МЕСНЕ РЕЧЕНИЦЕ У АДМИНИСТРАТИВНО-ПРАВНОМ СТИЛУ СРПСКОГА ЈЕЗИКА 19. ВЕКА

Abstract

In our research, we focused on the status of local clauses in the administrative-legal style of the Serbian language in the 19th century. We used constitutional texts from the 19th century and materials from the Collection of Laws, Regulations, and Regulatory Decrees as sources. Due to the often non-specific nature of the legal style, we observed a limited number of local sentences. The introduction to local sentences is often done with monolexemic pronominal adverbs such as “where,” “whither,” and “whence.” “Where” is the most commonly used pronominal adverb, but its semantic meaning is often unspecified. Additionally, significant interference with conditional meanings was noted. Conditional interpretation often depends on the use of prepositions, potentials, or the present tense, as well as the interchangeability of conditional conjunctions “if” and “in case.” In some cases, the subordinator “where” is used instead of the conjunction “if,” assuming a specific place and implying that the encoded situation will occur. Sentences with purely local meanings are less frequent, which may be explained by the non-specific nature of the administrative-legal style. Furthermore, the use of complex concessive conjunctions like “wherever” with habitual meanings was observed. The adverb “whither” is most commonly used in phraseologized and lexically limited expressions. Constructions with the meaning of adlativity introduced by conjunctions “whence” and “whereto” are least represented. Although these examples have a purely local meaning, they also participate in interference with locative-causal and locative-goal meanings.