Differential gradation in compound sentences in the contemporary Serbian language

Циљ рада јесте да се утврди и покаже како су организоване сложене реченице којима се изражава степеновање као разлика, односно да се опишу реченице са значењем диферентивног степена у систему сложених реченица савременог српског језика. Због бројности врста и подврста таквих реченица пажња је усмерена пре свега на њихова главна значења и основне облике њиховог изражавања. General criteria of a gradation in a language concerns the differentiation of phenomena which are the same (equation) from those which are not (differentiability). Phenomena which are graded as different (e. i. not the same) can be more precisely graded according to the abstract scale position (below/above), and/or according to the distance level that one phenomenon has in relation to another (proximity/distance). Gradation based on universal quantification (total difference in gradation) reveals itself as a difference. These criteria apply to different language phenomena and subsystems that more or less directly represent the meaning of gradation including the subsystem of compound sentences, which is the main subject of this project. The main aim of the project is to establish and show the organization of compound sentences which define the gradation as a difference, e. i. to describe deferential sentences in the system of compound sentences of contemporary Serbian language. The attention is directed primarily to their main meaning (and basic forms of their expression), bearing the length of the scientific article in mind.