Relatiwne pronomeny w spisownej a wobchadnej hornjoserbšćinje
Relative Pronouns in Standard and Colloquial Upper Sorbian

Summary/Abstract: The article concentrates on attributive relative clauses introduced by the relative pronoun kotryž from kotry ‘which’; competing with the relative particle kiž. The third relativiser štóž from štó ‘who’; is restricted to animate reference in the singular and will be considered only marginally. The relative pronoun kotryž is fully inflected for case; number; and gender; whereas kiž is completely indeclinable. The article focuses on the different rules for their mutual replacement in the two Upper Sorbian varieties in question. Relevant factors are; among other things; the subgenders [+animate/human] and several syntactic functions like subject or direct-object position; the role of possessive pronouns and genitive objects. The prescriptive rules of standard Upper Sorbian are compared with the actual usage in the everyday vernacular; with the most evident difference being found in the distribution of kotryž and kiž. In addition; the colloquial usage of the special relativiser štož; derived from što ‘what’; is dealt with; by comparing it with the role of German was as a relative marker in the German regional variety.

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