AUTOCHTONY OF COMPOUND FORMATIONS IN CONTEMPORARY SERBIAN LANGUAGE: THE CASE OF NEOCLASSICAL ELEMENT PROMO

Abstract

This paper analyses compound formations with the promo- prepositional element in the Serbian language. Drawing on the language corpus, composed of prominent examples, randomly taken from the electronic versions of daily and weekly
Serbian newspapers, as well as from various web pages, the paper has aimed to examine the nature of the promo- prepositional element in the Serbian language. Given the fact that its nature has not been in the focus of research on the sample of Serbian thus far, several tasks form the basis of the research conducted for the purpose of this paper –
namely, special attention has been paid to: the promo- element’s autochthonous nature in Serbian, i.e. the possibility of its entering from the English language in the existing form and with the existing characteristics; the frequency of the mentioned prepositional element’s usage in Serbian compound formations; the role of the promo- element in Serbian word formation processes, as well as its categorisation in Serbian word formation nomenclature; the necessity for the promo- element usage in Serbian, i.e. the existence of potential domestic equivalent; orthographic variations regarding the promoelement writing when part of compound formations. The results of the analysis have not only shown a significant usage of the promo- prepositional element in contemporary Serbian language, but have also shed some light on its status in Serbian.