METHODOLOGICAL PROBLEMS CONCERNING THE STUDY OF SYNTAX IN OLD CROATIAN GRAMMARS

Abstract

The paper discusses methodological starting points for the study of historical syntax. The study of historical syntax can be carried out in three directions: as the analysis of syntactic descriptions in Croatian grammars, as the analysis of syntax of texts written in standard Croatian from the Baška Stone Tablet to the present and as the analysis of syntactic features of the Croatian language including both the syntax of the Croatian standard language and the Croatian dialects.
This paper analyzes the first study direction, that is the analysis of syntactic descriptions in Croatian grammars from the first printed grammar by Bartol Kašic dated in 1604 to the present with emphasis on older Croatian linguistics.
Each of these three directions for the study of historical syntax is related to particular methodological problems. This paper will deal only with some methodological problems related to the first study direction. These are, e.g.: the making of a relevant list of Croatian grammars, relations between the influence of printed grammars and those in manuscript, different literary-linguistic concepts of Croatian grammars, normativity in older Croatian grammars, difference between former and present syntactic terms, etc.