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Introduction. The article reveals a complicated language situation in the Flemish region of Belgium - a progressing extinction of Germanic dialects, which are historically spread on this territory. Each dialectal group has its unique features, and the West-Flemish and Limburgish groups might have become grounds for particular languages.Methodology and sources. The methodological base consists in a complex approach, combining the comparative-historical and contrastive methods with the method of sociolinguistic interpretation. The investigation is conducted on the language material, collected from different dialectal dictionaries of Dutch, as well as from special linguistic papers on the language situation in Flanders.Results and discussion. The article represents a multiplicity of Germanic dialects, existing on the territory of modern Flanders. A short revue is given on lexical and grammatical peculiarities of four main dialectal groups, as well as on their peculiar phonetics. A special attention is, respectively, paid to the urban dialects of Antwerp, Gent, Bruges and Hasselt. There are analyzed some interferential phenomena, caused by the contact of the investigated dialects with Romanic and Germanic environment and occurring on all language levels - from phonetic to the syntactic ones. It has been suggested, that certain specific grammar forms in Flemish dialects may be result of phonetic interference. For Marols, which originally belongs to the group of Brabant dialects, the juncture between Germanic morphosyntactic structure and Roman lexis is discussed.Conclusion. For the last 20 years the percentage of persons, speaking the Germanic dialects of Flanders, has demonstrated a catastrophic decrease. Along with that, the main features of these dialects (mostly of the Brabant ones) have gone over to an intermediate language "tussentaal", in both lexis and grammar. This language is being formed inbetween the Germanic dialects and Dutch; the latter is represented in the Flemish region by two variants – standard (common) Dutch and Belgian Dutch. The progressing decrease in the number of persons, speaking the autochthonous dialects of Flanders, is thoughtprovoking towards the exigency to fix the disappearing language variants through a strict scientific way.

Introduction. The case, which is a semantic and grammatical category, appears in natural languages in the most unexpected way. A word or phrase that has a substantive unit at its core receives an inflection (internal or external) in one case or another, which can be expressed both explicitly and implicitly, and has a grammatical meaning. In this case, inflection can be accompanied by a preposition that has a lexical meaning. These case indicators, morphological and syntactic, organize the main or secondary substantive part of the sentence, i.e. are related to the category of space. The number of cases today is still the subject of scientific debate. Methodology and sources. The present study is based on analizing the views of various scientists on the category of case, with special attention to the theory of L. Hjelmslev. According to this theory, the maximum possible number of cases in natural language is 216. In order to provide a purely formal calculation of the possible number of cases, which would be at the same time independent on the earlier views, the article represents the substantive part of the sentence as a semifinitive multiplied by a specifier (proto-specifier). These statements are prescribed by the binomiality idea, having been developed since 1993 at ETU. Results and discussion. The generally accepted division of sentence parts into main and secondary ones leads us to dividing all possible cases into direct cases (for subject) and indirect cases (for secondary substantive parts). Thus, the direct case can be obtained by a simple transformation from any indirect case, i.e. the space specifier goes back to the spatial proto-specifier. The space proto-specifier represents external space added to substantive mass. The substantive semifinitive is a substantive mass multiplied by internal space. As the binomiality idea prescribes, substantive masses can be in four states, while substantive semifinitives can be in six states. Thus, the number of possible case forms should be equal to 24. Conclusion. According to classical physics, space is three-dimensional, so grammatical space, both external and internal, should also, obviously, be considered three-dimensional. This means that four states of substantive mass and six states of substantive semifinitives can be in each of the three dimensions. Thus, the maximum possible number of cases may indeed reach 216. It should be noted that L. Hjelmslev derived the number 216 in a completely different way, by dint of much deeper reasoning. In the future, it would be interesting to compare L. Hjelmslev's binary oppositions with the constituents of substantive parts of sentence.

Introduction. Ordering the space and time elements in Welsh independent clause, when the subject is formed from a noun, is accompanied by a rather specific agreement of these elements in number. In the grammars of Welsh one can find various classifications of noninverse and inverse sentences and, mostly, practical notions concerning the peculiarities of the agreement of the main parts. Theoretical explanations are meanwhile quite poor. Because it can be proposed, that the peculiarities of sentence organization in Welsh could influence the syntax of English – the language of international communication, the theme under discussion is rather topical.Methodology and sources. The investigation is carried out on the base of four Welsh grammars, containing large chapters on syntax. We also used a collection of texts, from which the examples of non-inverse and inverse sentences were taken. The methodological base of the work is the binomiality idea.Results and discussion. In non-inverse Welsh sentences, the predicate agrees with the subject in number only in case the subject is formed from a pronoun; in case the subject is formed from a noun, the 3-rd person singular is always used. In mixed and abnormal sentences, the word order becomes inverse. The investigation of explicit elements of subject and predicate has turned to be not sufficient, and we were forced to apply the hypothesis on implicitness, inexplicitness and ellipsis of some elements. In doing so, we managed to match the analytic tense in Welsh with the continuous tense in English. It was also suggested, that (emphatic) Welsh constructions can influence the structure of English sentence.Conclusion. In Welsh independent clauses, the weak space specifier can be modified by an implicit strong pronominal semifinitive, after what an implicit element in function of the space element reveals in the subject. Developing the hypothesis about the possible inexplicitness of fixed semifinitives in the Welsh subject, we can also assume that abnormal and mixed sentences in Welsh originate from the subordinate clause of a complex sentence. Within the framework of the general model, it turns out that the arrangement of space and time elements does not contradict the Indo-European system, which fully manifests itself in the English sentence.

Introduction. Charles de Coster's "Flemish Legends" were published in 1858 in French. With the growth of the national consciousness of the Flemings, this book, having particular artistic and cultural meaning, had to be translated, anyhow, into the Flemish variant of Dutch. There have been several translations, which differ significantly. To understand the specifics and success of a particular translation, it is necessary to analyze the cultural-linguistic and socio-political circumstances of its creation, to study the personalities of the translators, their artistic biographies, and also to assess the impact of the culture-forming factors.Methodology and sources. The research methodology is based on the descriptive method. At that we take into account a lot of linguistic, historical, social and cultural variables. As a study material two translations of "Flemish Legends" into Dutch (1917 and 1998) are chosen, as well as several sources describing the history of Belgium after 1830. For collating the translations the comparative method is used, taking into account the lexical, grammatical and stylistic features of the analyzed texts.Results and discussion. Charles De Coster, being a bilingual, preferred the French language. This can be explained by his desire to make folklore an asset of the upper social class, mainly bilinguals and francophones, upon these legends being already known among the Flemings. In addition, for the proper resonance, it was more profitable to publish the book in French. It can also be assumed that the legends were collected throughout Flanders; therefore, there were significant dialectal differences and problems for choosing a unified version of the Flemish language. To convey the medieval flavor, Charles de Coster used a deliberately archaized language. At the beginning of the 20th century S. Streuvels created a specific translation, more reminiscent of calque from French and preserving the features of the original text. At the end of the 20th century, W. Spillebeen translated the French text into a modern language, which was not the Belgian Dutch, but the standard Dutch.Conclusion. The translations discussed are quite different. S. Streuvels retained the style and structure of the original text, so his work was difficult for perception even by his contemporaries, and today the translation has become practically unreadable. W. Spillebeen tried to translate the legends into a modern language, bringing the structural components in line with the modern norm and preserving only the most necessary archaisms. Nevertheless, the text of the "Flemish legends" in the Belgian Dutch does not exist: they are written either in dialects, or in the "Frenchified" Dutch, or in the standard Dutch.

Introduction. The problem of aspect categorisation in Italian, as well as in other Romance languages, is studied not so profoundly compared to what has been done in Russian linguistics. The Indo-European Presence – Aorist – Perfect in their aspectual meaning, which are the most independent forms, have turned to build the tense system both in Italian and Russian. The brightest aspectual meanings are expressed in the forms of the Past. The different perception of 'completeness' and 'incompleteness' aspects in these forms by the speakers of Italian and Russian is probably connected with the peculiarities of the tense formation on the deep level of the language system. So, additional grammar comments are needed. Methodology and sources. The main language unit is believed to be the semifinitive. Thereby we can facilitate the application of formal logical modelling to the description and explanation of syntactic phenomena. The material of the investigation is the surface structure of a predicate, which is formed, on the deep level, by a verbal semifinitive and a time specifier.Results and discussion. A scheme has been elaborated, demonstrating, how a verbal semifinitive becomes polarised by a time specifier. The whole range of aspectual variants, which may occur in a predicate due to the interaction of its constituents through their charges, has been shown. It is reasoned about a charge on participle II. The notion of polarisation is added to the notions of Indefinite or Perfect aspects to represent traditional grammar tenses more exact. This investigation allows to establish a correspondence of Italian and Russian tenses to different charge states of a semifinitive, touched by a specifier. It is rather admittable that the difference between incomplete and complete aspects in Russian is expressed by participles II, which are in complex semifinitives, and in Italian – by simple semifinitives.Conclusion. A comparative analysis of the verbal aspect category in Indo-European tenses, including the past ones, can be carried out, to our mind, both by stemming from the polarisation peculiarities of verbal semifinitives, and through investigation of literature translations, where correspondence is established on the level of language examples. In this case the genetic identity of Indo-European constructions has a chance to be represented as evidently as possible.

Introduction. For "subject question" it is traditionally presumed, that the subject in it is the interrogative word or word combination. From logical point of view it is not correct, because the subject in such sentence is not yet found, and the interrogative word or word combination just "help" in searching for it. In English, it is marked by different syntactic means, for example, by the absence of the auxiliary verb. Also in subject question a formal particle "there" shows up; however, its functions are still unclear. That is why the objective of this work is to build a formal logical model of subject in interrogative English sentence, including the searched subjects, without or with the particle "there".Methodology and sources. The research methodology is based on the binomiality idea, having been developed since 1993 at ETU "LETI" by means of the method of formal-logical modelling. The examples illustrating the functional features of the searched subject in English interrogative sentence were selected by means of the method of continuous sampling from 7 corpora. Results and discussion. The diversity of subject structures in English interrogative sentence is considered, taking into account possible functions of the formal particle "there". The assumption is supported, that the implicit subject is a "trace" of the explicit subject and may not be considered as the absolute zero subject. It is the searched subject, which is an absolute zero subject, i.e. an inexplicit one and it is necessary to initiate specifying the notion of the zero subject with distinction of implicit and inexplicit subjects.Conclusion. Out of dependence on its environment, the searched subject in English is an absolute zero subject, i.e. an inexplicit one. Most often it is a strong or weak vacant semifinitive, fixed in the weak specifier, or, rarer, a weak vacant semifinitive, fixed in the strong specifier. In interrogative sentences of English, no subject can be explicit or implicit when it is searched for; the auxiliary verb in the absence of emphasis or negation does not disappear, but is transformed into a flexion. In the structure of negative interrogative sentences one can see their enhanced (and, actually, maximum) energetics.