About a Few Characteristics of Graphemes in The Baranja Transcription of Dušan’s Code

Abstract

In this paper, we took a thorough look at the characteristics of graphemes of the consonant system in Baranja Transcription of Dušan’s Code, created at the end of the 15th or the beginning of the 16th century. We took the following features into consideration: the spelling of the consonants j, ć, đ, lj and nj and the groups consisting of the aforementioned consonants and vowels, the use of the grapheme Z, the use of the Greek letters, and the spelling of the consonant group št. It has been noticed that the consonant j has traditionally been marked with the grapheme i (vsakoi), that the groups ja and je has followed the traditions of Raška (po]sq, Eresi), and of Resava orthography (dJakou, jgo, ni;Jega), that the groups ji and ju have always been marked the traditional way (taiti, svo}), and lastly, the group jo had three ways of being marked (svowmq, iOanikJEŒ). To mark the consonant ć a combination of graphemes kq was used (vlasteli;ikq), and to mark the groups ća and će of the graphemic groups with ligatures (vrak]}, sokE). More than one solution for writing the group ći has been registered: kouki, kMkQ, prikJ}, vekJi, kMkI. There are few examples of the groups ću and ćo, which point to the use of graphemic groups k} and kw (tisMk}, kMkwmq). The groups đa, đe, đu were marked following the same principle as the groups ća, će, ću, i.e. with the help of the graphemic groups g], gE, g}: krag], nagE, meg}. In the only registered example, the group đi is written as: kragQi. The examples from the corpus point to three ways of spelling the consonant lj (volno, koudel`nica, kralq). The group lja was marked in two ways – with the graphemic group l] (zeml]ne) and lq (volqnq). To mark the group lje graphemic group lE was used (zemlE). The groups lji, lju and ljo were always marked with the combination of graphemes li, l}, lw (zemli, l}bO, volwmq). The consonant nj was marked in two ways in The Baranja Transcription – with nq (konq) and n` (sM/qn`stva). The graphemic combinations n] and na were used to indicate the group nja (kon], proklin]}), and the graphemic group nE to indicate the group nje (nEi). The group nji was spelled in three different ways, as seen in the examples of nimQ, konQ, manJi. The isolated examples of the groups nju and njo attest to the following spelling solutions: n} (n}) and no (noi). The research has shown that the grapheme Z, in accord with the Raška Ortography School, was used only with the numeric value (vxlyto Z=. w=n=z=.). In the corpus, the examples of the Greek letters Ѯ, θ and V have been registered (jѮar’si, anaθema, kVrq), which are in accord with the orthography of Resava. It was established that the consonant group št was marked in a traditional way, with the ligature { (tisM{ ”).