THE NEUTRAL WORD ORDER IN DECLARATIVE SUBJECT-PREDICATE CLAUSES (IN BULGARIAN IN COMPARISON WITH THE SERBIAN LANGUAGE)

Abstract

This paper aims to shed some light on several problems connected with word order. It discusses the problem of the parts of a predicative structure in declarative subject-predicate clauses (as a prototypical representation of a clause) which don’t match the traditional sentence parts. Their order is based on a set of regularities governed by the oppositions theme/ rheme and neutrality/ affectivity of the utterance. The neutral word order is a representation of these regularities par excellence, without any suggestions from the speaker. That’s why this type of word order is the main topic of the paper.