Speaker Ghosting in Bulgarian Revisited: On the Scope of the Phenomenon and the Irreplaceability of Perfects with Renarratives Cover Image

Отново за нелегитимния говорещ в българския език: за обхвата на явлението и незаменяемостта на перфектите с ренаративи
Speaker Ghosting in Bulgarian Revisited: On the Scope of the Phenomenon and the Irreplaceability of Perfects with Renarratives

Author(s): Krasimir Kabakchiev
Subject(s): Language studies, Language and Literature Studies, Theoretical Linguistics, Applied Linguistics, Morphology, Syntax, Semantics, Descriptive linguistics, South Slavic Languages
Published by: Великотърновски университет „Св. св. Кирил и Методий”
Keywords: aorist/imperfect; perfect; preterit; renarrative; (non‑)cancelable; (non‑)witnessed; dubitative

Summary/Abstract: Apart from residing in renarratives proper predominantly, renarration as a semantic and grammatical value can be found in Bulgarian present perfect verb forms too. When a Bulgarian native speaker faces a choice between a present perfect and a preterit renarrative, the former is often replaceable by a renarrative. However, there are cases in which replaceability of perfects with renarratives is impossible. The reasons for this are analyzed and explained; a larger scope of the speaker ghosting phenomenon is revealed. The study facilitates some significant generalizations: (i) grammatical entities (categories, grammemes) arise due to structural dependences; (ii) as the perfect has no semantic content of its own and exercises structural functions, Slavic languages that appear not to feature perfects can actually be said to have perfects – under the guise of preterits.

  • Issue Year: 32/2023
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 76-88
  • Page Count: 13
  • Language: English, Bulgarian