The syntax of The Mirror of Human Life of the late 17th - early 18th centuries

The aim of the work is to consider some syntactic constructions that formed the structure of the sentences of the translated work and to clarify the ways and means of expressing the parts of the sentence in these constructions. The formation of the grammatical and syntactic system of the book Slavonic language is clearly seen on the material of original works that are not related to canonical church texts. This article analyses some syntactic features of a simple sentence in the Church Slavonic language taken from a handwritten manuscript The Mirror of Human Life. It was translated by Andreas Andreaszon Winius from German to the Russian church language in the last third of the 17th century. A book Theatrum Morum was the source of the translation. Winius included 134 fables in the book. This article presents the material taken from the manuscript that resides in the funds of the Arkhangelsk museum association Art Culture of the Russian North. The book is rewritten from the printed edition of the late 17th - early 18th centuries. The last sheets are lost, 150 sheets are preserved. The translator often uses single negation, forms of the dative absolute and the combination “da + present tense”. In the analysis of these structures, the method of continuous sampling was used, as well as descriptive 49 and comparative methods of research. Constructions with a single negation occur even in the early Old Russian texts. When a negative pronoun is in front of a verb, the negation extends to the verb as well, for example: nichto moshet vozvratiti (“Nothing can return smth”). One of the common features of the syntax of a simple sentence is the forms of the dative absolute (dativus absolutus). Winius uses this construction in several meanings, but more often in the meaning of time. The dative absolute consists of a noun and a participle in the dative case and is often translated in the analyzed text by a clause of time as in the Old Russian language, for example: idushchu emu srete druga (“When he walked, he met a friend”). The translator also uses this construction in the functions of participial and adverbial participial phrases. He also often uses the combination “da + present / future simple verb tense”. If this combination is in the subordinate clause of a complex sentence, it is translated as a clause of purpose: nasypa zhita da ulovit ptits (“Poured grains to catch birds”). If this construction is used in dialogues, it has the sense of the imperative mood: da usmotrishi rany moya (“Look at my wounds”). This article analyzed the constructions that were used by the ancient Russian authors and preserved in the modern Church Slavonic language. Thanks to such constructions, the unique original Russian literary language was formed.

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