THE BIPARTITE RECIPROCAL MARKER IN SERBIAN AND ITALIAN: NOVEL AGREEMENT PATTERNS
THE BIPARTITE RECIPROCAL MARKER IN SERBIAN AND ITALIAN: NOVEL AGREEMENT PATTERNS

Summary/Abstract: In this paper we discuss the emergence of novel agreement patterns of the bipartite reciprocal markers (BRM) jedan drugi (Serbian) and l’un(o) l’altro (Italian), both meaning ‘each other’. In Serbian, the most conclusive evidence of an ongoing change comes from novel case agreement patterns, where the first element of the BRM no longer agrees in case with the antecedent. For Italian, the absence of agreement on the first part (l’un) is understood to be a result of grammaticalization, accompanied by other symptoms such as semantic weakening. The major problems for this view are gender agreeing plural BRMs, and the fact that agreeing BRMs in general do not seem to be ‘less reciprocal’.

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