doiSerbia

On internal definite reference in Slavic languages

Piper Predrag J. (Filološki fakultet, Katedra za slavistiku, Beograd)

The considered examples of use of the “such and such“ type of expression in Serbian and other Slavic languages and their analysis show that they represent a special type of reference and hold a special place in the system of pronominal words and expressions. Regardless of the fact that they can take a variety of functions, which are discussed in the article, their main function is to refer to what is determined for participants in a primary communicative situation, denoted by an utterance within an utterance, but which is undetermined for participants in a secondary communicative situation (with the exception of cases of same participants being involved in both primary and secondary situations). The forms of expressing internal definite reference are not entirely the same in all Slavic languages, although reduplication of pronominal demonstrative prevails with a high degree of match in their functions. The highest match is found when performing their main function of internal definite reference, while the lowest match is found when performing the function of euphemistic replacement of invective.

Keywords: definite and indefinite reference, communicative situation, pronominal words, Slavic languages

Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 178021: Opis i standardizacija savremenog srpskog jezika