Složenice u staroengleskom i srednjoengleskom periodu

Abstract

Ovaj rad se bavi dijahronim aspektom proučavanja morfološkog procesa kompozicije u engleskom jeziku. Proučavanje složenica u ovoj disertaciji oslanja se na podatke dobijene na osnovu poređenja dva sukcesivna stanja jezika. Istraživanje se zasniva na analizi složenica koje pripadaju staroengleskim i srednjoengleskim tekstovima Helsinškog korpusa, relevantnog i reprezentativnog izvora, koji datiraju od 750. do 1500. godine, i sadrže preko milion reči. Ova doktorska disertacija za cilj ima da opiše i objasni proces nastajanja složenica u staroengleskom i srednjoengleskom periodu, razvojne tokove i promene koje su se odigrale tokom perioda od 750 godina, i da istraži značaj procesa kompozicije na razvoj rečnika oba jezička perioda. Broj analiziranih složenica pronađenih u tekstovima dijahronog dela Korpusa iznosi preko 3.550, od kojih više od četiri petine pripada tekstovima staroengleskog perioda. Složenice su klasifikovane prema vrsti reči kojoj pripadaju (složene imenice, pridevi, glagoli, prilozi, predlozi, zamenice, brojevi i veznici), a unutar ove podele složenice su opisane po tipovima na osnovu klase reči kojoj pripadaju sastavni elementi. Pored morfološkog kriterijuma, za opis složenica koristili smo i fonološke, semantičke i sintaksičke karakteristike konstitutivnih elemenata i celih složenica. Razvojni tokovi tipova složenica od staroengleskog do srednjoengleskog perioda opisani su i objašnjeni na nekoliko nivoa: tipovi složenica koji su nasleđeni, strukture koje su iščezle iz jezika, i potpuno novi obrasci za građenje složenih oblika u srednjoengleskom periodu. U proučavanju fenomena jezičke promene najveći izazov predstavljaju primeri koji ilustruju suptilne i teško uhvatljive promene, i stoga je posebna pažnja posvećena onim složenicama i obrascima koje su pretrpeli promene na različitim nivoima jezičke strukture. Pored lingvistički uslovljenih promena strukture i funkcije složenica, ovaj rad se bavi i uticajima sociopolitičkih prilika i jezičkih kontakata na proces kompozicije tokom razvoja engleskog jezika. Istraživanje pokazuje da je proces kompozicije znatno oslabio u srednjoengleskom periodu, ali da se smanjena produktivnost odnosi na otvorenu klasu reči, dok je zabeležen veći broj složenih oblika u drugim vrstama reči, kao što su prilozi, predlozi, zamenice i uzvici. Razlog smanjene produktivnosti možemo naći u stranom uticaju, posebno francuskom nakon normanskog osvajanja, koji ipak nije uspeo da promeni dominantu unutrašnju strukturu složenica, koja ima izrazito germanski karakter.

This work deals with the diachronic study of the morphological process of compounding in the English language. The study of compounding in this dissertation relies on the data obtained from the comparison of two successive stages of the language. The research is based on the analysis of compounds belonging to the Old and Middle English texts of Helsinki Corpus, a relevant and representative source, which dates back from 750 to 1500, and contains over a million words. The aim of this dissertation is to describe and explain the process of compounding in Old and Middle English, the development courses and changes which happened within the period of 750 years, but also to study the importance of compounding and its impact on the development of the lexicon of these two language periods. The number of analysed compounds found in the Corpus amounts to more than 3,550, of which more than four fifths belongs to the texts of the Old English period. Compounds are classified on the basis of parts of speech they belong to (compound nouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, prepositions, pronouns, numbers and conjunctions), and, further described into types according to the word classes of their constituent elements. Apart from the morphological criterion, phonological, semantic and syntactic characteristics are also used for the purpose of providing a more comprehensive description. The developmental courses of Old and Middle English compound types are described and explained at several levels: compound types inherited from Old English; structures which were lost from the language; and completely new patterns for the formation of compound forms in Middle English. The examples which illustrate subtle and evasive changes are the most challenging in the area of the study of language change phenomenon. Therefore, in the analysis of compounds, special emphasis was placed on those examples which went through changes at different linguistic levels, so that their original compound status was obscured and lost. Apart from linguistically conditioned changes of the structure and function of compounds, this work also deals with the effect of socio-political circumstances and language contacts on the process of compounding throughout the history of the English language. This study shows that the process of compounding was considerably weakened in Middle English, but this reduced productivity refers to the open class, whereas compounding in other word classes, such as adverbs, prepositions, pronouns and conjunctions, was more productive compared to Old English. The reason for this productivity loss can be found in the foreign influence, especially the French one after the Norman Conquest. Nevertheless, this influence did not change the dominant inner structure of compounds, which had distinctly Germanic character.