Description
Book SynopsisThe dual number in Slavic has always puzzled linguists. In some Slavic languages, such as Russian, there is no dual number; there are only two categories of number, singular and plural. However, some Slavic languages, such as Slovenian, have three distinct categories of number: singular (1); dual (2); and plural (3 or more). Considering that all Slavic languages have evolved from a common Proto Slavic language, it is puzzling that there is such a difference in the category of number. In The Evolution of the Slavic Dual: A Biolinguistic Perspective, Tatyana G. Slobodchikoff explains the evolution of the category of number in Slavic languages. With the aid of tools from biolinguistics, Slobodchikoff develops a new theory of morphosyntactic feature economy within the distributed morphology framework. This is the first study to use a biolinguistic approach to the evolution of Slavic languages. Using newly digitized corpora of Old East Slavic, Old Slovenian, and Old Sorbian manuscripts spa
Table of ContentsChapter 1: Introduction Chapter 2: The Problem of the Slavic Dual from a Diachronic Perspective Chapter 3: The Slavic Dual from a Typological Perspective Chapter 4: Derivation of the Slavic Dual in Distributed Morphology Chapter 5: The Slavic Dual and Number Theory Chapter 6: Morphosyntactic Feature Economy and Reanalysis Chapter 7: Conclusion Appendix A: Abbreviations Appendix B: Orthographical Systems and Transliteration Symbols
