Russian Declension and Conjugation Chapter 8 Imperfective derivation
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Russian Declension and Conjugation Chapter 8: Imperfective derivation
Discussion points • Where’s the content? – I would argue that prefixes are NEVER just grammatical or semantically empty; surface form is there for a reason • How big is your paradigm? – Imperfective derivation has been argued to be a part of inflection by some, derivation by others; I think it is derivation myself
More terminology for verbs • Simplex -- this is a verb that doesn’t have any aspectual affixes (prefixes or suffixes), eg. писа ть, да ть • Prefixed (or suffixed in NU) perfective -- this is a verb that has been derived from a simplex verb to create a new perfective, eg. подписа ть, вы дать • Suffixed imperfective -- this is a verb suffixed in aj+, -vaj+, or -ivaj+, eg. подпи сывать, выдава ть
Some happy news about derived imperfectives • We don’t have to worry about stress! It’s always fixed! • They are all the same verb type, and it’s an easy one: AJ!
Some sad news about derived imperfectives • The distribution of imperfectivizing suffixes is complex (see chart on back of Townsend book) • E takes all three suffixes (-aj+ and -ivaj+ like I, which has the same conjugation; and -vaj+ like EJ)
Some rules of thumb for I verbs • -aj+ for Church Slavonic roots, and Church Slavonic mutations apply: прекрати ть, прекраща ть • -ivaj+ if the root ends in a j: устро ить, устра ивать
What does “non-syllabic” entail? • Name all the types of non-syllabic verbal stems that will insert an -i- when forming the derived imperfective. Give an example of each!
Some more notes and oddities • Lots of random hardenings and softenings when imperfectivizing E verbs… • All suffixes except OVA truncate before the imperfectivizing suffixes • Root vowel o > a before -ivaj+: уговори ть, угова ривать
o > e in verbal roots • Infinitives of obstruent stems: тёк, те чь • Nonpast of some A stems (where stem final consonant is softened or mutated): причёсан, приче шут • Past active participle and past gerund of some D/T verbs: приве дший (but note exceptions: мётший, плётший, счётший) • Fill vowel after a prefix is always spelled o
