Contenu du sommaire : La syntaxe des numéraux dans les langues slaves

The New Syntax of Numerals Higher Than ‘ 5'in Old Church Slavonic (OCS) In the new syntactic pattern of numerals higher than ‘ 5', the quantified noun agrees with the numeral, instead of being a complement in the Genitive plural. The new pattern is limited to oblique cases, and the majority of instances in OCS are found in prepositional phrases. This leads to the following hypothesis : in prepositional phrases with prepositions governing the Genitive case, the quantified noun in the Genitive, governed by the numeral, was reanalyzed as governed by the preposition, and promoted to the status of head of the numeral phrase, the numeral becoming a modifier, as is the case for smaller numerals from ‘ 1'to ‘ 4'. The extension to non prepositional oblique cases seems to be secondary. The immediate model, however, are not the smaller numerals, but the quantifiers of indefinite quantity such as koliko, which are characterized by a structural opposition between [ Quant. NGen.] in the direct cases, the quantifier being the head, and [ Quant. x Nx] in the oblique cases, where the quantified noun is the head and the quantifier an agreeing modifier. This structural opposition is old, and probably inherited for this type of non numeral quantifiers, it is found also in Latin (Nom. Acc. quantum argenti, but Abl. quanto argento, with determiner quantus agreeing with the head argento : the quantified noun argenti, which is a modifier in the direct cases, is promoted to the status of head of the noun phrase in the oblique cases). The coexistence of two syntactic patterns for the quantifiers of indefinite quantity, in Slavic or in Latin, is justified from the semantic point of view, it is used to differenciate the function of evaluation (‘ how big ?') and the function of quantification (‘ how many / how much ?') of the same morphemes quantus/ quantum, kolikъ/ koliko. The numerals higher than ‘ 5'borrowed this model through reanalysis in prepositional phrases : for numerals this syntactic duality is not meaningful, it merely reproduces that of the model. It is not necessary to assume with Žolobov 2006 that complex numerals such as ‘ 20', ‘ 30' played a role in the extension of the new syntactic pattern.

On the Genesis of Numerals as an Independent Part of Speech in Old Russian Language (On the Material of “ Sinai Patericon”) The aim of this work is to examine the system of the concord of the numerals in “ Sinai Patericon”, a manuscript copied from an Old Slavic manuscript in Old Russian language area in the 11-12th centuries. The author is mainly searching the phenomena, which can give information about the conditions of the genesis of a new independent part of speech, in our case that of the numerals. The author presents the types of concord of the numerals with the words which belong to them and pays attention to the phenomena which can be connected with the unification of the several types of concord of the numerals. The types of relations between the components of combined numerals are also examined.

Numerals in BCMS (Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian) Language Norm and Usage, Concurrent Forms and Speakers' Strategies The paper deals with conflicts between norm and usage for BCMS numerals, which present difficulties not only for learners of BCMS, but also for native speakers. The four standard languages may accept several constructions, sometimes with semantic or stylistic differences, whereas the norm rejects some other constructions, although used by native speakers. Dialectal usage and regional differences make the situation even more complicated. The choice of the numeral depends on the noun following it : neuter singular collective numerals or cardinal numerals for mixed (male and female) groups and collective nouns ; adjectival collective numerals, cardinal numerals or neuter singular collective numerals for pluralia tantum and nouns denoting things which occur in pairs (the noun pair may be used too, and also for pluralia tantum such as pantalone ‘ trousers', makaze ‘ scissors'…) ; numeral nouns ending in -ica, cardinal numerals or neuter singular collective numerals for groups of men. The declension of numerals is on the decline in modern language, hence concurrent declined (elevated, somewhat archaic) forms and not declined (more colloquial) forms, and analytical constructions (sa tri prsta ‘ with three fingers') in BCMS syncretical language. Some sentences (like ‘ She gave money to her seven children') cannot be translated word for word into BCMS.

The Use of the Conjunction i ‘ and' in the Formation of Compound Numerals Functioning as Determiners in Bosnian, Montenegrin, Croatian and Serbian (BCMS) The paper deals with the evolution of the use of the conjunction i ‘ and' in the expression of compound numerals functioning as determiners (cardinal and collective numerals ; nominal numerals in -ica, derived from collective numerals and adjectival numerals). The author gives the historical and dialectological overview without which the state of the current written and oral languages cannot be judged. He also pays particular attention to the (few) views concerning that issue contained in language textbooks. One of the conclusions of the paper is that those views generally do not coincide with usage in modern languages.

So Called ‘ Partitive' Indefinite Numerals in Polish The article deals with the morphology, syntax and semantics of so called ‘ partitive' indefinite numerals in Polish, i. e., mainly numerals of the DUŻO-type (‘ much') and of the TYLE-type (‘ so many / so much'). In order to account for the behaviour of these numerals in combination with verbs governing the genitive, it seems necessary to distinguish two different values, traditionally labelled as the genitive, i. e., two ‘ subcases' of the Polish genitive, and two different series of lexemes, partially homonymic, TYLE1-type and TYLE2-type. Only the latter consists of semantically partitive numerals.

Metainformative Structure of the Utterance and Choice of the Form of the Adjective after dva, tri and četyre. Used in Subject Position in Modern Literary Russian Among the numerous morphosyntactic problems posed by numerals in Modern Literary Russian, the choice between the nominative plural and the genitive plural for the form of the adjective after dva, tri and četyre in subject position is particularly intriguing. The purpose of this paper is to show that the competition between these two forms, which can hardly be satisfactorily justified from a pure synchronical point of view, can easily be explained historically by the confusion of two syntactic constructions (Exali dva donskie kazaka vs. [ Kazakov] exalo dva donskix kazaka), once clearly distinct and used for different pragmatic purposes.

Translation, Paraphrase and Metrics in Old Church Slavonic Kontakia II. Textual Critisism and Reconstruction The second part of the article is dedicated to the reconstruction of the earliest Old Bulgarian versions of the Kontakia for Christmas (24th of December), Theophany (7th of January) and St. Helena (21st of May). In the introductionary stanzas of these Kontakia, we discover the first occurrence of the syllabic meter, which almost perfectly fits that of the Byzantine original texts. (The syllabic meter in the Slavonic version of the Christmas Kontakion was for the first time revealed by F. Keller, however, the investigation of the previously neglected South Slavonic sources made it possible to specify certain points of his reconstruction.) Linguistic pecularities and translation technique as observed in the early Slavonic versions of these chants lead us to the conclusion that they were composed in the First Bulgarian Kingdom at the end of the 9th – beginning of the 10th century.