On the semantics and discourse functions of the aorist and the pluperfect in Modern Serbian: A study of Milorad Pavić’s novel The Inner Side of the Wind


2022. №3, 14-53

Maria A. Egorova
Russian State University for the Humanities, Moscow, Russia; drajenka@gmail.com

Abstract:

The article deals with the semantics and discourse functions of the aorist and the pluperfect in the modern Serbian language. It considers the functioning of the aorist and the pluperfect in the system with the extended perfect. For the aorist, a bunch of meanings is proposed that includes both typologically trivial aoristic meaning and some less predictable meanings (new and / or unexpected event; event that has an actual result). For the pluperfect, the meaning of actual result in the past is claimed to be the most essential one. Among the discourse functions of the aorist and the pluperfect a so-called focusing function is claimed to be the crucial one — i.e., the function of marking the most salient events in the narrative.

Keywords
aorist
aspect
discourse
pluperfect
Serbian
Slavic
tense

For citation:

Egorova М. А. On the semantics and discourse functions of the aorist and the pluperfect in Modern Serbian: A study of Milorad Pavić’s novel The Inner Side of the Wind. Voprosy Jazykoznanija, 2022, 3: 14–53.

Acknowledgements:

The research was suppoted by Russian Science Foundation grant No. 22-18-00120 “Polypredication in signed and spoken languages: Grammar, prosody, discourse”. We are grateful to A. Rybakov, E. Shat’ko, M. Makartsev and T. Berger for print and digital materials they provided, to N. Sumbatova, V. Podlesskaya, M. Makartsev, N. Gordiychuk, the anonymous reviewers and the editors of Voprosy Jazykoznanija for their valuable remarks.