On some neglected balkanisms in the Serbian verbal systems

Abstract

The author finds that one of the most prominent features of the so-called Balkan Sprachbund is the extended system of grammaticalized modal distinctions both in the episthemic and deontic functional zone. She then focuses on two tendencies characteristic of the Balkan Sprachbund which are also present in the Serbian verbal system: (1) the differentiation of the exponents of the predicate of negation depending on its function and position in the discourse, and (2) the tendency to transform the synsemantic, most often modal, verbs into indeclinable particles.