What is it about?
This study explores how certain South Slavic languages and dialects—especially Macedonian – use the same verb for both actions like walk and walk a dog, a phenomenon called lability. While English has plenty of labile verbs like walk, this is much less common elsewhere in Europe. By analyzing 130 local dialects across the Balkans, we show that this verb flexibility is much more common in Macedonian than in other Slavic languages. The research uses a questionnaire to measure how often speakers use the same verb for both transitive and intransitive meanings, revealing clear geographic patterns.
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Why is it important?
This is the first study to quantify verb lability across South Slavic dialects. It shows that language contact – especially with Greek – may explain why Macedonian stands out. The tight sampling offers new insights into how languages change through interaction. Also, the speaker-driven data collection demonstrates how questionnaires can be effectively used in studying subtle linguistic phenomena requiring fine-grained information.
Perspectives
This was a long-term project that faced major disruptions during the Covid pandemic. My coauthor Maxim Makartsev did an extraordinary job coordinating data collection under difficult circumstances. We’re deeply grateful to everyone who helped gather data from across the Balkans!
Max Wahlström
University of Helsinki
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Lability in Balkan Slavic, Studies in Language, December 2024, John Benjamins,
DOI: 10.1075/sl.23062.mak.
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