Characteristics of the Ottoman Language of Mula Mustafa Basheski

Arabic and Persian Noun Syntagms

Abstract

The paper analyses examples of Arabic and Persian noun syntagms as lexical-syntactic elements of the Ottoman language. The examples were collected from a medžmua by Mula Mustafa Basheski (18th century), which is, as language material, interesting for a large body of authorial notes. As Mula Mustafa Basheski lived in Sarajevo, his Ottoman language reflects the language used in that milieu.

The large number of Persian isaphet constructions, some of which are a result of the writer's combination (especially those in nominative clauses), as well as an abundance of Arabic lexis, lift Mula Mustafa Basheski's language above everyday spoken language. This is enhanced by a few Arabic syntagms, although the latter ones are comparatively seldom encountered in a medžmua text.

On the other hand, most of the Arabic syntagms have synonyms in the Turkish construction used at other places in the analysed text. In the Persian syntagms, such phenomenon is manifested in notions of local (Bosnian, in the case of the text analysed) character.