On the accent of Croatian kako ‘how’ and related words


2022. №1, 40-58

Mate Kapović
University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia; mkapovic@ffzg.hr

Abstract:

The paper discusses the accent of kako ‘how’, tako ‘thus’, ovako ‘this way’, onako ‘that way’ and some other related words (like nikako ‘no way’, nekako ‘somehow’) primarily in Štokavian and Čakavian from a dialectological (including standard-dialect sources) and historical perspective (going back to Common Slavic). The alternation kȁko ‘how’ — kàko ̮ je < kakȍ ̮ je ‘how is’ is discussed in some detail.

Keywords
accent
Croatian
dialectology
pronouns
Proto-Slavic
South Slavic

For citation:

Kapović M. On the accent of Croatian kako ‘how’ and related words. Voprosy Jazykoznanija, 2022, 1: 40–58.

Acknowledgements:

I would like to thank Mislav Benić, David Mandić and Mikhail Oslon for their comments
on the first draft of this paper. I also owe immense gratitude to all the field researchers and linguist native speakers (all of them named in appropriate places) who have shared with me their data and knowledge of certain Štokavian and Čakavian local dialects, as well as to my informants for some dialects.