Morphological Case System of the Vilamovicean Noun – From the 20th to the 21st Century Cover Image

Morphological Case System of the Vilamovicean Noun – From the 20th to the 21st Century
Morphological Case System of the Vilamovicean Noun – From the 20th to the 21st Century

Author(s): Alexander Andrason
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego
Keywords: Germanic languages; minority languages; Vilamovicean; nominal system; case

Summary/Abstract: The present paper provides a detailed analysis of the declensional morphology of the Vilamovicean nominal system. The author describes all the declensional patterns of masculine, feminine and neuter nouns that are available in this language in the 21st century, and compares them to the situation attested to before the period of the Second World War. The evidence demonstrates that the Vilamovicean declensional system of nouns has undergone certain important changes over the last 100 years. While the regular case marking has essentially been maintained, various novel by-forms have emerged and in some instances even substituted the respective old patterns. The majority of changes seem to affect masculine nouns, while the feminine and, especially, neuter substantives are less affected by morphological modifications. The author concludes that the modern variants found in the shape of plural and singular forms are imposed both by the gender of a noun and its phonetic properties.

  • Issue Year: 9/2014
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 1-19
  • Page Count: 19
  • Language: English