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Balkan linguistic union

 

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Balkan linguistic union


 
 

The Balkan sprachbundSprachbund

A Sprachbund is a group of languages that have become similar in some way because of geographical proximity....
or linguistic area is the ensemble of areal features—similarity in grammar, syntax, vocabulary and phonology—among languages of the BalkansBalkans

The Balkans is the historic and geographic name used to describe a region of southeastern Europe....
, which belong to various branches of Indo-EuropeanFacts About Indo-European languages

, )
  • VocativeVocative case

    The vocative case is the case used for a noun identifying the person being addressed and/or occasionally the determiners o...


  • Syncretism of genitive and dative
    In the Balkan languages, the genitiveGenitive case

    In grammar, the genitive case is the case that marks a noun as being the possessor of another noun....
     and dativeDative case

    The dative case is a grammatical case generally used to indicate the noun to whom something is given....
     cases (or corresponding prepositional constructions) undergo syncretismSyncretism (linguistics)

    In linguistics, syncretism is the agreement in form of distinct morphological forms of a word....
    .

    Example:
    Language Dative Genitive
    English I gave the book to Maria. It is Maria's book.
    Albanian Ja dhashë librin Marisë. Është libri i Marisë.
    Aromanian U-ded vivliapi Maria. Easte vivlia aliMarie.
    Bulgarian ????? ??????? ?? ?????
    [dadoh knigata na marija]
    ??????? ? ?? ?????
    [knigata e na Marija]
    Romanian I-am dat cartea Mariei.
    colloq. for fem. (oblig. for masc.):
    I-am dat cartea lui Marian.
    Este cartea Mariei.
    colloq. for fem. (oblig. for masc.):
    Este cartea lui Marian.
    Macedonian ? ?? ????? ??????? ?? ??????.
    [ì ja dadov knigata na Marija]
    ??????? ? ?? ??????.
    [knigata e na Marija]

    Greek
    ?d?sa t? ß?ß??? st?? ?a??a.
    [édosa to biblío stin maría]
         or
    ?d?sa t? ß?ß??? t?? ?a??a?.
    [édosa to biblío tis marías]
    ???a? t? ß?ß??? t?? ?a??a?.
    [eínai to biblío tis marías]
    ??? t? ?d?sa
    [tis to édosa]
    'I gave it to her.'
    ???a? t? ß?ß??? t??.
    [eínai to biblío tis]
    'It is her book.'
    Serbian Ja sam dao knjigi Mariji* To je Marijina* knjiga.

    (* Marija in the Nominative case)
    Syncretism of locative and directional expressions
    language "in Greece" "into Greece"
    Albanian në Greqi në Greqi
    Aromania tu Gãrtsia tu Gãrtsia
    Bulgarian ? ?????? (V Gartsiya) ? ?????? (V Gartsiya)
    Greek st?? ????da (stin Helláda) st?? ????da (stin Helláda)
    Macedonian ?? ?????? (vo Grcija) ?? ?????? (vo Grcija)
    Romanian în Grecia în Grecia
    Serbian u Grckoj* u Grckoj*

    (* Grcka in the Nominative case)
    Verb tenses
    Future tense
    The future tense is formed in an analyticAnalytic language

    An analytic language is a language in which the vast majority of morphemes are free morphemes and are considered to be full...
     way using an auxiliary verb or particle with the meaning "will, want", referred to as de-volitive, similar to the way the future is formed in English and originating with Greek innovation around the 1st century AD. This feature is present to varying degrees in each language. Decategoralization is less advanced in Romanian voi and in Serbian cu, ceš, ce, where the future marker is still an inflected auxiliary. In Modern Greek, Bulgarian, Macedonian, and Albanian, decategoralization and erosion have given rise to an uninflected tense form, where the frozen 3rd person singular of the verb has turned into an invariable particle followed by the main verb inflected for person.
    Language Variant Formation Example: "I'll see"
    Albanian Tosk "do" (invariant) + subjunctive Do të shikoj
    Gheg "kam" (conjugated) + me + verbal noun Kam me shikue
    Aromanian  "va" (invariant) + subjunctive Va s-ved
    Greek  "?a" (invariant) + subjunctive Ta d? / ß??p? (tha do / blépo); "I'll see / be seeing"
    Bulgarian  "??" (invariant) + present tense ?? ???? (shte vidya)
    Macedonian "??" (invariant) + present tense?? ????? (kje vidam)
    Serbian (literary standard) "?????/hteti" (conjugated) + infinitive ?? ?? ?????? (??????) (ja cu videti [videcu])
    (colloquial) "?????/hteti" (conjugated) + subjunctive ?? ?? ?? ????? (ja cu da vidim)
    Romanian (literary standard) "a voi" (conjugated) + infinitive Voi vedea/vedeare
    (colloquial) "o" (invariant) + subjunctive O sa vad
    (colloquial alternate) "a avea" (conjugated) + subjunctive Am sa vad
    (archaic) "va" (invariant) + subjunctive Va sa vad
    Romani (Erli) "ka" (invariant) + subjunctive Ka dikhav

    Analytic perfect tense
    The analytic perfect tense is formed in the Balkan languages with the verb "to have". The origin of this language feature could be Latin. However, this does not apply to Bulgarian and Serbian, where the analytic perfect is formed with the verb "to be" and the past active participle: ?????? - "who has promised" (past active participle);
    ??? (Bul.); ??? (Ser.) - "I am";
    ?????? ???; ?????? ??? (Ser.) - "I have promised" (lit. "I am one who has promised"), perfect tense. Constructions using the verb to have are characteristic of Macedonian language (???? ??????./Imam veteno. = I have promised.).
    Morphology
    Postposed article
    With the exception of Greek and Romani, all languages in the union have their definite articleDefinite Article

    Definite Article is the title of British comedian Eddie Izzard's 1996 performance released on video and CD....
     attached to the end of the noun, instead of before it. None of the related languages (like other Romance languages or Slavic languages) shares this feature and it is thought to be either an innovation or Albanian borrowing spread in the Balkans.

    However, each language created its own internal articles, so the Romanian articles are related to the articles (and demonstrativeDemonstrative

    Demonstratives are deictic words that indicate which entities a speaker refers to, and distinguishes those entities from oth...
     pronounPronoun

    In linguistics and grammar, a pronoun is a pro-form that substitutes for a noun phrase....
    s) in Italian, French, etc., while the Bulgarian articles are related to demonstrative pronouns in other Slavic languages.
    Language Feminine Masculine
    without
    article
    with
    article
    without
    article
    with
    article
    Albanian shtëpi shtëpia qiell qielli
    Aromanian muljare muljarea bãrbat bãrbatlu
    Bulgarian ???? ?????? ??? ?????
    Macedonian ???? ?????? ??? ?????
    Romanian muiere muierea barbat barbatul
    Serbian Torlak ???? ?????? ??? ?????

    Number formation
    The Slavic way of composing the numbers between 10 and 20, e.g. "one + on + ten" for eleven, called superessive, is widespread. Modern Greek does not follow this.

    LanguageThe word "Eleven"compounds
    Albanian "njëmbëdhjetë" një + mbë + dhjetë
    Aromanian "unãsprã" unã + sprã
    Bulgarian "??????????" ???? + (?)? + ?????
    Macedonian "?????????" ???(?)? + (?)? + (?)????
    Romanian "unsprezece" or, more commonly, "unspe" un + spre + zece < *unu + supre + dece; unu + spre; the latter is more commonly used, even in formal speech.
    Serbian "jedanaest/?????????" jedan+ (n)a+ (d)es(e)t/????? + (?)? + (?)??(?)?

    Clitic pronouns
    Direct and indirect objects are cross-referenced, or doubledFacts About Clitic doubling

    Clitic doubling, or pronominal reduplication, in linguistics, is a phenomenon by which clitic pronouns appear in verb ...
    , in the verb phrase by a cliticClitic

    In linguistics, a clitic is a word that syntactically functions as a free morpheme, but phonetically appears as a bound morp...
     (weak) pronoun, agreeing with the object in gender, number, and case or case function. This can be found in Romanian, Greek, Bulgarian, Macedonian, and Albanian. In Albanian and Macedonian, this feature shows fully grammaticalized structures and is obligatory with indirect objects and to some extent with definite direct objects; in Bulgarian, however, it is optional and therefore based on discourse. In Greek, the construction contrasts with the clitic-less construction and marks the cross-referenced object as a topic. Southwest Macedonia appears to be the location of innovation.

    For example, "I see George" in Balkan languages:
    LanguageExample
    Albanian"E shikoj Gjergjin"
    Aromanian"U- ved Yioryi"
    Bulgarian"?????? ?? ??????." (colloquial form; see note)
    Macedonian"?o ?????? ?????."
    Greek"??? ß??p? t?? G?????"
    Romanian "Îl vad pe George."


    Note: The neutral case in normal word order is without a clitic: "?????? ??????." However, the form with an additional clitic pronoun is also possible in colloquial speech: "?????? ?? ??????." And the clitic is obligatory in the case of a topicalized object (with OVS-word order), which serves also as the common colloquial equivalent of a passive construction. "?????? ?? ??????."
    Adjectives
    The replacement of synthetic adjectival comparative forms with analytic ones by means of preposed markers is common. These markers are:
    • Bulgarian: ??-
    • Albanian:
    • Romanian: mai
    • Modern Greek: pió; though Greek has retained a few of the earlier synthetic forms.
    • Aromanian: (ca)ma

    Suffixes
    Also, some common suffixes can be found in the linguistic area, such as the diminutive suffix of Slavic origin "-ica" that can be found in Albanian, Greek and Romanian.

    Vocabulary

    Loan words
    Several hundred words are common to the Balkan union languages; the origin of most of them is either GreekGreek language

    Greek has a documented history of 3,500 years, the longest of any single language within the Indo-European family....
     or TurkishTurkish language

    Turkish is a Turkic language spoken natively by the Turkish people in Turkey, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Greece, Republic of Macedon...
    , as the Byzantine EmpireByzantine Empire

    Byzantine Empire is the term conventionally used since the 19th century to describe the Greek-speaking Roman Empire of the...
     and later the Ottoman EmpireOttoman Empire

    The Ottoman Empire , is also sometimes known in the West as the Turkish Empire....
     directly controlled the territory throughout most of its history, strongly ingluencing its culture and economics.

    Albanian, Aromanian, Bulgarian, Greek, Romanian, Serbian and Macedonian also share a large number of words of various origins:

    Source Source word Meaning Albanian Aromanian Bulgarian Greek Romanian Macedonian Serbian Turkish
    Latinmensatablemenca (tavolinë)masã???? (masa) -masa???? (masa) -masa
    Thracianrompeaspearrrufë -roféja??µfa?a (rhomphaía) - - - -
    Byzantine Greek??ß?d???meadowlivadhlivadã?????? (livada)??ß?d?livada?????? (livada)livada
    ?????? (livada)
    -
    Byzantine Greekd?d?s?a???teacher -dascal?????? (daskal) (colloquial)d?s?a???dascal?????? (daskal) (colloquial) - -
    Byzantine Greek???t???boxkuticutii????????t?cutie?????? (kutija)kutija
    ?????? (kutija)
    kutu
    Turkishboyapaint, colorbojë (but also ngjyrë)boi??? (boya)µp???? (boyá)boiaboja (boja)boja
    ???? (boja)
    boya

    Calques
    Apart from the direct loans, there are also many calques that were passed from one Balkan languages to another, most of them between Albanian, Macedonian, Bulgarian, Greek, Aromanian and Romanian.

    For example, the word "ripen" (as in fruit) is constructed in Albanian, Romanian and (rarely) in Greek (piqem, a (se) coace, ????µa?) by a derivation from the word "to bake" (pjek, a coace, ????).

    Another example is the wish "(Ø/to/for) many years":

    LanguageExpressionTransliteration
    Greek(medieval)e?? ?t? p????is eti polla
    (modern)?????a p????khronia polla
    Latinad multos annos
    Aromanianti multsã-anj
    Romanianla multi ani
    Albanianpër shumë vjet
    Bulgarian?? ????? ??????za mnogo godini
    Macedonian?? ????? ??????za mnogu godini


    Idiomatic expressions for "whether one or not" are formed as "-not-".

    Languageexpressionmeaning
    Bulgarian?? - ?? ??"whether one wants or not"
    Greek???e? de ???e?"whether one wants or not"
    Romanianvrea nu vrea"whether one wants or not"
    Turkishister istemez"whether one wants or not"
    SerbianHteo- ne hteo/???? - ?? ????"whether one wants or not"
    Albaniandeshti - nuk deshti"whether one wants or not"
    Macedonian????? - ?? ????? / ?????"whether one wants or not"
    Aromaniani vrei - i nu vrei"whether one wants or not"

    Phonetics

    The main phonological features consist of:
    • the presence of an unrounded central vowel, either a mid-central schwaSchwa

      In linguistics, specifically phonetics and phonology, schwa can mean:...
        or a high central vowel phoneme
      • ë in Albanian; ? in Bulgarian; a in Romanian; ` in Macedonian; ã in Aromanian
      • In Romanian and Albanian, the schwa is obtained via centralizing unstressed
        • Example: Latin camisia "shirt" > Romanian camasa , Albanian këmishë )
      • The schwa phoneme occurs in most dialects of the Macedonian languageMacedonian language

        The Macedonian language is a language in the Eastern group of South Slavic languages and is the official language of the Re...
        , even in some cases in the western-central dialects, on which the standard is based (??`???, ?`????, ?`???? etc.)
    • some kind of vowel harmony in stressed syllables with differing patterns depending on the language.
      • Romanian: a mid-back vowel ends in a low glide before a nonhigh vowel in the following syllable
      • Albanian and Bulgarian: back vowels are fronted before i in the following syllable.


    This feature also occurs in Greek, but it is lacking in some of the other Balkan languages; the central vowel is found in Romanian, Bulgarian, some dialects of Albanian, Macedonian and Serbian but not in Greek or Standard Macedonian.

    Less widespread features are confined largely to either Romanian or Albanian, or both:
    • frequent loss of l before i in Albanian, Romanian, and some Romani dialects
    • the alternationAlternation (linguistics)

      In linguistics, Alternation is when a set of morphosyntactic properties is phonologically expressed in two or more different...
       between n and r in Albanian and Romanian
    • change from l to r in Romanian, Greek, Albanian, and very rarely in Bulgarian
    • the raising of o to u in unstressed syllables in Bulgarian, Romanian, Albanian and Northern Greek dialects.
    • change from ea to e before i in Bulgarian and Romanian.

    See also

    • Paleo-Balkan languagesPaleo-Balkan languages

      The Paleo-Balkan languages were the Indo-European languages which were spoken in the Balkans in ancient times:...
    • Balkan languagesBalkan languages

      This is a list of languages spoken in the Balkans....
    • Greek grammarGreek grammar

      General characteristics...
    • Bulgarian grammarBulgarian grammar

      Bulgarian grammar is the grammar of the Bulgarian language....
    • Macedonian grammarMacedonian grammar

      Macedonian grammar refers to the morphology and syntax of the Macedonian language which is, in many respects, similar to the...



    r to the...