Slovene

A Comprehensive Grammar

Peter Herrity

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9781317594239
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Sprachen & Linguistik
• Subtopic: Sprachen

Slovene: A Comprehensive Grammar is the most complete reference guide to the contemporary language.

Key features of this new edition include: updated examples reflecting current usage, expanded discussions of particular areas of difficulty, a brief history of the language, dialects and register, clear distinction between written and spoken usage, new tables and charts for quick reference.

The Grammar provides a jargon-free and systematic description of all parts of speech promoting an in-depth understanding of the Slovene language.

Slovene: A Comprehensive Grammar is a key resource for linguists and students of Slovene at intermediate and advanced levels.

Appendix 1
The social variants of Slovene

As a result of the artificial nature of the Slovene standard language as described in the Introduction to this grammar, modern Slovene is usually characterised in four ways. These are:

• (i) The standard language
• (ii) The colloquial standard language (which exhibits some regional variation)
• (iii) The regional colloquial languages and urban vernaculars (Pokrajinski pogovorni jeziki)
• (iv) The local dialects

All the above mentioned are not discrete forms or clearly differentiated entities but instead form a continuum, and the interaction between the different varieties can be complex. Individual speakers command different ranges of these varieties. Educated Slovenes use the standard language in most forms of writing, in public speech, in the media and on formal occasions. It is the target language of basic public education. Most educated speakers, however,

use the colloquial standard when speaking in less formal circumstances to other educated speakers. In the presence of less educated speakers they may well use a regional koine or their own dialect or even a mixture of the varieties depending on the situation and those present.

1. The colloquial standard language

The main features of the colloquial standard (of the Ljubljana region) are:

• 1. The use of the short infinitive, e.g.
  • délat ‘to do’; núdit ‘to offer’; rêč(t) ‘to say’; nôsit ‘to carry’; pêljat ‘to take, drive’; govôrt ‘to speak’; hôdət ‘to go’; prnêst ‘to bring’

Note: The stress is on the same syllable as that in the masculine -l participle.

• 2. The loss of final -i in the plural forms of the -l participle when the final -l is pronounced as -l, e.g.
  • bomo vídel ‘we will see’; smo naprávil ‘we made’; smo odštéval ‘we subtracted’ (but only smo blí ‘we were’; bomo šlì ‘we will go’)
• 3. The pronunciation of lj and nj as l and n
  • kluč, grable, Lublána, izklúčla, svínski, níva, kníga, pól < kljúč ‘key’; gráblje ‘rake’; Ljubljána; izkljúčila ‘turned off (f.)’; svinjski ‘pork; filthy’; njíva ‘field’; knjíga ‘book’; pólj ‘field (gen. plur.)’

Note: If lj or nj occur at the start of a suffix they do not change to l, n, e.g. bívolji ‘buffalo (adj.)’; s soljó ‘with salt’; petelínji ‘cockerel (adj.)’; s stranjó ‘with the side’.

• 4. The pronunciation of the unstressed ending of the masculine singular participle in -el, -il, -rl as -u, e.g.
  • reku, vidu, mislu, vedu, nosu, dvígnu, uməru ‘he said, saw, thought, knew, carried, raised, died’
• 5. The loss of vowels (i, o, e) in verbs, nouns, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions and pronouns, e.g.
  • nês, nêste < nêsi, nesíte; vzêm, vzêmte < vzêmi, vzemíte (second persons singular and plural imperative of nêsti ‘to carry’; vzéti ‘to take’)
  • híšca < híšica ‘small house’; vílce < vílice ‘fork’; člouk < člôvek ‘man’; ˆ gledáuc < gledálec ‘spectator’
  • ˆ na míz < na mízi ‘on the table’; k híš < k híši ‘to the house’
  • mlék < mléko ‘milk’; nôu? mést < nôvo mésto ‘a new town’
  • visòk ôkn < visòko ôkno ‘high window’
  • gôr < gôri ‘up, above’; dôl < dôli ‘down, below’
  • nobênga, čŕnga, jásnga, nôuga, oprávljenga, drúzga, tázga, < nobênega, čŕnega, jásnega, nôvega, ˆ oprávljenega, drúgega, tákega (m./n. gen. sing. of the adjectives ‘no/none’, ‘black’, ‘clear’ and ‘new’; the past part. passive ‘done’; the ordinal numeral ‘other/second’; and the demonstrative pronoun ‘such’). In the latter two examples there is also dissimilation, i.e. -gg-/-kg- > -zg-.
  • ponižvánje < poniževánje ‘humiliation’; potvánje < potovánje ‘journey’
  • pozábla < pozabíla ‘forgot (f.)’; čútla < čutíla ‘felt (f.)’; blà, blò, blí < bilà, bilò, bilí ‘was (f.), was (n.), were’
  • vídte < vídite ‘you see’; vídmo < vídimo ‘we see’; mótte se < mótite se ‘you are mistaken’; hóčmo nočmo < hóčemo nóčemo ‘whether we want to or not’
  • snóč < sinóči ‘last night’; jútr < jútri ‘tomorrow’
  • tíst mlád fànt < tísti mládi fànt ‘that young boy’; s tém lépim stávbam < s témi lépimi stávbami ‘with these beautiful buildings’; za gôram < za gôrami ‘behind/beyond the mountains’
  • mên, têb, z nám < mêni, têbi, z námi ‘to me, to you, with us’
  • mám, mámo < imám, imámo ‘I have, we have’
  • al < ali ‘do/are (introduces question)’; tud < tudi ‘also’; zarad < zaradi ‘because of’; skoz < skozi ‘through’; kólko < kóliko ‘how much/ many’; nàjrájš < nàjrájši ‘prefer/best (with verb)’; dôst < dôsti ‘enough’
• 6. The pronunciation of short stressed a, i, u as ə (schwa) in monosyllabic words, e.g.
  • nəč < nìč ‘nothing’; fənt < fànt ‘boy’; kəp < kùp ‘pile’; krəh < krùh ‘bread’; sət < sìt ‘sated’
• 7. Unstressed i in the first person singular of second conjugation verbs is reduced to schwa ə, e.g.
  • prósəm < prósim ‘please, pardon’; nósəm < nósim ‘I carry’
• 8. Final -aj > -ej or -i in adverbs and imperatives, e.g.
  • zméri/zmérej < zméraj ‘always’; zdèj < zdàj ‘now’; pomági/pomágej < pomágaj ‘help’
• 9. Short a before u (written -àl, -àv) becomes o, e.g.
  • ˆ pròu < pràv ‘right, tru...