Serbo-Slavic Compounds in “The Century of Enlightment”

Abstract

The research based on the representative corpus of the original Serbian-Slavic literature of the sacral character throughout several centuries shows that this kind of literature has a specific functional style which is reflected not only through the choice of compounds from the lexical register and the richness of its usage, but also through the selection of the specific type of compounds, or the complex stems which are included in these compounds. Those are lexemes whose semantics reflects a specific view of the world of Orthodox Christianity. Within the functional and stylistic homogeneity of the literary epoch, individual qualities of authors are manifested in the sphere of compounds, so that within the general functional style of the hagiography genre, some individual styles are also realized. A conclusion is arrived at through the three levels of comparison: a) literary genres, b) literary epochs and c) authors.