Publication details
The Distribution of (Non-)Syllabic Present Tense Forms of the Verb býti in the Second-Person Singular in Old Czech
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2023 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | Listy filologické |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Keywords | affix; clitic; clitic cluster; grammaticalization; Old Czech; present tense be |
| Description | The article follows previous works investigating Old Czech (en)clitics based on empirical language data. It focuses specifically on the 2sg present tense forms of býti “to be”, bearing lexical and grammatical functions in terms of their distribution in Old Czech texts from fourteenth and fifteenth century prose. The results confirm previous observations, that is, the enclitichood of the present tense “be” in the grammatical function. The study also demonstrates that the formal factor needs to be accounted for. Within the non-syllabic form of s, the form outplays the function as both grammatical and lexical verbs/auxiliaries are enclit- ic. Within the syllabic form of (j)si, however, only the grammatical aux- iliary is enclitic, whereas lexical (j)si is attested to in non-clitic contexts several times. The latter can thus be perceived as a non- or semi-clitic. Interestingly, none of the forms manifest affixal behaviour in Old Czech which contrasts with the contemporary Czech situation where non-syllabic s behaves, at least in some cases, as an affix. |
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