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DOI: 10.31862/2500-2953-2019-3-115-132
М. Ухлик1, А. Желе 1 2
1 Люблянский университет, 1000 г. Люблянa, Словения
2 Институт словенского языка им. Франа Рамовша, Научно-исследовательский центр Словенской академии наук и искусств,
1000 г. Люблянa, Словения
Словенские комитативные конструкции с местоимениями в двойственном числе
Данная статья представляет собой попытку анализа формальных и семантических характеристик словенских комитативных конструкций, которые используются при обозначении двух участников, включенных в одно событие, причем оба участника выполняют в нем одинаковые семантические роли. Особое внимание уделяется функции форм двойственного числа в комитативных конструкциях, а также другим параметрам (употребление местоимений, предикативных форм и линеарного порядка), которые оказывают влияние на интерпретацию числа референтов.
Ключевые слова: словенский язык, комитативные конструкции, двойственное число, личные местоимения
Благодарности: Статья является частью более широкого исследования «Словенские комитативные конструкции», представленного на XIV ежегодной конференции Общества славянского языкознания в Потсдаме. Мы хотели бы поблагодарить М. Бенича, О. Цуррие, Д. Эршлера, М.В. Ослона, М. Трояра и Р. Жауцера за замечания и предложения по улучшению статьи. Ответственность за ошибки в интерпретациях и анализе лежит только на авторах.
ДЛЯ ЦИТИРОВАНИЯ: Ухлик М., Желе А. Словенские комитативные конструкции с местоимениями в двойственном числе // Рема. Rhema. 2019. № 3. С. 115-132. DOI: 10.31862/2500-2953-2019-3-115-132
Контент доступен по лицензии Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License The content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
ISSN 2500-2953 Rhema. PeMa. 2019. № 3 _)
DOI: 10.31862/2500-2953-2019-3-115-132
M. Uhlik1, A. Zele 1 2
1 University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, 1000, Slovenia;
2 Fran Ramovs Institute of Slovenian Language,
Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Ljubljana, 1000, Slovenia
Slovenian comitative constructions with dual personal pronouns
The paper deals with the Slovenian comitative constructions that encode two human participants who fulfil the same semantic role and are involved in the same event. It analyses their formal and semantic characteristics. A special focus of our analysis is put on the role of the dual in these constructions. We examine the impact of the different parameters (pronouns, predicate form, gender and linear order) on the interpretation of the referents' number in the comitative constructions. Key words: Slovenian, comitative constructions, dual, personal pronoun
Acknowledgments: This paper is part of a broader research "Slovenian Comitative constructions", which was presented at the 14th Annual Meeting of the Slavic Linguistics Society (Potsdam, 2019). The authors would like to thank Mislav Benic, Oliver Currie, David Erschler, Mikhail V. Oslon, Mitja Trojar and Rok Zaucer for their comments and suggestions that helped us to improve the article. All faults and shortcomings in the analysis are ours.
FOR CITATION: Uhlik M., Zele A. Slovenian comitative constructions with dual personal pronouns. Rhema. 2019. No. 3. Pp. 115-132. DOI: 10.31862/2500-2953-20193-115-132
1. Introduction: Comitative constructions with dual personal pronouns
The paper deals with the Slovenian comitative constructions (called SCC below) which encode two human participants who fulfil the same role and are involved in the same event. On a formal level, the construction
is composed of a dual personal pronoun (midva(m), midvelmedve^J 'the two of us'; vidva{may vidvelvedve(f) 'the two of you'; onadva(m), onidvelonedve(f) 'the two of them') followed by a prepositional instrumental (z Andrejeml Spelo 'with AndrejlSpela') and the dual form of the predicate (sva(1Du),
sta
sla(m) / sli(f) 'the two of us went to the cinema').
'(f.)
(2Du&3Du) '
(1) Slvn.
Midva z Andrejem /
we.NOM.M.Du with Andrej.iNs.SG
sva sla v
be.IND.PRS.lDU gO.LPTCP.M.DU in 'Andrej/Spela and I went to the cinema.'
(2) Slvn. Vidva
yOU.NOM.M.DU
sta
be.IND.PRS.2DU
z Andrejem /
with Andrej.iNs.SG sla v
gO.LPTCP.M.DU in
s Spelo
with Spela.iNS.SG kino.
cinema.ACc.SG
s Spelo
with Spela.iNs.SG kino.
cinema.ACc.SG
'You and Andrej/Spela went to the cinema.'
(3) Slvn. Onadva they.NOM.M.Du sta
be.iND.PRS.3DU
z Andrejem /
with Andrej.iNs.SG sla v
go.LPTCP.M.DU in
'He and Andrej/Spela went to the cinema.'
(4) Slvn. Midve / we.NOM.F.DU sva
be.iND.PRS.lDU
medve
we.NOM.F.DU sli
go.LPTCP.F.DU
s
with
v
in
s Spelo
with Spela.iNS.SG kino.
cinema.ACc.SG
Spelo
Spela.iNS.SG kino.
cinema.ACc.SG
'Spela and I went to the cinema.'
A common feature of all the examples above (1), (2), (3), (4) is a combination of a dual personal pronoun and a comitative phrase. The dual personal pronoun has an inclusory reading, that is, the accompanier expressed by the com-itative phrase is one of the referents of the pronoun.
While the inclusory reading is dominant in comitative constructions with dual pronouns in contiguous position with an accompanier, this interpretation
1 It should be emphasized that feminine dual pronouns midvelmedve 'the two of us'; vidvel vedve 'the two of you'; onidvelonedve 'the two of them' are mere variants, there are no semantic differences between the two elements in each pair.
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is less common in constructions with plural pronouns. Thus, Mi z Antonom 'We and Anton' is less frequent than Midva z Antonom 'Anton and I' and it has no obligatory inclusory reading.
Examination of corpora (cf. below) shows that comitative constructions with inclusory readings are most frequently used with the first-person dual pronouns (midva; midvelmedve), SCC with the second-person dual are, in turn, more frequent than the ones with the third-person dual pronouns.
Frequency of the usage of dual pronouns in the Slovenian comitative constructions (according to Gigafida 2.0)
Construction The usage in Corpus Gigafida 2.0, %
1Du + with NP + VDu 83.06
2Du + with NP + VDu 11.97
3Du + with NP + VDu 4.79
The frequency of the usage of the first person can be explained in the light of the fact that it has a special status in the hierarchy: only the first-person dual pronoun can imply the accompanier expressed in the second (5) or third person (6):
(5) Slvn. Midva
We.NOM.M.DU 'You and I.'
s
with
teboj.
yOU.INS.SG
(6) Slvn. Midva
We.NOM.M.DU 'Anton and I.'
z Antonom.
With Anton.INS.SG
Second-person and third-person dual pronouns only act as inclusory in relation to the third-person accompanier (7), (8):
(7) Slvn. Vidva
yoU.NOM.M.DU 'You and Anton.'
z
with
Antonom. Anton.iNS.SG
(8) Slvn.
Onadva z
they.NOM.M.Du with 'He/she and Anton.'
Antonom. AntOn.INS.SG
In (7) and (8) the inclusory reading implies two persons, while this interpretation is excluded in (9):
(9) Slvn. Vidva
z
yOU.NOM.M.DU with 'Two of you and I.'
menoj.
I.INS
In Slovenian, inclusion of two participants in the same role may also be expressed by means of a regular coordinate noun phrase:
(10) Slvn.
Peter in
Peter.NOM.sG and
gresta v
go.PRS.3DU in
Andrej
Andrej.NOM.sG kino.
cinema.Acc.SG
'Peter and Andrej are going to the cinema.'
However, if the coordinate NP contains a dual pronoun (midva, vidva, onadva), it cannot refer to the second conjunct. This means that in this case the pronoun does not have an inclusory interpretation. Accordingly, the predicate used with such a coordination will take a plural verb, as shown in (11).
(11) Slvn. Midva
we.NoM.M.Du smo
be.PRS.1PL
in Andrej / and Andrej.NOM.sG sli v
go.LPTCP.M.PL in
Spela
Spela.NOM.sG kino.
cinema.Acc.SG
'We went to the cinema with Andrej/Spela.'
A coordinate NP with a dual pronoun (midva, vidva and onadva) excludes the possibility of using a dual predicate:
(12) *Midva in
we.NOM.M.Du and
greva v
go.PRS.1Du in
Spela
Spela.NOM.sG kino.
cinema.Acc.SG
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2. The role of the dual in comitative constructions
One of the key factors for understanding the analysed construction is the role of the dual.2 For that reason, we will switch to the role of dual in Slovenian comitative constructions before continuing the analysis of the construction.
In the SCC, the dual plays a significant role, since this grammatical vallue allows the speaker to express the number of participants in a more precise manner, enabling for instance a distinction between two types of non-singular participants.
The SCC with a dual pronoun and a dual form of the predicate expresses duality: two participants, who otherwise exist independently, are thus united into a single syntactic unit.
3. Some particularities of Slovenian non-singular pronouns
As mentioned above, one of the key elements of the SCC is the personal pronoun. Let us take a closer look at some of peculiarities of Slovenian personal pronouns. Slovenian, unlike other Slavic languages, maintains a gender distinction between masculine and feminine in all nominative case non-singular personal pronoun forms. In the other cases, there is no gender distinction:
(13) The paradigm of the first-person dual personal pronoun
Case Dual Plural
NOM midva (m.) vs. midve (f.) mi (m.) vs. me (f.)
GEN naju (m. A f.) nas (m. A f.)
DAT nama (m. A f.) nam (m. A f.)
ACC naju (m. A f.) nas (m. A f.)
LOC nama (m. A f.) nas (m. A f.)
INS nama (m. A f.) nami (m. A f.)
Another peculiarity of Slovenian is the distinction between dual and plural pronouns. In the nominative, dual pronouns are formed by concatenating a plural pronoun (for instance, mi, me 'we') with the numerals dva
2 It is precisely in sentences with nominative dual subjects (Midva s Spelo greva v kino 'Spela and I are going to the cinema', Sin in oce gresta v kino 'Son and father are going to the cinema') that the use of dual has remained most stable and has not been replaced by plural through the history of the Slovenian language [Belie, 1932; Jakopin, 1966]. A. Belie (1932, p. 58-90) notes that Slovenian has preserved all Proto-Slavic categories of the old dual except for the most important one, i.e. the dual in pair nouns (e.g. oci 'eyes', noge 'legs', roke 'arms').
or dve 'two', which yields the dual forms midva, midve/medve 'the two of us'.3 The agglutination of the pronoun and the numeral into a single morphologized unit only appears in the dual (midva 'the two of us'), usually in the nominative. In other cases in dual the pronoun acts as an independent word and the use of numeral is optional (e.g. gen naju dveh = naju 'of the two of us'; ins z nama dvema = z nama 'with the two of us').
In contrast, in combinations of plural pronouns with numerals (mi trije 'the three of us', mi stirje 'the four of us') the latter act as a separate word. Unlike mí tríje, the cluster midva functions as a single indivisible accentual unit (*mi pa dva vs. mi pa trije).
Below the summary table with non-singular pronouns in the nominative:
(14) Non-singular pronouns in the nominative
Masculine dual Feminine dual
midva 'the two of us' midve/medve 'the two of us'
vidva 'the two of you' vidve/vedve 'the two of you'
onadva 'the two of them' onidve/onedve 'the two of them'
Masculine plural Feminine plural
mi 'we' me 'we'
vi 'you' ve 'you'
oni 'they' one 'they'
4. Some syntactic features of comitative constructions
In the SCC (midva z Andrejem 'Andrej and I'), the two participants who are presented as acting as a single unit, most frequently play the role of Agent (the nominative subject) or of the Experiencer in predicative èe-sentences (15), (16):
3 A similar system of dual pronouns figures in Lithuanian (mudu (m.) / mudvi (f.) 'the two of us'; judu (m.) /judvi (f.) 'the two of you'; juodu (m.) /jiedvi (f.) 'the two of them'). The difference in gender is present in the nominative and the accusative in all three persons, whereas in the third person it is also expressed in all oblique cases (DAT, INS, Loc), except for the GEN. In Lithuanian, unlike Slovenian, the agglutination of the pronoun and numeral is found also in non-nominative cases (e.g. GEN mudviejn, judviejn, j^dviej-^; DAT mudviem, judviem, jiedviem/
jodviem, etc.).
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(15) Slvn.
Naju z
we.Acc.Du with
strah, da
fear.NOM.sG comp
Andrejem je
Andrej.iNs.sG be.iND.PRs.3sG ne bova zamudila.
NEG be.iND.FUT.lDU to be late.LPTCP.M.DU
'Andrej and I are afraid to be late.'
(16) Slvn.
Nama z
We.DAT.DU with jasno, ali clear whether
Andrejem
Andrej.iNs.sG bo
be.IND.FUT.3sG
ni povsem
be.NEG.iND.3sG completely jutri dezevalo.
tomorrow rain.LPTCP.N.sG
'It isn't completely clear to Andrej and me whether it will rain tomorrow.'
In cases where the nominative is reserved for some other NP rather than for the dual pronoun, the SCC is at least ambiguous or loses its inclusory reading. For instance, in (17) the phrase nama / nama dvema s Pavlom is not a comitative construction under discussion, since the participant expressed by the instrumental is not part of the addressee expressed by the dual dative (nama dvema 'to the two of us').
(17) Slvn. Peter
Peter.NOM.sG nama
we.DAT.DU
pise
write.iND.PRs.3sG dvema s two.DAT with
nama / we.DAT.DU Pavlom. Pavel.iNs.sG
'Peter is writing with Pavel to the two of us.'
5. The predicate role in comitative constructions with omitted pronouns
The relevance of the predicate form becomes evident in cases when the anaphoric pronoun is dropped and the predicate form, as evident in (18), (19), (20), is central to the interpretation of referential subject.
(18) Slvn. pro
Andrejem / S
Andrej.iNs.sG with
bila v
be.LPTCP.M.Du in
Z
with
sva
be.IND.PRS.lDU 'Andrej/Spela and I went to the theatre.'
Spelo
Spelo.iNs.sG
gledaliScu.
cinema.Loc.sG
(19) Slvn. pro Z
with
sta
be.IND.PRS.2DU
Andrejem / S
Andrej.iNs.SG with
bila v
be.LPTCP.M.Du in
'You and Andrej/Spela went to the theatre.'
(20) Slvn. pro Z
with
sta
be.IND.PRS. 3du
Andrejem / S
Andrej.iNs.SG with
bila v
be.LPTCP.M.Du in
Spelo
Spelo.iNs.SG
gledaliscu.
cinema.Loc.SG
Spelo
Spelo.iNs.SG
gledaliscu.
cinema.Loc.SG
'He and Andrej/Spela went to the theatre.'
It is precisely in examples with omitted pronouns that the dual form of the predicate in Slovenian proves to be decisive in determining the number of participants. Especially when directly addressing someone, the dual predicate form (21) suggests that the non-expressed pronoun includes the accompanier, since the predicate makes it sufficiently clear that the accompanier (Andrej) acts as a participant and is part of the comitative construction.
(21) Slvn.
Lepo se imejta
nicely.ADV refl have.iMP.2Du pro z Andrejem!
with Andrej.iNs.sG 'You and Andrej have a nice time.' (As the dual form of the predicate impacts the interpretation, Andrej has the status of a participant of the comitative construction)
A plural predicate in Slovenian (22), on the contrary, indicates that one is not dealing with a comitative construction: Andrej lacks the status of a participant and is therefore part of the adjunct of the same action:
(22) Slvn. Lepo se imejte nicely.ADV refl have.iMP.2pL pro z Andrejem!
with Andrej.iNs.sG 'Have a nice time with Andrej.'= the addressee does not include Andrej (Andrej does not have the main participant status)
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6. How many participants are included in the comitative constructions?
Having considered the predicate role in the analysed construction, the question now arises how changes in the linear order affect the interpretation of comitative constructions. The NP-with-NP cluster may appear before the predicate, which was the case in the examples discussed so far. This cluster can be preceded by an auxiliary which does not change the interpretation of the number of participants (in examples (23) and (24) the dual pronoun has an inclusory reading):
(23) Slvn.
Mislim, da sta vidva
think.IND.PRS.1SG COMP be.IND.PRS.2DU you.M.Du z Markom sla iz mesta.
with Marko.INS.SG gO.LPTCP.M.DU from city.GEN.SG 'I think that you and Marko have left town.'
(24) Slvn. Na On
z
with
zalost
sadness.Acc.sG Markom Marco.iNs.sG
sta
be.IND.PRS.2DU bila
be.LPTCP.M.Du
'Unfortunately, you and Marko were last.'
vidva
yoU.M.DU
zadnja.
laSt.NOM.M.DU
The construction can appear in both simple or a complex sentences (23).
The position of the dual pronoun with respect to the position of the accom-panier, however, plays an important role in the interpretation of the number of participants.
When a dual personal pronoun (for instance, midva; midve/medve 'the two of us') is followed by a prepositional instrumental expressing the accompa-nier - both elements being contiguous (25), (26), they form a single syntactic unit most frequently in the role of subject (midva/medve z Mojco 'Mojca and I') which imposes dual agreement of the verbal predicate (sva sla/sli 'we went').
(25) Slvn.
Peter pravi: Midva z
Peter.NOM.sG say.iND.PRs.3sG we.NOM.M.Du with
Mojco sva sla v kino.
Mojca.INS.SG be.IND.PRS.lDU go.LPTCP.M.DU in cinema.Acc.SG 'Peter says: Mojca and I went to the cinema.'
(26) Slvn.
Spela
Spela.NOM.sG Mojco
Mojca.iNs.sG
pravi: Midve z
say.iND.PRs.3sG we.NOM.F.Du with
sva sli v kino.
be.iND.PRs.lDu go.LPTCP.F.Du in cinema.Acc.sG
'Spela says: Mojca and I went to the cinema.'
An exception to this rule is related to gender resolution: when a masculine dual pronoun (midva, vidva, onadva) acts as the central participant, it may include a feminine accompanier (s Spelo 'with Spela'). However, a feminine dual pronoun (midve/medve) acting as the host NP cannot include a masculine accompanier.
(27) Slvn.
Midve z Andrejem
we.NOM.F.Du with Andrej.iNs.sG sva sli v kino.
be.iND.PRs.lDu go.LPTCP.F.Du in cinema.Acc.sG 'We (fem.) went to the cinema with Andrej.'
The example in (27) only allows a non-dual interpretation (more than two participants went to the cinema).
The order of the pronoun and the prepositional phrase cannot be reversed (28) without changing the inclusory reading.4 For that reason in (28) the accompanier is not implied in the dual pronoun nor does it have the status of a component of the scc.
(28) S Spelo midva
with Spela.iNs.sG we.NOM.M.Du greva v kino.
go.iND.PRs.lDU in cinema.Acc.sG 'We went to the cinema with Spela.'
If other constituents are introduced between the pronoun and the prepositional phrase (z Maso 'with Masa' in (29)), the inclusory reading disappears:
4 In contrast to Slovenian, an extracted accompanier in Russian may retain the inclusive reading in the case of a contrastive interpretation: С Ваней мы пошли в кино, а не с Ирой 'It's with Vania that we went to the cinema, not with Ira' (Alexander Letuchij, p.c.). In Slovenian, the inclusive interpretation is conveyed if the dual pronoun is omitted: S Spelo midva greva v kino 'Spela and I go to the cinema'.
J
(29) Slvn.
Midva sva sla
We.NOM.M.DU be.IND.PRS.lDU gO.LPTCP.M.DU z Maso v kino.
with Masa.iNs.sG in cinema.Acc.sG 'We went to the cinema with Masa.'
In these constructions, possessive pronouns (moj 'my', tvoj 'your', njegov 'his') are not commonly used with the accompanier expressed by the comita-tive phrase. This is related to the fact that relational nouns (prijatelj 'friend', zena 'wife', sosed 'neighbour'), in which the possessive relation is implied, are the ones that most frequently play the role of the accompanier.
Adding a possessive pronoun can make the construction ambiguous between the inclusory and non-inclusory reading:
(30) Slvn.
Midva s prijateljem
we.NOM.M.Du with friend.iNs.sG
greva na morje. = inclusory reading.
gO.IND.PRS.lDU on Sea.ACC.SG
'My friend and I are going to the seaside.'
(31) Slvn.
Midva z mojim prijateljem
we.NOM.M.Du with my.iNs.SG friend.iNs.sG greva na morje. = ambigouos reading (2 or 3 people)
go.IND.PRS.lDU on Sea.ACC.SG
'The two of us are going to the seaside with my friend.' or 'My friend and I are going to the seaside.'
(32) Slvn.
Midva z njegovim prijateljem
we.NOM.M.Du with his.iNS.SG friend.iNs.sG
greva na morje. = more likely non-inclusory reading.
go.iND.PRs.lDU on sea.ACC.sG
'We're going to the seaside with his friend.'
If the dual pronoun has an inclusory reading, the reflexive possesive svoj as the modifier of the accompanier is outright ungrammatical:
(33) Slvn.
*Midva s svojim prijateljem
we.NOM.M.Du with one's own.iNs.sG friend.iNs.sG
hodiva na morje.
go.iND.PRs.lDU on sea.ACC.sG
However, the complete construction (dual pronoun + accompanier) can control a reflexive possesive:
(34) Slvn.
Midvat s Petrom sva se
we.NOM.M.Du with Peter.iNs.sG be.iND.PRs.lDu refl veliko naucila iz svojihi+j napak.
a lot learn.LPTCP.M.Du from one's own.GEN.PL mistakes.gen.pl 'Peter and I have learned a lot from our mistakes.'
7. Comitative construction with the singular form of the predicate
The construction with the dual pronoun which includes the accompanier (Midva s Spelo) should be distinguished from comitative constructions in which two participants are expressed by means of two separate phrases. In that case, the central participant imposes the agreement with a singular form of the predicate, while the accompanier is demoted to a circumstantial adjunct.
(35) Slvn.
Janez je sel
Janez.NOM.SG be.IND.PRS.3sG gO.LPTCP.M.SG s Spelo v kino.
with Spela.iNs.sG in cinema.Acc.sG 'Janez went to the cinema with Spela.'
(36) Slvn. Janez
Janez.NOM.SG sel
gO.LPTCP.M.SG
Je
be.IND.PRS.3SG
v
in
s
with kino.
cinema.Acc.sG
Spelo
Spela.iNs.SG
'Janez went to the cinema with Spela.'
In the Slovenian comitative construction with an associated subject in a contiguous position fulfilling the same role, the central participant cannot be expressed by a proper or common name (37)-(38):
(37)*Janez s
Janez.NOM.SG with
gresta v
gO.IND.PRS.3DU in
Spelo
Spela.iNs.SG kino.
cinema.Acc.sG
J
(38) *Francozi z Nemci v EU French.NOM.PL with Germans.iNs.PL in the EU.loc.sg dosegajo politiCne uspehe. achieve.iND.PRs.3pL political.Acc.PL success.Acc.PL
As can be seen from examples (39), (40), such examples of comitative constructions are perfectly normal in Russian:
(39) Ru.
Иван с Машей
Ivan.NOM.sG with Masa.iNs.sG идут в кино.
gO.IND.PRS.3PL in cinema.ACC.SG 'Ivan and Masa are going to the cinema.'
(40) Ru.
Французы с немцами
French.NOM.PL with Germans.iNs.PL
в Европейском союзе достигли
in European.Loc.sG union.Loc.sG achieve.PST.PL
политических успехов.
political.GEN.PL SucceSS.GEN.PL
'The French and Germans have achieved political successes
in the EU.'
In Slovene the construction containing two proper or common names, fulfilling the same nominative role, can be conveyed with the coordinate phrase (Janez in Spela 'Janez and Spela', Francozi in Nemci 'Frenchmen and Germans'):
(41) Slvn.
Janez in Spela
Janez.NOM.sG and Spela.NOM.sG sta sla v gledalisce.
be.iND.PRs.3Du go.LPTCP.M.Du in cinema.Acc.sG 'Janez and Spela went to the theatre.'
(42) Slvn.
Francozi in Nemci v EU
French.NOM.PL and Germans.NOM.PL in the EU.loc.sg
dosegajo politicne uspehe.
achieve.iND.PRs.3PL political.Acc.PL success.Acc.PL 'The French and Germans are achieving political successes in the EU.'
This means that Slovenian comitative constructions with non-singular predicates are limited to cases with dual personal pronouns acting as the host NP. As we have shown, Slovenian comitative constructions structurally and semantically differ from coordinated NPs.
8. Some interesting features of comitative constructions in colloquial Slovenian
Whereas in standard Slovenian the predicate form of the 1st person dual is the same for the masculine and feminine (greva '[we] are going' in (43)-(44)), a distinct feminine dual form ending in -e is found for the first person in colloquial Slovenian and some Slovenian dialects [Jakop, 2004; Derganc, 2006, p. 426]:
(43) Slvn. stand.
Midva s
we.NOM.M.Du with greva v
gO.IND.PRS.lDU in
Petrom Peter.iNs.sG gledalisce. theatre.Acc.sG
'Peter and I are going to the theatre.'
(44) Slvn. stand.
Midve s
We.NOM.F.DU with greva v
gO.IND.PRS.lDU in
Spelo
Spela.iNs.SG
gledalisce.
theatre.Acc.sG
'Spela and I are going to the theatre.'
Spelo
Spela.iNs.SG
gledalisce.
theatre.Acc.sG
(45) Slvn. coll.
Midve s
we.NOM.F.Du with greve v
gO.IND.PRS.F.lDU in
'Spela and I are going to the theatre.'
The form of the feminine predicate ending in -e (45) may be explained through the influence of the feminine pronoun form (greve ^ midv-ef and the tendency to formally distinguish between the feminine (greve) and masculine (greva) genders in predicate agreement.
A special colloquial form of the dual predicate in the feminine gender changes the inclusory relation in those cases in which the pronoun is dropped
5 The adoption of the plural ending -e corroborates the finding [Jakop, 2009, p. 165] that dual forms of nouns in Slovenian dialects are more frequent and thus more consistently used than dual forms of verbs.
J
and the accompanier is masculine. In Standard Slovenian, the verbal form of the predicate announces the inclusory relation of the dropped pronoun towards the accompanier as the verbal form greva 'we are going' is the same for masculine and feminine genders. On the other hand, a special feminine dual form greve 'we are going' blocks the inclusory relation of the dropped pronoun midve 'the two of us' with respect to the masculine accompanier (47).
(46) Slvn. stand.
pro S Petrom
with Peter.iNs.sG greva na morje.
go.iND.PRs.lDu on sea.Acc.sG 'Peter and I are going to the seaside.'
(47) Slvn. coll.
pro S Petrom
with Peter.iNs.sG greve na morje.
go.IND.PRS.F.lDU on Sea.ACC.SG 'We are going to the seaside with Peter.'
9. Conclusion
Our paper focuses on Slovenian comitative constructions with two human participants who are involved in the same situation: the first participant, most frequently expressed by a nominative noun phrase, acts as a nucleus of the comitative construction, whereas the other accompanying participant is expressed by means of a prepositional phrase. Slovenian possesses two comitative constructions.
The first one includes two participants, which are often detached, and a singular predicate (Slovenian Anton je gledal film z Ano 'Anton watched a film with Ana').
The second one, which is in the focus of our study, consists of two participants (the dual personal pronoun and the accompanier expressed by the instrumental case) and the dual form of predicate (Midva z Ano sva gledala film 'Anna and I watched the film'). In that case, as it was shown, the dual personal pronoun can be omitted (Z Ano sva gledala film 'Anna and I watched the film').
One of the key features of the Slovenian comitative construction is that it allows the inclusory reading when the accompanier expressed by the com-itative phrase is one of the referents of the pronoun. The interpretation of the number of referents of the SCC is contingent especially on their linear
position (the accompanier may be either detached from or contiguous with the dual pronoun (host NP)) and the form of the predicate.
The Slovenian dual, expressed usually by means of dual pronouns and the form of the predicate, plays a significant role in comitative constructions -it allows the speaker to express the number of participants in a more precise manner.
References
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The article was received on 23.08.2019 Статья поступила в редакцию 23.08.2019
Сведения об авторах / About the authors
Ухлик Младен - доктор филологических наук; доцент, заведующий кафедрой русского языка отделения славянских языков философского факультета, Университет Любляны, Словения
I _
ISSN 2500-2953 Rhema. Рема. 2019. № 3
Mladen Uhlik - Dr. Phil. Hab.; Assistant professor, Head at the Russian Language Chair at the Department of Slavistics of the Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4635-9273 E-mail: [email protected]
Желе Андрея - доктор филологических наук; профессор отделения словенского языка философского факультета, Университет Любляны, Словения; ведущий научный сотрудник, Институт словенского языка им. Франа Рамов-ша, Научно-исследовательский центр Словенской академии наук и искусств, Люблята, Словения
Andreja Zele - Dr. Phil. Hab.; full professor at the Department of Slovenian language of the Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia; leading researcher at Fran Ramovs Institute of Slovenian Language, Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Ljubljana, Slovenia ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6477-2590 E-mail: [email protected]
