The Layers of Function Words in Moldavian Slavonic Texts (15th -16th centuries) (2023) (original) (raw)

Moldavian Slavonic texts represent a point of contact between various Slavic and non-Slavic languages. However, due to the increasing influence of Church Slavonic in most types of texts, this fact is often not so obvious. The crucial indicator of the linguistic source of the text and the dynamics of the development of the Moldavian Slavonic written culture are the function words. In our paper, we have chosen two examples of the temporal and genre variability of Moldavian function words: the conjunctions introducing object and purpose clauses. The development of these conjunctions takes place in two, partly parallel ways: the use in chancery formulae and the use in free text. In general, we can distinguish four main layers of function words, three of which appear progressively in internal chancery documents, while the last is specific to external correspondence. The oldest layer is represented by Ruthenian function words, which dominate in the oldest internal and external documents. Soon the early repertoire is challenged by the Middle Church Slavonic set, followed by South Slavonic vernacular elements mediated by the Wallachian chancery. In the late documents, used for communication with the Polish-administered territory, the new, polonising Ruthenian function words are used, probably borrowed from the Polish and Lithuanian Ruthenian chanceries.