Antemurale innovationis: Clausal complementation in the Slovene Mura River (Prekmurje) dialect and its Balkan parallels

Abstract

The paper discusses the opposition between two complementizers/subordinators, da vs. ka, in Prekmurje Slovene. The forms were used up through the first half of the 20th century to distinguish between irrealis (da) and realis (ka) propositions. In the discussion the available evidence is examined in order to establish more precisely the conditions for the distribution of the two forms. In addition, the diachrony and diatopy of the forms are considered in both South Slavic and broader Slavic contexts.

Clausal complementation in South Slavic

“…The title of the present paper begins with a reference to issues that were raised in earlier papers by this author leading to this one (Greenberg 2011(Greenberg , 2019. Those papers discussed a distinction in subordinators in the Prekmurje dialect of Slovene distinguishing between what were referred to as "realis" ka and "irrealis" da, where the latter is the cognate form to the generalized subordinator da found in both standard Slovene and the Bosnian/Croatian/Montenegrin/Serbian (BCMS) standards.…”