Максим Макарцев » Публикация

Аннотация In the article the final sentences of the Bulgarian and Macedonian versions of the Dead Brother’s Song are analysed and the use of indirect evidentials in them is compared to that in the whole text. I argue that indirect evidentials can mark certain points in the text (the beginning, the joints between the parts of the text, the end) and direct evidentials are used for the rest of the text. This presumption uncovers a system where the authors of prescriptive grammars see only ‘a mixture’ of forms (cf. the comment in L. Andrejchin’s “Basic Bulgarian Grammar”: “In the folk songs the direct and indirect forms are often mixed”). To understand the meaning and the usage of the indirect evidential, the semantics and semiotics of the Song should be scrutinised. The Song is built on transitions (this world/the other world) and metamorphoses (the live become dead; the dead become alive), and the final sentence (e.g. Чи съ.refl живи фанъли.indirect Чи сь.refl мъртви пуснъли.indirect – Bulgarian, Roussensko; Живи ce.refl со маjка си загрнале.indirect, Мртви ce.refl одгрнале.indirect – Macedonian, Veles) focuses on the last transition and the last metamorphose. The meeting of the mother and the daughter on the threshold (the border between this and the other world) causes their death (the live become dead). Thus the final sentence which is semantically and structurally marked, is also marked grammatically and this is done with the help of indirect evidentials.