Valency Theory in Slovenian Linguistics

Abstract

Presenting the development of Slovenian valency theory (with special reference to verbal valency) shows how from the sixteenth century onwards Slovenian syntax with its own characteristics and problems was gradually typified or formulated. This means that treatment from the initial general-linguistic comparative syntactic phenomena began to narrow and at the same time deepen in quality. The relations between the semantic, syntacic function and expressive levels of language through the centuries very clearly show the gradual perception of the Slovenian language from the initial merely surface-level comparative descriptions of the syntax (comparative descriptions of syntactic phenomena in Latin, German and Slovenian) to treatments dealing with problems. Thus the early presentation of the basic use of the individual cases in Slovenian — the starting-point of the treatment is the expressive level — centres on the treatment of primarily Slovenian syntactic particularities represented by the syntactic-function or clause element level in a clause-effect link with the semantic level of the language.