of generics and specifics

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

viii ix xii 1 9 9 33 42 48 49 55 65 65 80 93 94 99 106 109 111 111 117 118 119 123 125 129 131 137 139 147 151 157 166 169 173

vi

Contents

3.9. 3.10. 3.11. 3.12. 3.13. 3.14. 3.14.1. 3.14.2. 3.15. 3.15.1. 3.15.2. 3.16. 4. 4.1. 4.2. 4.2.1. 4.2.2. 4.2.3. 4.2.4. 4.3. 4.4. 5. 5.1. 5.2. 5.3. 5.4. 5.5. 5.6. 6. 6.1. 6.2. 6.3. 6.4. 7. 8. 8.1. 8.2. 8.3.

Process 6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Beyond the definite article . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Process 7: non-identifiability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Process 8: non-inclusiveness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Typifying genericity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . About pronouns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Clitic reduplication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Type 0 nominals with a dative reflexive clitic . . . . . . . . . Beyond nominal structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . From content to expression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . From expression to content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Overview of the diachronic model of definiteness . . . . . . . Language variation and textology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Preliminary considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A textological perspective on the evolution of definiteness in Bulgarian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Langue: case (1) vs. case (2a) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Parole: cases (2b) and (2c) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Beyond the definite article . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Beyond nominal structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Beyond the Modern Bulgarian damaskins . . . . . . . . . . . Insights gained from the textological perspective . . . . . . . Definiteness in the dialects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Quantitative and qualitative dimensions of dialect variation . . Article, case and animacy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Article, gender and number . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The three-way article system: article and person . . . . . . . . Adjectives vs. nouns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Insights gained from the dialectological perspective . . . . . . Bulgarian definiteness in a Balkan context . . . . . . . . . . . A linguo-geographic view on the Balkan connections . . . . . Definiteness and possessivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pre-Ottoman Turkic impact . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Moesian vs. Rupa contributions to the evolution of definiteness Concluding remarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Maps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Marking of the definite article on masculine adjectives . . . . Marking of the definite article on numerals . . . . . . . . . . Competition of 2M1 and 2U1 nominals: mu˘zˇu˘´ mi / mu˘´zˇu˘ mi vs. mu˘´zˇ mi / mu˘zˇ mí . . . . . . . . . . . . .

184 194 196 209 219 223 223 231 234 234 241 243 247 247 248 255 265 276 279 283 292 297 297 302 310 317 326 339 344 344 348 357 362 368 370 370 380 387

Contents

8.4. 8.5. 8.6. 8.7. 8.8. 8.9. 8.10. 8.11. 9. 10. 11.

Competition of 2M1 and 2U1 nominals: zˇenáta mi vs. zˇená mi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Competition of 2M1 and 2U1 nominals: sinu˘´ mi/sína mi/sina mí vs. sín mi/sin mí . . . . . . . . Competition of 2U1 and 2M1 nominals with a kinship term in the head position . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Definite feminine singular nouns . . . . . . . . . . . . Definite plurals in -te vs. -ti . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Definite plurals in -to . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Definite feminine singular nouns in a consonant . . . . Three-way vs. single-article systems . . . . . . . . . . Note on language data treatment . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

vii

. . . . 392 . . . . 397 . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . .

402 409 415 420 425 433 437 438 463

viii

Contents

List of abbreviations

ACC ADJ ADV AG CL DAT DET DG DIM FEM GEN IMPER IMPF INF INSTR INTERROG LF LOC M MASC MidB ModB NEUT OB PERS PF PIE PL PREP PS REFL REL SG U VOC

Accusative Adjective Adverb Adjectival-genitive language Clitic Dative Determiner Determiner-genitive language Diminutive Feminine Genitive Imperative Imperfective aspect Infinitive Instrumental Interrogative particle Long-form adjective Locative Marked nominal Masculine Middle Bulgarian Modern Bulgarian Neuter Old Bulgarian Personal numeral Perfective aspect Proto-Indo–European Plural Preposition Proto-Slavic Reflexive Relative Singular Unmarked nominal Vocative

List of tables

ix

List of tables

Table 1 Ratio of the available articles to the necessary ones according to current norms. Comparative view of togazi and togiva homilies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Table 2 Overview of the expression and content of the grammatical category ‘definiteness’ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Table 3 Formal classification of Bulgarian nominals: Type 0 or nominals with pronominal heads . . . . . . . . . Table 4 Formal classification of Bulgarian nominals: Type 1 or basic nominals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Table 5 Formal classification of Bulgarian nominals: Type 2 or nouns with short-form possessives . . . . . . . . Table 6 Formal classification of Bulgarian nominals: Type 3 or nouns in apposition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Table 7 Formal classification of Bulgarian nominals: Type 4 or nouns with preceding adjectives . . . . . . . . . Table 8 Formal classification of Bulgarian nominals: Type 5 or nouns with ensuing adjectives . . . . . . . . . . Table 9 Formal classification of Bulgarian nominals: Type 6 or nouns with quantifiers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Table 10 Formal classification of Bulgarian nominals: Type 7 or substantivized adjectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . Table 11 Formal classification of Bulgarian nominals: Type 8 or nouns with prepositional phrases . . . . . . . . . Table 12 Formal classification of Bulgarian nominals: Type 9 or nouns with relative clauses . . . . . . . . . . . . Table 13 Formal classification of Bulgarian nominals: Type 10 or nouns with adverbials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Table 14 Complementarity of personal and demonstrative pronouns in the third-person . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Table 15 Description and text register . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Table 16 Classification of nominals according to syntactic position . Table 17 Syntactic distribution of Ø, the short and the full forms of the article among definite masculine nouns . . . . . . . Table 18 Masculine singulars in -a liable to double interpretation . . Table 19 Comparison between nominals with appositive and restrictive readings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

.

7

.

9

. 10 . 17 . 21 . 22 . 23 . 25 . 26 . 27 . 28 . 31 . 32 . 39 . 58 . 65 . 73 . 76 . 85

x

List of tables

Table 20 Table 21 Table 22 Table 23 Table 24 Table 25 Table 26 Table 27 Table 28 Table 29 Table 30 Table 31 Table 32 Table 33 Table 34 Table 35 Table 36 Table 37 Table 38 Table 39 Table 40 Table 41 Table 42 Table 43 Table 44 Table 45 Table 46

Reading and description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Representation of anaphoric definites in the damaskin . . . . Numeric presence of the 4M1 nominals . . . . . . . . . . . Numeric presence of the 5M1 nominals . . . . . . . . . . . Numeric presence of the 8M nominals with a restrictive reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Numeric presence of the 9M nominals . . . . . . . . . . . . Dynamics of the attributive definite article in the damaskin . Definiteness, gender and number in the damaskin . . . . . . Definiteness and animacy in the damaskin . . . . . . . . . . Definiteness and syntactic function in the damaskin . . . . . Representation of the 1M8 and 1M4 variants of vsicˇki in the damaskin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Proportional quantifiers in the damaskin . . . . . . . . . . . Specific vs. generic heads of nominals of type 8 . . . . . . . Nominals meaning ‘to the east of’ in the damaskin and Standard Bulgarian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Expression of abstract notions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Overview of the reflexive and non-reflexive pronominal possessives in the damaskin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Reduplication in nominals of types 0M1-8, 0M5-7 and 9M with universal relative pronouns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Strong pronouns functioning as direct and indirect objects . . Representation of the strong reflexive pronoun in the damaskin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Overview of the derivation of relative pronouns and conjunctions in the damaskin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Overview of the analysed damaskin homilies from the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries . . . . . . . St. Petka: Numerical data on the use of definite articles . . . Elevation of the Cross: Numerical data on the use of definite articles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jesus Christ’s Burial: Numerical data on the use of definite articles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Presentation of the Virgin: Numerical data on the use of definite articles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Definite articles of cases (1) and (2a) introduced after the seventeenth century . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Definite article for masculine singulars in the Svisˇtov damaskin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

86 97 119 120 124 128 130 132 132 132 156 157 175 179 206 226 227 230 232 242 249 258 259 260 261 264 273

List of tables

Table 47 Representation of the Middle Bulgarian precursors of 1M1 nominals and equivalent in the Modern Bulgarian translation Table 48 Semantics of the Rhodope three-way article system . . . . . Table 49 Definite articles in three versions of St. Mary of Egypt: the Kiev damaskin, Standard Macedonian and the Svisˇtov damaskin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Table 50 The three-way article system reinterpreted . . . . . . . . . . Table 51 Marking definiteness on nominals with masculine heads in the Tixonravov damaskin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Table 52 Representation of the nominals of types 4 and 5 in slots that would have been filled with marked nominals in Standard Bulgarian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Table 53 Nominals expressing possessivity in Standard Bulgarian . . . Table 54 Evolution of possessivity and definiteness over time . . . . .

xi

285 318

323 325 336

337 350 357

xii

List of tables

List of figures

Figure 1 Appositive vs. restrictive reading of a nominal’s dependent element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Figure 2 Acquisition of the definite article by number, gender and animacy: relative chronology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Figure 3 At the specific-generic interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . Figure 4 Overview of the semantic-referential level of the default inheritance model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Figure 5 Diachrony of the Bulgarian definite article . . . . . . . . Figure 6 Definiteness from a linguo-geographic perspective: the relevant core areas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Figure 7 Rise of the Bulgarian definite article . . . . . . . . . . .

. .

81

. . 134 . . 148 . . 195 . . 246 . . 342 . . 364

Introduction

1.

1

Introduction

Given the serious difficulties native speakers of languages without overt markers of definiteness (like articles) are reputed to face when learning languages that possess such markers (cf. e. g. Shortall 1996), consider the following situation. There is a group of speakers of a language A with no articles and a subgroup of it, which is bilingual in languages A and B, the latter having articles. Can speakers of A be moved to introduce into their language functional counterparts to B’s articles? If so, how would it happen? What would the consecutive steps be? What factors would play a role? These are hypothetical “goal-oriented” questions. Looking at the same generic situation from a causal angle, imagine that language A (some of whose speakers have over time been bilingual in languages A and B) does switch sides: from being a language without overt markers of definiteness it becomes one with such markers. What was the mechanism of change? Did bilingualism with language B have a role to play? If so, what was it precisely? Is bilingualism a necessary or a contingent factor in such evolutions? Does it matter whether language B is in a substratum, adstratum or superstratum position to language A? Although overt definiteness is not an unrestricted universal in Joseph H. Greenberg’s sense, since unrelated languages are known to have acquired it, there must be some overall, cross-linguistically valid principles that govern the mechanism through which acquisition takes place. Typological linguistics can only determine what these principles are on the basis of comparison among a critical number of real language-specific scenarios. This book, written between 2001 and 2007, contributes to such a typological project by exploring the Bulgarian scenario. Besides being of indisputable interest to language typology, its conclusions also shed light on one of the key issues of Balkan linguistics with its focus on the convergent development of the languages spoken in the eastern part of the Balkan Peninsula. The acquisition of overt definiteness by Bulgarian, one of the members of the Balkan Sprachbund, is a central question of its historical grammar. Moreover, it – no less than the Cyrillic alphabet – goes to the heart of Bulgarian national identity, since Bulgarians tend to be proud of their linguistic system, which stands out against a Slavic background. Whereas one does not hear speakers of other Slavic languages brag about their full-fledged case systems, Bulgarians often present themselves to the outside world as speakers of a language that lacks case but has article.

2

Introduction

It is hard to say when the symbolic value of overt definiteness first came to the fore but by the 1830s it was already around. Neofit Rilski, author of the first Modern Bulgarian grammar, admonishes an unnamed opponent that, if the opponent considers the Bulgarian article “ugly” because neither the ancient Slavic literary language nor the other Slavic languages have one, he must have been breastfed by the wrong mother, because Bulgarians take in with their mothers’ milk the sweetness of the article, which is a special gift that adorns their language (Neofit Rilski 1835: 52–54). The message is clear – “if you are one of us, you love our article” – and it was not to change much over the next one hundred seventy years. It provides an extra justification for this study of the rise and evolution of overt definiteness in Bulgarian, the “most Bulgarian” of all features of the Bulgarian language. Starting with the treatment of the Ancient Greek definite article by Apollonius Dyscolus in Pλ  « (book I, sections 37–155) in the second century C.E., definiteness, viewed here as an overarching category subsuming definiteness strictu sensu and indefiniteness, has generated a huge linguistic and philosophic literature, which includes both language-specific descriptions and theoretical generalizations. The most recent survey of it is provided in Lyons 1999, for earlier influential syntheses see Christophersen 1939: 50–81 and Krámsky´ 1972. If even these studies of broad scope are admittedly incomplete in their coverage of the literature, one should not expect more from this book, which can be a reliable guide only in the realm of the most important Bulgarian-related bibliography, always referred to in the appropriate places. But it is still essential to determine the place of the approach adopted here in the context of the linguistic thought on definiteness, if this book is to be as relevant to typologists and scholars with a general interest in definiteness as a linguistic phenomenon in synchrony and diachrony, as it is to those whose focus is on the specific manifestations of definiteness in the Slavic and the Balkan languages. As the goal of this study is to provide a unified account of the evolution of definiteness in Modern Bulgarian as expressed by nominals of varied structure that have common nouns, proper names or pronouns in the head position, it could only lean on a theoretical framework that embraces all and any occurrences of definiteness in text. A prerequisite to the successful analysis of the earliest preserved Modern Bulgarian texts from a diachronic perspective was the assignment of all encountered nominals to a certain category of definiteness. Thus the empirically-conditioned necessity to be inclusive in my treatment automatically led to an attempt to reconcile theoretical views, which have originated in different traditions and saw themselves as mutually

Introduction

3

exclusive. This was so because, as shown convincingly by Lyons, none of the existing theories can make sense of all instances of definiteness in language (1999: 1–15, 253–281). The most important gulf is between the theories assuming that identifiability or, alternatively, inclusiveness is the main meaning of definiteness. The identifiability-based theories claim that a nominal can have a marker that alerts hearers that they should be able to identify its referent on a variety of grounds. Some of the possibilities include: the referent was mentioned before or it can be deduced from the immediate situation in which the utterance was made or from general knowledge of the world. Being based on minimal requirements, such identification does not imply that hearers must be able to recognize the referent in any real sense but rather tells them to take it for granted for the purposes of communication. Identifiability interpretations work best with specific references. Among the important contributions to this tradition, which goes back as far as Apollonius Dyscolus, are Christophersen 1939, Jespersen 1949: 403–543, Heim 1988 and relevance theory (Sperber and Wilson 1995: 202–217). The inclusiveness-based theories, on the other hand, interpret definiteness marking as an indicator that the reference is of an entire set that satisfies the description. What counts as an entire set depends on the type of noun and the particular context: for personal names it is a unique referent whereas for mass and count nouns it can refer to the set uniquely relevant in the given situation (which may involve sets of one or more entities as required by context) or to the kind in general. Even though much linguistic material is equally well explained in terms of both identifiability and inclusiveness, there are uses that allow only one of these treatments. Inclusiveness accounts especially successfully for generic and alternative-world contexts. The tradition originated in the domain of philosophy with Russell 1905 and has as its most important representative Hawkins 1978. There have been attempts to bridge these traditions and I mention some whose focus is on Bulgarian in section 2.2 when I introduce my own proposal. The promising avenue, opened by C. Lyons (1999: 274–340), however, deserves special attention. Even though he is not aware of it, he has I. I. Revzin as a forerunner in his view that definiteness is a grammatical category on par with gender and number rather than a semantic or a pragmatic notion (Revzina 1979; Lyons 1999: 274–275). Lyons argues as follows: grammatical categories are created when freestanding lexical items acquire a grammatical status while losing their semantic and phonological independence. Definiteness as a semantic or a pragmatic notion based on identifiability appears to be a linguistic universal (Nikolaeva 1979: 4–5; Lyons 1999: 278–281). When

4

Introduction

and if definiteness is grammaticalized in a language, it may develop further meanings such as inclusiveness, genericity, specificity etc. It can eventually become so broad as to be semantically meaningless. When this happens, definiteness either lapses into oblivion as a grammatical category or is reinstated by other means in a new life cycle. Prefiguring the results reached in this book, I would like to note that they confirm empirically Lyons’ conclusions about the life cycle of definiteness as a grammatical category and about its functions. My research demonstrates not only the mechanisms by which the Bulgarian definite article, having originated from a demonstrative pronoun, expands from an identifiability marker to an inclusiveness marker and from there to a genericity marker, but also links beyond any doubt this evolution to the earlier inflectional marking of definiteness on adjectives, preserved to various degrees as a relic in the contemporary Slavic languages. This new perspective on definiteness in Slavic turns around the old question about the reasons that provoked the appearance in the welldefined Balkan Slavic area of such a “non-Slavic” feature as the definite article. In tune with Lyons’ large-scale picture and my detailed analysis, scholars should ask themselves now not what external influences prompted the appearance of a definite article in this particular area but rather why the Slavic languages divided in choosing two alternative scenarios: eliminating the grammatical category of definiteness in the majority of the Slavic languages while preserving and re-building it in the Balkan area. Atempts to come to grips with this problem will have to take into account the testimony of the Slavic dialects outside the Balkans that display parallel tendencies (see Cyxun 1981: 92–93 with further references) as well as find a way to gauge the impact of the nonSlavic Balkan languages on the internal Slavic development in the Balkans. Definiteness is a semantic and pragmatic concept in all the Slavic languages (Nikolaeva 1979) but in Bulgarian and Macedonian, which form one dialect continuum, definiteness today is more than that. It is a full-fledged grammatical caterogy with an enclitic definite article, an innovation datable around the twelfth century (Svane 1961–1962) or earlier (Gu˘lu˘bov 1962), and a much more recent free-standing indefinite article that is still embryonic. These innovations are part of the list of linguistic “balkanisms” that draw Bulgarian1 1. This, of course, is also true of Standard Macedonian, which will however for the most part remain outside the scope of my analysis. The South Slavic territory participating in the innovations of the Balkan Sprachbund is shown on a map in Cyxun 1981: 7. For a description of this territory and discussion of the range of terms that have been used in the linguistic literature to refer to it see Alexander 1983 and Mladenov 1986.

Introduction

5

together with the non-Slavic languages spoken in the Balkan Peninsula: Greek, Romanian and Albanian (Gu˘lu˘bov 1962; Reiter 1967; Stölting 1970; Cyxun 1981: 92–124; Assenova 2002: 123–140; Friedman 2003). Since the influential conservative literary tradition, being the one best represented in writing, prevented vernacular linguistic phenomena from penetrating the written texts, the changes that the language underwent in the middle period of its history (from the twelfth to the fourteenth century)2 can fully be appreciated only in the next, modern period of its history, which started in the fifteenth century. The Bulgarian situation strongly resembles in this regard that of the Romance languages (Selig 1992: 1–24). The diachronic study of definiteness in Bulgarian has to focus by necessity on the first texts written in Modern Bulgarian, which did not appear until the early seventeenth century. These are the so-called damaskins, for the most part translated literary texts of a religious and didactic nature, which received their name from the sixteenth-century Greek clerical author Damaskenós Stoudítes (?–1577), who published a collection of thirty-six such texts entitled B   « ‘A Book Called Treasure’ in 1557–1558 in Venice (Petkanova-Toteva 1965: 6–41). Damaskin collections however could include work by other authors, sometimes also attributed to Damaskenós Stoudítes. Those that have been preserved consist of miscellaneous texts occasioned by festivals of the Orthodox Church and ordered according to the church calendar. These texts were intended to be read in church as sermons to the parish (Demina 1985: 27).3 As time passed by, the content of the damaskin collections and their function in society changed significantly: the more varied they became, the broader their use in audiences outside clerical circles (Petkanova-Toteva 1965: 105–214). Their continued popularity late into the nineteenth century was reflected by the patriarch of

2. Kiril Mircˇev (1978: 203–204) quotes definite articles from two Middle Bulgarian manuscripts that stand apart from the literary tradition in their relatively wide use of the vernacular: Narodno zˇitie na Sv. Ivan Rilski ‘Popular life of St. Ivan of Rila’ (written in the twelfth century but preserved in a fifteenth-century copy, published in Ivanov 1936) and Mixail Voin ‘Michael the Warrior’ (fourteenth century, published in Ivanov 1931: 422–424). 3. This is why I will use the term homily to designate any one of these texts. Damaskenós Stoudítes employed the term «, which the Bulgarian damaskins translate as slovo, today still in use in the meaning ‘speech, oration, public discourse’. This is one of the terms that demonstrate the continuity between the early modern damaskin language and Standard Bulgarian.

6

Introduction

Bulgarian literature Ivan Vazov in chapter eight of his novel Cˇicˇovci ‘Uncles’ [1884].4 From a linguistic point of view, Bulgarian damaskins form two groups: damaskins written in the older literary language (Middle Bulgarian)5 and those written in Modern Bulgarian. The relations of the two groups to one another are by no means simple.6 The most thoroughly studied damaskin collection is the so-called Tixonravov damaskin (Demina 1968; 1971; 1985). An important outcome of Demina’s work was the classification of the homilies included in the damaskin into three groups. Some homilies (No. No. 22–30 and 41) are in Middle Bulgarian and they will remain outside the scope of my study. The Modern Bulgarian ones were subdivided into homilies that use the adverb of time togazi ‘then’ and reflect an earlier original (No. No. 2–17, 33–38 and 40) than those, in which togiva ‘then’ is used (No. No. 1, 18–21, 31, 32 and 39) (Demina 1968: 76–81; 1985: 261). Both Modern Bulgarian sections of the damaskin display fewer articles than one would expect judging from the perspective of Standard Bulgarian. On the other hand, the definite articles that do appear in the damaskin correspond (with rare exceptions that belong to clearly defined categories) to articles in contemporary usage. These are undoubtedly two stages in the evolution of the same system. My observations on the use of articles match the conclusions of others who have also found continuity between the language of seventeenth-century damaskins and Modern Standard Bulgarian (Velcˇeva 4. There is also other evidence of the popularity of the damaskins at this time. For instance, it has been pointed out that Najden Gerov, the author of the most important early Bulgarian dictionary (1895–1904), used sometimes examples from the damaskins to illustrate the meanings of words (Demina 1985: 213, footnote 9). 5. This older literary language is Church Slavonic influenced by Serbian orthographic norms such as the replacement of the nasal vowels by u and e, respectively, or the indiscriminate use of ˘ı for etymological ˘ı and u˘ (Demina 1985: 14–15). The language of the archaic damaskins as well as that of other pre-modern manuscripts identified as forerunners of the Modern Bulgarian damaskins, which may have Bulgarian orthography (Velcˇeva 1996), will be called in this study for the sake of simplicity Middle Bulgarian. This umbrella term reflects the fact that texts in this archaic literary koine were written and read in Bulgaria during and after the Middle Bulgarian period of its history (that is, between the twelfth to the fourteenth century) and served as the foundation of the subsequent literary language that arose on this territory, the language of the Modern Bulgarian damaskins. 6. See Gyllin 1991 for a general English-language overview of the Bulgarian damaskin literature that reviews the contributions of previous scholars and Mladenova 2006b.

Introduction

7

1984; Demina 1985: 263; Gyllin 1991: 53; Sorokina 1993: 5, 23; Velcˇeva 2001: 77). The number of nouns accompanied by the definite article varies from homily to homily. Some homilies appear to come closer to the modern usage than others. This impression may be illusory because numbers depend on the subject matter of the homily. A homily that contains many generalizations and digressions about human nature will display different categories of definites from a down-to-earth narrative about the actions of specific characters. Statistics based on five togazi and two togiva homilies are displayed in Table 1. Although it reveals no striking differences between sections, I will base my conclusions only on the togazi damaskin homilies. Table 1. Ratio of the available articles to the necessary ones according to current norms. Comparative view of togazi and togiva homilies Homily number

Togazi Section 2

7

8

Togiva Section 13

14

1

31

Definite articles in absolute numbers 99 50 42 82 83 77 101 Total number of the necessary articles according to current norms 210 169 155 163 193 191 274 Ratio of the available articles to the necessary ones 47.14 % 29.59 % 27.1 % 50.31 % 43.01 % 40.31 % 36.86 %

My analysis of the evolution of definiteness in the Bulgarian diasystem over the last four centuries is based on a number of sources that include general theoretical and language-specific research on definiteness and Bulgarian language data. An important inspiration was Maxim Sl. Mladenov’s personal archive, which contains among other materials a box of index cards with linguistic data collected over more than thirty years, bibliography and thoughts on the definite article in Bulgarian as well as unpublished maps. Any materials or ideas stemming from Mladenov-Archive are marked specifically as such. My goal is to show what variables have influenced the expansion of the article during the time that has elapsed since the seventeenth century, formulate the rules that governed the use of the article and other markers of definiteness in the seventeenth century in comparison with the contemporary norm and construct a model of transition from the older system to the modern one. In

8

Introduction

order to do so, I approach definiteness semiotically and look in the second chapter into the relationship of its two aspects, expression and content, as it presents itself in contemporary Standard Bulgarian. Leaning heavily on damaskin testimony, the third chapter tackles in chronological order the processes that shaped the contemporary state of affairs. The next two chapters address the nagging concern that perhaps my conclusions on the diachrony of definiteness in Bulgarian would change considerably if my database was significantly expanded to include, on the one hand, further damaskins besides the Tixonravov and, on the other, evidence from the contemporary Bulgarian dialects. The fourth chapter confirms the validity of the diachronic model for a number of other damaskins and shows that expanding the database in this direction can only detail my interpretation but not significantly change it. In contrast, the fifth chapter demonstrates that the analysis of dialect data can produce surprising results, which, without compromising the diachronic model, project it to a greater chronological depth and throw light on its balkanological implications. Finally, the sixth chapter views the Bulgarian state of affairs against a Balkan background and makes generalizations, which will be of interest to a broader audience of historical linguists.

Expression

2.

9

Definiteness: expression and content

These two aspects of definiteness are detailed in Table 2.1 By keeping them separate in my model, I am avoiding the complications arising from traditional terminology, which, as it has been noticed before (Koseska-Toszewa and Gargov 1991: 36–37), blends together expression and content. Table 2. Overview of the expression and content of the grammatical category ‘definiteness’ Expression

Content

Nominal Structure

Pragmatic Semantic Lexical-Morphological Syntactic

2.1.

Expression

There is general consensus that it is the structure of nominals that expresses definiteness (Maslov 1971: 183).2 Eleven types of nominals are used with a higher or lower frequency in Modern Standard Bulgarian in two alternative formats: marked and unmarked. The type of modification of the head (attribute, apposition, prepositional phrase, relative clause or adverbial), its own characteristics (pronoun or noun) and word order are the criteria according to which the types of nominals have been determined. Even types used rarely today (such as 5 as a pure type or as a variation of other types) are taken into account to make sure that the classification covers all cases, some of which

1. The semiotic framework of my model corresponds to some degree to Chesterman’s dimension extensivity, in which he follows G. Guillaume’s analysis of French (Chesterman 1991: 25–29, 70–73). 2. For a recent survey of definiteness marking across languages, cf. Lyons 1999: 15–41, 47–153. Koseska-Toszewa and Gargov argue that sentential structure is the expression of definiteness. What they mean is that, given the polysemic nature of most linguistic forms, their quantificational character can only be disambiguated on the level of the sentence or the text (Koseska-Toszewa and Gargov 1991: 81).

10

Definiteness: expression and content

may have been more prevalent in the past.3 As to the proposed subdivisions of this classification, it was important to strike a balance between comprehensiveness and manageability; thus even though the subdivisions do not exhaust and detail all available variation, they allow us to keep track of all subtypes that have proven salient in the context of the evolution of definiteness. I will introduce the proposed classification schematically, illustrating each type of nominal with a couple of Standard Bulgarian examples. Throughout this book nominal types will be referred to by their code and a short example aiming to serve as a mnemonic device. Table 3. Formal classification of Bulgarian nominals: Type 0 or nominals with pronominal heads Unmarked Nominal

Code

Marked Nominal

Code

Weak personal or reflexive pronoun

0U

Strong personal pronoun Personal or Reflexive Pronoun & Reflexive Dative Clitic

0M1-1

Pronoun & Noun-Article

0M1-3

Adjective-Article & Pronoun

0M1-4

Pronoun & Adjective-Article

0M1-5

Pronoun & Quantifier-Article

0M1-6

Pronoun & Preposition & Noun-Article

0M1-7

Pronoun & Relative Clause

0M1-8

Pronoun & Adverb

0M1-9

Indefinite determiner edin

0M2

Non-specific determiner njakoj

0M3-1

Typifying determiner koj da e

0M3-2

Typifying determiner kojto i da e

0M3-3

Typifying determiner sˇto-gode All-quantifying determiners vseki, vsicˇki (pl.)

0M3-4

All-quantifying determiner vsicˇki-Article Demonstrative determiners tozi (toja), onzi (onja)

0M4-2

0M1-2

0M4-1

0M5-1

3. It is my conviction that this is of paramount importance especially since previous research on word order of the damaskin nominals did not reach any positive results beyond pure description (Popova 1968).

Expression Unmarked Nominal

Code

Marked Nominal

Code

Demonstrative & Noun-Article

0M5-2

Adjective-Article & Demonstrative

0M5-3

Demonstrative & Adjective-Article

0M5-4

Demonstrative & Quantifier-Article Demonstrative & Preposition & Noun-Article

0M5-5

Demonstrative & Relative Clause

0M5-7

Demonstrative & Adverb

0M5-8

Interrogative determiner koj

0M6

Negative determiner nikoj

0M7

Emphatic determiner sam

0M8-1

Emphatic determiner sam & Pronoun Pronoun & Emphatic determiner sam-Article

0M8-2

Pronominal unique referent edi-koj si

0M9

0U (si) (1)

Toj si kaza: “Eto ja.” he REFL.DAT said.3SG there her.CL.ACC ‘He said to himself: “There she is.”’ 0M1-1 (az)

(2)

11

Az na nego ne mozˇex da otkazˇa. I to him.ACC not could.1SG to refuse.1SG ‘I could not say no to him.’ 0M1-2 (sebe si)

(3)

Na neja vinagi ì besˇe studeno. to her.ACC always her.CL.DAT was.3SG cold.NEUT ‘She was always cold.’

(4)

Ne mozˇesˇ da mislisˇ samo za sebe si. not can.2SG to think.2SG only of self REFL.DAT ‘You cannot think only of yourself.’

0M5-6

0M8-3

12

Definiteness: expression and content

0M1-3 (az idiotu˘t) (5)

A pu˘k az idiotu˘t mu povjarvax. whereas on-the-other-hand I idiot.THE him.CL.DAT believed.1SG ‘And silly me, I believed what he said.’ 0M1-4 (gorkijat toj)

(6)

Gorkijat toj ostana su˘vsem samicˇu˘k. poor.MASC.THE he remained.3SG completely alone.MASC ‘Poor him, he’s remained now all alone.’ 0M1-5 (nie gresˇnite)

(7)

Prosti ni grexovete, Gospodi. Nie forgive.IMPER us.CL.DAT sins.THE, lord.VOC we gresˇnite ne znaem kakvo pravim. sinful.PL.THE not know.1PL what do.1PL ‘God, forgive our sins. We sinners don’t know what we are doing.’ 0M1-6 (te dvamata)

(8)

Te dvamata nikoga ne skucˇajat zaedno. they two.PERS.THE never not are-bored together ‘The two of them are never bored together.’ 0M1-7 (vie v u˘gu˘la)

(9)

Ej, vie v u˘gu˘la, po-tixo! hey, you.PL in corner.THE quieter ‘Hey, you in the corner, don’t be so loud!’ 0M1-8 (ti, kojto vinagi si go zasˇtitaval)

(10) I ti, kojto vinagi si go zasˇtitaval, and you.SG who.MASC always are.2SG him.ACC defended sega si promeni mnenieto za nego. now are.2SG changed opinion.THE of him ‘You too, who have always defended him, now changed your opinion of him.’

Expression

13

0M1-9 (vie otsresˇta) (11) Ej, vie otsresˇta, po-tixo! hey you.PL across quieter ‘Hey, you over there, don’t be so loud!’ 0M2 (edin) (12) Edin mi se ezˇi na mene, ama one.MASC me.CL.DAT REFL.ACC bristles on me but sˇte su˘zˇaljava. will regret.3SG ‘One person is opposing me but he’ll regret it.’ 0M3-1 (njakoj) (13) Njakoj cˇuka na vratata. somebody knocks on door.THE ‘Somebody is knocking at the door.’ 0M3-2 (koj da e) (14) Vsicˇki znajat tova. Pitaj kogo da e. all.PL know.3PL this.NEUT Ask.2IMPER anobody.MASC.ACC ‘Everybody knows this. Ask anybody.’ 0M3-3 (kojto i da e) (15) Nikoj ne e dlu˘zˇen da se su˘obrazjava nobody not is obliged.MASC to REFL.ACC reckons s tebe ili kojto i da e. with you.2SG.ACC or anybody.MASC ‘Nobody is obliged to reckon with you or anybody at all (whoever). 0M3-4 (sˇto-gode) (16) Da xapnem sˇto-gode i da tru˘gvame. to take-a-bite.1PL whatever and to go.1PL ‘Let us eat a little something and let us go.’

14

Definiteness: expression and content

0M4-1 (vsicˇki) (17) Vsicˇki sa su˘glasni da pomognat. all are.3PL concordant.PL to help.3PL ‘Everybody has agreed to help.’ 0M4-2 (vsicˇkite) (18) Na tazi ulica zˇivejat pet kucˇeta. Toj e prijatel on this.FEM street live.3PL five dogs He is friend s vsicˇkite. with all.THE ‘Five dogs live on this street. He is friendly with all of them.’ 0M5-1 (tazi) (19) Vizˇ ja tazi kakvo kucˇe ima. look.IMPER her.CL this.FEM what dog has ‘Look what dog this woman has.’ 0M5-2 (tija idiotite) (20) Tija idiotite osˇte cˇakat otgovor. these idiots.THE still wait.3PL answer ‘Silly them, they are still waiting for an answer.’ 0M5-3 (gorkite tija) (21) Gorkite tija mnogo im se su˘bra. poor.THE these much them.CL.DAT REFL.ACC gathered.3SG ‘Poor them, they’ve had a lot to endure.’ 0M5-4 (tova cˇervenoto) (22) Tova cˇervenoto go maxni ottuka. this.NEUT red.NEUT.THE it.CL.ACC remove.IMPER from-here ‘Take away this red thing.’ 0M5-5 (tija petimata) (23) Tija petimata sˇte nosˇtuvat v drug xotel. these five.PERS.THE will overnight in another hotel ‘These five persons will spend the night in another hotel.’

Expression

15

0M5-6 (toja s ocˇilata) (24) Njakyde su˘m go vizˇdal toja s somewhere am1SG him.CL.ACC seen this.MASC with ocˇilata. glasses.THE ‘I’ve seen somewhere this man with the glasses.’ 0M5-7 (taja, deto nikoga ne pozdravjava) (25) Tova e taja, deto nikoga ne pozdravjava. thisNEUT is this.FEM that never not greets ‘This is the woman, who never says hello.’ 0M5-8 (onija otsresˇta) (26) Onija otsresˇta maj ne razbirat bu˘lgarski. those across apparently not understand.3PL Bulgarian ‘It looks as if those over there do not understand Bulgarian.’ 0M6 (koj) (27) Koj iska da dojde s mene? who wants to comes with me.ACC ‘Who wants to come with me?’ 0M7 (nikoj) (28) Tuka njama nikoj. here has-not nobody ‘There is nobody here.’ 0M8-1 (sam) (29) Zavedox gostenina v bankata i go ostavix tam, took.1SG visitor.THE in bank.THE and him left.1SG there a sam otidox v parka. whereas self.MASC went.1SG in park.THE ‘I took the visitor to the bank and left him there, whereas I myself went to the park.’

16

Definiteness: expression and content

0M8-2 (sam toj) (30) Sam toj osˇte ne e cˇul za tova. self.MASC he yet not is heard about this.NEUT ‘He himself hasn’t heard about it yet.’ (31) Povecˇe njama more has-not

da vi razkazvam, vie to you.PL.CL.DAT narrate-I you.PL

sami se pomu˘cˇete da si predstavite self.PL REFL.ACC try.2PL.IMPER to REFL.DAT imagine.2PL kakvo stana posle. what happened.3SG afterwards ‘I won’t tell you more; you try yourselves to imagine what happened next.’ 0M8-3 (tebe samata) (32) Tebe samata ne te li you.SG.ACC self.FEM.THE not you.SG.CL.ACC INTERROG e sram kato si pomislisˇ za tova? is shame as REFL.DAT think.2SG about this.NEUT ‘Aren’t you yourself ashamed, when you think of it?’ (33) Samijat toj ne znae kakvo ima predvid, no self.MASC.THE he not knows what has in-view but prikazva. talks ‘He himself has no idea what he means, but he talks.’ 0M9 (edi-koj si) (34) Obazˇdasˇ se po telefona. Edi-koj si tam call.2SG REFL.ACC on phone.THE so-and-so.MASC there li e? Ne, njama go. INTERROG is No has-not him.CL.ACC ‘You call on the phone. Is so-and-so there? No, he is not.’ Many subtypes of the 0M nominals allow an alternative word order (e. g. Pronoun & Emphatic determiner sam for 0M8-2) as well as the inclusion of adjectives (e.g. Pronoun & Adjective-Article & Noun for 0M1-4).

Expression Table 4. Formal classification of Bulgarian nominals: Type 1 or basic nominals

17 4

Unmarked Nominal

Code

Marked Nominal

Code

Noun

1U

Noun-Article Indefinite determiner edin (N Adjective) & Noun Non-specific determiner njakoj (N Adjective) & Noun Typifying determiner koj da e (N Adjective) & Noun Typifying determiner kojto i da e (N Adjective) & Noun Typifying determiner sˇto-gode (N Adjective) & Noun All-quantifying determiner vseki, vsicˇki (pl.) (N Adjective) & Noun All-quantifying determiner vsicˇki (pl.) & Demonstrative determiner tozi, onzi (N Adjective) & Noun Demonstrative determiner tozi (toja), onzi (onja) (N Adjective) & Noun Demonstrative determiner tozi (toja), onzi (onja) Quantifier (N Adjective) & Noun Interrogative determiner koj (N Adjective) & Noun Negative determiner nikoj (N Adjective) & Noun Emphatic determiner sam & Noun Emphatic determiner sam & Noun-Article Unique referent edi-koj si (N Adjective) & Noun Determiner vsicˇki, edin, sam, su˘sˇti-Article (N Adjective) & Noun Determiner vsicˇki, sam, su˘sˇti-Article (N Adjective) & Demonstrative determiner tozi, onzi & Noun or Demonstrative determiner tozi, onzi & Adjective-Article & Noun

1M1 1M2 1M3-1 1M3-2 1M3-3 1M3-4 1M4-1 1M4-2

1M5-1 1M5-2 1M6 1M7 1M8-1 1M8-2 1M9 1M104 1M11

4. This is an umbrella category that includes all determiners that can combine with the definite article.

18

Definiteness: expression and content 5678

1U (stol) (35) stol, stena, du˘rvo, lekari chair wall tree physicians ‘chair’, ‘wall’, ‘tree’, ‘physicians’ 1M1 (stolu˘t) stenata, (36) stolu˘t (stola),5 chair.MASC.THE chair.MASC.THE wall.FEM.THE du˘rvoto, lekarite tree.NEUT.THE physicians.THE ‘the chair’, ‘the chair’, ‘the wall’, ‘the tree’, ‘the physicians’ 1M26 (edin stol) (37) edin stol, edno cu˘fnalo du˘rvo one.MASC chair one.NEUT blossoming.NEUT tree ‘a/one chair’, ‘a/one tree in blossom’ 1M3-17 (njakoj cˇovek) (38) njakakva interesna kniga, njakoj cˇovek some-kind-of.FEM interesting.FEM book some.MASC person ‘some (kind of) interesting book’, ‘a/some person’ 1M3-28 (koj da e cˇovek) (39) koj da e cˇovek, koja da e bu˘lgarska pevica any.MASC person any.FEM Bulgarian.FEM singer ‘any person’, ‘any Bulgarian (female) singer’ 5. The form in brackets contains the so-called short form of the definite article. The difference between the full and the short form of the definite article for masculines is discussed below in section 2.2.4. 6. In the damaskin language, nominals of types 1M2 to 1M8 can also place modifiers on both sides of the head noun, cf. sicˇka sila beˇsovska [all.FEM power demonic.FEM] ‘all the devil’s host’ (Demina 1971: 84), toizi narod mnogo evreisky [this.MASC nation many Jewish.MASC] ‘this numerous Jewish nation’ (Demina 1971: 121), an option Standard Bulgarian no longer has. 7. Other non-specific determiners such as necˇij ‘someone’s’ belong to the same group but will not be discussed in this study. 8. Here also belong kaku˘v da e ‘no matter of what kind’, cˇij da e ‘no matter whose’ etc.

Expression

19

91011

1M3-39 (kojto i da e cˇovek) (40) kojto i da e cˇovek, kojto i da e cˇuzˇd whichever.MASC person whichever.MASC foreign.MASC ezik language ‘whichever person’, ‘whichever foreign language’ 1M3-410 (na sˇto-gode dostu˘pna cena) (41) na sˇto-gode dostu˘pna cena, sˇto-gode normalen zˇivot at whatever accessible.FEM price whatever normal life ‘at a marginally accessible price’, ‘relatively normal life’ 1M4-111 (vsicˇki jabu˘lki) (42) vseki izpit, vsjako neposlushno dete, vsicˇki every.MASC exam every.NEUT disobedient.NEUT child all.PL jabu˘lki apples ‘every exam’, ‘every disobedient child’, ‘all apples’ 1M4-2 (vsicˇki tezi jabu˘lki) (43) vsicˇki tezi all.PL these ‘all these apples’

jabu˘lki apples

9. Here again the list of forms could have been continued. 10. Out of all the compounds with -gode, which were employed in the past, sˇto-gode is the only one used with any regularity in the contemporary standard language. My classification also does not specify all the types of nominal of which sˇto-gode can be part but there certainly is a broader range of variation than the examples lead readers to believe. For more details about the semantics and the diachrony of the -gode compounds see Mladenova 2006a. 11. This category is also broader. It includes the determiner vsjakaku˘v ‘of all kinds’ and obsolete vsjakoj ‘every’. The singular of vsicˇki is currently used only in a very few set phrases, e.g. s vsicˇka sila ‘with all [one’s] might’, vsicˇko drugo ‘everything else’.

20

Definiteness: expression and content 121314

1M5-112 (onija lekari) (44) tazi cˇervena jabu˘lka, onija lekari this.FEM red.FEM apple those physicians ‘this red apple’, ‘those physicians’ 1M5-2 (onija petima lekari) (45) onija petima those five.PERS ‘those five physicians’

lekari physicians

1M613 (koj ucˇitel) (46) koj ucˇitel, koja sinja roklja which.MASC teacher which.FEM blue.FEM dress ‘which teacher’, ‘which blue dress’ 1M714 (nikoe dete) (47) nikoe dete, nikoi cˇerveni jabu˘lki no.NEUT child no.PL red.PL apples ‘no child’, ‘no red apples’ 1M8-1 (sam Gospod) (48) Sam Gospod ne mozˇe da mu pomogne. self.MASC Lord not can.3SG to him help.3SG ‘God himself cannot help him.’ 1M8-2 (sam prezidentu˘t) (49) Sam prezidentu˘t dojde na pogrebenieto. self.MASC president.THE came.3SG to funeral.THE ‘The president himself came to the funeral.’

12. Here belong taku˘v ‘such’, lit. ‘of this kind’ and onaku˘v ‘of that kind’. 13. Category 1M6 also includes kaku˘v ‘what kind of’ and cˇij ‘whose’. 14. Here also belong nikaku˘v ‘no (about properties)’ and nicˇij ‘no one’s’.

Expression

21

1M9 (edi-koja si godina) (50) edi-koja si godina so-and-so.FEM year ‘year so and so’ 1M10 (vsicˇkoto kiselo mljako) (51) vsicˇkoto kiselo mljako, su˘sˇtijat nechetliv all.NEUT.THE sour.NEUT milk same.MASC.THE illegible pocˇerk, ednata ru˘ka, samijat prezident handwriting one.FEM.THE hand self.MASC.THE president ‘all the yogurt’, ‘the same illegible handwriting’, ‘one of the two hands’, ‘the president himself’ 1M11 (vsicˇkoto onova kiselo mljako) (52) vsicˇkoto onova kiselo mljako, tozi all.NEUT.THE that.NEUT sour.NEUT milk this.MASC su˘sˇtijat necˇetliv pocˇerk, onezi belite same.MASC.THE illegible handwriting those white.PL.THE cvetja flowers ‘all that yogurt’, ‘this same illegible handwriting’, ‘those white flowers’ Table 5. Formal classification of Bulgarian nominals: Type 2 or nouns with short15 form possessives Unmarked Nominal

Code

Noun & Short Form 2U1 Possessive Adjective & Short Form 2U2 Possessive & Noun

Marked Nominal

Code

Noun-Article & Short Form Possessive

2M1

Adjective-Article & Short Form Possessive & Noun

2M2

2U115 (zˇena mi) (53) zˇena mi wife me.DAT ‘my wife’ 15. This type occurs only with a limited list of head nouns.

22

Definiteness: expression and content 1617

2U216

(mili mi decˇica)

(54) mili mi decˇica dear.PL me.CL.DAT children.DIM ‘my dear children (as an address form)’ 2M1 (sina im) (55) kljucˇa mi, paltoto mu, key.MASC.THE me.CL.DAT coat.NEUT.THE him.CL.DAT sina im son.MASC.THE them.CL.DAT ‘my key’, ‘his coat’, ‘their son’ 2M2 (novija mi kljucˇ) (56) novija mi kljucˇ new.MASC.THE me.CL.DAT key.MASC ‘my new key’ Table 6. Formal classification of Bulgarian nominals: Type 3 or nouns in apposition Unmarked Nominal

Code

Marked Nominal

Code

Noun & Noun

3U

Noun-Article & Noun Adjective-Article & Noun & Noun

3M1-1 3M1-2

Noun & Noun-Article

3M2

3U17 (djado Ivan) (57) djado Ivan, student bu˘lgarin, vagon-restorant grandfather Ivan student Bulgarian.NOUN carriage restaurant ‘Grandfather Ivan’, ‘a student, Bulgarian by nationality’, ‘dining car’ 3M1-1 (ucˇiteljat Petrov) (58) ucˇiteljat Petrov, studentu˘t bu˘lgarin teacher.MASC.THE Petrov student.MASC.THE Bulgarian.NOUN ‘the teacher Petrov’, ‘the student who is Bulgarian’ 16. This type occurs only in limited syntactic slots (for instance in address forms). 17. Each of these nouns can be represented by a noun accompanied by an adjective of type 4U1 or perhaps occasionally 5U.

Expression

23

18

3M1-2 (dobrijat ucˇitel Petrov) (59) dobrijat ucˇitel Petrov good.MASC.THE teacher Petrov ‘the good teacher Petrov’ 3M218 (vagon-restorantu˘t) (60) vagon-restorantu˘t, Pesˇo Damadzˇanata carriage restaurant.MASC.THE Pesˇo demijohn.FEM.THE ‘the dining car’, ‘Pete the Demijohn’ Table 7. Formal classification of Bulgarian nominals: Type 4 or nouns with preceding adjectives Unmarked Nominal

Code

Marked Nominal

Code

Adjective ([AND] N Adjective) & Noun

4U1

Adjective-Article (N Adjective) & Noun Adjective-Article AND Adjective & Noun Determiner & Adjective (N Adjective) & Noun Possessive-Article & Short Form Possessive & Noun

4M1-1

Possessive & Short Form Possessive & Noun

4U2

4M1-2 4M1-3 4M2

4U1 (du˘rven stol) (61) du˘rven stol, sposobni mladi lekari, wooden.MASC chair talented.PL young.PL physicians ruso i sineoko momicˇe blond.NEUT and blue-eyed.NEUT girl ‘a wooden chair’, ‘talented young physicians’, ‘a blond and blue-eyed girl’

18. In both subtypes of 3M the noun followed by article can be represented not only by a simple noun but also by a noun accompanied with an adjective of type 4M1 or (in the earlier language) 5M1. Of these variations only 3M1-2 was classified as a separate subtype.

24

Definiteness: expression and content 1920

4U2 (moja si rabota) (62) moja si rabota, bratovo ti my.FEM REFL.DAT work brother.ADJ.NEUT you.CL.DAT dete child ‘my own business’, ‘a child of your brother’s’ 4M1-1 (du˘rvenija stol) mladi lekari (63) du˘rvenija stol,19 sposobnite wooden.MASC.THE chair talented.PL.THE young.PL physicians ‘the wooden chair’, ‘the talented young physicians’ 4M1-220 (rusoto i sineoko momicˇe) (64) rusoto i sineoko momicˇe blond.NEUT.THE and blue-eyed.NEUT girl ‘the blond and blue-eyed girl’ 4M1-3 (edin du˘rven stol) (65) edin du˘rven stol, tezi sposobni mladi one.MASC wooden.MASC chair these talented.PL young.PL lekari physicians ‘a/one wooden chair,’ ‘these talented young physicians’

19. Not all Bulgarian dialects mark the article on masculine adjectives in the same way as the standard language of the modern period (cf. Maps 1a–1d). For more details on this variation see section 5.5. 20. To keep the classification reasonably simple, I did not include this modification as a separate subtype in 5M, 8M and 9M although I acknowledge that it may occur in these types as well.

Expression

25

21

4M221 (babinata ti ku˘sˇta) (66) babinata ti ku˘sˇta grandmother.ADJ.FEM.THE you.CL.DAT house.FEM ‘your grandmother’s house’ Table 8. Formal classification of Bulgarian nominals: Type 5 or nouns with ensuing adjectives Unmarked Nominal

Code

Marked Nominal

Code

Noun & Adjective

5U

Noun-Article & Adjective Determiner & Noun & Adjective

5M1 5M2

5U (cˇovek bozˇi) (67) cˇovek bozˇi person godly.MASC ‘godly person’ 5M1 (cˇoveku˘t bozˇi) (68) cˇoveku˘t bozˇi person.THE godly.MASC ‘the godly person’ 5M2 (onzi sin majcˇin) (69) onzi sin that.MASC son ‘that son of a gun’

majcˇin mother.ADJ.MASC

21. Unless accompanying a possessive pronominal adjective of type moj ‘my’ tvoj ‘your’ etc., the possessive datives in 4U2 and 4M2 refer to the dependent component rather than the head of the nominal as a possessive of type 4 would routinely do (cf. *tvojata babina ku˘sˇta ‘the house that is [at the same time] yours and [your] grandmother’s’, which makes no sense). This agrees with the hypothesis that possessive adjectives (in this case babin) as opposed to relational ones carry out a referential function (Nørgård-Sørensen 2002). Whereas 2M1 ku˘sˇtata ti ‘your house’ and 2M2 xubavata ti ku˘sˇta ‘your nice house’ are synonymous to 4M1 tvojata ku˘sˇta, and tvojata xubava ku˘sˇta, respectively, this is not the case regarding 4U2 and 4M2, which lack synonyms. This usage was attested in the damaskin, cf. 4M2 with an inversed word order goli izleˇzox ot cˇarvata maicˇini si naked.MASC cameout.1SG from guts.THE mother.ADJ.PL REFL.DAT ‘I came naked out of my mother’s womb’ (Demina 1971: 148).

26

Definiteness: expression and content

Table 9. Formal classification of Bulgarian nominals: Type 6 or nouns with quanti22 fiers Unmarked Nominal

Code

Marked Nominal

Code

Quantifier & Noun

6U

Quantifier-Article & Noun AND Quantifier-Article & Noun

6M1 6M2

Demonstrative determiner tozi, onzi & Quantifier-Article & Noun Quantifier & Noun-Article

6M3 6M4

6U (pet jabu˘lki) (70) mnogo du˘rveta, pet jabu˘lki, cˇasˇa voda22 many trees five apples glass water ‘many trees’, ‘five apples’, ‘a glass of water’ 6M1 (pette jabu˘lki) (71) pette jabu˘lki five-THE apples ‘the five apples’ 6M2 (i pette jabu˘lki) (72) i dvete momicˇeta, i pette jabu˘lki and two.NEUT.THE girls and five-THE apples ‘both girls’, ‘all five apples’ 6M3 (onija pette jabu˘lki) (73) onija pette jabu˘lki, drugite dvete devojki those five-THE apples other.PL.THE two.FEM.THE girls ‘those five apples (out of a set defined previously)’, ‘the other two girls (out of a set defined previously)’

22. The semantic differences between nominal types 6U/6M and 8U/8M (cˇasˇa voda ˇ esˇko 1955. vs. cˇasˇa s voda) were pinpointed by C

Expression

27

23

6M423 (tri cˇasá) (74) v kolko cˇasá, tri cˇasá in how-many hour.THE three hour.THE ‘at what hour’, ‘three o’clock’ Table 10. Formal classification of Bulgarian nominals: Type 7 or substantivized adjectives Unmarked Nominal

Code

Marked Nominal

Code

Elliptic (Substantivized) Adjective

7U

Elliptic (Substantivized) Adjective-Article

7M

7U (kontrolno) (75) sladko, zˇenska, kontrolno sweet.NEUT female.ADJ.FEM control.ADJ.NEUT ‘jam, preserve’, ‘female person’, ‘quiz’ 7M (kontrolnoto) (76) sladkoto, zˇenskata, kontrolnoto sweet.NEUT.THE female.ADJ.FEM.THE control.ADJ.NEUT ‘the preserve’, ‘the female person’, ‘the quiz’

23. This curious type of a limited scope includes only expressions serving to tell the time of the day. Apparently, it was not yet in place in the damaskin, see (593). In view of the variation between synonymous compounds and nominal phrases mentioned below in this section, type 6M4 do sedem cˇasá until seven hour.THE ‘until seven o’clock’ may be seen as an emerging compound perhaps in competition with a 6M1 nominal like do sedemte cˇása/cˇasove until seven.THE hours, cf. du sidimt’áx cˇásu˘ until seven.THE hours ‘until seven o’clock’ (Region Cˇirpan, Mogilovo, SbNU 9.2: 187 – Mladenov-Archive).

28

Definiteness: expression and content

Table 11. Formal classification of Bulgarian nominals: Type 8 or nouns with prepositional phrases Unmarked Nominal

Code

Marked Nominal

Code

(Adjective) Noun (Adjective) & Preposition & (Adjective) Noun (Adjective)

8U1

8M1-1

(Adjective) Noun (Adjective) & Preposition & Noun-Article

8U2

Noun-Article & Preposition (N Adjective) & Noun Adjective-Article & Noun & Preposition (N Adjective) & Noun Determiner (N Adjective) & Noun & Preposition (N Adjective) & Noun Noun-Article & Preposition & Noun-Article Adjective-Article & Noun & Preposition & Noun-Article Determiner (N Adjective) & Noun & Preposition & Noun-Article Noun-Article & Preposition & Adjective-Article & Noun Adjective-Article & Noun & Preposition & Adjective-Article & Noun Determiner (N Adjective) & Noun & Preposition & Adjective-Article & Noun Noun-Article & Preposition & Determiner (N Adjective) & Noun Adjective-Article & Noun & Preposition & Determiner (N Adjective) & Noun Determiner (N Adjective) & Noun & Determiner (N Adjective) & Noun

(Adjective) Noun & (Adjective) Preposition & Adjective-Article & Noun

8U3

Noun & Preposition & 8U4 Determiner (N Adjective) & Noun

8M1-2 8M1-3 8M2-1 8M2-2 8M2-3 8M3-1 8M3-2 8M3-3 8M4-1 8M4-2 8M4-3

8U1 (sin na golemec) (77) cˇovek bez su˘vest, sin na golemec, naxalen person without conscience son of big shot cheeky.MASC sin na golemec, keremiden pokriv na selska ku˘sˇta son of big shot tile.ADJ.MASC roof of rural.FEM house ‘a person without conscience’, ‘a son of a big shot’, ‘a cheeky son of a big shot’, ‘a tile roof of a rural house’

Expression

29

8U2 (sin na golemeca) (78) sin na son of ‘a son of the big shot’

golemeca big shot.THE

8U3 (sin na selskija golemec) (79) sin na selskija son of rural.MASC.THE ‘a son of the rural big shot’

golemec big shot

8U4 (sin na edin golemec) (80) sin na edin son of one.MASC ‘a son of a big shot’

golemec big shot

8M1-1 (ucˇiteljat po istorija) (81) ucˇiteljat po istorija, teacher.MASC.THE of history ucˇiteljat po bu˘lgarska istorija teacher.MASC.THE of Bulgarian.FEM history ‘the teacher of history’, ‘the teacher of Bulgarian history’ 8M1-2 (novijat ucˇitel po istorija) (82) novijat ucˇitel po istorija, new.MASC.THE teacher of history novijat ucˇitel po bu˘lgarska istorija new.MASC.THE teacher of Bulgarian.FEM history ‘the new teacher of history’, ‘the new teacher of Bulgarian history’ 8M1-3 (edin sin na golemec) (83) edin one.MASC ‘a/one son of a big shot’

sin son

na of

golemec big shot

30

Definiteness: expression and content

8M2-1 (sestrata na domakinjata) (84) sestrata na domakinjata sister.THE of hostess.THE ‘the sister of the hostess’ 8M2-2 (xubavata sestra na domakinjata) (85) xubavata sestra na domakinjata beautiful.FEM.THE sister.THE of hostess.THE ‘the beautiful sister of the hostess’ 8M2-3 (edno kucˇe na su˘seda) (86) edno kucˇe na su˘seda one.NEUT dog of neighbour.THE ‘a/one dog of the neighbour’s’ 8M3-1 (sinu˘t na selskija golemec) (87) sinu˘t na selskija golemec son.THE of rural.MASC.THE big shot ‘the son of the rural big shot’ 8M3-2 (naxalnija sin na selskija golemec) (88) naxalnija sin na selskija golemec cheeky.MASC.THE son of rural.MASC.THE big shot ‘the cheeky son of the rural big shot’ 8M3-3 (edno kucˇe na nasˇija su˘sed) (89) edno kucˇe na nasˇija su˘sed one.NEUT dog of our.MASC.THE neighbour ‘a/one dog of our neighbour’s’ 8M4-1 (sinu˘t na edin golemec) (90) sinu˘t na edin son.THE of one.MASC ‘the son of a big shot’

golemec big shot

Expression

31

8M4-2 (naxalnija sin na edin golemec) (91) naxalnija sin na edin golemec cheeky.MASC.THE son of one.MASC big shot ‘the cheeky son of a big shot’ 8M4-3 (edin sin na tozi golemec) (92) edin sin na tozi golemec one.MASC son of this.MASC big shot ‘a son of this big shot’ Table 12. Formal classification of Bulgarian nominals: Type 9 or nouns with relative clauses Unmarked Nominal

Code

Marked Nominal

Code

(Adjective) Noun & (Adjective) Relative Clause

9U

Noun-Article & Relative Clause

9M1

Adjective-Article & Noun & Relative Clause

9M2

Determiner (N Adjective) & Noun & Relative Clause

9M3

9U (xladilnici, kakvito vecˇe ne pravjat) (93) xladilnici, kakvito vecˇe ne pravjat fridges, of-the-kind-which.PL already not make.3PL ‘such fridges that they have stopped producing’ 9M1 (obicata, kojato namerix na ulicata) (94) obicata, kojato namerix na ulicata earring.FEM.THE, which.FEM found.1SG on street.FEM.THE ‘the earring, which I found on the street’ 9M2 (zlatnata obica, kojato namerix na ulicata) (95) zlatnata obica, kojato namerix na golden.FEM.THE earring, which.FEM I-found on ‘the golden earring, which I found on the street’ ulicata street.FEM.THE ‘the golden earring, which I found on the street’

32

Definiteness: expression and content

9M3 (tazi obica, kojato namerix na ulicata) (96) tazi obica, kojato namerix na ulicata this.FEM earring, which.FEM found.1SG on street.FEM.THE ‘this earring, which I found on the street’ Variation of the order of noun and adjective has not been treated as a reason to postulate separate subtypes except for 4U and 5U but the possibility of such a variation should not be excluded for categories 3U, 8U and 9U. In practice, I did not find acceptable Standard Bulgarian illustrations of types such as the following: Noun-Article & Adjective & Preposition & Noun-Article & Adjective Determiner & Noun & Adjective & Preposition & Noun-Article & Adjective Noun-Article & Adjective & Preposition [Adjective] & Noun Noun-Article & Adjective & Relative Clause The conclusion that can be made on the basis of this remarkable absence is that these are environments that led the way of innovation in terms of word order and rejected the so-called inversed word order earlier than others. Table 13. Formal classification of Bulgarian nominals: Type 10 or nouns with adverbials Unmarked Nominal

Code

Marked Nominal

Code

Noun-Article & Adverb

10M1-1

Adjective-Article (N Adjective) & Noun & 10M1-2 Adverb Determiner (N Adjective) & Noun & Adverb

10M1-1 (ku˘sˇtata otsresˇta) (97) ku˘sˇtata otsresˇta house.THE across ‘the house across’ 10M1-2 (dvuetazˇnata ku˘sˇta otsresˇta) (98) dvuetazˇnata ku˘sˇta otsresˇta two-store.ADJ.FEM.THE house across ‘the two-store house across’

10M2

Expression

33

10M2 (tazi ku˘sˇtata otsresˇta) (99) tazi ku˘sˇta otsresˇta this.FEM house across ‘this house across’ Because of its deictic character, this nominal type is restricted in its syntactic functions and defective in form (i.e., the unmarked form is not used). The nominal can only take a predicative position in equational (100) but not in characterizing sentences (101), which would require a U nominal: (100) Petu˘r e su˘sedu˘t otgore. Peter is neighbour.THE above. ‘Peter us the neighbour on the upper floor.’ (101) *Petu˘r e su˘sed otgore. Peter is neighbour above. ‘Peter is a neighbour on the upper floor.’ 2.1.1. Head nouns vs. head pronouns Most categories of nominals introduced in Tables 3–13 are straightforward and require no justification. This is not so regarding the pronominal type 0, treated for Bulgarian most extensively in Nicolova 1986. I was guided by general theoretical and diachronical considerations in my decision to include it as a nominal type in its own right.24 The personal pronouns, the backbone of type 0, are distinguished from the nominals of types 1–10 by their lack of descriptive content, which limits their use to cases in which the linguistic or extra-linguistic context clarify their reference (Lyons 1999: 30). Building on a proposal first made by Paul Postal, C. Lyons argues that the personal pronouns, the definite article and the demonstrative pronoun unmarked for proximity are in fact forms of the same grammatical category (Lyons 1999: 26–32, 134–148). This hypothesis strives to account for three general characteristics of personal pronouns that, as I will show below, apply to Bulgarian as well: (a) inherent definiteness;25 (b) complementary distribution with demon-

24. Following a different line of reasoning, M. Flier reaches similar conclusions in his treatment of long-form adjectives in Old Church Slavonic (Flier 1974: 19, 53–77). 25. The Bulgarian counterpart of the indefinite personal pronouns that other languages possess (e.g. English one, French on, German man) is cˇovek ‘person’, treated here

34

Definiteness: expression and content

stratives in the third person; and finally (c) the etymological connection between third-person personal pronouns, demonstratives and definite articles in genetically unrelated languages around the globe. The first point warrants no elaboration as it is generally accepted. I will dwell in the following paragraphs on the Bulgarian evidence in favour of the latter two points. Types 0M5-7 (taja, deto nikoga ne pozdravjava) and 0M1-8 (ti, kojto vinagi si go zasˇtitaval) provide the clearest proof that third-person demonstrative and first and second-person personal pronouns form one paradigm in non-anaphoric contexts as exemplified in (102) and (103), whereas strict anaphoric contexts allow only personal pronouns in all three persons as shown in (104) and (105). Demonstrative taja in (102) cannot be replaced by the corresponding personal pronoun neja and, similarly, demonstrative taja cannot stand for personal pronoun tja in (104) but second-person pronouns work equally well in both types of contexts as one can see in (103) and (105), which reword (102) and (104) so as to fit in the corresponding second-person forms instead of the third-person ones. (102) Spomnix si za svetskija zˇivot i recalled.1SG REFL.DAT about worldly.MASC.THE life and za mladostta si. Spomnix za ljubovta about youth.THE REFL.DAT recalled.1SG about love.THE si, kojato stana pricˇina da postu˘pja v REFL.DAT which.FEM became.3SG reason to enter.1SG into manastira. Spomnix za taja, kojato monastery.THE recalled.1SG about this.FEM who.FEM obicˇax, i za belite rozi, s koito tja loved.1SG and about white.PL.THE roses with which.PL she obicˇasˇe da se kicˇi. loved.3SG to REFL.ACC adorn.3SG ‘I recalled the worldly life and my youth. I recalled my love that was the reason why I became a monk. I remembered her, whom I loved and the white roses she liked to adorn herself with.’ (Elin Pelin)

as a regular noun. It however displays some irregularities in its use (cf. GSBKE 2: 129), which may be an indication that it too has advanced along the road towards pronominalization.

Expression

35

(103) Spomnix za tebe, kojato obicˇax, i recalled.1SG about you.2SG.ACC who.FEM loved.1SG and za belite rozi, s koito ti obicˇasˇe about white.PL.THE roses with which.PL you.2SG loved.2SG da se kicˇisˇ. to REFL.ACC adorn.2SG (104) Vednu˘zˇ [Bozˇura] cˇu, cˇe Vasilcˇo si ide; once [Bozˇura] heard.3SG that Vasilcˇo REFL.DAT comes no osˇte sˇu˘stija den cˇu, cˇe Vasilcˇo but still same.MASC.THE day heard.3SG that Vasilcˇo si ide, tova e istina, no sˇtjal da REFL.DAT comes this is truth but would.3SG.MASC to se ozˇeni za Ganaila. I tja, kojato REFL.ACC marry.3SG for Ganaila And she who.FEM besˇe cˇuvala tolkova prikazki, toja pu˘t v was.3SG heard.FEM so-many rumours this time in du˘noto na dusˇata si useti, cˇe tova bottom.THE of soul.THE REFL.DAT felt.3SG that this mozˇe da stane. may.3SG to happens ‘Once she [Bozˇura] heard that Vasilcˇo was on his way back, but she heard on the same day that yes, Vasilcˇo was indeed on his way back but he was going to marry Ganaila. And she who had heard so many rumours this time deep in her heart felt that this might happen.’ (Jovkov, Bozˇura) cˇu, cˇe Vasilcˇo si ide; no (105) Vednu˘zˇ ti once you heard.2SG that Vasilcˇo REFL.DAT comes but osˇte sˇu˘stija den cˇu, cˇe Vasilcˇo si still same.MASC.THE day heard.2SG that Vasilcˇo REFL.DAT ide, tova e istina, no sˇtjal da se comes this is truth but would.3SG.MASC to REFL.ACC ozˇeni za Ganaila. I ti, kojato besˇe marry.3SG for Ganaila And you.2SG who.FEM was.2SG

36

Definiteness: expression and content

cˇuvala tolkova prikazki, toja pu˘t v du˘noto na heard.FEM so-many rumours this time in bottom.THE of dusˇata si useti, cˇe tova mozˇe da stane. soul.THE REFL.DAT felt.2SG that this may.3SG to happens Examples (102)–(105) demonstrate that 0M1-8 and 0M5-7 nominals behave as predicted by Lyons. First- and second-person pronouns fare equally well in anaphoric and non-anaphoric contexts, whereas in the third person personal and demonstrative pronouns function in complementary distribution: the former in anaphoric and the latter in non-anaphoric contexts. Similar relations exist between the other subtypes of nominals of type 0M1 and 0M5. Let us look at 0M1-1 (az) and 0M5-1 (tazi) for example: in the third person, the former are reserved for strict anaphoric contexts, and the latter fill in in non-anaphoric ones. If used in an anaphoric context, sentences like (106) and (107), illustrating deictic 0M5-1, will become ungrammatical unless the 0M5-1 is replaced with its 0M1-1 counterpart as shown in (108) and (109). (106) Toja za kaku˘v se misli? this.MASC for what.MASC REFL.ACC thinks ‘Who does he think he is?’ (107) Na taja i xlopa du˘skata. to this.FEM her.CL.FEM.DAT clatters board.THE ‘She has a tile loose.’ (108) Cˇu li go kak govori su˘s sekretarkata heard.2SG INTERROG him how speaks with secretary.THE si? Kak ne go e sram! Toj za kaku˘v REFL.DAT How not him is shame he for what.MASC se misli? REFL.ACC thinks ‘Did you hear how he spoke to his secretary? Shame on him! Who does he think he is?’ (109) Kakvoto i da pravisˇ, nisˇto ne mozˇesˇ da whatever also to do.2SG nothing not can2SG to promenisˇ. Tja si e takava. Na neja change.2SG she REFL.DAT is such.FEM to her.FEM

Expression

37

i xlopa du˘skata. her.CL.FEM.DAT clatters board.THE ‘No matter what you do, you cannot change anything. She is like that. She has a tile loose.’ Types 0M1-1 (az) and 0M5-1 (tazi) have specialized for strict anaphoric and non-anaphoric use, respectively, and have counterparts in the damaskin language, cf. (110) i pode do posteljata s[ve˛]t[o]mu symeonu. i and went.3SG to bed.THE saint.DAT Symeon.DAT and videˇ e˛ pl˘ına su˘s cˇerve, i ot saw.3SG her.CL.ACC full.FEM with worms and from smrad˘ı ne mozˇe da stoi tam. i uboja stench not can.3SG to stand.3SG there and started-fearing.3SG se, i recˇ[e] si toizi e kato REFL.ACC and said.3SG REFL.DAT this.MASC is like novy iov˘ı. new.MASC Job ‘And he went to St. Symeon’s bed and saw it full of worms and he could not stand there because of the stench and he was scared and said to himself: “He is like a new Job.”’ (Demina 1971: 54) As one can clearly see from the broader context included in (110), nominals of type 0M5-1 express the speakers’ immediate reaction to what is going on around them and can therefore be expected to appear most frequently in the reactive text register.26 Besides these two types, the personal pronouns and the demonstrative third-person pronoun clearly form one paradigm in nominals of type 0M8, where the substitution of the third-person personal pronoun for the demonstrative one in non-anaphoric positions is at least awkward. Identity of sense anaphora is a type of loose anaphora, “where there is no coreference but the previously occurring noun phrase supplies the understood descriptive content of the demonstrative” (Lyons 1999: 28). It only occurs with third-person referents and requires 0M5, see (111):

26. For a more detailed discussion of text registers and their connection to particular types of description readers are referred to section 2.2.2.

38

Definiteness: expression and content

(111) – Nima taka zˇivejat plennicite? – popita tja. really thus live.3PL prisoners-of-war.THE asked.3SG she – Mnogo pouzˇasno. Toja izglezˇda dobre. Sigurno much more awfully this.MASC looks well probably se polzva s privilegii. REFL.ACC uses with privileges ‘“Is this how the prisoners of war really live?” she asked. “Much more awfully. This one looks good. He probably enjoys privileges.”’ (Stanev) Complementary distribution has also been recorded in deictic contexts, a subtype of the non-anaphoric contexts, in which personal pronouns are possible only with persons, whereas demonstrative pronouns work across the board. It has been noted for other languages as well, e.g. English (Lyons 1999: 29), that non-human referents must be pointed at by demonstrative pronouns, cf. (112) of a truck (Nicolova 1986: 39). (112) *Toj/ Toja e tovaren. *he this.MASC is freight.ADJ.MASC ‘This is [a truck] for transportation of goods.’ Such examples alert us to the possible relevance of the opposition between human and non-human referents for the choice of nominal type. Looking back at examples (102)–(110), we can see that they all include persons as referents. The following examples of anaphoric inanimates demonstrate however the same pattern as for human referents; in other words, identity of sense anaphoric 0M5 cannot be replaced with toj, the corresponding 0M1, in (113) and strict anaphoric 0M1 cannot be replaced with tija, the corresponding 0M5, in (114): (113) Cˇesto stavali pozˇari, osobeno v cˇarsˇijata, no often occurred.PL fires especially in marketplace.THE but toja bil naj-goljam. this.MASC was.MASC biggest ‘Fires often broke out, especially in the marketplace, but this one was the biggest of all.’ (Talev) Nadjavam se, (114) – Tezi botusˇi sa za vas !…" these boots are.3PL for you.PL.ACC hope.1SG REFL.ACC cˇe sˇte vi stanat – recˇe tja. – Te that will you.PL.CL.DAT fit.3PL said.3SG she they

Expression

39

sa na mu˘zˇa mi, no ne mu are.3PL to husband.THE me.CL.DAT but not him.CL.DAT trjabvat. are-necessary.3PL ‘“These boots are for you. !…" I hope they will fit you,” she said. “They belong to my husband, but he does not need them.”’ (Stanev) Table 14. Complementarity of personal and demonstrative pronouns in the third-person Anaphoric contexts

Non-anaphoric contexts

Strict

Identity of sense

Non-person

Person

0M1 or equivalent

+

–

–

+

0M5 or equivalent

–

+

+

+

Table 14 summarizes these findings. The choice between 0M1 and 0M5 nominals (or equivalent) is made at the intersection of two embedded oppositions – non-anaphoric vs. identity of sense anaphoric context vs. strict anaphoric – and inside the former – personal vs. non-personal referent. In the only environment in which 0M1 and 0M5 nominals compete (regarding persons in non-anaphoric contexts) the choice of 0M5 is stylistically marked: sentences (106) and (107), intrinsically critical of the referent because of their content, are made extra offensive by the use of the 0M5 nominal. When no offence is intended, speakers prefer 0M1.27 A very similar competition of 0M1 and 0M5 nominals in the subject position has been identified in Italian (Duranti 1984). On the formal level, the close relationship of personal pronouns and demonstratives has had as a corollary the penetration of the demonstrative masculine oblique form togo into the paradigm of the third-person personal pronoun in the Moesian dialects, as well as, more importantly, the use of the personal pronoun forms toj ‘he’, tja ‘she’, te ‘they’, nego ‘him; it’, neja ‘her’ and tjax ‘them’ as demonstrative pronouns unmarked for proximity in the Moesian and Balkan dialects, cf. toj cˇovek ‘that man’, neja sutrin ‘on that morning’ (Mileticˇ 1901: 22–24; BDA 1: 171; Stojkov 1993: 256; Nicolova 27. In view of the other restrictions on the use of the personal pronouns with inanimates in anaphoric contexts mentioned briefly in Nicolova 1986: 42, it is conceivable that other categories of referents (such as unique referents, abstracts, mass and collective nouns and animate non-persons) make choices that are not strictly identical to those discussed above. They are however difficult to pinpoint because they seem to boil down to stylistic awkwardness rather than contrasts of grammaticality.

40

Definiteness: expression and content

1986: 38; Duridanov and Mladenov 1988: 100–101, see also Map 4 on p. 115). Bulgarian and Macedonian are the only Slavic languages that chose descendants of Proto-Slavic demonstrative pronoun *t ч (which also is the source of the definite article) as their third-person personal pronouns in the subject position (ESSJ 2: 707–711), an innovation that was not adopted by all dialects (see Maps 11c and 11d). The language of the damaskins falls into the innovative area (Demina 1985: 141–143). Having seen on what grounds nominals of type 0 can be considered part and parcel of the general classification of nominals, it is time to survey the peculiarities that set them apart from other nominal types. The most important differences between 0U and 0M1 nominals, on one hand, and the nominals of types 1–10, on the other are that (a) nominals of type 0 are always definite, whereas the other types may be either definite or indefinite; (b) they lack descriptive content; and (c) they espouse a different relation to the grammatical category ‘person’. The lack of descriptive content paired with inherent definiteness indicate that the content of nominals of type 0 is pure definiteness without any admixture. Moreover, Lyons argues that the grammatical categories ‘person’ and ‘definiteness’ should in fact be treated as a single grammatical category (Lyons 1999: 310–321). This makes it essential to have a better look at the grammatical category ‘person’. The three grammatical persons are the result of two embedded oppositions: non-participant vs. participant in the communicative situation and inside the latter speaker vs. non-speaker. Whereas personal pronouns are overtly marked for person, nouns are commonly thought to be of the third person but in context they can combine not only with third-person verbs but also with first- and second-person ones, which makes it plausible that the majority of nominals outside context are in fact neutral to the category person (Lyons 1999: 315). In the subject position, however, they necessarily acquire person through agreement with the corresponding verb. Even in a non-subject position, person may occasionally be marked on a nominal, as in (115), where agreement with the verb of a relative clause indicates that the 0M4 nominal is in the first person plural. (115) Vsu˘sˇtnost, tova ne e samo moj problem, a in-fact this.NEUT not is only my.MASC problem but na vsicˇki, koito cˇistim posolstvoto. of all who.PL clean.1PL embassy.THE ‘In fact, this is not a problem only for me but for all of us who clean the embassy.’ (Popov 2001: 42)

Expression

41

As mentioned before, Lyons links the personal pronouns with the definite article, on one hand, and with the demonstrative pronoun unmarked for proximity, on the other. Whereas the connection for third-person pronouns is straightforward, Lyons also finds it possible to incorporate the first- and second-person pronouns into his analysis because in English in the plural they may be used pre-nominally as personal determiners in sentences like the following: (116) I don’t trust you politicians an inch. (Lyons 1999: 27) He brings examples from languages like German, Warlpiri, Spanish, French and Nama to show that a range of restrictions applies to this usage cross-linguistically (Lyons 1999: 141–145). Bulgarian comes closest to Spanish in that it can only use nominals of type 0M3-1 (az idiotu˘t): (117) Az na vas politicite xicˇ ne vi I to you.ACC. politicians.THE at-all not you.CL.DAT vjarvam. trust.1SG English nominals of the type you politicians include into full noun phrases, Lyons argues, personal determiners, forms related to but not identical with personal pronouns. In other words, this test proving that there are two sets of homonymic forms (personal determiners and personal pronouns) does not work for Bulgarian material.28 This however does not affect the general conclusions about the connections between personal and demonstrative pronouns 28. The exception that I encountered in the damaskin – see (1) – and that could be worded in Standard Bulgarian in the same way (az siromax i cˇuzˇdenec I poor-man and foreigner) would have been impossible if it did not contain conjoined nominals. Any one of them on their own would have worked better as 0M3 nominals: az cˇuzˇdenecu˘t or az siromaxu˘t. This is not the only peculiarity that sets conjoined nominals of type 0 apart, for another feature and bibliography see Nicolova 1986: 46. (1) ne vidisˇ li kolko zlo teglim syromax, not see.2SG INTERROG how-much evil draw.1SG poor-man az˘ı I

i and

cˇjuzˇdinec˘ı. foreigner

ami but

me me.CL.ACC.

pitasˇ˘ı ask.2SG

cˇto mï e what me.CL.DAT is ‘Don’t you see how much I [who am] a poor man and a foreigner suffer? Why are you asking me what’s the matter with me?’ (Demina 1971: 105)

42

Definiteness: expression and content

and the definitive article. We return to the grammatical categories ‘definiteness’ and ‘person’ in section 5.4. The remaining subtypes of type 0 have close parallels to others (e.g. 0M1-3 to 3M; 0M1-4 to 4M; 0M1-5 to 5M; 0M1-6 to 6M;29 0M1-7 to 8M; 0M1-8 to 9M and 0M1-9 to 10M; 0M2 to 1M2; 0M3-1 to 1M3-1; 0M4 to 1M4; 0M5 to 1M5; 0M6 to 1M6; 0M7 to 1M7 and 0M8 to 1M8) and were included in this classification to allow consistent coverage of nominals with pronouns and nouns in the head position. Types 0M1-3 (az idiotu˘t), 0M1-4 (gorkijat toj), 0M1-5 (nie gresˇnite), 0M1-6 (te dvamata), 0M5-2 (tija idiotite), 0M5-3 (gorkite tija), 0M5-4 (tova cˇervenoto), OM5-5 (tija petimata) and 0M8-3 (tebe samata) will be considered in section 2.1.2 in connection with the double marking of definiteness, which is their only systematic difference from the corresponding types with a noun head. 2.1.2. Anomalous nominal structures The nominal types described in Tables 3–13 occur both in the damaskin and in Standard Bulgarian but not necessarily in the same proportions. Differences of frequency and, occasionally, form as with the relics of oblique cases in type 8 or the simultaneous use of a case marker and article in M nominal types attested in the entire Tixonravov damaskin 77 times (Sorokina 1993: 7)30 will be discussed further as the need arises. It is appropriate here to consider whether there are damaskin nominal types, whose structure diverges radically from that of nominals in the standard language and, if so, highlight any deviations from the later norms. There are two areas, which deserve attention from this point of view: (a) marking of definiteness on conjoined nominals and (b) double marking of definiteness on the same nominal. Current norm requires that the article be marked on every conjoined nominal: (118) Bu˘rkotijata i bezredieto se zasilvaxa confusion.THE and disorder.THE REFL.ACC intensified ‘The confusion and disorder were intensifying.’ (Emilian Stanev – GSBKE 3: 221) 29. It should be noted here that for reasons that are worth exploring types 0 and 6 show categoric non-negotiable preferences for different word order, cf. 0M1-6 (te dvamata) but 6M1 (pette jabu˘lki). 30. In this regard Standard Bulgarian differs from the Bulgarian dialects too. As opposed to the standard language, many dialects have preserved case endings to a larger extent but case in tandem with the definite article is a less frequent appearance than “pure” case. For more details see section 5.2.

Expression

43

(119) Toj xapna ot xljaba i sireneto. he took-a-bite from bread.THE and cheese.THE ‘He partook of the bread and cheese.’ (Emilian Stanev – GSBKE 3: 213) If, however, the nominal is of type 4 and one adjective agrees with all conjoined members, then the article is marked only once, on the adjective: (120) Vnimanieto mu se pogu˘lna ot nejnite attention.THE him.DAT REFL.ACC absorbed by her.PL.THE zˇestove i dumi. gestures and words ‘His attention was absorbed by her gestures and words.’ (Emilian Stanev – GSBKE 3: 220) Sentences conforming with the current rules of article marking are attested in the damaskin: (121) Takvozi by m[u˘]cˇ[e]nïeto i cˇjudesata such.NEUT was suffering.THE and miracles.THE s[veto]mu dimitriju saint.DAT Demetrius-DAT ‘Such were the ordeal and the miracles of St. Demetrius.’ (Demina 1971: 111; for another example see Demina 1971: 269) The damaskin, however, sometimes treats conjoined nominals as if they were one nominal and marks the article just once, on the last member, as the following examples of nominals of type 2 (122) and 8 (123) demonstrate: (122) i [s]tan˘ı obraz˘ı i snagata i kato zlak˘ı zelena and became face and body.THE her.DAT like grass green ‘And her face and her body became as green as verdure.’ (Demina 1971: 56) (123) kazaxa told.3PL

na onïa cˇl[ove]ci to those persons

cˇto that

dr˘ızˇut˘ı grob˘ı hold.3PL grave

i and

cr[˘ı]kvata s[ve]t[o]mu church.THE saint.DAT ‘They said to those people who take care of the saint’s grave and church …’ (Demina 1971: 108)

44

Definiteness: expression and content

The evolution towards the current norm was obviously prompted by the strengthened link between noun and article, which accompanied the grammaticalization of the article. While the article was more independent and its use was to a greater extent optional, speakers could mark it just once, as they continue to do with an adjective that is the attribute of two conjoined nouns. When the article merged with the noun, its range of action was limited to it, and conjoined nominals had to each supply their own definite article. There also is evidence, although numerically weak, that the treatment of 4M1-2 numerals (rusoto i sineoko momicˇe) in the damaskin could difer from that in Standard Bulgarian: (124) i rodi se vu˘ pesˇtera syromasˇka da and bore.3SG REFL.ACC in cave humble.FEM to ny ocˇisti d[u]sˇ˘ıta, deto e bila meˇsto i us.DAT cleans soul.THE where is been.FEM place and pesˇtera na zlyte i lukavite razboinici beˇsoove cave of evil.PL.THE and sly.PL.THE villains demons ‘And he was born in a humble cave to purify our soul that used to be the place and cave of the evil and sly villain demons.’ (Demina 1971: 259) (125) I rodi se v pesˇtera siromasˇka da and bore.3SG REFL.ACC in cave humble.FEM to ni ocˇisti dusˇata deto e bila mjasto i us.DAT cleans soul.THE where is been.FEM place and pesˇtera na zlite i lukavi razbojnici besove. cave of evil.PL.THE and sly.PL. villains demons My Standard Bulgarian version (125) shows that, according to current norms, only the first of the conjoined adjectives can have a definite article if both adjectives apply to the same referent. Conversely, if definite articles accompany both adjectives, as they do in (124), they are understood to apply each to its own referent. In other words, ADJ.THE AND ADJ.THE NOUN serves as a shortcut for ADJ.THE NOUN AND ADJ.THE NOUN. The damaskin also provides examples that conform to current norms: (126) I koa ti beˇ nuzˇda, ta and what.FEM you.2SG.DAT was.3SG need so-that preˇdade s[y]na moego na zavistlivete betrayed.2SG son.ACC my.MASC.ACC to envious.PL.THE

Expression

45

i pogany evree and infidel.PL Jews ‘And what was the need [that made you] betray my son to the envious and infidel Jews.’ (Demina 1971: 281) The other peculiarity comes across as marking of the definite article on nominals that have already been marked for definiteness in one way or another. As mentioned above, nominals with a pronominal head systematically double mark definiteness, if we recall that, besides being inherently definite, personal pronouns every time they have a chance to do so (as in types 0M1-3, 0M1-4, 0M1-5, 0M1-6, 0M5-2, 0M5-3, 0M5-4, 0M5-5 and 0M8-3) simultaneously feature a definite article. On the contrary, Standard Bulgarian nominals with nouns in the head position most of the time keep clear of double marking. Damaskin double marking however finds parallels in the vernacular and the dialects. Pronounced with a pause, such damaskin nominals can be compared with a similar use of the definite article in cases of repair. An illustration is provided in (127), in which the two overlapping nominals tezi margariti and margaritite fill one syntactic slot. Another option is the emphatic use of double marking, as in (128), (129) and (130). (127) dobre |togava e onu˘zi (gesture: points to a vase) vaza well then PARTICLE that.FEM vase ottam |f neja nalej vremeno dokato premest’u˘ from-there in her pour.IMPER temporarily until I-move ot tezi |margaritite tam from these daisies.THE there ‘Okay then. That vase over there (points). Pour into it for now until I move some of these, of the daisies there.’ (Krasimira Aleksova, interview No. 1.1) (128) sˇe kaesˇ nali cˇe toja moju˘ cˇovek will say-2SG PARTICLE that this.MASC my.THE person |moju˘ cˇapat taka nali ||ne sˇtesˇe my.THE crotchety thus PARTICLE not wanted ‘You will say, won’t you, that my husband, my crotchety [darling] didn’t want [to become a godfather], right?’ (Krasimira Aleksova, interview No. 1.2)

46

Definiteness: expression and content 31

(129) Togís cár’uu sin su˘ uzˇénil za unu˘´ s then emperor.ADJ.MASC son REFL married for that.FEM úbaata momu˘´ beautiful.FEM.THE lass ‘Then the emperor’s son married that beautiful lass.’ (Region Razgrad, ISSF 7: 165 – Mladenov-Archive)31 (130) Nasˇ’te starite dojdoxa. our.PL.THE old.PL.THE came.3PL ‘Our parents came.’ (Mladenov-Archive; for dialect examples with inversed word order see Stojkov 1993: 263) Double marking in the damaskin can be of several types, some of which would not be out of place in contemporary Bulgarian, cf. 0M5-2 in (131)–(132) and nouns accompanied by two adjectives, each of them with an article (133): (131) i and

onïa those

zavidnicite, enviers.THE

prigledaxa watched.3PL

go, him.ACC

i and

videˇxa danïila cˇe su˘ m[o]li b[og]u saw.3PL Daniil that REFL.ACC pray.3SG God.DAT ‘And those, the enviers, were watching him and saw that Daniil was praying to God’ (Demina 1971: 127) (132) i togazi naprasno me grabnu˘xa strasˇnyte and then suddenly me.ACC grabbed.3PL terrible.THE onïa agg[e]le those angels ‘And then all of a sudden those terrible angels grabbed me.’ (Demina 1971: 136) 31. Aleksandu˘r Aleksandrov and Snezˇana Pencˇeva (1995) analyse damaskin double and triple marking of definiteness and proclaim its connection with similar practice in the Moesian, Balkan (Region Elena) and Banat dialects. Mladenov-Archive contains examples from other dialect areas as well: Balkan (Malcˇika, Region Svisˇtov; Sˇanovo, Region Kazanlu˘k; Kravino, Region Stara Zagora), Moesian (Topcˇii, Region Razgrad; Stefan Karadzˇa, Region Dobricˇ; Nova Cˇerna, Region Silistra), Rupa (Area Strandzˇa), Western (Gaitanci, Sˇipot, Lagosˇevci, Mali Drenovec, Region Vidin; Cu˘rvarica, Region Kjustendil; Region Sofia), Northern Greece (Su˘cˇanli, Region Gjumjurdzˇina; Region Kostur) and Western Romania (Banat). Double marking of definiteness in the Bulgarian dialect of Cioplea in Romania was attributed to Romanian influence in Gut¸u 1971.

Expression

47

(133) da se vu˘zvesele˛t˘ı bl[ago]s[love]nnyte vasˇite d[u]sˇi to REFL.ACC rejoice.3PL blessed.THE your.THE souls ‘Let your blessed souls rejoice.’ (Demina 1971: 119) Cross-linguistic parallels to marking definiteness simultaneously by a demonstrative and a definite article are offered by Lyons, who proposes a classification according to the position of demonstrative in the noun phrase (1999: 118–120). It is important to note that other members of the Balkan Sprachbund regularly exhibit this feature, cf. Romanian omul acesta person.THE this.MASC ‘this person’, fruntea ta cea lata˘ forehead.THE your.FEM DET.FEM broad.FEM ‘your broad forehead’, Albanian tregu i mbuluar market.THE DET.MASC covered ‘the covered market’ and Greek      THE.FEM day THE.FEM nice.FEM ‘the nice day’ (Assenova 2002: 129–130). Since double marking of definiteness as a consistent systemic feature together with clitic reduplication (an important parallel in the realm of pronouns) has been identified as a potential characteristic of the dialects located at the geographic centre from which innovation radiated (Cyxun 1962: 290; Cyxun 1981: 17–18), further field research targeting this aspect may bring promising results. At this stage, the comparison of regular double marking on 0 type with its marginality for types 1–10 allows us to assume that nominals with pronominal heads were the first to take the path towards double marking of definiteness. Limiting oneself to the comparison of damaskins with the standard language, one may miss divergences in nominal structure that are not reflected in either or misinterpret encountered variation, as certain nominals containing possessives show (Mladenov and Mladenova 2005). Standard Bulgarian oscillates between two alternative models: babinata Penina ku˘sˇta, grandmother.ADJ.FEM.THE Pena.ADJ.FEM house, and the less frequent baba Peninata ku˘sˇta, grandmother Pena.ADJ.FEM.THE house, that correspond semantically to 8M1-1 ku˘sˇtata na baba Pena ‘grandmother Pena’s house’. Note that neither model but especially not baba Peninata ku˘sˇta is easily fitted into a slot in the classification of Bulgarian nominals provided above unless we disregard the juxtaposed possessives in babinata Penina ku˘sˇta and the quasi-compound in baba Peninata ku˘sˇta and classify them under 4M1-1 (du˘rvenija stol). These models were adopted by the standard language from different regional varieties: babinata Penina ku˘sˇta mostly from the Eastern dialects and baba Peninata ku˘sˇta mostly from the East Rupa and/or the Western dialects. Without reference to the Bulgarian dialects, the relationship of the nominals babinata Penina ku˘sˇta and baba Peninata ku˘sˇta in Standard Bulgarian remains unclear. The testimony of these competing nominals and

48

Definiteness: expression and content

others like dialect devettjá stotin ku˘sˇti nine.THE hundreds houses (e. g. Teteven, Mladenov-Archive) vs. Standard Bulgarian devetstotinte ku˘sti ninehundreds.THE houses ‘the nine hundred houses’ makes it possible to attribute variation between other compounds and nominal phrases such as desetgodisˇninata ten-anniversary.THE vs. desetata godisˇnina tenth.FEM.THE anniversary ‘the tenth anniversary’ to regional difference as well.

2.2.

Content

As to the content of definiteness, there are so many factors that have an impact that some systematic approach is necessary in order to assure that they are all accounted for in a principled manner. This understanding, matching current mainstream opinions in linguistics (Chvany [1983] 1996; Lyons 1999: 253–281), was first formulated in the late 1960s by I. I. Revzin in his broad program for the typological study of definiteness, which was applied to the Slavic and Balkan languages (Revzin 1977a, Revzin 1977b, Nikolaeva 1979). A. D. Sˇmelev proposes a model of (in)definiteness in Russian that makes use of oppositions such as trivial vs. non-trivial individualizing (first introduced by M. G. Seleznev), constant vs. variable denotative space and concrete vs. generalized reference (1992). An attempt to systematize the meanings of the grammatical category ‘definiteness’ in Bulgarian, based on the search for a stable ‘invariant’ core of the varying manifestations of definiteness was made by Valentin Stankov (1987). Moving away from this idea in his later work, he increased the number of dimensions relevant for definiteness to four: identifiability, totality, referentiality and significativity (Stankov 1995: 104). Meri Lakova (1997–1998) proposes another model of definiteness in Bulgarian, which postulates the existence of four types of noun phrases: generic (with the article –u˘t), indefinite (with edin or Ø1 article), definite (with the article –u˘t) and adefined (with Ø2 article). Koseska-Toszewa and Gargov (1991) see (in)definiteness as a sentential category in the area of quantificational phenomena and deal with it from the perspective of situational semantics. Tania Avgustinova (1998) situates her model of definiteness at the intersection of three dichotomies: limited vs. non-limited, specific vs. non specific and generic vs. non-generic, where limitedness (a concept borrowed from Sˇamraj 1989) roughly corresponds to identifiability. A different approach could be the so-called default inheritance model (Corbett and Fraser 2000), which has not been consistently applied to definiteness, although Chesterman explores the idea of ‘default readings’ of some of his parameters ‘which will hold unless circumstances indicate otherwise’

Content

49

(1991: 66; see also p. 164). I would like to apply this hierarchical model, used mostly in computational linguistics, more systematically. Essential to it is the assumption that the highest level of factors determines the features of a given entity unless exceptional values have been encoded for it on a lower level (Daelemans et al. 1992). My reasons for opting for the particular order of levels displayed in Table 2 are of a general theoretical (Revzina 1979: 74) and language-specific nature. I will introduce my proposal informally starting with the highest level. 2.2.1. The pragmatic level Speakers can present a nominal either as familiar (theme, also called topic) or as novel (rheme, also called focus) in the universe of discourse.32 In order to do so, they have to choose between marked nominals as signs of discourse familiarity – such as 1M in (135) – and unmarked nominals as signs of discourse novelty – such as 1U in (134).33 (134) Vnimavaj! Dupka! pay-attention.IMPER.2SG hole ‘Careful! A hole!’ (135) Vnimavaj! Dupkata! pay-attention.IMPER.2SG hole.THE ‘Careful! The hole!’ In (134) the hole the speaker alerts her hearer to is presented as new information, whereas in (135) the definite article indicates that the hearer is reminded of a familiar hole. The novel first-mention nominal may be followed by an anaphora co-referential with it. The anaphora can be represented by nouns accompanied with demonstrative determiners (1M5) or definite articles (1M1 and equivalent) or by personal pronouns (0U or 0M1-1), the choice between them being made on a lower level of the default inheritance model. Here is an illustration of the relevance of the pragmatic level for the choice of the type of nominal.

32. For a general discussion and references see Lyons 1999: 227–236 and for a Bulgarian-based perspective see Dyer 1992: 34–39, Dyer 1993. 33. This argument has also been made by Sˇamraj (1989: 50–51) regarding the opposition of forms with and without the definite article in Bulgarian.

50

Definiteness: expression and content

(136) Pred barakite bjaxa skovani masi i In-front barracks.THE were.3PL hammered-together tables and skamejki, a sred tjax imasˇe pobit v benches whereas among them had.3SG driven.MASC in zemjata kol, na kojto be nabucˇen ground.THE stake on which.MASC was.3SG impaled.MASC sˇirok du˘rven kru˘g. Na toja kru˘g broad.MASC wooden.MASC disk on this.MASC disk stoesˇe jastreb. Toj besˇe privu˘rzan o kola stood.3SG hawk he was.3SG tied.MASC onto stake.THE s pirincˇena verizˇka, zˇu˘lta, kakto be with brass.ADJ.FEM chain yellow.FEM as was.3SG zˇu˘lt i negovijat du˘lu˘g, gol yellow.MASC and his.MASC.THE long.MASC bare.MASC i xisˇten krak. and rapacious.MASC leg ‘Tables and benches were hammered together in front of the barracks, and in their midst a stake was driven in the ground on which a broad wooden disk was impaled. A hawk stood on this disk. He was tied to the stake with a brass chain, as yellow as his long, bare and rapacious leg.’ (Stanev) The 1U first-mention nominals masi i skamejki ‘tables and benches’, kol ‘stake’, sˇirok du˘rven kru˘g ‘broad wooden disk’ and jastreb ‘hawk’ are followed by anaphoric 0M1-1 tjax ‘them’, 1M1 kola ‘the stake’, 1M5-1 toja kru˘g ‘this disk’ and 0M1-1 toj ‘he’, all of them co-referential with their respective first-mention nominals. Nominals of type 0 play an important role on the pragmatic level. The contrast between 0U and 0M1-1 nominals allows to distinguish between informationally non-segmented and segmented sentences on one hand and between topic and focus in the realm of the segmented sentences on the other. As a null-argument language, Bulgarian has the option to choose between weak and strong pronouns (affixes and clitics vs. free-standing and reduplicated forms), so that the sentence ‘I love you’, where both ‘I’ and ‘you’ are expressed by the respective weak or strong pronouns can appear in context in one of the following sixteen versions:

Content

(137) Obicˇam te. love.1SG you.CL.2SG (138) Obicˇam tebe. love.1SG you.2SG (139) Obicˇam te tebe. love.1SG you.CL.2SG you.2SG (140) Obicˇam te tebe az. love.1SG you.CL.2SG you.2SG I (141) Obicˇam te az tebe. love.1SG you.CL.2SG I you.2SG (142) Tebe obicˇam. you.2SG love.1SG (143) Tebe te obicˇam you.2SG you.CL.2SG love.1SG (144) Tebe obicˇam az. you.2SG love.1SG I (145) Tebe az obicˇam. you.2SG I love.1SG (146) Tebe az te obicˇam. you.2SG I you.CL.2SG love.1SG (147) Tebe te obicˇam az. you.2SG you.CL.2SG love.1SG I (148) Az te obicˇam. I you.CL.2SG love.1SG (149) Az obicˇam tebe. I love.1SG you.2SG (150) Az tebe obicˇam. I you.2SG love.1SG (151) Az te obicˇam tebe. I you.CL.2SG love.1SG you.2SG (152) Az tebe te obicˇam. I you.2SG you.CL.2SG love.1SG

51

52

Definiteness: expression and content

Sentences (137)-(152) form a communicative paradigm, whose members despite synonymity are not interchangeable in context (Zolotova et al. 1998: 380). Each member of the communicative paradigm is characterized by its word order and subtype of 0 nominals. In terms of word order, one can distinguish between preposition and postposition of the pronoun to the verb. In case of clitic reduplication, preposition is accompanied by clitic reprise – see (143), (146), (147) and (152) – and of postposition with clitic anticipation – see (139), (140), (141) and (151). All Balkan languages including Bulgarian are thought to reach much more frequently for the former type which is ahead of the latter on the path towards grammaticalization (Lopasˇov 1978: 14–15, 20–21, 46, 51).34 In fact, for the subject position the use of 0M1-1 automatically implies reduplication, as the strong pronoun does not replace the verb ending but accompanies it. Viewed from this perspective, the notorious Balkan clitic reduplication appears as no more than a counterpart to the typologically trivial reduplication in the subject position. Since type 0M1-1, as opposed to type 0U, as a rule implies textual salience of some kind, the non-segmented sentence (137) would be the proper one to use as an answer to yes-or-no questions like that in (153) or in any contexts that emphasize the predicate and take the arguments for granted such as (154): (153) “Obicˇasˇ li me?” “Obicˇam te.” love.2SG INTERROG me.CL.ACC love.1SG you.CL.2SG.ACC ‘“Do you love me?” “Yes, I do.”’ (154) Kamen ne vjarva, cˇe go obicˇasˇ. Kamen not believes that him.CL.ACC love.2SG ‘Kamen doesn’t believe that you love him.’ If speakers wish to contrast or emphasize the arguments, they must choose strong pronouns as in (148) to highlight the subject, in (142) – the object or in (149) – both. In the following examples one can see how these members of the communicative paradigm fit in context: (155) “Vsicˇki me mrazjat.” “Az te obicˇam.” all me.CL.ACC hate.3PL I you.CL.2SG.ACC love.1SG ‘“Everybody hates me.” “I love you.”’ 34. There is a broad range of variation between the standard language and the Bulgarian dialects in this regard, which has not been thoroughly studied. Preliminary reports indicate that the Southwestern, the Rhodope and the Thrace dialects lag behind in the use of clitic reduplication of the object (Mladenov and Steinke 1978: 76).

Content

53

(156) “Kogo obicˇasˇ?” “Tebe obicˇam.” whom love.2SG you.2SG.ACC love.1SG ‘“Whom do you love?” “I love you.”’ Pronouns in the subject slot do not have the resources to distinguish between topic and focus formally, except by word order and intonation. Conversely, contrast between single and reduplicated long-form pronouns is available for the object position. Long-form pronouns in the oblique cases mark the focus of an utterance. A similar usage has been noted regarding the other Balkan languages (Lopasˇov 1978: 22, 47; Cˇernjak 1979: 256, 259). Clitic reduplication of the object is reserved for nominals in the topic position (Cyxun 1962: 290; Ivancˇev 1978 [1968], 166–168; Leafgren 1997). Besides, clitic reduplication possibly has expressive functions, as has been argued recently (Tchizmarova 2004). The following examples demonstrate the interplay of long-form pronouns in the focus and clitic reduplication in the topic position. In his famous farewell letter to his wife Veneta – see (157) – Xristo Botev uses a long-form second-person pronoun in the focus position. Stanislav Stratiev rephrases the sentence and, having moved the object to the topic position, he renders it by clitic reduplication, see (158). (157) Ako umra, to znaj, cˇe posle if die.1SG then know.IMPER.2SG that after otecˇestvoto si su˘m obicˇal naj-mnogo fatherland.THE REFL.DAT am loved.MASC most tebe, zatova gledaj Ivanka i you.2SG.ACC that-is-why look.IMPER.2SG Ivanka and pomni ljubjasˇtija te Remember.IMPER.2SG loving.MASC.THE you.CL.2SG.ACC Xrista. Xristo.ACC ‘If I die, be aware that after my fatherland I have loved you best. Therefore look after Ivanka and remember Xristo, who loves you.’ (Stojanov 1976: 280–281) (158) Zajavjavam, cˇe ne iskam povecˇe da su˘m Veneta. declare.1SG that not want.1SG more to am Veneta Mene vse me obicˇat naj-mnogo, no me.ACC always me.CL.ACC love.3PL most but

54

Definiteness: expression and content

vse posle nesˇto. Posle Otecˇestvoto. always after something after fatherland.THE ‘I declare that I do not wish to be Veneta any more. I am always loved best but always after something. After the Fatherland.’ (Stratiev) In conclusion, it is worth pointing out that the pragmatic level displays more differences than similarities of detail between the uses of unmarked and marked nominals of the 0 type, on the one hand, and the rest of the nominal types, on the other. The main dichotomy for the majority of nominal types is that between the first-mention focus and the topic positions, to be filled in with unmarked and marked nominals, respectively. This however is not a relevant opposition for type 0 because of its lack of descriptive content, which makes its use in the first-mention focus position at best difficult. This brings about the prominence of another dichotomy (that of communicatively nonsegmented vs. segmented sentences), which is the one that governs the use of unmarked and marked nominals of type 0. Communicatively segmented sentences with a neutral, unmarked word order have the subject in the topic position and the verb and its complements in the focus position. As soon as there is a departure from the unmarked word order leading to the topicalization of an element that is not normally part of the topic, the need appears for a special expression to render it. Thus, the reduplicated 0M1-1 for the object in topic position cannot be replaced by the respective 0U35 as (159) demonstrates: (159) Obicˇam te, mamo! No ne moga povecˇe love.1SG you.CL.ACC Mom.VOC but not can.1SG more da te gledam kak vexnesˇ po men. […] to you.CL.ACC look.1SG how pine.2SG after me.ACC Prosti mi, tatko! I tebe te forgive.2SG me.CL.DAT Dad and you.ACC you.CL.ACC obicˇam! love.1SG ‘I love you, Mom! But I cannot go on watching you pine for me. […] Forgive me, Dad! I love you too!’ (Valentin Kabakcˇiev)

35. Replacement with the non-reduplicated equivalent of the 0M1-1 nominal is however an option even though a less appealing one stylistically.

Content

55

These distinctions are not readily expressed by nominals with nouns in the head position. The one between segmented and non-segmented sentences is apparently simply ignored, whereas topicalization may as well be rendered by clitic reduplication with objects expressed by nominals with nouns in the head position. 2.2.2. The semantic level This level houses a scalar classification of referents, denotations and properties to which nominals refer or which they denote. It is difficult to select an umbrella term that would be suitable to cover all semantic uses of the U and M nominals. The term ‘denotation’ does not include unique referents, whereas ‘referent’ fits neither the typifying use of nominals nor non-specifics and quantitative generics (Chesterman 1991: 64, 188). Even if one takes into account the so-called ‘discourse referent’ (Heim 1988: 249–263; 281–285; Lyons 1999: 268–269), which expands the notion of referent to include apparent anaphora, not based on real-world reference, and retains nonspecifics as referential in a discursive sense, there still remain nominal uses that are clearly non-referential. According to a narrower view, only unique referents of all the categories of interest to us here “are ever semantically referring” (Lyons 1999: 165–166). I opted for ‘description’ as shorthand for ‘referent and/or property and/or denotation’, in line with the conventional usage of the term in semantics to denote “all material that ascribes properties to entities” (Lyons 1999: 7). In order to keep the levels of expression and content apart, the term ‘description’ will be reserved for the semantic aspect of a nominal. All descriptions can be divided into several contiguous categories, which function in all possible worlds, including the actual world. The binary oppositions generic vs. non-generic, inside the non-generic area specific vs. nonspecific and, inside the specific area, definite vs. indefinite account for the major partitions among types of descriptions. Definite descriptions can either refer to unique referents (e.g., proper nouns) or the relevant member(s) of a set. For the purposes of this analysis it is useful to further subdivide the definite and the generic categories. Generics are either typifying or quantitative. In the definite category, identifiability rules in the core, whereas the periphery is dominated by inclusiveness. Core definite values assign a nominal to the individuative descriptions and peripheral ones to the quantitative or the (situationally) unique definites, respectively. The inclusive subcategories of the definite category and the neighbouring quantitative generics share features important for understanding the diachronic processes that shaped definiteness

56

Definiteness: expression and content

in Bulgarian. In addition to the generic and specific categories, I will explore theoretically and empirically the existence in Bulgarian of a non-specific description, situated between specifics and generics and subsumed under neither. It is therefore a category different from both its neighbours: typifying generics and indefinites. Category boundaries are fuzzy, so typifying generics, for instance, share properties with both neighbours: quantitative generics and non-specifics. Thus we obtain a series of adjacent semantic categories: quantitative generics – specific definites – unique referents – specific indefinites – non-specifics – typifying generics. The specific definite category is not homogeneous but structured as an individuative core surrounded by a quantitative/unique periphery. One can see a correlation between these types of descriptions and text registers as postulated in Zolotova et al. (1998: 29–35, 393–400). In their model there are three monologue and two dialogue text registers. Especially striking is the correlation of descriptions with the monologue text registers.36 In the graphic text register used to report observed actions, speakers present individual facts perceivable directly by one of the five senses. The most important opposition in this text register is that between definite and indefinite specifics. Since this is the register for one-time occurrences, we can also call it the vednu˘zˇ register (Bulgarian vednu˘zˇ ‘once’). In the informative text register, speakers present habitual facts that cannot be anchored at a specific point of time. One reports in this register on states of affairs, into which one has gained insight through logical mental operations or from experience. The relevant oppositions for this register will have to include the borderline segments delimiting the specific area: that is, quantitative definites at one extreme and non-specifics at the other. Temporal adverbs such as ponjakoga ‘sometimes’, cˇesto ‘often’, postojanno ‘constantly’, vsjakoga ‘every time’, vinagi ‘always’ etc. characterize this register. I shall label it the mnogokratno register (Bulgarian mnogokratno ‘repeatedly’). The gnomic text register, suitable for expressing general statements regarding natural and social phenomena, which are true of whole classes of objects, needs generics (quantitative and typifying). This is the vu˘obsˇte register (Bulgarian vu˘obsˇte ‘in general’). Since the classification of text registers is predicate-based, this correlation is also understood to imply the co-occurrence of description types and verbal tenses and aspects as follows: perfectives & specifics (160), imperfectives & non-specifics and 36. The correlation between nominal type and text register in my model corresponds to the quantification of nominal and verbal phrases in the model proposed by Koseska-Toszewa and Gargov 1991: 38–39; 80–126.

Content

57

quantitative definites (161), the absolute present tense & generics (162) (Zolotova et al. 1998: 331, 427–428).37 (160) Vu˘rzˇi prasˇeca dobre. Sˇte precedisˇ tie-up.PF.2SG.IMPER bloom.THE well will strain.PF.2SG bilkata prez edin tjulben. Sˇtom herb.THE through one.MASC muslin as-soon-as izstine, sˇte ja dadesˇ na momata, cool-down.PF.3SG will her.ACC give.PF.2SG to lass.THE da ja izpie, ama na gladno su˘rce. to her.ACC drink-up.PF.3SG but on hungry.NEUT heart ‘Tie the bloom up well. You will strain the herb through a piece of muslin. As soon as it cools down, you will give it to the lass, to drink it up, but on an empty stomach.’ (Dimitu˘r Talev – GSBKE 2: 272) (161) Slucˇvalo se e da se happened.IMPF.PART.NEUT REFL.ACC is to REFL.ACC spirat xora na pu˘tja pod strjaxata stop.IMPF.3PL people on road.THE under eaves.THE im da slusˇat nejnata pesen. them.DAT to listen.IMPF.3PL her.FEM.THE song ‘It has happened that people stop on the road under their eaves to listen to her song.’ (Todor Vlajkov – GSBKE 2: 278) (162) Zˇeljazoto se kove dokato e goresˇto. Iron.THE REFL.ACC forge.3SG while is hot.NEUT ‘The iron is forged while it is hot.’ (a maxim – GSBKE 2: 293) It should be emphasized that the relationship between text register and description is unilateral, i.e. without the kind of description typical of a given register, it cannot function properly in its full range; however, other types of description are not barred from occurring when needed. 37. The two other registers that are employed in dialogues are the ‘inductive’ and the ‘reactive’ text registers. Speakers use the former to produce changes in reality (e.g., by provoking their interlocutors to perform an action) and the latter to express a reaction to a communicative situation. Perhaps one can go beyond linking descriptions with text registers and determine that certain nominal types function better in one text register than in another. For instance, in section 3.14 I argue that nominals of type 0M1-2 characterize the reactive text register.

58

Definiteness: expression and content

Schematically these descriptions are presented in Table 15: Table 15. Description and text register Text Register

Generic

Non-generic Specific Definite

Informative (mnogokratno) Gnomic (vu˘obsˇte)

+ +

+

(6) Indefinite

+

+

+

+

(7) Non-specific

(5) Unique

Graphic (vednu˘zˇ)

(4) Individuative

(3) Quantitative

(2) Quantitative

(1) Typifying

(Part of a) Set

+

+

The following sentences illustrate the introduced categories of descriptions in their typical registers. Generic typifying: (163) Kravata e bozajnik. cow.THE is mammal ‘A cow is a mammal.’ Generic quantitative: (164) Prez zimata mecˇkite during winter.THE bears.THE ‘Bears sleep during the winter.’

spjat. sleep.3PL

Definite quantitative: (165) Tja ne izliza sutrin predi da si izpie she not leave.3SG morning before to REFL.DAT drink.3SG mljakoto. milk.THE ‘She does not leave in the morning until she drinks her milk.’

Content

59

Definite individuative: (166) Kupixte li podaru˘k za deteto? bought.2PL INTERROG gift for child.THE ‘Did you buy a gift for the child?’ Unique referent: (167) V dalecˇinata sineesˇe Dunavu˘t. In distance.THE appeared-blue.3SG Danube.THE ‘At a distance, the blue Danube was visible.’ (168) Kogato zimata e studena, Dunavu˘t zamru˘zva. when winter.THE is cold.FEM Danube.THE freezes ‘Whenever the winter is cold, the Danube freezes.’ (169) Dunavu˘t se vliva v Cˇerno more. Danube.THE REFL.ACC flows-in in Black sea ‘The Danube flows into the Black Sea.’ Indefinite: (170) Na prozoreca se pokaza dete. on window.THE REFL.ACC showed.3SG child ‘A child appeared in the window.’ Non-specific: (171) Otvreme navreme minavaxa koli. from-time to-time passed-by.3PL cars ‘Cars were driving by from time to time.’ Any number of examples of descriptions outside their typical registers can be offered, a situation common in other languages as well (Lyons 1999: 180). I shall limit myself to illustrations of individuatives in the informative register (172) and definite quantitatives in the graphic register (173): (172) Vsjaka sutrin fajtonu˘t otvezˇdasˇe polkovnika v every.FEM morning carriage.THE took.3SG colonel.THE in grada i na obed go dokarvasˇe obratno. town.THE and on noon him.CL.ACC brought.3SG back ‘Every morning the carriage took the colonel to the town and at noon brought him back.’ (Stanev) (173) Toj prebroi monetite v dzˇoba si. he counted.3SG coins.THE in pocket.THE REFL.DAT ‘He counted the coins in his pocket.’

60

Definiteness: expression and content

Sets are definite because they are identifiable in the context of communication, due to knowledge of the world or by association with the topic of discourse. The simplest kind of definiteness is that relying on immediate perceptitibility in the communicative situation. This is what will further be referred to as deictic definiteness. Given the written nature of the available sources however, our knowledge of this type of definiteness in the previous stages of Bulgarian is not extensive. Here is one illustration from contemporary fiction, which will clarify the point I would like to make. In his short story Napast bozˇija ‘God’s Scourge’, Elin Pelin describes the social conflict provoked by a breakout of an epidemic. There were two local theories explaining it: according to the priest it was God’s punishment triggered by the villagers’ sins and according to the teacher it was caused by the polluted water of the village well. When the teacher barred access to the well, the priest took an axe and tried to remove the lid of the well. Then Mladen, a village lad, said: (174) Djado pope, xvu˘rli bradvata nastrana, grandfather priest.VOC throw.IMPER.2SG axe.THE away cˇe mi tu˘mnee pred ocˇite! or-else me.CL. DAT darkens in-front-of eyes.THE ‘Father, drop the axe or I may lose my temper!’ The axe was not mentioned in the previous exchange between characters but was part of the setting described by Elin Pelin. For obvious reasons, what would have been deictic definiteness in the process of communication comes through as anaphoric definiteness in written text. Deictic definiteness can be expressed by personal and demonstrative pronouns and by the definite article. Of special interest for my purposes are the so-called bridging inferences that rely on background knowledge. This background knowledge may be situational or cultural (Clark 1977; Lyons 1999: 4). In (175) the customers of an inn and its entrance, although never previously mentioned in the story, are still represented by 1M1 nominals. The author could afford to do this because in the world in which we live inns have some inherent characteristics (such as customers and entrances) that make them what they are. This definiteness by entailment will further be referred to as exophoric definiteness. (175) Edin den obacˇe dojde komisija, napravi one.MASC day however came.3SG commission made.3SG ogled i posredstvom ne znam inspection and by-means-of not know.1SG

Content

61

kakvi razporedbi bitovoto xancˇe besˇe what.PL directives folk-style.NEUT.THE inn was.3SG izzeto ot seloto i be taken-away.NEUT from village.THE and was.3SG predadeno na ‘Balkanturist’. Nov upravitel transferred.NEUT to Balkantourist new.MASC manager se naznacˇi na mjastoto na starija REFL.ACC appointed.3SG on place.THE of old.MASC.THE da uveri klientite, xandzˇija. !…" Za innkeeper in-order to assure.3SG customers.THE cˇe v xancˇeto se servira samo prjasna that in inn.THE REFL.ACC serve.3SG only fresh.FEM stoka, novijat upravitel zakupi dva kafeza goods new.MASC.THE manager bought.3SG two crates s zˇivi pileta ot pticefermata i with live.PL chickens from poultry-farm.THE and gi postavi pred vxoda … them.ACC placed.3SG in-front-of entrance.THE ‘One day, however, a commission came and made an inspection and by means of I don’t know what directives the folk-style inn was taken away from the village and turned over to Balkantourist. A new manager was appointed to the position of the former innkeeper. !…" In order to reassure the customers that only fresh goods were served in the inn, the new manager bought two crates of live chickens from the poultry farm and put them in front of the entrance …’ (Radicˇkov 1980: 112) Descriptions (be they specific, generic, or non-specific; definite or indefinite) can be treated by the speaker either as familiar or as novel in the universe of discourse. Prescriptions on the pragmatic and the semantic levels can agree or contradict each other. In other words, on the one hand, there might be more than one reason for a nominal to be marked: it can, for instance, be both anaphoric and exophoric. On the other hand, there are cases when contradictory prescriptions need to be reconciled. Such are the indefinites presented as familiar and the definites presented as novel, a situation illustrated in the following sentences:

62

Definiteness: expression and content

(176) Do osemnajset godini bjax sportist. Vu˘rvesˇe until eighteen years was.1SG athlete was-going.3SG mi vsicˇko. Xvanax se s volejbol me.DAT everything Caught.1SG REFL.ACC with volleyball i – xop! – za tri meseca vljazox v otbora; and up! for three months entered.1SG in team.THE edin prijatel se zapisa pri boks’orite – az one friend REFL.ACC enrolled.3SG at boxers.THE I sled nego. after him.ACC ‘I was an athlete until the age of eighteen. I could do anything. I took up volleyball and in three months I fell plump into the team; a friend enrolled in boxing, I after him.’ (Iliev, Chapter 1) (177) Zasˇtoto te smetnali, cˇe fajtonu˘t e na because they reckoned.3PL that carriage.THE is to edin pijanica ot torlasˇkoto selo one.MASC drunkard from Torlak.ADJ.NEUT.THE village Staropatica, kogato cˇoveku˘t se zasedi Staropatica when person.THE REFL.ACC over-stayed.3SG v kru˘cˇma ili xancˇe, konete go ostavjali i in tavern or inn horses.THE him.ACC left.3PL and se pribirali sami v Staropatica. REFL.ACC returned.3PL alone.PL in Staropatica ‘Because they reckoned that the carriage belonged to a drunkard from the Torlak village Staropatica: when the man stayed too long in a tavern or an inn, the horses would leave him and return on their own to Staropatica.’ (Radicˇkov 1980: 93) Examples like (176) and (177) show that the default inheritance model works as predicted. According to the highest pragmatic-level rules, nominals need to be marked if they are familiar in the universe of discourse. On the lower semantic level, the choice among marked nominals is restricted to nominals of type 1M2 because the description is indefinite. Outside the sphere of discoursive familiarity, indefinites can be expressed by nominals of type 1U, but if we replace edin prijatel ‘a/one friend’ in (176) with the corresponding nominal of type 1U prijatel, the sentence becomes ungrammatical. The same is

Content

63

the situation with the nominal edin pijanica ot torlasˇkoto selo Staropatica ‘a/one drunkard from the Torlak village Staropatica’ in (177). Its referent is presented as familiar in the universe of discourse and this makes it impossible to replace it with the corresponding nominal of type 8U2 pijanica ot torlasˇkoto selo Staropatica ‘drunkard from the Torlak village Staropatica’. The ungrammaticality of U nominals in this position was first noticed by Svetomir Ivancˇev (1957: 514–515). Conversely, novel referents are signaled by unmarked nominals on the pragmatic level. Our novel definite referents otbora ‘the team’ and boks’orite ‘the boxers’ in (176), however, are referred to by nominals of type 1M1. This implies that new values have been formulated for them on the lower semantic level and these values bar the upper-level default rules from applying. Non-specifics presented as familiar follow the same pattern: they are expressed by nominals of type 1M3-1. In the following example, familiar njakoi deca ‘some children’ cannot be replaced with deca ‘children’ without provoking a breakdown of communication. (178) Za Marta Jordanova vecˇe spomenax. Osˇte … of Marta Jordanova already mentioned.1SG more Kazvaxa, cˇe bila metresa na Profesora. were-telling.3PL that been.FEM mistress of Professor.THE Mozˇe bi bivsˇa. Mozˇe bi ot vreme na vreme. may be former.FEM may be from time to time Ucˇudvasˇto be drugo – njakoi deca surprising.NEUT was other some.PL childrem gledala mnogo. Zasˇto njakoi? taken-care-of.FEM a-lot why some ‘I have already made mention of Marta Jordanova. What else? There also was a rumour that she was the Professor’s mistress. Maybe a former mistress. Maybe from time to time. Something else was surprising: she was said to take a very good care of some children. Why some?’ (Iliev, Chapter 1) The opposition specific/generic is also reflected in the use of nominals of type 0. Nominals of type 0M1 may have a specific reading as in (179), whereas their counterparts of type 0U’s reading is generic, cf. (180) (Nicolova 1986: 43–44):

64

Definiteness: expression and content

(179) Te kazvat, cˇe toj bil mnogo bogat. they say.3PL that he was.MASC very rich.MASC. ‘They say that he is (allegedly) very rich.’ (180) Kazvat, cˇe toj bil mnogo bogat. say.3PL that he was.MASC very rich.MASC. ‘He is said to be very rich.’ Similar contrasts are possible not only in the third person plural but also in the second person singular, cf. specific (181) and generic (182): (181) Ne zabravjaj, cˇe ako ti ne se not forget.IMPER.2SG that if you not REFL.ACC poxvalisˇ sam v razgovora s tjax, praise.2SG yourself.MASC in conversation.THE with them tvoite zaslugi mogat da bu˘dat prenebregnati. your.PL.THE merits may.3PL to be.3PL disregarded.3PL ‘Don’t forget that if you don’t praise yourself when you talk to them, your merits may be disregarded.’ (182) Ako ne se poxvalisˇ sam, nikoj if not REFL.ACC praise.2SG yourself.MASC no-one njama da te poxvali. will-not to you.CL.ACC praise.3SG ‘If you do not praise yourself, no one will.’ A nominal of the marked series may be present on both semantic and pragmatic grounds like the singular ti ‘you’ in (183), which is (a) specific and (b) contrasted with az ‘I’. (183) Ako ti ne se poxvalisˇ sam, az if you not REFL.ACC praise.2SG yourself.MASC I sˇte te poxvalja. will you.CL.ACC praise.1SG ‘If you do not praise yourself, I will.’ In other contexts nominals of 0M type may also have a generic reading, as in Xristo Botev’s famous lines, that contain a generic 0M5-7 and a generic 0M1-1:

Content

65

(184) Toz, kojto padne v boj za svoboda/ this.MASC who.MASC falls.3SG in battle for freedom toj ne umira. he not dies ‘He who falls in battle for freedom does not die.’

2.2.3. The lexical-morphological level Inside a section delimited on the upper pragmatic and semantic levels, change spreads from one class of words to another. The relevance of oppositions such as adjective vs. noun, singular vs. plural, masculine vs. feminine vs. neuter, animate vs. inanimate, count vs. mass and concrete vs. abstract cannot be excluded off hand. Such oppositions intuitively appear to be more important for the evolution of definiteness than for its functioning in the contemporary language. Individual words (Bog ‘God’) or classes of words (kinship terms, terms for body parts or residents of a locality, diminutives of personal names etc.) may have fixed values regarding definiteness. These values may function not across the board but in specific syntactic environments. They are usually described as exceptions in traditional grammar (GSBKE 2: 127–129). Certain subtypes of the 0 type specialize to always express certain descriptions, for instance 0M3-1 (non-specific). We will look into some constant nominal-description liaisons of this kind in more detail later. But as type 0 subtypes have a very limited membership, one could argue that their values are lexically determined on an item-by-item basis. Together with the more versatile subtypes like 0M1 and 0M5 these semantic constants form a 0 type range that corresponds to that of the rest of the nominal types.

2.2.4. The syntactic level Nominals can function in the sentence in a number of syntactic positions, presented schematically in Table 16. Table 16. Classification of nominals according to syntactic position Argument Subject

Predicative Nominal Object

Adverbial

66

Definiteness: expression and content

Also revelant for our purposes are the semantic relationships of verbs with their arguments, customarily referred to as thematic (or theta) roles: agent, patient, theme, experiencer, beneficiary, goal, source, location etc. At least, some patterns of clitic reduplication are better captured in terms of the opposition between agent, patient and experiencer rather than subject and object. Several comments pertaining to this lowest level of the default inheritance model need to be made. (A) It should be kept in mind that there may be greater numbers of nouns in a given sentence than the nouns employed in these four positions. For instance, nouns also appear as subordinate elements of nominals of type 8. In statistics, therefore, syntactic data may or may not correspond numerically to the data for other levels of the same portion of the text. (B) Apart from these syntactic functions, nominals can be employed on their own as nominative sentences, such as those in (185).38 (185) Ucˇen svjat! Djavolski svjat! I po learned.MASC world devilish.MASC world and over zvezdite pocˇnaxa kato kozi da se katerjat, stars.THE started.3PL like goats to REFL.ACC climb.3PL i na morskoto du˘no slizat cˇak and to sea.ADJ.NEUT.THE bottom descend.3PL as-far-as raci da lovjat – da se cˇudisˇ i crabs to catch.3PL to REFL.ACC amaze.2SG and maesˇ prosto! divert.2SG simply ‘Learned world! Devilish world! [People are everywhere]. They have started to climb to the stars like goats, and they descend to hunt for crabs as far as the bottom of the sea, simply unbelievable!’ (Cˇudomir, Alaminut)

38. The Bulgarian Academy grammar offers a classification of nominative sentences with many examples and a stylistic characterization (GSBKE 3: 96–99). A comparison between English and Bulgarian nominative sentences with examples is provided by Zˇana Molxova (1970: 76–77). A semantic analysis of 1U and 1M1 nominals functioning as nominative sentences was made by Sˇamraj 1989: 57–60. Non-specifics in nominative sentences have also been discussed by others, see Stankov 1995: 114 with further bibliography.

Content

67

Since the general rules of the semantic level would apply to such sentences, I will not treat them here separately. (C) Bulgarian address forms of masculine and feminine singulars have special markers (the so-called vocative case), which continue to be widely used today (GSBKE 3: 259–261) and are well represented in the damaskin literature, as (186) shows: (186) I recˇ[e] mu zˇenata mu, gde s˘ı and said.3SG him.DAT wife.THE him.DAT where are.3PL deˇcata nasˇi g[o]sp[o]dine. i toi ei children.THE our.PL mister.VOC and he her.DAT recˇ[e], su˘sl˘ızi dzveˇrïe izeˇdoxa gy o said.3SG with-tears beasts devour.3PL them.ACC oh zˇeno moa wife.VOC my.FEM ‘And his wife told him, “Where are our children, sir?” And he told her with tears, “Beasts devoured them, my [dear] wife.”’ (Demina 1971: 78) Adjectives that accompany masculine address forms appear in the so-called long form (LF), which is nowadays rarely used in Bulgarian outside set 39 phrases and toponyms. See, for example, 4U in (187) and 5U in (188): (187) mili tatko dear.MASC.LF dad ‘Dear Dad’ (188) carju cˇestiti emperor.VOC happy.MASC.LF ‘Your Majesty’39 Such usage is common in the damaskin literature – see (189) and (190) – where it occurs against a background of a much broader distribution of LF. I return to LF in section 5.5. In the damaskins there also is a deviation from the familiar usage, consisting of the attachment of a noun-type vocative ending to a masculine adjective, which is illustrated here in (191).40 39. This address formula, frequently used in fairy tales, is attested in the togiva section of the Tixonravov damaskin as well (Demina 1971: 317). 40. Other examples are available in the togiva section of the Tixonravov and the Svisˇtov damaskins (Demina 1971: 312; Mileticˇ 1923: 283). Since this linguistic form

68

Definiteness: expression and content

(189) prosti mi tova zlo sˇto ti forgive.2SG.IMPER me.DAT this.NEUT evil that you.DAT sm˘ı storil˘ı, b[o]zˇii cˇl[ove]cˇe am do.PART godly.MASC.LF person.VOC ‘Forgive me the evil that I did to you, godly man.’ (Demina 1971: 55) (190) ne mi e vu˘zmozˇno o[t]cˇe s[ve]ty not me.DAT is possible.ADV father.VOC holy.MASC.LF da si ostavle˛ zˇenu˘ta da bude inokynja, to REFL.DAT leave.3SG wife.THE to be nun zasˇto e ednak˘ı mlada because is still young.FEM ‘I cannot, holy Father, allow my wife to be a nun because she is still young.’ (Demina 1971: 137) (191) evlaviju zloumne. zasˇto uze mito Eulavius.VOC evil-minded.VOC why took.2SG bribe ‘Evil-minded Eulavius, why did you take a bribe?’ (Demina 1971: 175) Neuters and plurals functioning as address forms are represented today by nominals of the U series. The same is true of the damaskins, as the following selection of nominals demonstrates. (192) o cˇedo sˇto me taka mlogo izpytuvasˇ˘ı oh child why me.ACC so much question.2SG ‘Oh [my] child, why are you questioning me so much?’ (Demina 1971: 53) (193) Ami i vye zˇeny, cˇjujte kak˘ı izlazi ot and as well you women listen how comes-out from dobro dr˘ıvo dobr˘ı plod˘ı good.NEUT tree good.MASC fruit ‘And you too, women, listen how good fruit is produced by a good tree.’ (Demina 1971: 142)

must have been carried over from the archaic original – cf. in the parallel archaic versions of (191) avlavïe| vreˇzˇdennoumne in Ilievski 1972, 2: 558 and avlavïe| vreˇdoumne BAN, 24.4.32: 294v – it can hardly count as a straightforward characteristic of early Modern Bulgarian. At the same time, it attests to some confusion regarding the formal differences between nouns and adjectives.

Content

69

(194) Cˇjujte vye sˇto ste su˘brani sega na listen.2PL.IMPER you that are.2PL gathered now on t˘ızi trapeza maly i veliky this.FEM table small.PL and great.PL ‘Listen you, young and old, who have gathered now around this table.’ (Demina 1971: 90) Marked nominals of type 1M1, 2M1 and 7M are not used in the damaskins as address forms, even though the standard and the colloquial language employ them so (GSBKE 2: 175; 3: 260; Kostov 1976: 306–310 with further bibliography), as the following examples demonstrate: (195) Vicˇko, stani, cˇe sˇte xodim v grada. Vicˇko get-up.2SG.IMPER because will go.1PL to city.THE Xajde, momcˇeto mi, pocˇva da se come-on boy.THE me.DAT begins to REFL.ACC su˘mva. dawn.3SG ‘Vicˇko get up, we are going to the city. Come on, my boy, it has started to dawn.’ (Mladenov-Archive: V. Atanasov, S trevogi i smjax prez zˇivota. Septemvri 1974, 4: 72) (196) Stotici xiljadi bu˘lgari, zastanali kraj hundreds thousands Bulgarians standing.PL beside televizorite i radioaparatite, sˇte bu˘dat s tjax, TV-sets.THE and radio-sets.THE will be.3PL with them s nasˇeto obsˇto: “Xajde, nasˇ’te!” with our.NEUT.THE common.NEUT come-on ours.THE ‘Hundreds of thousands of Bulgarians standing beside the TV and radio sets will be with them with our common [cry of support]: “Go our [team]!”’ (Mladenov-Archive: Newspaper Narodna mladezˇ, 19.04.1968) In the damaskins the address form is represented systematically by nominals of the unmarked series, which for some categories of nouns are accompanied by special endings as well as LF, a situation that is far from unusual cross-linguistically (Lyons 1999: 152–153). And finally, nominals of type 5 as in (186), (188), (190) and (191) are better represented in this syntactic slot than elsewhere.

70

Definiteness: expression and content

(D) A contrast between masculine and non-masculine nouns surfaces in the so-called full form of the definite article that must be chosen when a definite masculine nominal performs the function of subject or nominal predicate in a sentence, as in (197). (197) Avtobusu˘t pravi vru˘zka s nosˇtnija vlak bus.THE makes connection with night.ADJ.MASC.THE train cˇak sutrinta i po pricˇina na toploto only morning.THE and after cause of warm.NEUT.THE i xubavo vreme pu˘tnicite ne ostanali na and nice.NEUT weather travelers.THE not stayed.PL on zˇelezopu˘tnata spirka da cˇakat avtobusa, a railway.ADJ.FEM.THE stop to wait.3PL bus.THE but tru˘gnali pesˇa za seloto. left.PL on-foot for village.THE ‘The bus does not make a connection with the night train until the morning, and because of the warm and pleasant weather, the travellers did not stay at the train stop to wait for the bus but left on foot for the village.’ (Radicˇkov 1980: 92) The full form avtobusu˘t ‘the bus’ is employed because the nominal is the subject of the sentence and the short form avtobusa ‘the bus’ because it is an object. Despite isolated opinions to the contrary (Mayer 1984; Mayer 1992), I side with the vast majority of scholars who consider this an artificial distinction of the written standard norm, which has no basis in speech in any of the varieties of the Bulgarian language. Bulgarian children learn in school (some better than others) how to choose the correct form of the article for masculine nouns. The rule is not enforced in speech. It is not followed in the Tixonravov damaskin either (Demina 1985: 247–248). For a comprehensive analysis of the use of full- and short-form articles in the standard language since the nineteenth century see Stojkov 1949–1950. The treatment of Bog ‘God’ in the damaskin literature throws light on the genesis of this peculiarity of the Standard Bulgarian norm, proving once again that there is continuity between the language of the damaskin litrature and the later standard language. Singular bog˘ı in the Tixonravov damaskin is never used with the definite article. Probably because of the symbolic importance of the word in the damaskin discourse universe, it appears more frequently than other words with relics of case endings such as bogu (dative) and especially boga (accusative).

Content

(198) ako si if

ot

b[og]a

nastaven˘ı,

71

b[og]˘ı da te

are.2SG by God.ACC admonished God

to

you.ACC

upazi safe-guard.3SG ‘If you have been admonished by God, let God take care of you.’ (Demina 1971: 54) (199) v˘ısxoteˇ b[og]˘ı da se rodi ot maika wished.3SG God to REFL.ACC bear.3SG by mother bez o[t]ca. da bude su˘vr˘ısˇen˘ı b[og]˘ı i without father.ACC to be perfect.MASC God and su˘vr˘ısˇen˘ı cˇl[ove]k˘ı perfect.MASC person ‘God wished to be given birth by a mother without a father, to be a perfect God and a perfect human being.’ (Demina 1971: 59) (200) placˇe i m[o]li se b[og]u, da mu dade cries and asks REFL.ACC God.DAT to him.DAT give.3SG b[og]˘ı cˇedo God child ‘He weeps and prays to God to give him a child.’ (Demina 1971: 60) (201) ami g[ospod]˘ı b[og]˘ı koga sˇte da iskusi cˇl[ove]ka but lord God when wants to tempts person.ACC da go opita kak˘ı ljuby b[og]a i kak˘ı ima to him.ACC tries how loves God.ACC and how has tr˘ıpeˇnïe, ta mu dade b[og]˘ı zlo i napast˘ı. patience so-that him.DAT gives God evil and ordeal kato bogatymu iovu like rich.DAT Job.DAT ‘But when the Lord wishes to tempt a person in order to test whether he loves God and has patience, he sends him evil and ordeal as to the wealthy Job.’ (Demina 1971: 69)

72

Definiteness: expression and content

The opposition bog˘ı (nominative) and boga (accusative), however, can be reinterpreted according to the more recent analytic Bulgarian norms as Bog (1U) vs. Boga (1M1). There is evidence that supports the conjecture that it was in fact so reinterpreted. The noun bog in Bulgarian is used with a definite article in non-Christian contexts as in (202) and (203). This usage is known to the damaskin as well as shown by (204). (202) starogru˘ckite bogove old-Greek.PL.THE gods ‘the ancient Greek gods’ (203) bogu˘t na vojnata Mars god.THE of war.THE Mars ‘Mars, the god of war’ (204) taku˘vzi li se pokaza this-kind-of.MASC INTERROG REFL.ACC showed.3SG preˇd velikyte bogove i preˇd mene in-front-of great.PL.THE gods and in-front-of me.ACC ‘Is that how you showed yourself to the great gods and to me?’ (Demina 1971: 102) Otherwise, as a subject and predicate, it never has article whereas as object it features the short form of the definite article. In Standard Bulgarian sentences (198)–(201) sound as follows: (205) Ako si ot Boga nastaven, Bog da te if are.2SG by God.THE admonished God to you.ACC opazi safe-guard.3SG (206) Pozˇela Bog da se rodi ot majka wished.3SG God to REFL.ACC bear.3SG by mother bez basˇta [i] da bu˘de su˘vu˘rsˇen Bog i without father.ACC and to be perfect.MASC God and su˘vu˘rsˇen cˇovek perfect.MASC person (207) Placˇe i moli se na Boga da mu cries and asks REFL.ACC to God to him.DAT dade Bog cˇedo give.3SG God child

Content

73

(208) Ami Gospod Bog kogato iska da izkusi cˇoveka but Lord God when wants to tempts person.THE da go proveri dali obicˇa Boga i dali to him.ACC tries if loves God.THE and if ima tu˘rpenie, dava mu zlo i napast kato na has patience gives him.DAT evil and ordeal like to bogatija Iov rich.MASC.THE Job In other words, the distribution of morphemes from the damaskin literature has been preserved: Ø [subject and predicate] vs. –a [object and adverbial]. There only is a difference between damaskin and current usage when Bog is accompanied by an adjective: the damaskin uses 4U or 5U nominals, whereas Standard Bulgarian opts for 4M1-1 or, rarely, 5M1. The damaskin accusative form b[og]a moego in (209) would be rendered in Standard Bulgarian as moja Bog ‘my God (short form)’ and the nominative b[og]˘ı moj as mojat Bog ‘my God (full form)’. (209) preˇbudeˇte vye tuka u t˘ızi nosˇt˘ı. remain.2PL.IMPER you.2PL here in this.FEM night i az˘ı da popitam b[og]a moego preˇz and I to ask.1SG God.ACC my.MASC.ACC during t˘ızi nosˇt˘ı. i ako me pusti b[og]˘ı moj poj this.FEM night and if me.ACC lets God my go.INF sˇtem˘ı su˘s vas shall.1SG with you.ACC ‘Stay with me here this night and I shall ask my God this night and if my God lets me, I shall go with you.’ (Demina 1971: 121) The contrast between Bog and other masculine nouns that take the definite article is the following: Table 17. Syntactic distribution of Ø, the short and the full forms of the article among definite masculine nouns

Bog Other masculines

Subject and Predicate

Object and Adverbial

Ø Full form of the article

Short form of the article Short form of the article

74

Definiteness: expression and content

The unmistakeable family resemblance of these patterns (article vs. no article on one hand and short-form article vs. full-form article on the other), divergent from any patterns for other lexical classes, clearly points to an explanation for the situation with masculines in Standard Bulgarian at the intersection of two grammatical categories: ‘case’ and ‘definiteness’.41 Another deviation from the norms governing the use of the article in the nominal of type 3 Gospod Bog ‘Lord God’ comes to support the view that what looks like a marked nominal today is in fact the accusative case. Contrary to usage with other nouns, in the position of object both parts get an ending –a, which makes perfect sense if this is a case form: (210) Tozi dar mu e ot Gospoda Boga. this.MASC gift him.DAT is from Lord.THE God.THE ‘He has this gift from the Lord God.’ The same nominal is attested in the damaskin where it clearly is a case form: (211) sicˇka mysl˘ı beˇsˇe i i nadezˇda na g[ospod]a all.FEM thought was her.DAT and hope on Lord.ACC b[og]a God.ACC ‘All her thought and hope was [placed] on Lord God.’ (Demina 1971: 94) The unusual (in its dependence on syntactic role) distribution of the definite article with Bog in Standard Bulgarian emphasizes the continuity between the damaskin tradition and the current standard language. Authors such as Ivan Momcˇilov (1818–1869) in his 1868 Gramatika za novobu˘lgarskija ezik ‘Grammar for the Modern Bulgarian Language’, who were among the first to impose the opposition of full- and short-form articles in the written

41. The similarity of case endings and article has been noticed before. L. Mileticˇ justifies aberrant forms like zˇivotat ‘the life’ in the Svisˇtov damaskin where the article –ot represents the norm (for instance, zˇivotot ‘the life’, staricot ‘the old man’ etc.) with the influence of the accusative-genitive form zˇivota, definite zˇivotatogo or, alternatively, with the influence of other dialects assuming that their norm was represented in the protograph of the Svisˇtov damaskin (Mileticˇ 1923: 21–23). Trying to explain masculine singular forms such as pri og˘ınja ‘by the fire’ in a damaskin written in Mokresˇ (Region Lom) by the priest Puncˇo in 1796, Vladimir Sˇaur found equally plausible their alternative interpretations as case forms or articulated nouns (1970: 37).

Content

75

norm of Standard Bulgarian (Pu˘rvev 1975: 68), were no doubt well acquainted with the damaskin tradition, still operative at that time.42 The genitive-accusative case ending -a- of masculines blended with the definite article, which is homophonous with it in some Bulgarian dialects, and became the specialized short form of the definite article in the written norm of Standard Bulgarian. The distribution of definite articles -u˘t and -a (phonetically [$t] or [at] and [$] or [a]) in the Bulgarian dialects is displayed in BDA (1: 152–154; 2: 169–172; 3: 167–171; 4: 223–226). Definite article [$] has the broadest distribution, whereas the variants [$t], [at] and [a] are more narrowly localized. According to Bulgarian orthographic conventions, both [a] and [$] would appear as -a in writing. The case ending -a could have been reinterpreted as a special oblique-case article for masculines only in the area of distribution of [$t] or [at] article probably under the influence of the neighbouring dialects where [$] and [a] were the regular articles. This development must have been facilitated by the general feeling among speakers of Bulgarian that [$t] and [$] (or, alternatively, [at] and [a]) are essentially “the same thing”.43 In dialects with [$] or [a] articles, the equation of article with the case ending -a would not lead to a contrast dependent on syntactic slot. In the areas of distribution of articles [ot], [o], [ôt], [ô] or [ê] the case ending -a would feel more as the alien body it is and its identification with the article would be impeded. This limits the ground for this reinterpetation of the case ending to the Balkan, Rupa and Transitional dialects. Statistics presented in Table 18 give an idea of the numeric strength of the foci of identification of article and case ending in the damaskin and confirm the existence of a cumulative effect.

42. Ivan Momcˇ˘ılov’s intellectual indebtedness to the damaskin literature is no exception for this period. Early authors of the Bulgarian Revival such as Paisij Xilendarski (1722–1773), Sofronij, the Bishop of Vraca (1739–1813), Joakim Ku˘rcˇovski (ca. 1750–ca. 1820) and Kiril Pejcˇinovicˇ (ca. 1770–1845) are also firmly rooted in the damaskin tradition (Petkanova 1987: 235). 43. This feeling is based on fact, as the [$], [a], [ô] and [ê] articles in the area of single articulation are known to derive from earlier [$t], [at], [ôt] and [êt] (Kolev 1991).

76

Definiteness: expression and content

Table 18. Masculine singulars in -a liable to double interpretation Homily 3 Homily 8 Masculine singulars in the genitive-accusative (ending -a) Out of those: Number of masculine singulars that would get definite article -a according to current norm Percentage of the masculine singulars in -a liable to double interpretation

Total

38

14

52

9

10

19

23.68 %

71.43 %

36.54 %

There is another argument that can support the claim that at one point in the history of Bulgarian a reinterpretation of the former accusative case endings as definite articles took place. In the damaskin, the masculine definite article is of type [$t]. Its graphic representation was studied by Elena Sorokina (1993: 5–7). There is an instance in the Tixonravov damaskin, cited in (212), when the subject of a sentence was marked with -a: (212) ide stratilata ot vojsku comes chieftain.ACC from battle.ACC ‘The chieftain returns from battle.’ (Demina 1971: 79) The form stratilata appears to be an erroneous accusative of stratilat in the subject slot. It is a telltale error that of course shows that the scribe’s knowledge of the case system was dwindling. But there might have been another reason why the sentence sounded acceptable to the scribe (as it does to me): namely, the reinterpretation of the morpheme -a as a definite article. If stratilata is a 1M1 nominal, it has taken a shape characteristic of other regional varieties of Bulgarian than those codified in the damaskin. Another case-related peculiarity I found in the damaskin44 also has a logical explanation.

44. There are very few case errors in the damaskin that I can cite. They usually have an explanation of some kind. For instance, a third case error (Demina 1971: 280) could be explained with the instant distraction of the scribe who substituted a dative iosifu for the expected nominative and thus changed the meaning of a sentence: instead of Joseph said these words to Pilate, it states that [he] said these words to Joseph Pilate. So the sentence even with the erroneous case form on the surface continues to make sense.

Content

(213) I tïa devetteˇx and these nine.THE.ACC

cˇinove n[e]b[e]sny. ranks celestial.PL

77

na tri in three

cˇinove razdeˇljavat se po tri ranks divide.3PL REFL.ACC in three ‘And these nine celestial ranks are divided in three [groups] of three ranks each.’ (Demina 1971: 119). As shown on an unpublished map by Maxim Mladenov (reproduced in this book as Map 2), the Northeastern Bulgarian dialects have preserved the genitive-accusative quantifier form of the type pettjax as the only representative of 6M1, usable in all syntactic positions including the subject, as in (213). Although the scribe’s variety of Bulgarian obviously featured this form, regardless which of the alternative localizations of the damaskin language we take into account (Demina 1985: 260; Mladenova 2007), the contemporary configuration of the type pettjax remains to the east of it. The generalization of the former genitive form of the article makes sense with ‘five’ and bigger numbers because this was the case required by them not only in Old Bulgarian but also elsewhere in Slavia. The dependent nouns in 6M1 however are in their regular plural forms both in the damaskin and the Bulgarian dialects. Since Bulgarian does not preserve the old distinction of dual and plural forms, many Bulgarian dialects have expanded the type pettjax to include the numerals from two to four as well (Pasˇov 1974). Seen in context, these examples demonstrate that it is not acceptable to attribute case errors solely to scribe ignorance. In view of this, it is more plausible to assume that there was an association of sorts between the definite article and a case ending, which must have contributed to the appearance of the exotic rule in Standard Bulgarian that assigns special forms to the former nominatives of masculine nouns. (E) In comparison to nominals of types 1–10, 0 type nominals are noticeably more dependent on their syntactic slot. Thus, many of my generalizations about 0 type’s properties on the upper levels of the default inheritance model are liable to severe restrictions on the syntactic level. Here are some examples. Since only freestanding pronominal forms can appear in prepositional phrases, in this position the weak-strong contrast is neutralized.45 Other restrictions applying to pronominal clitics and thus narrowing the ground where weak and strong pronouns compete are listed in Nicolova

45. An apparent exception, the use of dative clitics with some prepositions (e.g. vu˘rxu mene and vu˘rxu mi ‘on me, on top of me’) will be discussed in section 3.8.1.

78

Definiteness: expression and content

1986: 48. This makes the syntactic slots of subject and object the most pertinent ones for distinguishing between the pragmatic and semantic patterns of 0 type. But 0U nominals that present themselves as verbal personal endings cannot perform anaphoric functions. This means that 0M1-1 nominals must take over the anaphoric function in the subject slot, which diminishes even further the possibility for pragmatic and semantic specialization of 0U and 0M1-1 nominals. Syntactic restrictions shape opportunities for specialization of 0 type markers inside the circumscribed area as well. We looked above into the pragmatic functions of communicative paradigms on the example of a sentence with a three-component SUBJECT – VERB – OBJECT structure. Other types of sentences however may have much more limited communicative paradigms, which would automatically imply different sets of functions for their members. For instance, sentences that feature experiencers in the dative or the accusative, have just three-member paradigms, see (214)-(216) for ‘She is sleepy’ and (217)-(219) for ‘He is afraid’. (214) Spi ì se. sleeps her.CL.DAT REFL.ACC (215) Na neja ì se spi. to her.ACC her.CL.DAT REFL.ACC sleeps (216) Spi ì se na neja. sleeps her.CL.DAT REFL.ACC to her.ACC (217) Strax go e. fear him.CL.ACC is (218) Nego go e strax. him.ACC him.CL.ACC is fear (219) Strax go e nego. fear him.CL.ACC. is him.ACC Sentences (214) and (217) are non-segmented, whereas the segmented (215)–(216) and (218)–(219) highlight the experiencer by clitic reduplication. We saw above that direct objects can be represented by clitics, long-form pronouns and clitic reduplication. The same is true of indirect objects but not of experiencers (Nicolova 1986: 52–53). Sentence (220) contextualizes the experiencer in the topic position and (221) – in the focus position.

Content

79

(220) Jana placˇe, ne zasˇtoto e bolna. Na neja Jana cries not because is ill.FEM to her.ACC ì se spi. her.CL.DAT REFL.ACC sleeps ‘Jana cries not because she is ill. She is sleepy.’ (221) Na neja ì se spi, a na to her.ACC her.CL.DAT REFL.ACC sleeps and to nego mu se gleda televizija. him.ACC him.CL.DAT REFL.ACC watches television ‘She is sleepy and he wants to watch TV.’ In Bulgarian dialects 0M1 nominals in this type of sentence are represented by hybrid nominals much more frequently than direct or indirect objects (Duridanov and Mladenov 1988: 109). They combine a 0M1-1 pronominal form in the nominative with a clitic in the dative or the accusative: (222) Tja ì se spi. she her.CL.DAT REFL.ACC sleeps (223) Toj go e strax. he him.CL.ACC is fear The fact that in this type of sentence the reduplication of clitics is not limited to the topic position raises all kinds of questions regarding the diachrony of clitic reduplication as well as the validity of the synchronic explanations that have been proposed. We will return to this issue in section 3.14. In conclusion, it should be emphasized that the fourth (syntactic) level of the default inheritance model of definiteness in Bulgarian needs consideration for at least four reasons. One is the link of the subtypes of the generic description to particular syntactic positions. The other is the unusually high sensitivity of type 0 nominals to syntactic function. The third one is of a diachronic nature. The expansion of the definite article, which is one of the visible indicators of the evolution of definiteness in Bulgarian, followed a logical path from one type of description to another. Inside categories, the definite article spread from one class of words to another and from one syntactic position to another. Paying attention to the lexical and morphological classes and syntax, one can construct a more detailed diachronic model. And finally, the syntactic level is important typologically because languages seem to differ in regard to the impact exercised by syntactic constraint on the marking of definiteness.

80

2.3.

Definiteness: expression and content

At the interface of expression and content

A further issue that requires attention concerns the relationship between expression and content of the category definiteness. It was pointed out that a variety of nominal types express the complex of meanings known as ‘definiteness’. What is the relation between particular types of nominals and the content they render? General semiotic considerations suggest that signs may display two kinds of relation between expression and content: (a) a one-to-one relation where an expression is unambiguously connected with a given content; and (b) a conventional or arbitrary relation between expression and content. The former type of relation lies at the heart of iconic and indexical signs, the latter determines the essence of metaphorical and metonymic ones.46 Applied to the problem at hand, the question can be rephrased as follows: can nominal types be divided in two broad groups – universal vs. specialized signs of definiteness, corresponding to conventional and one-to-one signs, respectively? Since the answer is yes, as we have already seen in connection with nominals of type 0, it is interesting to verify whether one group preceded the other in the diachronic process of article-acquisition. Certain nominals such as 1U and 1M1 are able to serve as universal expressions of (in)definiteness. Others, like 2M1 and 10M, are always specialized. Yet others such as 3M, 4M1-1, 5M1, 8M and 9M can have readings, in which the explicit reason for the presence of the definite article is provided by a component of the same nominal linked to the head noun through agreement, adjunction or subordination. The corresponding unmarked nominals 3U, 4U, 5U, 8U and 9U display a different connection between nominal elements. The two readings will be referred to as appositive (or non-restrictive, allowing for a universal use) and restrictive (allowing for a specialized use). They can be represented schematically as in Figure 1. The circle represents the set of entities denoted by the head noun. The filled area signifies those of them for which the adjective (types 4 and 5), subordinate prepositional phrase (type 8), subordinate clause (type 9) or adjoined noun (type 3) is true. As the schema shows, this area can either coincide with the relevant set of entities or mark out a subset in it. In order to distinguish between appositive and restrictive readings, I will propose a simple test. If one can replace a nominal with its 1M counterpart without provoking a breakdown of communication, one has to do with a nominal with an appositive 46. I am leaning here on Edmund Leach’s classification of semiotic signs (Leach 1976: 9–16) and on Jurij Lotman and Boris Uspensky’s semiotic typology of cultures (Lotman and Uspensky 1978: 217).

At the interface of expression and content

81

Figure 1. Appositive vs. restrictive reading of a nominal’s dependent element

reading. Such a replacement is possible because a nominal with an appositive reading has the same denotation as its respective 1M counterpart. Conversely, a nominal with a restrictive reading should not be interchangeable with the corresponding 1M nominal because they have different denotations. Here are some examples of marked nominals with appositive and restrictive readings: 3M appositive (type 3M2): (224) Ivancˇo Jotata Ivancˇo iota-THE

neusetno inconspicuously

se REFL.ACC

namesti settled.3SG

mezˇdu govoresˇtite. between talkers.THE ‘Ivancˇo the Iota inconspicuously settled himself between the speakers.’ (Vazov, Chapter 12) 3M restrictive (type 3M1-1): (225) Reka Dunav izvira ot planinata river Danube spring-forth.3SG from mountain.THE Sˇvarcvald. Schwarzwald ‘The Danube River springs forth from the Schwarzwald Mountain.’ (GSBKE 2: 145)

82

Definiteness: expression and content

3M appositive (type 3M1-2): (226) Govorixme za prekrasnija grad Rim i talked.1PL about splendid.THE city Rome and negovata istorija. his.FEM.THE history ‘We talked about the splendid city of Rome and its history.’ 4M1-1 appositive: (227) Radistu˘t Racˇo zjapasˇe ostrovu˘rxata radio-operator.THE Racˇo was-staring.3SG gabled.FEM.THE kambanarija na cu˘rkvata Sejnt Dzˇordzˇ i belfry of church.THE St. George and pafkasˇe cigara sled cigara. was-smoking.3SG cigarette after cigarette ‘The radio operator Racˇo was staring at the gabled belfry of the St. George church and chainsmoking.’ (Popov 2001: 140) 4M1-1 restrictive: (228) Ti, dragi cˇitatelju, navjarno si vizˇdal you dear.MASC reader.VOC surely are.2SG seen.MASC pone vednu˘zˇ v zˇivota si njakoj ot at-least once in life.THE REFL.DAT some.MASC of onija slameni xora, koito novobrancite musˇkat those straw.ADJ.PL people who.PL recruits.THE jab.3PL s nozˇovete na pusˇkite, za da izucˇat with knives.THE on guns.THE for to learn.3PL voennoto izkustvo. military.NEUT.THE art ‘You, dear reader, have surely seen at least once in your life some of those straw people, whom recruits jab with their bayonets in order to learn the art of war.’ (Minkov, Slamenijat feldfebel)

At the interface of expression and content

83

8M appositive (type 8M1-1): (229) Toj se pojavjavasˇe vsjaka privecˇer, he REFL.ACC appeared.3SG every.FEM early-evening malko predi. da zaleze slu˘nceto, sred xrastite ot a-little before to set.3SG sun.THE among bushes.THE of carigradski lesˇnik, bezkrajno ljubopiten i Istanbul.ADJ.MASC hazelnut endlessly curious.MASC and vinagi nasˇtrek. always alert ‘He appeared every evening, just before the sunset, among the filbert bushes, endlessly curious and always on the alert.’ (Radicˇkov 1980: 5) 8M restrictive (type 8M2-1): (230) Dumite na Georgi bjaxa tolkova tixi, ta words.THE of Georgi were.3PL so quiet.PL that edva li mozˇesˇe da gi cˇue njakoj barely INTERROG could.3SG to them hear.3SG somebody osven nas – zatova leko se stresnaxme, besides us that-is-why slightly REFL.ACC startled.1PL kogato sled izvestno vreme osu˘znaxme, cˇe when after known.NEUT time realized.1PL that poslednata replika be kazana ot mu˘zˇa na last.FEM.THE utterance was.3SG said.FEM by man.THE on su˘sednata masa. neighbouring.THE table ‘Georgi’s words were so quiet that it was unlikely anyone but us could hear them; that is why we were startled a bit when after some time we realized that the last retort was said by the man at the neighbouring table.’ (Igov)

84

Definiteness: expression and content

8M restrictive (type 8M1-1): (231) Pu˘tjat ku˘m ku˘sˇtata na prijatel nikoga ne e journey.THE to house.THE of friend never not is du˘lu˘g. long.MASC ‘The journey to the house of a friend is never long.’ (alleged Danish proverb – misli.start.bg) 9M appositive: (232) Ne go zabeljazva dori i dezˇurnijat po rota, not him notices even and man-on-duty.THE by company kojto sled neocˇakvanata proverka na who.MASC after unexpected.FEM.THE inspection of prizraka- feldfebel be sednal zaedno s ghost.THE sergeant was.3SG seated.MASC together with edin ot cˇasovite v edno zatuleno one.MASC of sentries.THE in one.NEUT hidden.NEUT ku˘tcˇe i igraesˇe s nego na dama. corner and was-playing.3SG with him on checkers ‘He is not noticed even by the company’s man on duty who, after the unexpected inspection by the ghost sergeant, was seated together with one of the sentries in a quiet corner playing checkers.’ (Minkov, Slamenijat feldfebel) 9M restrictive: (233) Eto vi receptata. Sku˘po here.PARTICLE you.2PL.DAT prescription.THE expensive.NEUT e i rjadko se kupuva. Zatova malko is and rarely REFL.ACC buys that-is-why few apteki go razprostranjavat. Eto na farmacies it.ACC distribute.3PL here.PARTICLE on gu˘rba su˘m vi napisala adresa, na back.THE am you.2PL.DAT written.FEM address.THE on

At the interface of expression and content

85

kojto sˇte go namerite. which.MASC will it.ACC find.2PL ‘Here is your prescription. It’s expensive and people rarely buy it. That is why few pharmacies hold it. Here on the back I have written the address, at which you will find it.’ (Iliev, Chapter 2) Table 19 provides the 1M1 counterparts of the nominals marked in bold in (224)–(233). The information lost by simplifying nominals with appositive reading does not preclude the hearer from identifying the referent in context, whereas the same operation on nominals with restrictive reading will necessarily provoke questions eliciting the extra information necessary for identification of the referent. Table 19. Comparison between nominals with appositive and restrictive readings Nominals with an appositive reading

1M1 counterpart

Nominals with a restrictive reading

1M1 counterpart

(224) Ivancˇo Jotata

Ivancˇo

(225) planinata Sˇvarcvald

planinata

(226) prekrasnija grad Rim Rim

(228) voennoto izkustvo

izkustvoto

(227) ostrovu˘rxata kambanarija

kambanarijata

(230) mu˘zˇa na su˘sednata masa

mu˘zˇa

(229) xrastite ot carigradski lesˇnik

xrastite

(231) ku˘sˇtata na prijatel ku˘sˇtata

(232) dezˇurnijat po rota, kojto sled neocˇakvanata proverka na prizraka-feldfebel be sednal zaedno s edin ot cˇasovite v edno zatuleno ku˘tcˇe i igraesˇe s nego na dama.

dezˇurnijat po rota

(233) adresa, na kojto sˇte go namerite

adresa

The existence of a formal contrast between appositive and restrictive readings should be noted regarding types 0, 3 and 8: types 3M2 and 3M1-2 are reserved for appositives whereas 3M1-1 and 8M2-1 indicate a restrictive reading. In type 0, third-person heads distinguish between appositive and restrictive readings by contrasting personal and demonstrative pronouns; see, for instance, the appositive 0M1-8 in (104) and the restrictive 0M5-7 in (102). Types 8M1, 4M, 5M and 9M have the potential to express either reading as

86

Definiteness: expression and content

needed. We have seen that there is no difference of principle between sets represented by single nouns (of type 1) and nominals of type 3, 4, 5, 8 and 9 with an appositive reading of the element that modifies the head noun. The expectation, therefore, is that these categories will have similar values at any given period of the evolution of language. Nominals with a restrictive reading are, on the other hand, unambiguously definite for reasons made clear with lexical means. This can provoke two alternative evolutions: on the one hand, they can remain longer without a formal marker of definiteness, on the other, their obviously definite character can make them lead the way to innovation and be among the first types to acquire a definite article. We shall look into their actual behaviour in section 3.3. The opposition of marked and unmarked nominals serves to disambiguate the reading of a specific description. Such descriptions in languages that have no definite article are consistently ambiguous outside context. Bulgarian data show that ambiguity continues to characterize even languages with a definite article but its scope is narrowed down to non-specific and generic descriptions. Categories generic vs. specific vs. non-specific are summarized in Table 20: Table 20. Reading and description Generic (quantitative) Specific

Non-specific

Restrictive reading Nominal of type M

Nominal of type M Nominal of type U

Appositive reading Nominal of type M

Nominal of type U Nominal of type U

Restrictive reading of generic nominals: (234) Bogatite datcˇani sa dobre obrazovani, Wealthy.PL.THE Danes are well educated.PL a bednite ne sa. whereas poor.PL.THE not are.3PL ‘The wealthy Danes are well-educated, but the poor are not.’ Appositive reading of generic nominals: (235) Mezˇdu ikonomicˇeskoto polozˇenie na edin between economic.NEUT.THE situation of one.MASC narod i negovata obrazovanost ima prjaka nation and his.FEM.THE level-of-education there-is direct zavisimost. Bogatite datcˇani, naprimer, sa correspondence wealthy.PL.THE Danes for-example are.3PL

At the interface of expression and content

87

dobre obrazovani. well educated.PL ‘There is a direct correspondence between the economic situation of a nation and its level of education. The wealthy Danes, for example, are well-educated.’47 4748

Restrictive reading of specifics: (236) Vsicˇki gosti ocˇakvaxa s netu˘rpenie da vidjat all.PL guests expected.3PL with impatience to see.3PL koja ot svoite razkosˇni rokli which.FEM of own.PL.THE luxurious.PL dresses domakinjata e resˇila da oblecˇe. Vratata hostess.THE is decided.FEM to put-on.3SG door.THE se otvori i tja vleze. Tja besˇe REFL.ACC opened.3SG and she came-in.3SG she was.3SG oblecˇena v bjalata roklja. dressed.FEM in white.FEM.THE dress ‘All the guests impatiently waited to see which of her luxurious dresses the hostess had decided to put on. The door opened and she entered. She was dressed in the white dress.’ Appositive reading of specifics: (237) Zabeljaza li kak besˇe oblecˇena noticed.2SG INTERROG how was.3SG dressed.FEM aktrisata? Tja besˇe oblecˇena v bjala roklja. Actress.THE she was.3SG dressed.FEM in white.FEM dress ‘Did you notice how the actress was dressed? She was dressed in a white dress.’48

47. Examples (234) and (235) as well as the focus on restrictive and appositive readings were inspired by the treatment in Hawkins (1978: 282–289). For an explanation of the effects of modification of reference in a set-theoretical framework, cf. Chesterman 1991: 80–83. 48. Russian would translate (236) and (237) identically: (11) Ona byla v belom plat’e. she was.FEM in white.NEUT.LOC dress.LOC

88

Definiteness: expression and content

Restrictive reading of non-specifics: (238) Toj jade vseki den na zakuska topla banica. he eats every.MASC day on breakfast hot.FEM pastry Ako banicata se slucˇi studena, toj predpocˇita if patry.THE REFL.ACC happens cold.FEM he prefers da ne zakusva. to not eats-breakfast ‘Every day he eats hot pastry for breakfast. If the pastry happens to be cold, he prefers to not eat breakfast.’ Appositive reading of non-specifics: (239) Neka da ne se cˇudim, cˇe toj e tolkova let to not REFL.ACC marvel.2PL that he is so debel. Toj jade vseki den na zakuska topla fat.MASC he eats every.MASC day on breakfast hot.FEM banica. pastry ‘No wonder he is so fat. Every day he eats hot pastry for breakfast.’ As a manifestation of the same tendency, possessives consistently keep restrictive and appositive readings apart. The short-form possessives (nominals of type 2) have specialized to be used in restrictive contexts, whereas the emphatic long-form possessives can be employed both ways. In this regard, Bulgarian takes a different path from the West European languages, in which the definite article is not used in conjunction with possessives. The difference has been captured in Lyons’ terminology as the opposition between AG (adjectival-genitive) and DG (determiner-genitive) languages, respectively, and attributed to the different structural position occupied by the possessive (1999: 24, 130–134). The path taken by AG and DG languages may be different but the outcome is the same: restrictive and appositive readings of the respective nominals differ formally as well as semantically. Here are the options that Bulgarian offers: Restrictive reading 2M1: (240) Bungalata ni se namiraxa pocˇti na bungalows.THE us.DAT REFL.ACC found.3PL almost on pu˘tja. road.THE ‘Our bungalows were almost on the road.’ (Igov)

At the interface of expression and content

89

Restrictive reading 4M1-1: (241) Az ostanax nezasegnat ot vasˇija I remained.1SG unaffected.MASC by your.2PL.MASC.THE pisatelski sadizu˘m i za tova trjavbva samo da writer.ADJ.MASC sadism and for this must only to vi blagodarja. you.2PL. DAT thank1SG ‘I remained unaffected by your sadism as a writer and for that I can only be grateful to you.’ (Minkov, Kakvo mozˇe da se slucˇi nosˇtem) Appositive reading 4U: (242) Tu˘j naprimer negovo otkritie besˇe eliksiru˘t za thus for-example his discovery was.3SG elixir.THE for impregnirane na kozˇata protiv belezi ot strastni impregnation of skin.THE against marks of passionate.PL celuvki !…" kisses ‘Thus, for example, the elixir for the impregnation of the skin against marks of passionate kisses was a discovery of his.’ (Minkov, Damata s rentgenovite ocˇi) Of great interest for our purposes here are the restrictive readings of specifics, in which the definite article performs as a specialized (one-to-one) linguistic sign. The question that awaits an answer is whether the damaskin displays this use of the definite article with nominals of type 2, 3, 4, 5, 8 and 9. This issue will be addressed in section 3.3 in greater detail when I turn to the attributive function of the definite article. Needless to say, the possibility that a given nominal be definite for more than one reason applies to the attributive function of the article as well. Above we considered the co-occurrence of anaphoric and exophoric definiteness. From now on we shall also consider the possibility that exophoric and attributive definiteness co-occur. Problematic from a logical point of view is the cooccurrence of anaphoric and attributive definiteness unless the first-mention nominal is already endowed with attributive definiteness, which carries over to the next (anaphoric) occurrences. In view of the contrast between specialized and universal signs of definiteness, double marking in the damaskin, the Bulgarian vernacular and some dialects discussed in section 2.1 comes through as a preference for the

90

Definiteness: expression and content

specialized signs of definiteness. Elena Sorokina directly attributes double marking in the Tixonravov damaskin to the expression of anaphoric and specific quantitative definiteness by separate markers inside the same nominal (Sorokina 1993: 14). Although I disagree with some aspects of her analysis as well as with the interpretation of the examples cited to prove her point, I consider the proposal worth serious attention. Examples (131), (132) and (133) of double marking cannot be associated with the presence of two raisons d’être of markedness but the damaskin contains others in which double marking coincides with a double function: Anaphoric + attributive (243) I c[a]r˘ı pocˇe da mu kazuva su˘n˘ı cˇto and emperor began.3SG to him.DAT tells dream that e videˇl˘ı. i recˇ[e] mu evlavïe. taka is seen.MASC and said.3SG him.DAT Eulavius so mnogoleˇtnyi c[a]ru. i az˘ı taku˘vzi su˘n˘ı perennial.MASC emperor and I such.MASC dream videˇx. i ne mogu da razumeˇju cˇto sˇtu˘t˘ı saw.1SG and not can.1SG to understand.1SG what will.3PL da bu˘d˘ıt˘ı tïa nasˇite su˘nïe to be.3PL these ours.THE dreams ‘And the emperor started to tell him the dream he had seen and Eulavius said to him, “So, your perennial Majesty, I too saw such a dream and I cannot understand what these dreams of ours forebode.”’ (Demina 1971: 175) Anaphoric + definite quantitative (244) i poide ioav˘ı i preˇcˇete evreete cˇto and went.3SG Joab and counted.3SG Jews.THE that beˇxu t˘ıkmo v˘ı ier[u]s[a]lim˘ı !…" i osta mnogo were.3PL just in Jerusalem and remained.3SG a-lot meˇsto i ljudïe necˇ˘ıteny. zasˇto tova poveleˇnïe place and people uncounted.PL because this.NEUT order zlo se javi preˇd b[og]a. evil.NEUT REFL.ACC appeared.3sg in-front-of God.ACC cˇ˘ıtenïite ljudïe i na tïa Napade mor˘ı attacked.3SG pestilence on these counted.PL people and

At the interface of expression and content

91

mnogo umiraaxu. a-lot died.3PL ‘And Joab went and counted just the Jews who were in Jerusalem. … And a large territory and many people remained uncounted because this order appeared evil to God. Pestilence fell upon those counted people and many died.’ (Demina 1971: 124) As emphatic double marking of definiteness in the Bulgarian vernacular is not an option equally available in all contexts, the hypothesis linking double marking with the need to supply each aspect of meaning with its own marker deserves further exploration although it is clear that it cannot explain all such instances. The correspondence between double marking and double function is especially plausible regarding proportional quantifiers expressed by nominals of type 1M11 (vsicˇkoto onova kiselo mljako) and 6M3 (onija pette jabu˘lki), as we shall see in section 3.6.2. Since there is consensus in the literature that clitics reduplicate nominals of the marked series, one can also view clitic reduplication as a kind of double marking (Ivancˇev 1978 [1974]: 176–177; Avgustinova 1998; Assenova 2002: 113–115).49 Here is an example that shows in context a topicalized nominal of type 8M5-1 with an anaphoric function, accompanied by clitic reduplication. (245) Toja ciganin, sˇtom ima majstorsko, sigurno this.MASC Gipsy since has master.ADJ.NEUT probably i novo umee da pravi, pomisli si also new.NEUT knows-how to makes thought REFL.DAT pravime, staro prepravjame, Zajako !…" “Novo Zajako new.NEUT make.1PL old.NEUT refurbish.1PL stiga da ima samo zˇelezo i vu˘glisˇta. Mu˘re, ja ako as-long-as to has only iron and coals Oh I if ima zˇelezo i vu˘glisˇta, i aeroplan sˇte napravja, ama has iron and coals also airplane will make1.SG but 49. This is not the case in the Novo-Selo dialect, which does not mark definiteness on nouns but employs clitic reduplication. Thus the only marker of definiteness on the topicalized nominal 1U in the following sentence appears to be the clitic reduplication (Mladenov 1969: 156–157): (12) Sèno ga doku˘ràmo jòsˇtu˘ icˇèr. hay it.CL.ACC brought.1PL already yesterday ‘We brought the hay in already yesterday’

92

Definiteness: expression and content

pusto da opustee, zˇelezo mnogo ne damned.NEUT to become-damned.3SG iron much not se namira.” Taja rabota za aeroplana REFL.ACC finds this.FEM thing about airplane.THE toj ja kaza i pred drugite opekuni. he her.CL.ACC said also in-front-of other.PL.THE trustees ‘Since this Gipsy has a master’s [certificate], he can probably also make new stuff, Zajako thought to himself … “We make new stuff and we repair old as long as there is iron and coal. Oh, if there is iron and coal, I can even make an airplane but, damn it, iron is in short supply.” He said this thing about the airplane in front of the other trustees as well.’ (Radicˇkov 1970: 107–108) If specialized markers of definiteness had consistently prevailed over universal markers in the history of Bulgarian, definiteness would have had an entirely different expression in Standard Bulgarian.50 As universal markers were and continue to be the rule, contexts in which a marker of definiteness has overlapping functions played a key role in the expansion of overt definiteness from one type of description to another.

50. An example how the preference for specialized markers of definiteness can shape the expression of this grammatical caterory is offered by Lakota, which has a separate anaphoric article different from the more general article used for nonanaphoric purposes (Lyons 1999: 53–54). Specialized markers of definiteness were also reported for the early history of the Romance definite articles (Selig 1992; Vincent 1997), a fact that is important from a balkanological perspective.

93

3.

The diachronic model of definiteness

So how did definiteness evolve in Bulgarian? I would like to propose now a model that connects the seventeenth-century damaskin language with contemporary Standard Bulgarian through a series of processes in a relative chronological relation to one another. The first three processes flesh out the category definiteness on the basis of identifiability. Processes 4 and 5 mark the expansion of the definite articles towards inclusiveness and their penetration into the generic area. Process 6 carries the expansion in the opposite direction: to unique referents. Processes 7 and 8 deal with phenomena of indefiniteness and particularly with the delimitation of indefinites from non-specifics as well as the presence of the markers of indefiniteness and non-specificity in the generic area. The final consequence of these last processes is the demarcation of typifying generiticy. Research in languages around the globe has revealed that change takes place in time not at a regular pace but in three stages that, when plotted on a graph, look like the letter S. The beginnings are faltering and take a long time to shape. Then the process speeds up and finally it slows down again, usually before achieving a full coverage of the affected phenomena (Aitchison 1991: 83–88, 98–100). It is useful to evaluate each of the processes that I shall investigate against this general background. For this purpose, I shall divide the S-curve into four phases: Phase I Phase II Phase III Phase IV

Slow beginnings Early stage of the quick expansion Late stage of the quick expansion Slow fading out

The boundary between Phase II and Phase III is a conventional one, which I shall fix for convenience at 50 % coverage of the relevant phenomena. It is not possible to assign values (in terms of time that has elapsed or percentage of the phenomena covered) to the boundaries between the other phases. In spite of this vagueness, the perspective gained by taking S-curves into account has far-reaching consequences. The slow phases differ from the quick ones not only temporally but also sociolinguistically. Phases II and III are characterized by “free” variation of the phenomenon undergoing change. Speakers involved in the process believe that there is no (significant) difference between the competing manifestations. As change progresses, this feeling gives way to the conviction that the new alternative is preferable. Conversely, in Phases I

94

The diachronic model of definiteness

and IV, speakers are not aware of any change happening. The rare deviations from the norm are either not noticed or treated as exceptions that need an explanation. Readers who feel that the perspective adopted here is much too schematic are referred to Orr 2003 for fascinating examples of historical change that follow sinuous paths. “[P]rocesses, forms, and categories go through periods of declining frequency and marginalisation, sometimes almost to the point of disappearance, followed by periods where such processes, forms and categories make a comeback, showing high degrees of productivity, and often used in slightly different functions than previously. Sometimes, however, such processes are interrupted, and can only be reconstructed from the traces that they leave, often seen as irregularities or archaisms” (Orr 2003: 271). By taking contemporary language as its starting point, the perspective on language change adopted here automatically favours the winners, those changes that came to fruition and are the ones responsible for shaping the current state of affairs. Only at a later stage can we turn to the false starts and explore the scenarios that could have been realized but were not. As to the processes that were first marginalized and then made a comeback with “slightly different functions than previously”, they certainly warrant their separate S-curves for each stage. Obvious candidates for research in this framework are the North Russian continuants of the Proto-Slavic demonstrative pronoun *t ч that seemed to head, especially around the seventeenth century, in the same direction as their Bulgarian counterparts (Iordanidi 1978).

3.1.

Process 1

As heir to the Proto-Slavic demonstrative pronoun *t ч, which had both deictic and anaphoric functions (ESSJ 2: 707–710), the Bulgarian definite article’s first uses had to match the environment in which a demonstrative determiner can be replaced by an article. Such is the anaphoric use with individuative referents. In the damaskin the anaphoric definite article appears in strong competition with toizi (toja) ‘this’/onzi (onja) ‘that’ m. – tazi ‘this’/onazi ‘that’ f. – tova ‘this’/onova ‘that’ n. – tija ‘these’/onija ‘those’.1 Since identification with the antecedent is facilitated in strict anaphoric contexts, the pressure to choose the more explicit form of identification provided

1. Demina provides an overview of all forms that occur in the damaskin (1985: 254–258).

Process 1

95

by demonstrative determiners must have been weaker in such cases.2 Strict anaphora is one of the playgrounds where demonstratives compete with the article in languages that have one at their disposal, as shown in a detailed contrastive study of Russian, Czech, Polish and German anaphoric demonstratives. Languages without article like Russian are shown to vacillate between demonstratives and zero in this position. The article’s chances of being used grow when the antecedent is a definite nominal (Golovacˇeva 1979: 191) because it is then required by the compounded impact of two separate factors. The damaskin offers examples of all three options: Ø – demonstrative determiner – definite article. The following five co-referential chains give an idea of the range of choices made in the damaskin. (246) i uze togazi motika, i kopa nadolu, 20, and took.3SG then mattock and dug.3PL down twenty lakte i naide kamik˘ı goleˇm plosk˘ı. i cubits and found.3PL stone big.MASC flat.MASC and izvadi kamik˘ı i videˇ, 3 kr[˘ı]stove extracted.3SG stone and saw.3SG three crosses ‘And then he took a mattock and dug twenty cubits down and he found a large flat stone and he took the stone out and saw three crosses.’ (Demina 1971: 67) (247) Poidoxa neˇkoi kaloere na s[ve]t[o]go o[t]ca went.3PL some.PL monks to holy.MASC.ACC father.ACC ammona, i klevetixa neˇkoego Ammon.ACC and smeared.3PL some.MASC.ACC drugygo, kako ima u kelïa svoa zˇena other.MASC.ACC how has in cell own.FEM woman kurva. i s[ve]tyi ammon˘ı razumeˇ cˇe e whore and saint.MASC Ammon understood.3SG that is istinna. i poide u onogova brata u truth and went.3SG to that.MASC.ACC brother.ACC to

2. Here again nominals with pronominal heads seem to be ahead of those with nouns in the head posisiton in the delineation of functions between 0M1-1 and 0M5-1 in strict anaphoric contexts as we saw in section 2.1.1.

96

The diachronic model of definiteness

kelïata mu i pozna gde beˇsˇe cell him.DAT and guessed.3SG where was.3SG su˘kryta zˇenata. i seˇdn˘ı otgoreˇ na nea. i hidden.FEM woman.THE and sat on-top of her.ACC and recˇe na onïa kaloere, idete po sicˇky kelïi said.3SG to those monks go.2PL.IMPER to all.PL cells isˇteˇte i naidete zˇenata i search.2PL.IMPER and find.2PL.IMPER woman.THE and doved[e]t[e] ju sam bring.2PL.IMPER her.ACC here ‘Some monks went to the holy Father Ammon and told on a fellowmonk that he had in his cell a woman whore and St. Ammon understood that it was true and he went to the cell of that brother and guessed where the woman was hidden and sat on top of her and said to those monks: “Go and search all the cells and find the woman and bring her here.”’ (Demina 1971: 63) (248) S[ve]sˇtennik˘ı neˇkoi su˘ ednogo priest some.MASC with one.MASC.ACC bl[a]gogovennogo dïakona ljubov˘ı imaxa dobr˘ı blessed.MASC.ACC deacon.ACC love had.3PL good.FEM mezˇdu sebeˇ si. i b[o]zˇ[e]stv[e]n˘ı zˇivot˘ı between self REFL.DAT and divine.MASC life beˇxa dobyle. i ne znam dïavol˘ı kak˘ı were.3PL acquired.PL and not know.1SG devil how gi osu˘toni i preˇl˘ısti ta se them.ACC harmed.3SG and lured.3SG so-that REFL.ACC omradzixa. i dr˘ızˇaxa si m˘ıst˘ı i vrazˇd˘ı hate.3PL and held.3PL REFL.DAT revenge and animosity se vu˘ edin˘ı drugyi. i slucˇi one.MASC other.MASC and happened.3SG REFL.ACC in on˘ızi vrazˇd˘ı, ta umreˇ onzi s[ve]sˇtennik˘ı. that.FEM animosity that died.3SG that.MASC priest

Process 1

97

i dïakon˘ıt˘ı osta skr˘ıben˘ı i and deacon.THE remained.3SG grieved.MASC and grizˇen˘ı. zasˇto dode by zˇiv˘ı worried.MASC because while was.3SG alive.MASC onzi s[ve]sˇtenik˘ı ta se ne prostixa that.MASC priest so-that REFL.ACC not forgave.3PL ‘A priest and a blessed deacon were fond of each other and had acquired grace. But I do not know how the devil harmed and lured them so that they started hating each other. And they were having revenge and animosity on each other. And in that animosity it happened that the priest died and the deacon remained grieved and worried because while the priest was alive they had not forgiven each other.’ (Demina 1971: 61) Four homilies (No.No. 2, 3, 4 and 5) were searched for anaphoras. Unique referents (defined broadly) were excluded because of their deviant behaviour, which will be the object of deliberation later. In a total of 38 anaphorical chains there were 11 inanimate referents and out of the remaining animate referents 22 were persons. Most of the referents were specific, concrete objects, the only exceptions being glas ‘voice’, bolest˘ı ‘disease’ and meˇsto ‘place’ as representatives of the more abstract vocabulary. The three options having a total numeric presence of 117 in these four homilies are shown in Table 21 in absolute numbers and percentages. Numerals of 0 type have not been included since the damaskin use shows no peculiarties in comparison with Standard Bulgarian. Table 21. Representation of anaphoric definites in the damaskin Ø Nom.

4

Oblique

4

Demonstrative determiner

Definite article

onzi ‘that’

toizi ‘this’

Nom.

Oblique

Nom.

Oblique

Nom.

Oblique

56

12

8

1

24

8

8 (out of 117)

77 (out of 117)

32 (out of 117)

6.84 %

65.81 %

27.35 %

All anaphoric expressions except for the few Ø ones are perceived as grammatically correct from a Standard Bulgarian perspective. This is, therefore, not the environment that accounts for the general feeling that there are fewer definite articles in the damaskins than needed. The statistics agree with the as-

98

The diachronic model of definiteness

sumption that anaphoric definiteness is the first to appear in a language when a definite article has just been introduced. This use of the demonstrative determiner tu˘ in the earliest attested stage of Bulgarian, as known from the classical Old Church Slavonic literary texts from the ninth to the eleventh century, was described by J. Kurz, who came to the conclusion that it did not provide grounds to concede the existence of a full-fledged definite article (Kurz 1937–1946). Reinterpreting his conclusions, A. Mincˇeva argues that lying at the intersection of the spheres of action of demonstrative determiners and definite articles, the anaphoric use of tu˘ yields to a twofold interpretation (Mincˇeva 1987: 43–44). We can conclude that Phase I of Process 1 took place in the period between the ninth and the eleventh century, in which there are no data for usage of the definite article other than anaphoric. We also know that it was around this time (prior to the tenth century) that definite nouns first emerged as phonetic words, a development linked to the transformation of the jers in a strong position (Gu˘lu˘bov 1962: 65–77). In order to generalize and stabilize in the anaphoric function, the definite article needed the reflected light of use in other environments. This happened later but prior to the seventeenth century: sometime around the twelfth century, if we are to take into account evidence uncovered by Kiril Mircˇev [1958] and Gunnar Svane that includes articles with other functions (Mircˇev 1978: 203–224; Svane 1961–1962). The situation that we witness in the damaskin matches Phase IV, when very few nominals remain out of the sphere of action of anaphoric marking that can be of two kinds: by means of a demonstrative determiner or a definite article. It is significant that anaphoric definites are present in the damaskins also in identity of sense cases; for instance, the anaphora can have a whole sentence as an antecedent: (249) az˘ı videˇx kato go plesna vinar˘ı sˇto I saw.1SG as him.ACC slapped.3SG cup-bearer that sluzˇi. i toi mu recˇ[e]. tazi tvoa serves and he him.DAT said.3SG this.FEM your.FEM desna ruka pse da ju donese, i mnogo right.FEM hand dog to her.ACC bring.3SG and many ljudïe da videt˘ı. i vidite kak mu se people to see.3PL and see.2PL how him.DAT REFL.ACC

Process 1

99

su˘by dumata toja cˇas realized.3SG word.THE this.MASC hour ‘I saw how the cup-bearer that serves slapped him and he said to him, “Let a dog bring this right hand of yours and let many people see [it]” and you see how his word came true right away.’ (Demina 1971: 90) (250) i mnogo mu duma da se and much him.DAT talked.3SG to REFL.ACC otrecˇe ot x[rist]a i ne sˇteˇ renounce.3SG from Christ.ACC and not wanted.3SG s[ve]ty nikak˘ı dumata da mu cˇjue saint.MASC at-all word.THE to him.ACC hear.3SG ‘And he pressed him a lot to renounce Christ but the saint did not want to hear his word at all.’ (Demina 1971: 79) This use of the article agrees with the conclusion that the introduction of the anaphoric article is captured in the damaskin at an advanced stage of its evolution, especially since a very similar instance from the Dobrejsˇo Gospel of the thirteenth century has been analysed by Svane (1962: 231).

3.1.1. Anaphoric article vs. anaphoric demonstrative If the situation with anaphoras in the damaskin appears to be grammatically like the current one, stylistically it is not.3 Speakers of Standard Bulgarian would much more frequently opt for articles than for demonstrative determiners in the anaphoric position. If a demonstrative is indeed used, it will rather be the determiner for close objects tozi and not onzi, the distal determiner preferred by damaskins. This peculiarity of the damaskin has roots in the Middle Bulgarian literary tradition and is even assumed to have arisen under the influence of the Greek demonstrative « ‘that’ (Velcˇeva 1964: 167; 1984: 154–155; 2001: 68). We shall return to its Middle Bulgarian forerunners in section 4.3. But the overuse of demonstratives is understandable 3. The restrictions on the use of nominals of type 1M5-1 in Standard Bulgarian and the stylistic differences between them and nominals of type 1M1 (and equivalent) were explored in some detail by Tatjana Sˇamraj (1989: 17–30). Regarding their anaphoric use, she comes to the conclusion that there is a pragmatic difference between the 1M5 and 1M1 versions of the same sentence. The former highlights the speaker’s special relation to the referent, which may be emotional, ironic or critical, whereas this added subjective dimension lacks in the latter.

100

The diachronic model of definiteness

even in the context of the damaskin literature viewed on its own if one considers the goal of this literature: to reach the uneducated common people for whom the older literary language had become unintelligible (Golovacˇeva 1979: 200; Gyllin 1991: 46–50). The effort surfaces in the choice of other stylistic tools as well (Velcˇeva 1984: 153–154). I shall give only two examples. Some more abstract ideas are frequently glossed right away, rephrased in the same sentence, to ensure that they be understood by readers.4 (251) i naucˇi gy na cˇistota da sa and taught.3SG them.ACC to cleanliness to are.3PL cˇisti clean.PL ‘And he taught them to cleanliness to be clean.’ (Demina 1971: 90) (252) i zakri se da ne gleda na deˇteto and covered REFL.ACC to not see.3SG to child.THE su˘mr˘ıtu˘ mu kato sˇte da umre death.THE him.DAT as will to die.3SG ‘And she covered her eyes not to see the death of the child how he will die.’ (Demina 1971: 120) (253) oti se i toi tvr˘ıdeˇ podkani da stori because REFL.ACC too he quite urged to do.3SG volja b[o]zˇïa, kato iska b[og]˘ı will divine.FEM as wants God ‘Because he too was quite eager to implement God’s will, what God wishes.’ (Demina 1971: 182) Another feature has to do with the general propensity of the damaskin style to be more verbal and less nominal than the standard language today. This trend agrees with observations made on other language data (Wells 1960) and the conclusion that it is bookish styles that tend to be more nominal whereas colloquial styles are more verbal. This trend is reflected in the use of nominals of type 8. One of the less studied uses of clitic reduplication – that of possessives rendered by a prepositional phrase – aims to make the message as clear as possible (for further discussion and examples see section 3.14). Moreover, nominals of type 8 are sometimes replaced with constructions that circumvent the direct subordination of one nominal to another in a way that continues to 4. For yet another example see (363).

Process 1

101

be characteristic of the colloquial language but is avoided in the more formal varieties of the standard language, as my translations of the damaskin 5 examples in Standard Bulgarian indicate: (254) i u seˇkygo dobrago cˇl[ove]ka cˇto and in every.MASC.ACC good.MASC.ACC person.ACC that e xr[i]stïanin˘ı blagocˇestiv˘ı. u negova d[u]sˇu b[og]˘ı is Christian pious.MASC in his.FEM soul.ACC God pocˇiva rests ‘And in every good person who is a pious Christian, in his soul God rests.’ (Demina 1971: 301) (255) I v dusˇata na vseki dobu˘r cˇovek, kojto and in soul.THE of each.MASC good.MASC person who e blagocˇestiv xristianin, pocˇiva Bog. is pious Christian rests God ‘And God rests in the soul of every good person who is a pious Christian.’ (256) I vu˘ onïa dni v˘ı edin˘ı den˘ı uzexa onia and in those days on one.MASC day took.3PL those slugy s[ve]t[o]mu neˇkoa gozba da ugotvet˘ı servants saint.DAT some.FEM meal to cook.3PL ‘And in those days once the servants of the saint busied themselves to cook a meal.’ (Demina 1971: 77) (257) I v edin ot onija dni slugite na and in one.MASC of those days servants.THE of svetijata vzexa da sgotvjat edna gozba.5 saint.THE took.3PL to cook one.FEM meal ‘And on one of those days the servants of the saint busied themselves to cook a meal.’ Thus it becomes clear that the overuse of anaphoric demonstratives fits in with the striving towards explicitness and clarity of the damaskin compilers. Another aspect that needs consideration is whether the damaskins exhibit a pattern of some kind in choosing between the two competing anaphoras or 5. For another example see (247).

102

The diachronic model of definiteness

whether this is a case of “free” variation. If there was a pattern, was it perpetuated in Standard Bulgarian? The question is important not only in itself but also from a balkanological perspective as early Romance also employed anaphorically two demonstrative pronouns from which proper articles were to develop later: the Latin distal deictic and anaphoric pronoun ille and ipse, which was used to express emphasis and contrast. Regarding Romance, it was established that the proto-article ille had a broader range than its counterpart ipse: the former accompanied first-mention definite nominals as well as second-mention ones, which were not prominent from an informational point of view, whereas the latter highlighted the topic of discourse, marking out those second-mention definite nominals that were informationally more loaded (Selig 1992; Vincent 1997). As we shall see below, I am unable to give conclusive answers to these questions. Let us first look at some data. Quotation (258) is a larger chunk of text dealing with the holy spring in Germia, which seems to display the Romance pattern by using four 1M5-1 nominals with an anaphoric function to denote the holy water which is the topic of the fragment and leaving the less salient anaphoras unmarked or marked by the definite article in nominals of type 1U and 1M1 or equivalent. I will then go on to show why two of the 1M5-1 nominals must be preserved by current standards, whereas the presence of the other two while acceptable is not compulsory. All anaphoras in the fragment were underlined and the 1M5-1 nominals were written out in bold. (258) I na drugo meˇsto pak˘ı, cˇto se zove germïa, and on other place again which REFL.ACC calls Germia i tamo takvazi voda beˇsˇe os[ve˛]sˇtenna, vu˘ and there such.FEM water was.3SG sanctified.FEM in ime arx[a]gg[e]la mixaila. i koi prixozˇdaaxu name archangel.GEN Michael.GEN and who.PL came.3PL tamo sicˇki isceˇleˇvaxu ot seˇkakva bolest˘ı. i there all recovered.3PL from any.FEM illness and voda imasˇe rybyci drebny. i tïe onazi that.FEM water had.3SG fish.PL.DIM small.PL and they lizˇaaxu na bolnyte ljudïe teˇloto im˘ı licked.3PL of ill.PL.THE people body.THE them.CL.DAT i isceˇleˇvaaxu. i vu˘ onova vreˇme beˇsˇe u and recovered.3PL and in that time was in

Process 1

103

carigrad˘ı knedz˘ı neˇkoi velik˘ı i Constantinople prince some.MASC grand.MASC and mu studïe. i pr˘ıvyi u grad˘ı imeto first.MASC in city name.THE him.CL.DAT Studie and razboleˇ se ot ljuta bolest˘ı do smr˘ıt˘ı. came-down REFL.ACC from acute.FEM disease to death i ne mozˇaasˇe ni o cˇto da se isceˇli. and not could.3SG no of what to REFl.ACC recovers i kato lezˇaasˇe doide neˇkoi cˇl[ove]k˘ı and while was-lying.3SG came.3SG some.MASC person imeto mu gulïo. ot germïa. i doide name.THE him.CL.DAT Gulio from Germia and came.3SG u carigrad da poseˇti studïa knedza kato e in Constantinople to visits Studie.ACC prince.ACC as is boln˘ı. i ze da mu kazuva za ill.MASC and started.3SG to REFL.ACC says about s[ve˛]taa voda, kak˘ı cˇini isceˇlenïe, za onu˘zi about that.FEM holy.FEM water how performs cure i cˇjudesa. i kato cˇju za tova studïe, and miracles and when heard.3SG about that Studie zaraduva se i ze da se rejoiced.3SG REFL.ACC and started.3SG to REFL.ACC nadeˇe na pomosˇt˘ı b[o]zˇia. i poide tamo su˘s relies on help god.ADJ.FEM and went.3SG there with s[ve˛]taa drugy bolny. i uleˇze u onu˘zi others ill.PL and enetered.3SG in that.FEM holy.FEM voda, i toja cˇas isceˇleˇ. i ne tu˘kmo water and that.MASC hour recovered.3SG and not just dosˇle su˘s toi ami i sicˇkite bolnïi cˇto beˇxu he but also all.THE ill.PL that were.3PL come.PL with nego. i edin˘ı ot teˇx imasˇe him.ACC and one.MASC of them.ACC had.3SG

104

The diachronic model of definiteness

beˇl˘ı na oko, i toi isceˇleˇ. I kato videˇ white.MASC on eye and he recovered and as saw.3SG studïe knedz˘ı tolkova cˇjudo cˇto se cˇini. Studie prince so-much miracle that REFL.ACC performs raznese mnogo imanïe i su˘gradi c[˘ı]rkva scattered.3SG much property and built.3SG church velika. i ostavi mnogo stoka tamo u c[˘ı]rkvata. great.FEM and left.3SG a-lot-of goods there in church.THE i na seˇkyi d[e]n˘ı koi doxozˇdaasˇe and on every.MASC day whoever.MASC came.3SG bolen˘ı isceˇljavasˇe. i mnogo sleˇpy progledaaxu, ill.MASC recovered.3SG and many blind.PL saw-again.3PL i sleˇkavy ispravixa se ot onu˘zi and bent.PL straightened-out.3PL REFL.ACC from that.FEM os[ve˛]sˇtena ot arx[a]ggl˘ı mixaila voda, cˇto beˇsˇe water that was.3SG sanctified.FEM by archangel Michael.GEN ‘And again in one other place that is called Germia, there was such water sanctified in the name of Archangel Michael. And everybody who came there recovered from all kind of illnesses. And that water had small fish and they licked the bodies of the ill people and they recovered. And at that time there was a prince in Constantinople by the name of Studie, [who was] grand and foremost in the city. And he came down with a deadly disease and nothing could cure him. And while he was lying down a man by the name of Gulio came from Germia. And he came to Constantinople to visit prince Studie as he was ill. And he started telling him about that holy water, how it cures and performs miracles. And when Studie heard about that he rejoiced and started to rely on God’s help. And he went there with other ill people and dipped in that holy water and got well right away and not only he himself but all the ill people who had come with him. And one of them had a cataract and he was cured too. And when prince Studie saw all the miracles that were performed, he spent a huge amount of money and built a great church and left there many goods. And the ill people who went there every day were cured. And many blind people saw again and bent people straightened out because of that water, which was sanctified by Archangel Michael.’ (Demina 1971: 131–132)

Process 1

105

The second 1M5-1 nominal in this fragment must remain in Standard Bulgarian as it is in the damaskin, because, if it is replaced with the corresponding 4M1-1 svetata voda holy.FEM.THE water, the meaning would change from anaphoric to generic. This is one of the conditions under which nominals of type 1M5 are preferred in the standard language over nominals of type 1M and equivalent: if the default reading of the 1M nominal in this context would be other than anaphoric. Standard Bulgarian would also keep the fourth instance, the 9M3 nominal because its 9M1 conterpart vodata, kojato besˇe osvetena of Arxangel Mixail water.THE which.FEM was sanctified by Archangel Michael features attributive definiteness and seems to have a slightly differently delineated referent, which makes coreference problematic, unless a demonstrative makes it clear that the speaker treats the nominal as an anaphora. As to the other two 1M5-1 nominals, they can but need not be replaced by their 1M1-1 counterparts. I would like to avoid the quotation of lengthy texts in Standard Bulgarian proving that such facultative nominals with their added anaphoric power continue to be used by speakers to emphasize the topic of discourse. Here is the shortest quotation at my disposal: (259) Pitame go kaku˘v e pru˘stenu˘t na kraka ask.1PL him.CL.ACC what.MASC is ring.THE on leg.THE mu. Mititaki ni razkazva, cˇe predi da him.CL.DAT Mititaki us.CL.DAT tells that before to si tru˘gne, otisˇli s cˇico mu v REFL.DAT leaves went.3PL with uncle him.CL.DAT in njakakva stancija, ta go some-kind-of.FEM station so-that him.CL.ACC opru˘stenili. Sega po toja pru˘sten provided-with-ring.3PL now after this.MASC ring ucˇeni xora sˇte go sledjat i sˇte learned.PL people will him.CL.ACC follow.3PL and will razberat podir vreme ku˘de pu˘tuvat vrabcite. understand after time where travel.3PL sparrows.THE ‘We ask him [the sparrow Mititaki] about the ring on his leg. Mititaki tells us that before leaving for home his uncle and he went to some kind of office and a ring was attached to his leg. Scholars will now keep an eye on this ring and will eventually understand where sparrows travel’. (Radicˇkov)

106

The diachronic model of definiteness

It seems therefore that there is continuity between the states of affairs in the damaskin language and Standard Bulgarian. There are however some problems with this analysis. The most important is that there are more 1M5 nominals and equivalent in the damaskin than those to which one can attribute this function as emphatic marker of the topic of discourse. What is more, I found neither objective criteria, which would allow me to distinguish clearly between prominent and non-prominent anaphoras nor did my competence as a native speaker of Bulgarian guide me in this regard.6 And finally, since the damaskin text is a translation and the phenomenon we are trying to pinpoint does not provide a contrast between grammatical and non-grammatical occurrences, it is not implausible that the original, as it has already been suggested, was at least partially responsible for the overuse of 1M5 nominals. 3.1.2. Explicit expression of anaphoric definiteness Standard Bulgarian has at its disposal a lexical anaphoric marker: su˘stijat ‘the same’7, always accompanied by the definite article. Su˘sˇtijat is an explicit expression that must be used when the identification or similarity between referents or states of affair is the focus of the utterance as in (260) and (261). (260) Naj-nakraja se vu˘rnaxme pri nasˇija finally REFL.ACC returned.1PL at our.MASC.THE starec. Zavarixme go na su˘sˇtoto mjasto i v old-man found.1PL him on same.NEUT.THE place and in su˘stata poza. same.FEM.THE posture ‘Finally we returned to our old man. We found him in the same place and posture.’ (Danailov, Ku˘sˇta otvu˘d sveta) (261) I sinu˘t ima su˘sˇtija glas kato basˇta also son.THE has same.MASC.THE voice like father si. REFL.DAT ‘The son too has the same voice like his father.’ 6. The only approximate parallel (mutatis mutandis) to this elusive opposition seems to be the use for topicalized objects of reduplicated 0M1-1 nominals, which was also shown to be optional. 7. For a semantic analysis of these readings of English same see Moltmann 1992 with further bibliography.

Process 1

107

In relative identity statements, 1M10 nominal with su˘stijat compete with 1M5-1 or 1M1 nominals and their equivalents. For instance, 1M10 su˘sˇtija sˇal in (262) can be replaced with 1M5-1 onja sˇal that.MASC shawl or 1M1 sˇala shawl.THE. (262) Na cˇardaka se pokaza stara, on verandah.THE REFL.ACC showed.3SG old.FEM pregu˘rbena zˇena, zavita prezglava su˘s stooping.FEM woman tucked.FEM headover with s kojto predi tova sˇal, su˘sˇtija same.MASC.THE shawl with which.MASC before this be zagu˘rnata momata. was.3SG wrapped.FEM lass.THE ‘A stooping old woman came out on the verandah, tucked headover in the same shawl, which had been wrapped around the lass before.’ (Talev) When it relates to plurals, conjoined or quantified nominals su˘sˇtijat appears in competition with edin i su˘sˇt(i). Thus po su˘sˇtija nacˇin ‘in the same way’ can be replaced with po edin i su˘sˇt nacˇin by one.MASC and same.MASC manner in (263) and su˘sˇtata jasla ‘the same day nursery’ with edna i su˘sˇta jasla one.FEM and same.FEM day-nursery in (264). (263) Idejata za cˇovesˇkite prava ne se idea.THE about human.PL.THE rights not REFL.ACC priema ot vsicˇki po su˘sˇtija nacˇin. accepts from all by same.THE manner ‘The concept of human rights is not accepted by everybody in the same way.’ (264) Dvete mi deca posesˇtavaxa su˘sˇtata two.THE me.CL.DAT children attended.3PL same.FEM.THE jasla po razlicˇno vreme. day-nursery at different time ‘My two children attended the same day nursery at different times.’ I found in the damaskin no record of su˘sˇtijat in any of the usages listed above. I am not sure how much weight one should attach to the absence of a lexical item from a text of limited proportions, but it does open the possibility that su˘sˇtijat appeared after the seventeenth century. Since su˘sˇtijat incorporates the

108

The diachronic model of definiteness

definite article and is an explicit anaphoric expression, it is plausible to relate its appearance to the evolution of the definite article in its anaphoric function. We shall see throughout this book that neutral and explicit expressions of a given description tend to exhibit parallel evolutions. On the other hand, the relative tardy chronology is indirectly supported by the slightly awkward single example (265) of the predecessor of edin i su˘sˇti as a nominal predicate, which appears as expected in a context that involves plurality. (265) s[y]n˘ı b[o]zˇïi, deto e su˘s o[t]ca su˘sˇti son god.ADJ.MASC that is with father.ACC same.MASC i edno. i sˇto se slavi ravno su˘s and one.NEUT and what REFL.ACC glorifies equally with s[ve˛]t[o]go d[u]xa holy.MASC.ACC spirit.ACC ‘God’s son who is the same with the father and who is as glorious as the Holy Spirit’ (Demina 1971: 60) The damaskin usage features reversed word order of the expression and lack of agreement in gender, which makes plausible the contamination between two different wordings, which would sound in Standard Bulgarian as deto e edin i su˘sˇti su˘s basˇtata that is one.MASC and same.MASC with father.THE and deto e edno su˘s basˇtata that is one.NEUT with father.THE, respectively. The very fact that the wording is awkward may be a sign that the expression had been introduced relatively recently and had not settled yet. Besides these usages, su˘sˇt(i) without the definite article has the meaning ‘real, true’, which is today slipping out of use but is the one best attested in the damaskin, see: (266) onazi zˇena beˇ su˘sˇti dïavol˘ı that.FEM woman was.3SG true.MASC devil ‘That woman was a true devil.’ (Demina 1971: 179; for other examples see Demina 1971: 162, 258, 266, 267, 271, 278) Given the fact that su˘sˇt(i) comes from the present active participle of byti ‘to be’ (Vasmer 1986–1987, 3: 814), this should obviously count as the initial meaning of the word that came into being by following the evolution: ‘being, existing; that is, exists’ > ‘real, true’. The descendants of Proto-Slavic *ist ч in the other South Slavic languages and some Bulgarian dialects (BER 1: 90; ESJS 5: 254) evolved along the same path from ‘real, true’ to ‘same’. The counterparts of su˘sˇtijat in Albanian and Romanian, however, derive from the distal demonstrative pronouns (Albanian po ai lit. ‘PARTICLE that.MASC’,

Process 2

109

gjith-ai lit. ‘all that.MASC’; Romanian acelas¸i < Latin ecce + ille + sibi, cf. acel ‘that’), which means that their point of entry must have been the relative identity statements, where demonstratives and ‘same’ are interchangeable. The evolution of the Greek   « ‘the same’ from ‘pertaining to oneself’ demonstrates that identifiability-based definiteness must have been treated as one domain, as it shows evolution from individuation to identity. The Ancient Greek  « (whose Modern Greek descendant   «  ‘myself’ will be discussed in section 3.5.1) could also function both anaphorically and as an emphatic pronoun (Schwyzer 1966, 2: 191–193; for parallels in the Romance languages see Lyons 1999: 334). Thus, Balkan data regarding the explicit anaphoric lexical marker demonstrate the coexistence in the region of three different patterns that cannot be reduced to one another.

3.2.

Process 2

The exophoric definiteness, which is the use of the definite article that marks it out as a full-fledged grammatical category,8 represents another ground by virtue of which a nominal can be definite. Exophoric definiteness is relevant for the individuative descriptions. Being based on inference, the article cannot be replaced in this position by a demonstrative determiner because demonstratives indicate by definition that “the identity of the referent is immediately accessible to the hearer” (Lyons 1999: 21). The damaskin offers many examples of such use. This is evidence that by the time reflected in the damaskin the definite article had already become a feature of the grammatical system. The following are examples of first-mention 1M1 nominals definite by entailment: (267) I kato vleˇze tamo s[ve]tyi dimitrïe, videˇ and as entered.3SG there saint.MASC Demetrius saw.3SG ednu˘ skorpïa goleˇma sresˇta nego ide, i one.FEM scorpion big.FEM towards him.ACC comes and izvadila si zˇeloto da go uxape take.PART.FEM REFL.DAT sting.THE to him.ACC bite.3SG ‘And when St. Demetrius entered there, he saw a big scorpion coming towards him that had taken out its sting to hurt him.’ (Demina 1971: 102) 8. This is a minimalist requirement against the background of received wisdom according to which a definite article should be considered a genuine article only after it has penetrated the generic area (Tolstoj 1962: 125; Krámsky´ 1972, 33).

110

The diachronic model of definiteness

(268) i pomysli da ide na b[o]zˇïi grob˘ı. i and thought.3SG to go.3SG to divine.MASC grave and da sedi tamo izokolu po pustynjata to sit.3SG there around in desert.THE ‘And he thought to go the Holy Sepulchre and to stay around there in the desert.’ (Demina 1971: 156) Statistics based on homilies No.No. 7, 8, 13 and 14 show the following: 58.57 % of all 1M1 nominals that need a definite article in this category (exophoric definiteness) do indeed have one. This number is impressive against the percentage of articles of all kinds represented in the same four homilies (37.79 %). This means that the damaskin witnesses the installation of definite articles by entailment in its Phase III. In order to understand how the article spread from the anaphoric position to that of definiteness by entailment, one needs to consider the cases in which an anaphoric article could be re-interpreted as an exophoric article because it had both functions at the same time. There are such examples in the damaskin: (269) ami i teˇloto negovo i do dnesˇny but too body.THE his.NEUT and until today.ADJ.MASC d[e]n˘ı stoi ceˇlo u grob˘ı. zasˇto videˇx day stands entire.NEUT in grave because saw.1SG mu grobu˘t˘ı az˘ı !…" kato !…" otvorixme I as opened.1PL him.DAT grave.THE ‘But his body too has remained until this very day untouched in the grave as I saw it !…" when !…" we opened his grave.’ (Demina 1971: 159–160) Svane discusses a very similar example from the Dobrejsˇo Gospel of the thirteenth century (1962: 229–230). In it the same co-referential nominal appears twice in a close sequence and is accompanied only the second time by a definite article, although Standard Bulgarian requires that both instances be articulated. The first nominal is definite by entailment, whereas the second has a double-duty article, and that is the one that is actually present in the text. Such double-duty articles are the entrance through which the anaphoric article penetrated the new area and acquired a new function that was to transform it into an article proper.

Process 3

3.3.

111

Process 3

The attributive function of the definite article surfaces in nominals of type 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9 and 10 as well as their counterparts of type 0. Let us have a look at them. 3.3.1. Nominals of Type 2 They are represented by the possessive 2M1 (sina im) and 2M2 (novija mi kljucˇ) in Standard Bulgarian, unless they belong to a small and much discussed group of kinship terms. I shall return to this group of inalienable possessions in a moment. The bulk of the nominals of type 2 in the damaskin is very similar to those in the standard language: the damaskin offers an early record of the enforcement of a quasi-absolute rule in Bulgarian. Statistics show that 100 % of the nominals of type 2M1 in the six homilies searched (No.No. 2, 7, 8, 9, 13 and 14) are indeed in place.9 Section 6.2 sheds light on the significance of this extraordinary agreement between the damaskin and the standard language. Here is a typical example for illustration of the type: (270) i prinoseˇsˇe dar˘ı g[ospod]u b[og]u i and was-bringing.3SG gift Lord.DAT God.DAT and dumasˇe si sam, da bude was-saying.3SG REFL.DAT self.MASC to be.3SG toizi dar˘ı za sicˇki ljudïe. a mene za this.MASC gift for all.PL people whereas me.DAT for ocˇistene da bude, za greˇxoveti mi prosˇten˘ıe purification to be.3SG for sins.THE me.DAT forgiveness ‘And he brought an offering to the Lord and was saying to himself, “Let this offering be for all people and to me let it be for purification and forgiveness of my sins.”’ (Demina 1971: 151) My overall impressions based on the entire togazi section of the damaskin tally with these results. Excluding kinship terms, I found very few instances of 2U1 filling in for the expected 2M1. Here is my selection:

9. This amounts to 99 in absolute numbers.

112

The diachronic model of definiteness

(271) I um si pomracˇisˇ and mind REFL.DAT darken.2SG ‘And you derange your mind.’ (Demina 1971: 138; another illustration on p. 75) It is remarkable that my exceptions also involve inalienable possessions: um ‘mind’ and obraz˘ı ‘face’. Kin and the body parts as inalienable possessions may be treated differently from alienable possessions in languages around the globe (Greenberg 1978: 65–66; Lyons 1999: 128–130). This is so because alienable and inalienable possessions instantiate different type of belonging: attachment (the possessor is linked to the object possessed) and detachment (a part is detached from the whole) (Danon-Boileau and Morel 1996). It is culturally significant that the human body and kin should be represented linguistically alike as wholes of which the body parts and the individual person are part.10 Bulgarian does not deal with kinship terms consistently.11 The standard language uses some of them as heads of 2U1 nominals and others as heads of 2M1 nominals. To the former group belong zˇena mi ‘my wife’, basˇta mi ‘my father’, majka mi ‘my mother’, brat mi ‘my brother’, baba mi ‘my grandmother’, djado mi ‘my grandfather’, du˘sˇterja mi ‘my daughter’, zˇet mi ‘my son-in-law’, snaxa mi ‘my daughter-in-law’, sveku˘rva mi ‘my husband’s mother’, vujcˇo mi ‘my mother’s brother’, cˇicˇo mi ‘my father’s brother’, lelja mi ‘my aunt’ etc. and to the latter mu˘zˇu˘t mi ‘my husband’, sinu˘t mi ‘my son’, sveku˘ru˘t mi ‘my husband’s father’, vnuku˘t mi ‘my grandson’, vnucˇkata mi ‘my granddaughter’, plemenniku˘t mi ‘my nephew’, plemennicata mi ‘my niece’, plurals like du˘sterite mi ‘my daughters’, diminutives such as majcˇi10. There is various additional evidence that these two classes of vocabulary may be perceived as essentially similar. I shall only point at the use of the body-parts domain to map out kinship (Bjeletic´ 1999). 11. The Balkan languages display a range of attitudes towards inalienable possessions: from Greek that marks them out minimally only by the impossibility to combine with certain verbs expressing possession (Joseph and Philippaki-Warburton 1987: 95–96) to Albanian that requires a different definite declension and allows different possessive constructions for kinship terms (Camaj 1984: 38–39, 111–113, 240; Demiraj 1993: 123–124, 129, 167) and Romanian featuring different patterns of marking definiteness and possessive constructions for inalienables and alienables (GRL 1: 99–100, 158–159; Manoliu-Manea 1990; Vasilev 1968). Even the languages in which the alienable/inalienable contrast is more salient, are inconsistent in their treatment of it, a sign that the contemporary state of affairs is a relic that is gradually eroding as time goes by.

Process 3

113

cata mi ‘my mother’ etc. The Bulgarian dialects can, however, opt for different configurations, as shown on the unpublished maps by Maxim Sl. Mladenov, reproduced at the end of this book. The maps take into account vast dialect material and display the areals of mu˘zˇu˘´ mi vs. mu˘´zˇ mi vs. mu˘zˇ mí ‘my husband’ (Map 3); zˇenáta mi vs. zˇená mi ‘my wife’ (Map 4) and sinu˘´ mi/sína mi vs. sín mi/sin mí ‘my son’ (Map 5); and that of a number of other kinship terms (Map 6).12 The damaskin vacillates. Most of the time it makes the same 13 choices as Standard Bulgarian: (272) i stana i celuva i maika si i and raised.3SG and kisses and mother REFL.DAT and sestryte si sisters.THE REFL.DAT ‘And she got up and kissed both her mother and her sisters.’ (Demina 1971: 136) (273) i ideˇsˇe i sreˇsˇtna basˇta si and was-coming3SG and met3SG father REFL.DAT ‘And he was walking and he met his father.’ (Demina 1971: 327) (274) gde e brat mi where is brother me.DAT ‘Where is my brother?’ (Demina 1971: 93) Regarding feminine zˇena ‘wife’, however, the damaskin almost always sides with dialects that use the word with the definite article, whereas the Standard Bulgarian norm requires that it be of type 2U1.13 (275) i onzi muzˇ˘ı nein˘ı kato isprovodi and that.MASC husband her.ADJ.MASC as escorted.3SG thoma. i zatvori vrata, i vr˘ına se Thoma and closed.3SG door and returned.3SG REFL.ACC pri zˇenu˘ta si, i videˇ kak˘ı duma thoma to wife.THE REFL.DAT and saw.3SG how talks Thoma

12. Maps 3 and 6 were supplemented with data collected and analysed in Cyxun 1981: 100–108. 13. According to Qvonje (1985: 480), the Trojan damaskin makes the same choice. The only exception in the Tixonravov damaskin I am aware of is a zˇena mi i deca … izmreˇxa ‘my wife and children died’ (Demina 1971: 76).

114

The diachronic model of definiteness

su˘s˘ı zˇenu˘ta mu. pocˇjudi se with wife.THE his.DAT wondered.3SG REFL.ACC ‘And that husband of hers when he saw Thoma off and closed the door and returned to his wife and saw Thoma talking with his wife and wondered.’ (Demina 1971: 90; other examples on pp. 69, 70, 71, 73, 77, 78) Reversely, regarding masculine sin ‘son’, the damaskin opts for 2U1, whereas Standard Bulgarian uses 2M1. (276) A o[te]c˘ı negov˘ı otkak se rodi sin But father his.ADJ.MASC since REFL.ACC bore.3SG son mu aleksïa ne smeˇsi se his.DAT Aleksia not mingled.3SG REFL.ACC su˘svoata si zˇena with-own.FEM.THE REFL.DAT wife ‘But his father did not mingle with his wife after his son Alexis was born.’ (Demina 1971: 327; other examples on pp. 82 and 327) Masculine mu˘zˇ ‘husband’ appears both with and without the article:14 (277) a dïavol˘ı ei kaza sicˇko cˇto i and devil her.DAT told.3SG everything that her.DAT rekl˘ı muzˇ˘ı ei koga otxozˇdasˇe said.MASC husband her.DAT when was-leaving.3SG ‘And the devil told her everything that her husband had said when he was leaving.’ (Demina 1971: 114; other examples on pp. 71, 136, 137) (278) i onazi zˇena tecˇe skoro i naide and that.FEM woman ran.3SG soon and found.3SG mu˘zˇatogo si husband.ACC.THE REFL.DAT ‘And that woman ran quickly and found her husband.’ (Demina 1971: 123; other examples on pp. 77, 137, 142, 181, 289, 328)

14. Qvonje (1985: 479–480) claims that both mu˘zˇ and sin consistently form 2M1 nominals in the Trojan and the Koprivsˇtica damaskins versus 2U1 nominals in the Svisˇtov damaskin. If that is indeed so, it points to a significant difference between the Tixonravov and the Koprivsˇtica damaskins that are deemed to be otherwise very close.

Process 3

115

The variegated picture that both current and past Bulgarian speech varieties offer can be interpreted as follows. There must have been a time when inalienable possessions had their specialized possessive construction (2U nominals) and 4U1 nominals containing a possessive determiner were used as universal possessive constructions. Even though such a distribution is not documented for Bulgarian, there are languages featuring the dative in a possessive function that is associated with inalienable possessions and it has been argued that the dative was particularly appropriate for the purpose because it allowed speakers to empathize with the point of view of possessors (Levine 1986; Timoc-Bardy 1996; Kucˇanda 1996). The specialized possessive construction for inalienables was interpreted at one point as intrinsically definite and the universal one as indefinite. Such a reinterpretation was facilitated by the fact that Slavic possessives did not participate in the long/short-form opposition that characterized adjectives at large but had only short forms, which were generally associated with indefiniteness. Thus even after the rise of the definite article kinship terms continued to be used as heads of 2U1 nominals (considered inherently definite). Then, however, the Bulgarian dialects gradually stopped distinguishing between alienable and inalienable possessions, a process that had as one of its corollaries the penetration of alienables into the area of nominals of type 2 formerly reserved for inalienables and as another the preference for 2M1 rather than 2U1 nominals no matter whether a kinship term or any other noun was in the head position. The sequence in which dialects were affected can be reconstructed on linguo-geographical grounds: change first penetrated the Southern dialects, then the Western ones and finally the Northeastern ones (see Cyxun 1981: 100–108 for similar conclusions). The interpetation proposed here builds on Cyxun’s analysis. It distinguishes between three areas: an innovative southern one with the Rupa dialects as its core, a conservative northeastern one with the Moesian dialects as its core and a diffuse area in-between which features the characteristics of both and includes the Western and the Balkan dialects. The conservative northeastern area is the stronghold of the receding category of alienability. Not coincidentally, the Northeastern Moesian dialects and some Western dialects (i.e. territories that belong to the conservative and the diffuse areas) were reported to treat parts of the body similarly to kin as inalienable possessions: glava mu head him.DAT ‘his head’ instead of glavata mu head.THE him.DAT elsewhere (Mileticˇ 1937: 25–26; Mladenov 1966a: 70; Cyxun 1981: 96–97). Except for the examples cited above, the damaskin deals with this lexical class like the standard language, i. e. it uniformly uses 2M nominals. The southern area, as indicated by Cyxun, is

116

The diachronic model of definiteness

the centre of innovation from which the grammatical category of definiteness emanated. Not only was there a certain sequence in which dialects were involved in the process of change but the group of kinship terms was also affected on a term-by-term basis rather than simultaneously. If we keep in mind that vocabulary classes incorporated the definite article not all at once (for details see section 3.4), it becomes obvious that the current state of affairs as reflected on Maps 3–6 depends on the points in time when the mapped kinship term left the category inalienable possessions and entered the sphere of action of the definite article. We can infer from the maps that feminines were involved in the process of change before masculines and in each gender category certain lexical items were ahead of others: feminine zˇena (Map 4) preceded feminine snaxa (Map 6) and masculine mu˘zˇ (Map 3) preceded masculine sin (Map 5). Since feminines started acquiring the definite article at a time while inalienability was a much more active category, they had a stronger resistence to overcome, and their slow progress is visible in the broader diffuse area. Their centre of innovation is quite precisely delimitated by the diffuse area that surrounds it. A sizeable territory to the north-northeast of the isogloss on Maps 4 and 6 remained outside their expansion. Masculines marched with an increasing speed and, as we can see on Maps 3 and 5 that are based on a larger amount of data, the innovative 2M nominal conquered the entire territory leaving no conservative area standing but instead pushing the diffuse area further north and northeast into the same direction where one can observe the conservative area on the maps featuring feminines. The damaskin compiler spoke a dialect that had an innovative zˇena but a conservative sin and vacillating mu˘zˇ, a combination that postulates for the seventeenth century a much broader diffuse area of mu˘zˇ than the one we have today because it had to include the alternative localizations of the damaskin language and a conservative area of sin that roughly matches its current diffuse area. After the category of inalienables was abolished, its dead remnants continued to tag along carried by inertia. All Bulgarian dialects today display some traces of the model ‘kin is inalienable possession’. Regarding the standard language, variation in the use of 2U1/2M1 nominals with kinship terms in the head position may also be due to contradictory impulses coming from different dialect zones (Mladenov 1980: 201).15 Alienables, which had be-

15. The attempt to explain the oscillation between 2U1 and 2M1 in the standard language on accentological grounds (Qvonje 1985) does not convince me because

Process 3

117

come acceptable in nominals of type 2, needed to mark definiteness explicitely, whereas some equally definite inalienables stayed on with type 2U1. 3.3.2. Nominals of Type 3 and equivalent The damaskin does not offer examples of nominals of type 3M (u˘cˇiteljat Petrov, dobrijat ucˇitel Petrov or vagon-restorantu˘t) but there are many instances of 3U (djado Ivan) with an appositive reading. Their usage is no different from current norms, as a typical example would demonstrate: (279) i razbra tova c[a]r˘ı konstantin˘ı and understood.3SG this.NEUT emperor Constantine ‘And Emperor Constantine understood this.’ (Demina 1971: 64) On other occasions, 3U stands for 3M, as in the following rare examples where 3M with a restrictive reading was to be expected: (280) sega te izgoreˇvam, ako ne dovedesˇ˘ı tuka now you.ACC burn.1SG if not bring.2SG here raba b[o]zˇïa simeona slave.ACC divine.MASC.ACC Symeon.ACC ‘I shall burn you on the spot if you do not bring here God’s slave Symeon.’ (Demina 1971: 55) (281) Pogrebi avva zosime teˇloto na syrota bury.IMPER.2SG Avva Zosima.VOC body.THE of orphan marïa Maria ‘Avva Zosima, bury the body of the orphan Maria.’ (Demina 1971: 199) There are a number of homilies that offer no data whatsover on nominals of type 3. Here are the meagre numbers regarding the representation of nominals of type 3 in positions that would be held today by 3M: one instance of 3U instead of 3M1-1 with a restrictive reading in each of homilies 2, 9 and 40 and one instance of 3U instead of 3M1-2 with an appositive reading in homily 9. there is at least one term (vnuk) with accent on the stem as well as a number of feminines that join the group favouring 2M1 and thus contradict the proposed explanation.

118

The diachronic model of definiteness

I also have at my disposal a selection of nominals with personal pronouns in the head position, forerunners of type 0M1-3 (az idiotu˘t). They have an appositive reading and today would have been accompanied with the definite article. A remarkable difference from current norms is constituted by the fact that even weak pronouns can have an attribute in the damaskin, something not possible today when only the strong pronouns can be used this way. Here is an illustration of each category of pronoun in the role of head: strong in (282) and weak in (283): (282) slucˇi se i mene greˇsˇnomu happened.3SG REFL.ACC too me.DAT sinful.MASC.DAT antonïju napisati Anthony.DAT write.INF ‘It happened also to me, the sinful Anthony, to write.’ (Demina 1971: 53) (283) poslusˇai me tvoego raba listen.IMPER.2SG me.CL.ACC your.MASC.ACC slave.ACC ‘Listen to me your slave.’ (Demina 1971: 67) Even though not sufficient for statistical purposes, these data allow me to hypothetically place the process no further than Phase I. In this category the impact of set phrases that continue to be used (case form and all) as relics of the past appears to be particularly great. This may account for the fact that the attributive article in this nominal type lags behind its employment in other types. 3.3.3. Nominals of Type 4 and equivalent This type is better represented although not in the area of 0M1-4 (gorkijat toj) and 0M5-3 (gorkite tija). The majority of examples contain a possessive. Typical illustrations are (284) of 4M1-1 and (285) of the damaskin forerunner of 0M1-4: (284) toi srebro i zlato ne uzima, ami ednak˘ı he silver and gold not takes but besides tvoeto imanïe razdade your.NEUT.THE property distributed.3SG ‘Not only does he not take silver and gold but he even gave away your property.’ (Demina 1971: 92)

Process 3

119

(285) i priblizˇix se okaannaa az˘ı do and came-close.1SG REFL.ACC pitiful.FEM I to vratata door.THE ‘And I – pitiful me – came to the door.’ (Demina 1971: 194) Statistical data regarding attributives of type 4 are shown in Table 22: Table 22. Numeric presence of the 4M1-1 nominals Homily number

2

7

8

9

Total

Expression 4U1

4M1-1 4U1

4M1-1 4U1

4M1-1 4U1

4M1-1 4M1-1

Restrictive reading

4

1

6

22

5

10

20

36

33 (104) 31.73 %

Appositive reading

1

0

0

0

5

1

2

2

3 (11) 27.27 %

Total number of the available 4M1-1 nominals: 36 Number of 4M1-1 nominals by current norms: 115 Percentage of the available 4M1-1 nominals regardless of reading: 31.30 %

In the four analysed homilies (2, 7, 8 and 9) nominals with a restrictive reading are represented by 4M1-1 in 31.73 % of the expected cases. This situates the restrictive 4M1-1 nominals in Phase II. The available data regarding 4M1-1 nominals with an appositive reading are statistically negligible and have little impact on the overall picture. 3.3.4. Nominals of Type 5 and equivalent This type is better attested in the damaskin than it is today. Here are some typical examples: (286) I otide zˇiv˘ı pod zemljata vu˘ ada and went.3SG alive.MASC under ground.THE in hell.ACC nesytogo insatiable.MASC.ACC ‘And he went alive underground into the insatiable hell.’ (Demina 1971: 288)

120

The diachronic model of definiteness

(287) gde e kr[˘ı]st˘ı x[risto]v˘ı where is cross Christ.ADJ.MASC ‘Where is Christ’s cross?’ (Demina 1971: 65) (288) i razdra si rizite svoi and tore-up.3SG REFL.DAT robes.THE own.PL ‘And she tore up her robes.’ (Demina 1971: 329) (289) I poidoxme do vratata cr[˘ı]kovny. i tïe and came.1PL up-to gates.THE church.ADJ.PL and they mu se samy otvorixa him.DAT REFL.ACC self.PL opened.3PL ‘And we came to the church gates and they opened up to him on their own.’ (Demina 1971: 62) (290) pomiluvai me smeˇrennago i have-mercy.2SG.IMPER me.ACC humble.MASC.ACC and (290) greˇsˇnago sinful.MASC.ACC ‘Have mercy on me, the humble and sinful one.’ (Demina 1971: 54) Statistics regarding type 5 based on the same four homilies are summarized in Table 23: Table 23. Numeric presence of the 5M1 nominals Homily number

2

7

8

9

Total

Expression 5U

5M1

5U

5M1

5U

5M1

5U

5M1

5M1

Restrictive 5 reading

1

9

3

8

0

28

9

13 (63) 20.63 %

Appositive 0 reading

0

0

0

1

0

0

1

1 (2) 50 %

Total number of the available 5M1 nominals: 14 Number of 5M1 nominals by current norms: 65 Percentage of the available 5M1 nominals regardless of reading: 21.54 %

Process 3

121

Only 20.63 % of the nominals with restrictive reading are represented by the expected 5M1 type (cˇoveku˘t bozˇi). This barely makes them eligible to be assigned to Phase II of Process 3. Again, the available data regarding nominals with an appositive reading are insufficient to draw any conclusions. The competition between nominals of type 4 and 5 deserves a special study. The insight that I have at this point is that there are syntactic positions, such as address form (su˘krovisˇte moe [treasure my.NEUT] ‘honey’), object and nominal predicate, that continue to tolerate nominals of type 5. Note that these syntactic slots are the ones that more often fill the focus position. Sentences such as the following that come from the damaskin have word order perfectly acceptable today, as their translation into Standard Bulgarian indicates: (291) i naide na polovin˘ı pu˘t si dr˘ıvo and found.3SG on half way REFL.DAT tree xubavo i mnogolistno nice.NEUT and many-leaved.NEUT ‘And he found halfway a nice and luxuriant tree.’ (Demina 1971: 183) (292) i nameri na polovin pu˘t du˘rvo xubavo i and found on half way tree nice.NEUT and kicˇesto luxuriant.NEUT (293) zasˇto toizi kr[˘ı]st˘ı s[ve]tyi, ta e oruzˇïe because this.MASC cross holy.MASC so is weapon silno seˇkimu xr[i]stïaninu powerful.NEUT every.MASC.DAT Christian ‘Because this holy cross is a powerful weapon for every Christian.’ (Demina 1971: 183) (294) zasˇtoto tozi svjat kru˘st e oru˘zˇie because this.MASC holy.MASC cross is weapon silno za vseki xristianin powerful.NEUT for every.MASC Christian Furthermore, there appear to be more numerous stylistically neutral instances of type 5U (cˇovek bozˇi) than 5M1 (cˇoveku˘t bozˇi). If the status of types 4 and 5 is not equipollent, that is so because there clearly are positions, from which type 5 is excluded, whereas there are no positions, which disallow type 4. It is

122

The diachronic model of definiteness

the absence of type 5 from these positions that made scholars claim that the word order of type 4 nominals is the only one that matters in contemporary Standard Bulgarian (GSBKE 3: 227, 286–287).16 These observations can be supported with some numerical data. In homily 2 there is a total of 112 nominals of types 4 and 5, where I have included six instances of deviant nominals that have an adjective or a determiner on both sides of the head noun, e.g. drugy gadove ljuty others reptiles poisonous.PL ‘other poisonous reptiles’ (Demina 1971: 55). Nominals of type 4 constitute 59 % of the total and type 5 – 36 %. Even though some uses sound poetic or archaic and would not be my first choice of expression, I have stronger objections only against one nominal of type 5 with anaphoric function, which I would have preferred to see as a 4M1 nominal. This means that 99 % of all choices are perceived as grammatical according to current norms. Even more significantly, 77 % of the nominals of type 4 cannot be replaced with their type 5 equivalents, whereas this is true only of 30 % of the nominals of type 5. As opposed to type 4, the irreplaceable nominals of type 5 are rendered so by their lexical representation; a fact, which highlights again the role of the damaskin literary tradition for the makeup of Standard Bulgarian. For example, I have heard so many times heaven referred to as c[a]rstvo n[e]b[e]snoe kingdom heavenly.LF.NEUT, as it is in the damaskin (Demina 1971: 55), that the reverse order nebesno carstvo sounds awkward. If however in the slot filled by carstvo nebesnoe in the damaskin sentence there was some other nominal, there would have been no objection against the employment of a type 4 nominal. In the other cases (23 % for the nominals of type 4 and 70 % for those of type 5) it would have been grammatical to use either nominal type. And finally, 58 % of the nominals of type 5 are situated in focus positions. Recurrent lexical collocations and presence in the focus area of utterances account for 83 % of the existent nominals of type 5 in this homily. This conclusion agrees with observations made on Russian for which four factors determining the postposition of possessives in the nominal phrase have been identified: (1) demands of the literary tradition; (2) logical stress, emphasis on the possessive in the utterance; (3) considerations of the rhythmical structure of the text; and (4) association of the possessive with inalienable possession (Zˇurinskaja 1979: 322–332). Progress in the understanding of word order in the Bulgarian nominal phrase can only be made against a 16. Deviations from this pattern have been attributed to foreign influence; e.g., usage in Petu˘r Beron’s Riben bukvar (1824) is thought to have occurred under the impact of Romanian (Mladenov 1975: 160–162) as well as comparable phenomena in the Bulgarian dialect of Cioplea in Romania (Gut¸u 1971).

Process 3

123

general Slavic background and will have to take into account research outcomes pertaining to other Slavic languages (see Nikolaeva 1986 with further bibliography). 3.3.5. Nominals of Type 817 This type is frequently represented in the damaskin not by prepositional phrases subordinated to a head noun but by a nominal in an oblique case, which can follow or precede the head. It can also feature clitic reduplication. A representative selection of nominals of type 8 is available for observation in these examples: (295) i beˇsˇe vysocˇinata agg[e]lutomu ot zemljata and was.3SG height.THE angel.THE.DAT from ground.THE do n[e]beto up-to sky.THE ‘And the height of the angel was from the ground to the sky.’ (Demina 1971: 124) (296) Po su˘mr˘ıt˘ı cara navu˘xodonosora. vu˘cari after death king.GEN Nebuchadnezzar.GEN enthroned.3SG se syni negov˘ı valtasar˘ı REFL.ACC son his.ADJ.MASC Belshazzar ‘After the death of King Nebuchadnezzar his son Belshazzar ascended to the throne.’ (Demina 1971: 127) (297) deto lezˇi teˇloto b[o]zˇïemu cˇl[ove]ku where lies body.THE godly.MASC.DAT person.DAT ‘where the body of the godly man was lying’ (Demina 1971: 329) (298) I theofilu roditelete prïidosˇe ku˘ ap[o]s[to]lu and Theophil.DAT parents.THE came.3PL to apostle.DAT ‘And Theophil’s parents came to the apostle.’ (Demina 1971: 290) (299) i ostavixa go na ustïeto na onzi trap˘ı and left.3PL him.ACC on mouth.THE of that.MASC pit ‘And they left him at the mouth of that pit.’ (Demina 1971: 127)

17. Since I have no data about the counterparts of type 0 – 0M1-7 (vie v u˘gu˘la) and 0M5-6 (toja s ocˇilata) – I am leaving them out of the discussion.

124

The diachronic model of definiteness

(300) i tolkova beˇsˇe ljuta onazi bura, and so-much was.3SG violent.FEM that.FEM tempest kolkoto se strosˇi kr˘ımiloto na korabt˘ı that REFL.ACC broke.3SG rudder.THE of ship.THE ‘And this tempest was so violent that the rudder of the ship broke.’ (Demina 1971: 166) An important subtype is that of possessives rendered by a prepositional phrase reduplicated with a clitic (see Savova 2003 for an analysis of Standard Bulgarian and vernacular data). A frequent feature of this nominal of type 8 is the inverted word order (the possessive precedes the head noun) as in (523), which would be quite unacceptable in contemporary Bulgarian in the absence of a clitic that follows the head noun. See however (298) for an instance of this word order in the damaskin in a non-reduplicated nominal and (301) for one that displays reduplication. (301) videˇx x[rist]a raspetago. na saw.1SG Christ.ACC crucified.MASC.ACC on ednogo rogacˇa mezˇdu rogovete mu one.MASC.ACC deer.ACC between antlers him.CL.DAT ‘I saw the crucified Christ on a deer between his antlers’ (Demina 1971: 71) Table 24. Numeric presence of the 8M nominals with a restrictive reading Homily number

2

7

8

9

40

Expression with a restrictive 8U 8M 8U 8M 8U 8M 8U 8M 8U 8M reading 3

6

3

0

5

6

20

22

5

0

Data stemming from five analysed homilies (2, 7, 8, 9 and 40) and displayed in absolute numbers in Table 24 show the following: 42.5 % of the nominals with a restrictive reading are represented by 8M, as expected according to current norms. This assigns the process of expansion of the definite article in this area to Phase II. No data about nominals with an appositive reading are available. But current norms require that 8M2-1 (sestrata na domakinjata) and not 8M1-1 (ucˇiteljat po istorija) be the expression of restrictives in many instances. Although it was demonstrated above that 8M1-1 can have a restrictive reading, given a particular nominal, these nominal types are by no means interchangeable. Statistics based on the available instances in these five homilies show that only 5 out of 31 expected nominals (or 16.13 %) are

Process 3

125

represented by 8M2-1 nominals. Moreover, in the majority of instances the head noun is accompanied by an oblique case form instead of a prepositional phrase. As (295) shows, there may be some overlapping of case form and article in this category. The numbers testify that 8M2-1 is a later phenomenon than 8M1-1. Whereas when we catch sight of it 8M1-1 has clearly advanced to Phase II in its expansion, 8M2-1 is at the beginning of the process, possibly still in Phase I. Case forms again appear as an obstacle to the progress of the definite article. In Standard Bulgarian 8M2-1 and 8M1-1 show some predilection for specialization, the former for specific and the latter for generic descriptions (Ivancˇev 1978 [1967]: 155–157): (302) Dru˘zˇkata na lopata se pravi ot handle.THE of shovel REFL.ACC make.3SG of bukovo du˘rvo. beech.ADJ.NEUT wood ‘A shovel handle is made of beech wood.’ (303) Dru˘zˇkata na lopatata se scˇupi. handle.THE of shovel.THE REFL broke.3SG ‘The shovel handle broke down.’ As emphasized by Ivancˇev, this is only a tendency in Standard Bulgarian that is easily countered by examples in which 8M1-1 is a specific designation and (less frequently) 8M2-1 a generic one. I found no indications that the specialization was underway in the seventeenth century. 3.3.6. Nominals of Type 9 and equivalent The most detailed discussion of this type of Bulgarian nominals is Nicolova 1986: 123–149. These nominals have attracted a lot of attention cross-linguistically in connection with definiteness. They have been labeled anticipatory anaphora (or cataphora) because the article points to information that follows it in a restrictive relative clause, which is part of the same sentence. In rhetorical terms, the cataphoric use of the definite article is a tension-creating device (protasis). It corresponds to the descriptive function of the definite article in Revzin’s terminology (Revzin 1977b: 223, 233). Examples of such a use are the following: (304) of a 9M1 nominal with a restrictive reading, (305) of a 0M5-7 nominal with a restrictive reading and (306) of a 0M1-8 nominal with an appositive reading.

126

The diachronic model of definiteness

(304) i naide veˇdroto sˇto cˇr˘ıpaxu su˘s nego and found.3SG pail.THE that drew.3PL with it.ACC (304) vodu water.ACC ‘And he found the pail, with which they were drawing water.’ (Demina 1971: 54) (305) ako ima beleˇg˘ı takvzi. eda e toi drugi ne if has scar such.MASC then is he other.MASC not e, ami e toizi deto go isˇtem is but is this.MASC that him.CL.ACC search.1PL ‘If he has such a scar, it is him. It is not another person but that one whom we are looking for.’ (Demina 1971: 75) (306) i nedeˇj se gnusi ot mene and do-not.IMPER.2SG REFL.ACC loathe.INF of me.ACC sˇto su˘m tvoa robynja that am your.FEM slave ‘And don’t loathe me who am your slave.’ (Demina 1971: 95) It is important to note that the universal relative pronouns sˇto(to) and deto can be reduplicated by a full form personal pronoun with preposition as in (304) or a clitic as in (305). The personal pronoun carries on itself the markers of gender, number and case and helps disambiguate the universal relative pronoun. This usage of the universal relative pronoun deto, reduplicated or not, is considered a balkanism (Assenova 2002: 109–110). The universal relative pronouns compete in Bulgarian with specialized relative pronouns that mark on themselves gender, number and case. Thus the Standard Bulgarian versions of the damaskin nominals above would be vedroto, s koeto cˇerpexa voda pail.THE with which.NEUT drew.3PL water in (304), tozi, kogoto tu˘rsim this.MASC whom.MASC. ACC search.1PL in (305) and mene, kojato su˘m tvoja robinja me.ACC who.FEM am your.FEM slave in (306). Even though the geographic distribution of the two competing types of relative pronouns is not known in detail (Cyxun 1981: 108–115), and it is not clear whether there are dialects that use one or the other exclusively, it has been noted that there are dialects that reserve the universal relative pronoun as a nominative form and employ the specialized relative pronouns in the oblique cases. The damaskin provides copious data demonstrating that it does not make such a distinction. Beside the universal relative pronouns

Process 3

127

deto and sˇto(to), it uses (albeit much less frequently) specialized relative pronouns as well, both in the nominative as in (307) and