The research in this paper is focused on the secondary, non-temporal meaning of the English conjunctions when, whenever, while, as and whereas, such as atemporal, causal, contrastive and comparative meaning. The analysis tends to discover the contextual environment where the deviations of the primary, temporal meaning of the conjunctions might occur, along with the other grammatical elements possibly influencing the deviation. Furthermore, both the syntactic and semantic status of the structures introduced by the conjunctions abandoning their temporal meaning is also observed, in that such structures usually become more mandatory in the context.

The empirical analysis tends to establish whether and, under which circumstances, the same or similar deviation of the primarily temporal meaning occurs with the Serbian temporal conjunctions. The comparative analysis shows that the realisation of non-temporal meaning of the conjunctions is considerable, to a high percentage concurrent with the non-temporal meaning of the structures being introduced by the aforementioned conjunctions in English.

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English corpus

(RT):     Byatt S. (1995). Racine and the tablecloth. Sugar and other stories. London: Vintage.

(ED):     Byatt A. S. (1995). On the day that E. M. Forster died. Sugar and other stories. London: Vintage.

(SG):     Byatt A. S. (1995). Sugar. Sugar and other stories. London: Vintage.

(FP):      Barnes J. (1984). Flaubert’s parrot. London: Picador.

(NF):     Barnes, J. (2009). Nothing to be frightened of. London: Vintage.

(EW):    Barnes, J. (2009). East wind. Pulse. London: Vintage.

(PL):      Barnes, J. (2011). Pulse. Pulse. London: Vintage.

(TN):     McEwan I. (2005). The Innocent. London: Vintage.

Serbian corpus

(ND):    Andrić, I. (2011). Na Drini ćuprija. Beograd: Sezam book.

(DS):     Selimović, M. (2014). Derviš i smrt. Beograd: Vulkan izdavaštvo.

Andrić, I. (1977). The bridge on the Drina. (Edwards, L.F., Trans.). Zrenjanin: SEZAM BOOK d.o.o.

Selimović, M. (1996). Death and the dervish. (Rakić, B., & Dickey, S., Trans.). Evanston: Northwestern University Press.