Дателен падеж за направление в среднобългарски и старочешки – безпредложна спрямо предложна употреба
Dative Case Expressing Direction in Middle Bulgarian and Old Czech Language: Non-Prepositional versus Prepositional Use

Summary/Abstract: The article is devoted to one of the semantic uses of the dative case – dative expressing direction in Middle Bulgarian and Old Czech – with particular emphasis on its non-prepositional use, regarded as more archaic, which is contrasted with prepositional usage. The study surveys selected interpretations of the meanings of the dative case as proposed in different case theories and classifications. The core of the comparison is based primarily on examples drawn from two fourteenth-century texts – the Tale of Troy and the Chronicle of the so-called Dalimil – supplemented by other relevant examples from historical grammars of the two languages. The main conclusions of the analysis are that (a) the use under consideration is better attested in Middle Bulgarian; and (b) in both languages a shift from non-prepositional to prepositional constructions can be observed, a process identified as one of the most significant developments in the Slavic languages, leading to a substantial reorganization of their syntactic systems.

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