Original scientific paper
THE SPEECH OF THE ISLAND OF VIR AND ITS LEXIS
Josip Galić
orcid.org/0000-0002-4416-9241
; University of Zadar
Josip Lisac
; University of Zadar
Abstract
This paper presents the basic characteristics of the speech of the island of Vir, namely, its phonological, morphological, syntactic, and especially lexical features. The findings of this research show the coexistence of Čakavian and Štokavian elements in the speech of Vir. At the phonological level, Čakavian elements are recognized in well preserved sounds f and x, in regular occurrences of sound ž where in the Neo-štokavian ikavian mostly appears ǯ and in well preserved older accent inventory and old accent placement. However, the amount of Štokavian elements is definitely not insignificant. Neo-štokavian influence is recognizable in accentual units of rising intonation, in regular alternation of front nasal with e and in Štokavian reflex of cluster *stj. At the morphological level elements which could be considered as Čakavian are the absence of apocope in the infinitive forms, the preservation of the morpheme -nu- in verbs belonging to II class and some archaic elements in noun inflection (for example, zero grammatical morpheme in Genitive plural). Nevertheless, the Štokavian influence in morphology is considerable; it is particularly evident in examples of extended plural forms which are not rare, in syncretism of Dative, Locative and Instrumental plural, in the usage of interrogative and relative pronoun što and in regular presence of ending -(j)a in active verbal adjectives.
In lexis, the Romance influence is considerable (montûra, kȁmara, famȉja), while the number of German loans (škȍditi) and lexemes of oriental origin (žȉgerica, ádet) is much lower. Numerous lexemes have been inherited from Proto-Slavic lexical inventory (nevȉsta, svȅkar, žȕk). Čakavian lexical units are well-attested (e.g. brižan 'jadan', mito 'plaća', živȉna 'stoka'), although lexemes typical for the Northernmost Čakavian areas are regularly absent in the speech of Vir. Examples of lexemes which connect Čakavian and Western Štokavian speeches are especially numerous (e.g. čȅšań, drȁga, kȕriti).
As a whole, the speech of Vir should be included among idioms of Čakavian dialects, particularly if we consider the fact that researchers frequently define as Čakavian some idioms which have less Čakavisms than the speech of Vir.
Keywords
Čakavian; phonology; lexis; morphology; syntax; Štokavian; Vir
Hrčak ID:
148412
URI
Publication date:
13.11.2015.
Visits: 3.008 *