完了形と過去時制 : 古チャ方言テクストの用法に見る南スラヴ語の動詞体系の変化

Abstract

In this paper categorial meaning of the Perfect[PF] in the Old Čakavian literary language is examined. In contemporary Čakavian dialects, which are used in the Istria peninsula and northern part of Dalmatia, the aorist and the imperfect, i.e. old synthetic forms of S[imple]P[ast], are almost extinct. As in many Slavic idioms which have lost SP in their history, Čakavian uses PF as an alternative to SP to express the past time reference. In Čakavian as well as in other Slavic idioms, therefore, PF has been used both as a past tense marker and as a marker for the original perfect meaning. In the Old Čakavian literary language, a written variation of vernacular Čakavian dialect used in the Croatian medieval period, however, the said forms of SP were attested quite frequently. In our study, three Old Čakavian texts are analyzed to see how PF and SP are used and identify what the categorial features of PF are. Two of the selected texts, Žića svetih otaca (Vitae sanctorum patrum) and Dundolovo viđenje (Tundale's vision) are translated from Latin (the latter can be a text from Latin via Old Czech) and belong to the same genre of narrative literature. The third one is a Croatian original glagolitic law document, Istarski razvod (Istrian land division). All three texts have the same structure in that they are composed of narrative and dialogue parts. Our analysis found that the distribution of the verb forms in these parts is not equal. SPs are used for basic predication forms in narrative parts but rarely used in dialogues. Contrarily, PF is used almost exclusively in dialogues. If PF is used in narratives, it is because this form is required grammatically in order to express the relative past time. The grammatical meaning of PF is also examined by observing what kind of adverbial phrases co-occur with PF. These behavior tests appear to suggest that PF is used to express the past tense reference as well the original perfect. In conclusion it can be stated that in the Old Čakavian literary language SP and PF were both used for the past time reference and the difference between them consists in stylistic function: SP was used for narrative predication and PF was almost exclusively used in dialogues. This fact indicates that SP was favored in written forms, while PF was felt more convenient for speech.