The Syntax of Balto-Slavic
LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Baltų kalbos; Slavų kalbos; Sintaksė; Lyginamoji kalbotyra; Baltic languages; Slavic languages; Syntax; Comparative linguistics.
ENFrom the start of the discussion on Balto-Slavic unity, lists of common features testifying to close ties between the two branches have included syntactic and morphosyntactic features such as the predicative instrumental and the genitive of negation. Also from the start, opponents of the idea have pointed to areal links (e.g. to Finnic) as a factor contributing to parallel development in Baltic and Slavic. However strong the evidence of phonological and morphological convergences between Slavic and Baltic might be, we would probably prefer nowadays to see the syntactic convergences as a problem of areal rather than of historical-comparative linguistics. Areal isoglosses may also cut across the Balto-Slavic domain: Baltic shares a number of areal features with Finnic which oppose it to Slavic; and a number of characteristic Slavic features, such as the replacement of animate adnominal genitives with possessive adjectives, have no counterpart in Baltic. In what follows, I will briefly discuss a number of interesting convergences and divergences between the two branches, pointing out possible areal links, but without addressing the issue of Balto-Slavic “unity”, which should center around phonology, morphology, and the lexicon. [Extract, p. 2001]
- Lietuvių kalbos istorinė sintaksė / Vytautas Ambrazas. Vilnius : Lietuvių kalbos institutas, 2006. 612 p.
- On the marking of predicate nominals in Baltic / Axel Holvoet. Studies in Baltic and Indo-European linguistics : in honor of William R. Schmalstieg / edited by Philip Baldi, Pietro U. Dini. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2004. P. 75-90.
