The Basic Syntactic Characteristics of Konavle Local Dialects

Abstract

This scientific paper synchronically presents the basic syntactic characteristics of the Konavle local dialects, which belong to the Western Neoštokavian Ijekavian dialect, specifically the Eastern Herzegovinian dialect. The basic syntactic characteristics of the Konavle local dialects were derived from the field research conducted from January 2019 to November 2021 in seven Konavle parishes. The material was created primarily through guided interviews based on the questionnaire for the Croatian Dialectological Atlas of the Institute of Croatian Language and Linguistics along with direct verification of certain syntactic categories. In the field research, the target group of informants were speakers from the older generation, specifically speakers of the Konavle dialects above the age of 65 who had spent minimal time outside of Konavle. Due to the strengthening of external influences, the syntactic characteristics were also compared with the only existing description of the Konavle local dialects Govor Konavala written almost forty years ago by Zorka Kašić. Following the description of the research methodology and previous studies on the Konavle dialect, the paper presents a syntactic analysis consisting of congruence, verb syntax, case syntax, and syntactic constructions involving adjectives, prepositions, and interrogative sentences. In comparison with the syntactic description by Zorka Kašić, this work provides the first description of congruence, the passive voice, and the perfect tense without the auxiliary verb bit (“to be”). It also highlights syntactic particularities of adjectives, interrogative sentences, and prepositions. The analysis of the case syntax and the expression of possession has been expanded, and the description of prepositional phrases such as u masline (“to olive trees”) has been revised.