The decline of the infinitive in Bulgarian
ï"żThe change from infinitives to clausal constructions is a character- istic of languages of the Balkan area - Greek, Bulgarian and Macedonian, Roumanian and Aroumanian, Albanian - which distinguishes them from their Indo-Europeancognates,andfrommostotherlanguagesoftheworld. It is therefore, interesting both as an unusual linguistic development and as a probable instance of syntactic interaction between geographically con- tiguous languages. The thesis is an attempt to examine, in as much detail as the scanty historical records permit, how this change took place in Bulgarian, and to consider in the light of their evidence the relative merits of the various explanations which have been offered for the change, whether as aBulgariandevelopmentorasaBalkanphenomenon. Thus,althoughatten- tion is given mainly to Bulgarian, it is hoped that the conclusions may beinsomepartacontributiontoBalkanstudies. Itisalsohopedthat the body of factual material presented, which is drawn from published sources either not previously studied from this point of view or not studied so fully, may be of use to other investigations of the history of Bulgarian. Thefindingsareheldtoaddfreshevidencetothoseinthe most detailed work on the
MacRobert, Catherine Mary
Bulgarian language ; Infinitive
The decline of the infinitive in Bulgarian. ï"żThe change from infinitives to clausal constructions is a character- istic of languages of the Balkan area - Greek, Bulgarian and Macedonian, Roumanian and Aroumanian, Albanian - which distinguishes them from their Indo-Europeancognates,andfrommostotherlanguagesoftheworld. It is therefore, interesting both as an unusual linguistic development and as a probable instance of syntactic interaction between geographically con- tiguous languages. The thesis is an attempt to examine, in as much detail as the scanty historical records permit, how this change took place in Bulgarian, and to consider in the light of their evidence the relative merits of the various explanations which have been offered for the change, whether as aBulgariandevelopmentorasaBalkanphenomenon. Thus,althoughatten- tion is given mainly to Bulgarian, it is hoped that the conclusions may beinsomepartacontributiontoBalkanstudies. Itisalsohopedthat the body of factual material presented, which is drawn from published sources either not previously studied from this point of view or not studied so fully, may be of use to other investigations of the history of Bulgarian. Thefindingsareheldtoaddfreshevidencetothoseinthe most detailed work on the
decline infinitive bulgarian change clausal construction character language balkan area greek bulgarian macedonian distinguishes indo therefore interest unusual linguistic development probable instance syntactic interaction geographically con language attempt_examine much detail scanty historical_record permit change_take_place bulgarian consider_light evidence relative_merit various explanation_offer change whether thus give mainly bulgarian hop conclusion may body factual material present drawn publish_source either previously_study point_view study fully may_use investigation history bulgarian detailed work