Reflexivity and middleness in English and Serbian (a contrastive study)

Abstract

Reflexivity and middleness in English and Serbian (a contrastive study) is a project that examines the way in which the idea of reflexivity and middleness has been grammatically encoded in English (E) and Serbian (S), using the method of contrastive analysis. This attempt to put a more precise borderline around the scope of the two phenomena has taken into consideration an important semantic property of the middle, known as the relative elaboration of events, which “is the parameter along which the reflexive and the middle can be situated as semantic categories intermediate in transitivity between one-participant and two-participant events, and which in addition differentiates reflexive and middle form one another” (Kemmer, 1994: 181). Another main theoretical standpoint, following Manney (2000), reiterates that middleness is notionally characterized either by a non-initiative emotional response or a spontaneous change of state, and thus is clearly distinguishable from prototypical reflexivity, invoking a scene “in which an individual acts on itself, intentionally or otherwise” (Manney 2000: 214). We have re-examined the ways of grammatical encoding of the notions of middleness and reflexivity, taking their prototypical representation as the platform of reference, or the tertium comparationis. Following the results of the analyses done so far, we have proposed ten different functions of the morpheme se in S, only five out of which belong to the reflexive semantic domain, while two of them are middle sensu stricto. Other functions, embraced by middle semantics, include passive, impersonal and modal uses. Then we have observed their E equivalents, which included some reflexiva tantum forms, passives, intransitives, some idiomatic forms, etc. Finally, we have briefly pointed out the most outstanding similarities and differences that E and S exhibit as regards this intriguing linguistic topic, concluding that further research within the proposed framework can yield contrastively valuable results that can be further applied to a variety of study fields.

Refleksivnost i medijalnost u engleskom i srpskom jeziku (kontrastivna studija) je rad koji ispituje način gramatičkog enkodiranja koncepta refleksivnosti i medijalnosti u engleskom (E) i srpskom (S) jeziku metodom kontrastivne analize. Ovaj pokušaj da se utvrdi jasnija granica domena ova dva fenomena uzima u obzir vazno semantičko svojstvo medijalnosti, poznato kao relativna razrada dogadjaja, što “je parametar u okviru kog se refleksiv i medijal mogu postaviti kao semantičke kategorije srednjeg stepena prelaznosti, izmedju dogadjaja sa jednim učesnikom i dogadjaja sa dva učesnika, što takodje dodatno odvaja refleksiv i medijal jedan od drugog” (Kemmer 1994: 181). Drugo značajno teorijsko stanovište, koji zastupa Manney (2000), naglašava da medijalnost konceptualno karakteriše ili neizazvani emotivni odgovor ili spontana promena stanja, čime se jasno odvaja od prototipske refleksivnosti, koja stvara sliku “subjekta koji deluje na sebe, voljno ili nevoljno” (Manney 2000: 214). Preispitali smo način gramatičkog enkodiranja koncepta refleksivnosti i medijalnosti, uzimajući njihovu prototipsku predstavu kao tertium comparationis, odnosno ono zajedničko obeležje prema kom se poredjenje vrši. Sledeći rezultate do sada obavljenih analiza, predložili smo deset različitih funkcija morfeme se u S jeziku, od kojih samo pet pripada refleksivnom semantičkom domenu, dok su dve medijalne sensu stricto. Ostale funkcije, obuhvaćene medijalnom semantikom, uključuju pasivne, bezlične i modalne upotrebe. Zatim smo ispitali njihove prevodne ekvivalente u E jeziku, koji su uključili neke oblike reflexiva tantum, pasivne i neprelazne oblike, neke idiomatske izraze, itd. Konačno, istakli smo najznačajnije sličnosti i razlike koje E i S pokazuju u pogledu ove zanimljive lingvističke teme, zaključujući da dalja istraživanja u okviru predloženog teorijskog okvira mogu da donesu kontrastivno značajne rezultate koji zatim mogu naći primenu u nizu različitih disciplina.