Forms of the accusative case of the plural of nouns – the names of creatures  in the Ukrainian folk and literary language Cover Image

Форми знахідного відмінка множини іменників – назв істот в українській народній і літературній мові
Forms of the accusative case of the plural of nouns – the names of creatures in the Ukrainian folk and literary language

Author(s): Larysa Kolibaba
Subject(s): Customs / Folklore, Ukrainian Literature, Eastern Slavic Languages, Theory of Literature
Published by: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: Ukrainian literary language; Ukrainian folk language; noun; accusative case; nominative case; genitive case; the plural; names of creatures; person; unperson;

Summary/Abstract: The article investigates the regularities of the use of two forms of the accusative case of the plural of the nouns – the names of creatures in the Ukrainian folk and literary language. Special attention is paid to the form that coincides with the nominative case and is a typical feature of the folk language. The history of the entry of the form of the accusative case of the plural, common with the nominative case, into the system of inflection of nouns of the Ukrainian literary language is traced. The area of distribution of each of the forms of the accusative case of the plural is determined. The list of nouns – the names of unpersons, which in the accusative case of the plural have the form of the nominative case, is offered. The causes and consequences of the expulsing of the forms of the nominative case of the plural by the forms of the genitive case in nouns – the names of creatures in the modern Ukrainian literary language – are clarified. It is stated that valid morphological literary norm does not correspond to the grammatical traditions of the Ukrainian folk language, because the forms, common to the nominative case, predominate in the folk language, whereas the forms, identical to the genitive case, prevail in the literary standard.

  • Issue Year: 2021
  • Issue No: 9
  • Page Range: 19-37
  • Page Count: 19
  • Language: Ukrainian