What’s in a verb? Mapping Serbian verbs borrowed into Romani

Partners

Institute for Balkan Studies, Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (SASA)

Department of Slavic Studies, University of Graz

Project coordinators and principal investigators

PhD Mirjana Mirić, senior research associate, Institute for Balkan Studies SASA

PhD Marko Simonović, Department of Slavic Studies, University of Graz

Researchers

PhD Svetlana Ćirković, senior research associate, Institute for Balkan Studies SASA

MA Anđela Redžić, Institute for Balkan Studies SASA

PhD Stefan Milosavljević, research fellow, Department of Slavic Studies, University of Graz

PhD Boban Arsenijević, full professor, Department of Slavic Studies, University of Graz

MA Jelena Stojković, PhD student, University of Graz

About the project

The project centers on the linguistic contact between the Prizren-Timok dialect of Serbian and Gurbet Romani, which are both endangered varieties spoken in southeastern Serbia. Focusing on verbs borrowed into Gurbet Romani (e.g., Rom. čitol/čitosarda < Serb. čita ‘read’), the project aims to reveal the internal structures of verbs in both varieties, in terms of theme vowels, verbal affixes, and inflectional morphology, providing a detailed understanding of these understudied linguistic systems. Leveraging existing corpora, the project team will develop descriptive and analytic tools to acquire relevant quantitative measures and comprehensive descriptions of the verbal domain in both varieties. The outcome will be databases of borrowed verbs in Gurbet Romani and their Prizren-Timok counterparts annotated for the relevant properties. Once verb borrowing into Gurbet Romani is mapped, the project will analyze insights in terms of theoretical approaches to borrowing and formal analysis of the verbal domain, disseminating the results through journal articles and conference presentations. Beyond its contribution of valuable insights, the project seeks to foster enduring collaboration between researchers in Austria and Serbia.

Financing and duration

The project is financed by the Ministry of Science, Technological Development and Innovations of the Republic of Serbia in cooperation with the Austria’s Agency for Education and Internationalisation (OeAD), within the program of scientific and technological cooperation between the Republic of Serbia and the Republic of Austria, for the period 2024–2026.

Projects