O jeziku povelja i pisama despota Đurđa Brankovića sa aspekta istorijske dijalektologije

Abstract

This paper takes the stance of historical dialectology of the Serbian language to examine the most important linguistic features of the charters and letters of Despot Đurađ Branković. The re search includes a total of seventeen documents written between 1405 and 1452. The basic aims of the research were concerned with: (a) determining the dialectal basis for the language of the said documents; and (b) singling out those linguistic features of the said documents that refer to the dia lectal differentiation on the territory of the medieval Despotate. The most important results of the research include: (a) the language of the investigated char ters and letters is based on the southeast Serbian dialects (KosovoResava and PrizrenJužna Morava); (b) some examples of phonetic and phonological changes characteristic of the second stage of the development of Serbian vocalism (14th and 15th centuries) were found in several charters by Despot Đurađ (/ə/>/a/ in the charter of lady Mara and her sons to Dubrovnik (1405); vocalic /l/>/u/ in the charter of Despot Đurađ to Dubrovnik (1428) and in the charter of Despot Đurađ to the great leader Radič (1428–1429)) represent the oldest examples of these changes in the Serbian charters from south and east Štokavian regions; (c) besides the said phonetic and phonological changes, the differentiation of KosovoResava and PrizrenJužna Morava dialects in this period is also seen in the Ekavian pronunciation of certain morphonological categories (dative/locative singular nouns, instrumental singular and genitive/instrumental plural pronouns and adjectives), as well as the pres ence of the infinitive without the final –i.; (d) the conclusion of Pavle Ivić regarding the maintenance of untransferred accents and the old system of vowel lengths in the language of the scribes of the Esphigmenou charter of Despot Đurađ can be applied to the language of scribes of several other charters where the accentuation marks (oxia, regular varia and double varia (kendema)) are used more regularly.