Modal systems in historical Slavic languages: formal semantics, microvariation, diachronic change, and language contact

• Applicant: Dr. Igor Yanovich
• Subject Area: General and Comparative Linguistics, Experimental Linguistics, Typology, Non-European Languages ; Applied Linguistics, Computational Linguistics
• Term: from 2017 to 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 391377018

The project will study the meaning of words expressing necessity, possibility and futurity in the Slavic languages of the 14-17 centuries. It is known that during that time, interesting meaning changes occurred in the Slavic language family. It is also known that various Slavic languages affected each other, and were affected by language contact with languages of other families as well. The current project will apply to the actual historical texts of the late Middle Ages and Early Modern times the mathematical-logical methods for analyzing meaning, and by doing so, will reveal the micro-differences in the development of different Slavic languages and the effects of language contact.

• DFG Programme: Independent Junior Research Groups