Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.17234/Croatica.66.1
ON THE SO-CALLED “DISJUNCTIVE CORRELATIVE” ŠTO
Branimir Belaj
orcid.org/0000-0002-2334-9673
; Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, Osijek, Croatia
Abstract
Using a cognitive linguistic approach, this paper discusses the categorial status and the function of the form "što" in the construction type exemplified in "Na trgu se okupilo mnogo ljudi, što mladih što starih" (‘Many people gathered in the square both young and old’). Croatian grammars and papers discussing various functions of "što", (e.g. Pranjković 2013: 238–246) either fail to recognize this construction altogether or gloss over it without providing an in-depth treatment (e.g. Raguž 1997: 69). In contrast, dictionaries of Croatian (e.g. Šonje 2000, Anić 2003: 1552, Veliki rječnik hrvatskoga standardnog jezika 2003: 1529) and other related languages (e.g. Rečnik srpskoga jezika, 2007: 1555), tag the "što" form as a rule as a disjunctive correlative or disjunctive conjunction comparable in meaning to the conjunction "ili... ili" (‘either … or’) or "bilo... bilo" (‘whether/be it … or’). In this paper we submit arguments against treating "što" in the construction at hand as either a correlative (at least a prototypical one) or a disjunctive conjunction. We hold to this argument even when što alternates with prototypical disjunctive conjunctions like e.g. in constructions of the type "Dolazio je svakoga tjedna, što subotom što nedjeljom" (‘He would come every week, whether/be it on Saturdays or on Sundays’). The latter type of examples raises intriguing questions about the relationship between disjunctiveness and copulativity. We also present evidence that, when it has the function concerned, "što" sits categorially between two, or – arguably (on account of its obligatory duplication) – between three, word classes, which makes it a prime example of categorial indeterminacy in Croatian.
Keywords
adverb; conjunction; particle; copulative conjunction; disjunctive conjunction; correlative
Hrčak ID:
287110
URI
Publication date:
13.12.2022.
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