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Distribution of Uncontracted and Contracted Imperfect Verbs in the 11th Century Russian Manuscript of the Sinaiskij Paterik

Myers, Elena K.

Abstract Details

2011, Master of Arts, Ohio State University, Slavic and East European Languages and Literatures.
The Sinaiskij Paterik, one of the oldest written documents in Old Russian literature , was translated from a 7th century Greek original. Scholars are divided on the topic of the place and time of translation of this document into Old East Slavic. The majority of linguists postulate that it was translated in Bulgaria in the 10th century while others believe that the Sinaiskij Paterik was translated in the 9th century by Saint Methodius, and yet others think that the translation took place in Old Rus' in the 11th century. The original text is known as Λειμωνάριον 'meadow', and represents a series of didactic stories about lives of monks. The fact that this is a translation does not mean an absence of variation in the Old Russian text. Indeed, the document contains different kinds of variation. One instance of such variation is the presence in the manuscript of both uncontracted and contracted imperfect forms. It is a very interesting phenomenon as the majority of the imperfects used in Old Russian documents represent a contracted variety, reflecting a process evident already in Old Church Slavonic. The objective of my research was to investigate the factors which might have possibly influenced the use of uncontracted forms in the document and to determine which factors, if any, had conditioned such use. My exhaustive analysis of all conceivable factors led me to conclude that only individual preferences of scribes and the length of words might have influenced the choice of uncontracted forms, whether in the translation or the copying process.
Brian Joseph, Dr. (Advisor)
Daniel Collins, Dr. (Committee Member)
Charles Gribble, Dr. (Committee Member)
35 p.

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Myers, E. K. (2011). Distribution of Uncontracted and Contracted Imperfect Verbs in the 11th Century Russian Manuscript of the Sinaiskij Paterik [Master's thesis, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1313674681

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Myers, Elena. Distribution of Uncontracted and Contracted Imperfect Verbs in the 11th Century Russian Manuscript of the Sinaiskij Paterik. 2011. Ohio State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1313674681.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Myers, Elena. "Distribution of Uncontracted and Contracted Imperfect Verbs in the 11th Century Russian Manuscript of the Sinaiskij Paterik." Master's thesis, Ohio State University, 2011. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1313674681

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)