ON A PARALLEL IN THE USE OF SUBJUNCTIVE CONJUNCTIONS IN RUSSIAN AND BULGARIAN

 

IVAN G. ILIEV^*, LARRY KOROLOFF^**

 

 

Summary

 

This paper investigates the use of subjunctive conjunctions (ščо da, šо dа, sо dа, štoto da, ka da, koto da, oti da) in different Bulgarian dialects in Albania, Bulgaria, and Romania in the last two centuries and shows that such uses correspond to the Russian subjunctive conjunctions čtоby, daby, and kaby (used in Ukrainian and Belarussian too). Besides, the authors prove that the phenomenon is not an innovation in South-West Bulgarian dialects due to Albanian influence (as some Russian scholars think) and it is wide-spread over the Bulgarian language territory.

 

Key Words: Bulgarian language, Russian language, subjunctive conjunctions.

 

Introduction

 

In his article on the da-forms in the dialect of the Bulgarian village of Boboštitsa, Korča district, which is located on the territory of Albania, Maxim Makartsev^[1] , based on material by Andre Mazon^[2] and on personally collected examples, shows uses of the mentioned constructions, which in fact are forms of the subjunctive mood (in  voluntative and purpose clauses). It's about the constructions containing conjunctions of the type štо(tо) dа (in variants ščо da, šо dа, sо dа). Here are some of the examples shown by Makartsev, which he considers an innovation and attributes them to Albanian influence:

… vi dávam povél’a ščо da topčíte nat zmíe ‘Ja daju vam prikaz nastupat’ na zmej’ (= *čtоby nastupali na zmej) ‘English translation: Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents’ (literally: so that you could tread on serpents) Luke 10:19 (Example from Mazon);

Ami kóga da póstiš, da bándiš izmíen gláva i óbraz ščо da ne se poznávaš pret ljudíti óti postiš ‘No kogda postišsja, pust’ u tebja budut vymyty golova i litso, čtoby ljudi ne videli, čto ty postišsja’ ‘English translation: But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting’ Matthew 6: 17-18 (Example from Mazon);

Кélko mnógo rabóti d ímaš paténo, za pjet minúti vo telefón ímaš paténo vrjéme, šo da zbórviš … ‘Skol’ko by u tebja del ni bylo, čtoby pogovorit’ po telefonu pjat’ minut, u tebja vremja est’’. English translation: ‘No matter how much work you have to do, you have time to talk on the phone for five minutes (literally: so that you could talk for five minutes)’ (Example from Makartsev).

While the verb in the above examples is in the present tense, there are also examples in a relative context where the verb is in the imperfect:

… ne mjejme kordhele šo da odjejme vo daskala, ne miejme šo da jedjejme ‘U nas ne bylo obuvi, čtoby hodit’ v školu, u nas ne bylo čto est’ (= *čtoby eli). English translation: ‘We didn't have shoes to go (literally: so that we could go) to school, we didn't have what to eat (literally: we didn't have something so that we could eat)’ (Example from Makartsev).

In some cases што may be dropped:

Imam straj (šo) da ne panvi ‘Ja bojus’, kak by оn(а) nе upal(а)’ ‘I'm afraid that he (she) might fall/lest he (she) falls’ – Alb. Kam frikё (qё) tё mos bjerё (Example from Makartsev).

The phenomenon on which Makartsev dwells is neither new nor unnoticed so far in Bulgarian studies. Of particular importance is the fact that the Bulgarian ščо da corresponds to čtоby or kak by in Russian. Elsewhere, one of the co-authors of this article (Iv. Iliev), studying the Bulgarian subjunctive mood in diachronic perspective, drew attention to similar forms in the language of the Troyan Damaskin from the 17th century according to the publication of A. Ivanova^[3]:

… a sedma e zapovæd’ božia štoto da nе оukradneš’ … ‘And the seventh commandment is not to steal’;

… devetata e božia zapovæd’ štoto da nе skurviš’ …‘The ninth commandment is not to commit fornication’ and others;

Examples from contemporary Bulgarian authors were also shown:

Na tretoto zasedanie se reši, štoto v sledujuštoto zasedanieе da se izberat podkomisii za otdelni vâprosi Elin Pelin ‘At the third meeting, it was decided to select subcommittees on individual issues at the next meeting’ (= so that subcommittees should be elected).^[4]

Again disagreement was expressed^[5] with the opinion of Ljubomir Andrejčin^[6]that the use of the conjunction štoto (in practice štoto da ‘so that’), specifically in Ljuben Karavelov’s works (where the use of that conjunction is very commonly met) is under the influence of the Russian conjunction čtoby. Here is an example from Karavelov:

Nо v Avstro-Ungarija … bi želale, štoto „оpasnata bâčva” dа pukne, kolkoto se može pо-skoro ‘But in Austria-Hungary, [they] would like so that the "dangerous barrel" (= the Balkans) burst as soon as possible.’

So, on the one hand we have the opinion of Maxim Makartsev that the forms of the type štо(то) dа are an innovation in the southwestern Bulgarian dialects (where they logically are used without the extension tо), caused by Albanian influence, and on the other hand we have the opinion of Ljubomir Andrejčin that this is a loan from Russian.

As in many other cases, the truth is somewhere in the middle. The forms mentioned by Makartsev can be found all over the territory where the Bulgarian language is spoken, and Andreychin's statement cannot be true, specifically for the Bulgarian dialect of Boboštitsa. And not only for it, because later we will see that conjunctions of the type štоtо dа are spread throughout the Bulgarian language territory. It is a well-known fact that phenomena which do not occur in two closely related literary languages are often found in the dialects of those languages, whose literary norm ignores them. This is the case here, as well. In the Old Bulgarian dialects, along with the literary subjunctive conjunctions of the type of dа bi or jako dа^[7] there were probably subjunctive conjunctions of the type *č’to (bi) dа, similar to the Russian čtоb(y) or the Ukrainian štоb, from which traces are left in many Bulgarian dialects. Besides, the word order of the conjunctive elements in the examples often varies. For example:

Dâ slòžâ musâkà, štòtu dâ puistìne ‘Let me put moussaka (on a plate) so that it could cool’ Dunavtsi, Kazanlak district – Ganka Dragolova, born in 1946;

Mòž dâ nâpâlniš tàjâ kòfâ, dâ svâršim pò-bârzu štòtu ‘You can fill this bucket so that we can get (the work) done faster’ (From the same informant);

… dâ gu nâkàrâm (vnuka) štòt dâ čitè  ‘to make him (her grandson) read’ (From the same informant);

Às ìskâm štòt dâ uzdrâvèj (zâbât) ‘I want (my tooth) to get well’ (From the same informant);

Gòšо, âкu (Jоаna) ìskâ, da jâ vòdiš na ùlitsata, štòt dâ sâ kâpjâ! ‘Gosho, if Joanna wants, take her outside to play on the street so that I could take a bath’ Dunavtsi, Kazanlak district – Iskra Sivova, (around 40 years old);

Zimà gu (kučeto), štòtu dâ ni gù izdè ‘He pulled (the dog) so as not to eat (the meat)’ Svezhen, Karlovo district – Filip Babadžanov, (around 70 years old;

Šâ dòdâ dâ tâ ispràtâ, štòtu dâ zâkljùčâ pòrtâtâ ‘I’ll come and send you off so that I could close the gate’, Malomirovo, Elhovo district – Dimka Angelova (around 70 years old);

... tùrgâmi gu f klàd’ântsâ, štòtu pò-hlàdnu dâ sidì ‘We put it in the well so that it could stay colder’ Glavan, Harmanlii district – Rada Kraleva (born in 1932);

Along with the Russian čtоb(y), however, the conjunctions daby and kaby (from the older kak by) are also used in the same language. The latter in Belarusian is found as kab. In the same way as in the Russian-Ukrainian čtob(y)/štоb, in Bulgarian there are correspondences without a b-element, but with the element dа (ščо dа, šо dа, sо dа, štоtо dа, dа štoto), the Russian-Belarussian kаby/kаb also has correspondences in Bulgarian without b-, but with a dа-element (kаby – kа dа). We can find them in the archaic Bulgarian dialects on the territory of Romania, specifically in the Byala Slatina dialect:^[8]

Slès pо-nаdòlе pòpule, kа dа zèmeš kràvi pò-dobri ‘Go down into the field so that you could get better cows’;

… štе si nàseča dârva, šte si gi tùrâ nâ sùšinâ kа dа gi ìmam  ‘I will cut wood and put them dry to have them (= so that I could have them) (for the winter)’ and others;

A similar conjunction (kòtu dа ‘so that’) is used in the Bulgarian dialects in Bessarabia. For example, in Kholmskoye, Artsyz district (Ukraine) (Personal information);

Čirvàtâ sâs idìn šìš gi bùčim, kòtu dâ ni sâ nâprâskât ‘The intestines (of the sausages) are pricked with a skewer so that they do not spray’ (Anya Dimova – 50 years old).

We have noticed the conjunction kòto dа in Golitsa and Vinogradnoe, Bolgrad district, as well as elsewhere in Bessarabia. In the village of Tsrânča, Dospat region (in Bulgaria) we came across a variant with the Greek loanword òti:

… òti dâ ni pàri ’… ‘… so that it would not be hot’.

Maxim Makartsev^[9] rightly points out that in the Boboštitsa's dialect, the conjunction ščо dа is a synonym of the purpose conjunction zа dа ‘so that/in order to’. However, the latter conjunction has other synonyms too:  zаm dа, tа dа, čе dа. Makartsev shows examples from the Macedonian dialects of the Bulgarian language,^[10] in which the conjunction zа dа is used outside the purpose context:

Ni mòži za da stàni tàs ràbuta ‘Эtо (delo) ne možet proizojti’ (English translation: ‘This (case) cannot happen’ – instead of the usual ni mòži da stàni.

The subjunctive context of this sentence is clear when compared with synonymous Russian correspondences containing the conjunction čtoby, as are:

Nе možet byt’, čtoby эto proizošlo ‘It can't be that this happens’, or:

Nevozmožno, čtoby эto proizošlo ‘Impossible for this to happen’.   

We hope that everything said so far, and especially the examples shown, prove the truth of our claims.