Kahl, Thede (2014): Dynamics of the Common Balkan Lexemes. New Research Perspectives and Desiderata in the Field of Balkan Linguistics. In: Die Welt der Slaven 59: 310-331. (original) (raw)
Related papers
Balkan Slavic and Balkan Romance: from congruence to convergence
Besters-Dilger, Juliane & al. (eds.). 2014. Congruence in Contact-induced Language Change. Berlin - Boston: De Gruyter., 2014
Proto-Slavic and Balkan Latin/Romance came into intense contact in the Balkans after the Slavs spread to the peninsula from the 6th century CE onwards. Originally, Proto-Slavic and Latin possessed fairly similar grammatical structures of the Indo-European synthetic type, but instead of simply reinforcing this similarity, both languages became subject to changes that made them members of the developing Balkan Sprachbund, or the Balkan linguistic area. In this paper I shall compare their roles in the formation of this area and discuss their possible mutual structural interference. The Balkan system of definite articles will be used as the main illustrative material.
This paper offers diachronic insight into the influence of the Greek language on the Serbian lexicon in the domain of loanwords. After an overwiew of some historically and linguistically relevant factors, a systematisation of Serbian Grecisms is presented-and illustrated with selected examples. This is based on chronological stratification and formal criteria related to both registers, literary and vernacular (with a special stress on the most significant, medieval period), as well as geographic and genetic classifications of Serbian Grecisms. Finally, the complexity of the factors involved in this analysis is illustrated with some formal and/or semantic doublets originating from various periods and directions of borrowing Greek words into Serbian.
Tермини на сродство во балканските јазици / Kinship Terms in Balkan Languages
Балканска слика на светот, 2006
The paper analyzes and compares kinship terms in several Balkan languages: Albanian, Aromanian, Bulgarian, Greek and Macedonian. Although the Balkan systems of kinship terms are similar, they differ in the number of lexical items and the meanings they code. The structural analysis of the kinship terms filters out common semantic features and helps to create the semantic models that underlie the five Balkan systems. The combination of three to five semantic features determines the size and the make up of each system. The comparison of the kinship terms shows that these systems have been affected by a different degree of convergent balkanization processes. As a result, four Balkan kinship systems share similar characteristics as opposed to Greek This conclusion is important for cross-linguistic typological research because the contrastive description of the kinship terms advances the study of the lexical-semantic typology of Balkan languages.
In and Around the Balkans: Romance Languages and the Making of Layered Languages
Journal of Language Contact
The languages of the Balkans are a rich source of data on contact-induced language change. The result of a centuries long process of lexical and structural convergence has been referred to as a ‘sprachbund’. While widely applied, this notion has, however, increasingly been questioned with respect to its usefulness. Addressing the linguistic makeup of the Balkan languages, the notion of sprachbund is critically assessed. It is shown that a) the Balkan languages and the Balkan linguistic exclaves (Albanian and Greek spoken on the Italian peninsula) share similar contact-induced phenomena, and b) the principal processes underlying the development of the Balkan languages are borrowing and reanalysis, two fundamental and general mechanisms of language change.
Maksim Sl. Mladenov’s Contribution to Balkan Linguistics (1962–1992)
2005
Morpliolog~cal adaptation of Turkish loans in-d in Bulgarian and Romanian (Bulgarian nepdduepd 'a, Romanian pel-clea)] 8. H~C K O~~K O JteKCWeCKHX PYMblHCKUX ~~W~Z C T B O B~W M~ B CeBePOBOCTOWblX 6 o n r a p c~~x roBopax (no naHHnm Eonrapc~oro nmnerrTHoro aTnaca. T. 11. 1966).-E a n~a~c~o ~~H K O~H~H H~, 1970, Nc 2,27-30, 1 map. [Bulgarian fq?sn, 6y32t. 6v14r, 2b4?a6z~ j~ep (j~tp)~ K Z I~I I~U P , KYPKO, ~y p~o ti. ,ucxnair, n.r~,wall12a, namezza, npucna, paya, ypbcr, cl,hp~j).rlu2(a, tlymypa] 10. Elernente romhegti i n tenninologia popular5 bulgarg din dome11 i ill irnbr5~5mincei.-Cercetgri de lingvistic;, 1972. Nc 2,263-777.
Areal typology and Balkan (morpho-)syntax
Balkan Syntax and (Universal) Principles of Grammar Ed. by Krapova, Iliyana / Joseph, Brian Series:Trends in Linguistics. Studies and Monographs [TiLSM] 285, 2018
The paper presents the authorʼs individual views on the state of affairs and presents theoretical, methodological and practical results, obtained by him in the last decade in the field of the comparative-historical and comparative-contrastive Balkan linguistics and especially of (morpho-)syntax. The major theoretical issues of Balkan linguistics like principles of genetical, areal, social or contact determination or restriction in language evolution are being addressed. The historical, structuralist and functionalist methods of research in Balkan dialectology (collecting the (morpho-)syntactic data, their mapping, systemic and contrastive analysis) are being applied. In the introduction a new definition of a (Balkan) Sprachbund is being promoted, as " a language group defined by functional, not substantional properties ". Further a number of general, areal, particular and universal (morpho-)syntactic phenomena are being presented, like (1) redundancy in Balkan grammar; (2) contact-related convergent syntactic structures; (3) two-languages-in-contact induced morphosyntactic changes; (4) borrowability hierarchies in the (history of the) Balkan languages. It is claimed for ex., that Balkanisms (" the shared common Balkan features ") should be opposed to anti-Balkanisms (" features that were never shared (borrowed) despite similar conditions of contact "); that the causes of Balkan convergence are to be seen in multiple language shifts (substratum phenomena) rather than in balanced bi-or trilingualism; that although a cross-linguistic comparison of (morpho-)syntax involving Balkan languages is truly possible, the study of " comparative (morpho-)syntax of the Balkan languages " can, but should not obligatorily discover parts of the " comparative Balkan (morpho-)syntax ". In conclusion the major tasks and desiderata of contemporary Balkan linguistics are being summarized.
The Findings upon the Designation of Turkish Words among Balkan Languages
2011
The presence of the Turks in the geography of Balkans can be track back to the centuries before Ottomans. The actual impact of the Turkish language and culture began with the start of Ottoman conquests. With the Ottoman conquest, there have been great changes on the structure of the Balkan communities. As a result of this comprehensive and large impact, thousands of Turkish words entered into the Balkanic Languages. The quantity of Turkish words, their effect of the Balkanic Cultures and Languages have directed the researchers to search these words. The researchers who investigated the Turkish words in the Balkanic Languages faced a fundamental problem. The main problem that the researchers faced was the issue of designation of these words in question. Due to the appearance of the words of Arabic and Persian origin along with Turkish, some researchers have applied the term-Orientalism‖ for these words in question. Since the vast majority of words in the Balkanic Languages are Turkish, the researchers, considering the fact that Arabic and Persian words entered into the Balkanic Languages through Turkish, have preferred the concept-Turkism‖ for these words. Researchers, without making a detailed evaluation on either-Orientalism‖ or-Turkism,‖ have stated their more general preferences. However, the designation issue of these words, which have such effect on the Balkanic Languages and their numbers getting closer to ten thousand in some languages, requires a detailed analysis in order to formulate an opinion. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the words in question in terms of grammatical, cultural and historical process and to contribute to the issue of designating through Ottoman institutions and community life. Within the scope of this study, the emphasis is given, in addition to all the Balkanic Languages, on the Bosnian-Serbian-Croatian and Albanian Languages where Turkish words are dominantly present.
Turkisms in the Balkan Languages
2016
This study was conducted to make an analysis of the introduction of Turkisms in the Balkan languages. Turkish words have entered these languages at different periods of time and they have had their impact on different areas as institutions, trade and social life among others. A great number of words are borrowed by languages as Albanian, Bulgarian, Serbian, Croatian, Macedonian, Greek, and Romanian. Turkish borrowings have served as a means for enriching the languages. The authors have studied the historic, cultural, ethnographic, literary and linguistic issues. To this end, a number of documents were researched by the authors in order to get to know the situation of Turkisms in Balkan languages at different periods of time. Numerous examples are provided so as to give evidence to the conclusion that Turkisms have become an organic part of the Balkan languages. They belong not only to the past but also the present reality.Keywords: Turkisms, borrowings, Balkan languages, Turkish roo...
Towards Common Balkan Lexical Evidential Markers
Slovene
A simple listing of lexical evidential markers in Bulgarian, Macedonian and Albanian uncovers unusual problems, because a significant part of the markers are common, both due to genetic relations between the languages (e.g. Bulg. and Maced. spored) and to areal factors (e.g. Turk. word güya / gûya was loaned into Bulg. dialectal gyoa, Maced. ǵoa and Alb. gjoja; this marker also exists in Serb.). But these common markers with the same etymology do not necessarily have similar meanings, which is both a theoretical problem for the description of the language data and a practical issue for translation between the languages. As Bulgarian, Macedonian and Albanian have grammatical evidential systems as well, there is a question how the lexical evidential markers interact with evidential forms. Here the distinction between analytic and holistic reading can be quite helpful, as it clarifies the role of each of the components in constructions. In the article it is analysed on the basis of tra...