The Grammaticalization of Numeral ‘One’ in Slavic: From Quantification to (Non-) Referentiality

Abstract

The article presents a corpus-based investigation of the distribution and interpretation of ‘one’ + N combination in six Slavic languages (Russian, Ukrainian, Czech, Serbian, Macedonian, and Bulgarian). The study aims at determining whether there is an ongoing process of grammaticalization of the numeral ‘one’ in Slavic, and, if so, at what stage of grammaticalization is each language situated in the synchrony. In order to categorize the relevant uses of ‘one’ a system of semantic annotation is devised. The results of the study show different degree of grammaticalization of ‘one’ in the languages under study, with Russian and Ukrainian being in the beginning of the path (with occasional referential uses attested), Czech and Serbian being in between (with a significant frequency of referential uses), and Bulgarian and Macedonian being the most advanced on the scale (with a few non-referential uses). None of the languages has a fully grammaticalized indefinite article.

Keywords

• grammaticalization
• indefinite article
• referentiality
• Slavic languages