Mutual Understanding among Albanians, Slavs and Aromanians in Prespa, North Macedonia: Perfect Tense as a Perfect Tool
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Anastasia L. Makarova
Abstract
This chapter1 deals with a polylingual community in the geographically isolated Prespa region in Republic of North Macedonia, where Macedonians, Albanians, Aromanians, Turks, and Romani have been living for several centuries. Based on the author’s intensive fieldwork on the three languages since 2012, the chapter presents in detail one segment of this system - the past tenses. Special emphasis is put on the “Balkan perfect tense” phenomenon, with special attention given to the three analytical forms that convey the perfect tense meaning in the Macedonian Prespa dialect. This is, in turn, set against the background of the analogous grammatical constructions in Albanian and Aromanian. Data obtained by questionnaires and dialectal texts produced by multilingual informants are provided and analysed showing that mutual contacts of Albanian, Macedonian, and Aromanian dialects (all members of the Balkan Sprachbund) have generated a convergent grammar system in which the identical set of grammatical meanings is expressed by means of isomorphic forms.
Abstract
This chapter1 deals with a polylingual community in the geographically isolated Prespa region in Republic of North Macedonia, where Macedonians, Albanians, Aromanians, Turks, and Romani have been living for several centuries. Based on the author’s intensive fieldwork on the three languages since 2012, the chapter presents in detail one segment of this system - the past tenses. Special emphasis is put on the “Balkan perfect tense” phenomenon, with special attention given to the three analytical forms that convey the perfect tense meaning in the Macedonian Prespa dialect. This is, in turn, set against the background of the analogous grammatical constructions in Albanian and Aromanian. Data obtained by questionnaires and dialectal texts produced by multilingual informants are provided and analysed showing that mutual contacts of Albanian, Macedonian, and Aromanian dialects (all members of the Balkan Sprachbund) have generated a convergent grammar system in which the identical set of grammatical meanings is expressed by means of isomorphic forms.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Editor’s Preface V
- Contents XI
- Contemporary Language Contacts in the Balkans: Situations and Outcomes 1
- Separation and Symbiosis between Slavs and Albanians as Continuum of Linguistic Contact Situations: New Challenges for New Data 27
- Mutual Understanding among Albanians, Slavs and Aromanians in Prespa, North Macedonia: Perfect Tense as a Perfect Tool 59
- “Balanced Language Contact” in Social Context: Velja Gorana in Southern Montenegro 89
- Symbiosis Suspectus: Palasa in Himara, Albania 135
- Minority within a Minority: Iabalcea and Carașova in Romania 157
- Evidence for Past Coexistence: Romance Stratum in Croatian Glagolitic Sources from Krk, Croatia 189
- Reconstructing Past Coexistence: Problems and Mysteries in the Multilingual History of Tsakonia, Greece 215
- Convergence and Failure to Converge in Relative Social Isolation: Balkan Judezmo 265
- Balkan Sprachbund Theory as a Research Paradigm 285
- Abbreviations 315
- Index of names 317
- Index of places 322
- Authors’ profiles 327
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Editor’s Preface V
- Contents XI
- Contemporary Language Contacts in the Balkans: Situations and Outcomes 1
- Separation and Symbiosis between Slavs and Albanians as Continuum of Linguistic Contact Situations: New Challenges for New Data 27
- Mutual Understanding among Albanians, Slavs and Aromanians in Prespa, North Macedonia: Perfect Tense as a Perfect Tool 59
- “Balanced Language Contact” in Social Context: Velja Gorana in Southern Montenegro 89
- Symbiosis Suspectus: Palasa in Himara, Albania 135
- Minority within a Minority: Iabalcea and Carașova in Romania 157
- Evidence for Past Coexistence: Romance Stratum in Croatian Glagolitic Sources from Krk, Croatia 189
- Reconstructing Past Coexistence: Problems and Mysteries in the Multilingual History of Tsakonia, Greece 215
- Convergence and Failure to Converge in Relative Social Isolation: Balkan Judezmo 265
- Balkan Sprachbund Theory as a Research Paradigm 285
- Abbreviations 315
- Index of names 317
- Index of places 322
- Authors’ profiles 327
