Semantic Motivations for Aspectual Clusters of Russian verbs
“Semantic Motivations for Aspectual Clusters of Russian verbs” Laura A. Janda University of Tromsø laura. janda@hum. uit. no/lajanda Laura A. Janda Ohrid 2008
Main Ideas • Meaning of verb motivates aspectual behavior • Conceptualization of different types of events and relationship to time • Components of verb meaning correlate with selection of Perfectives Laura A. Janda Ohrid 2008
Theoretical Framework • • Cluster model, four types of Perfectives Metaphors motivate Perfectives Cluster structure: 0 -4 types of Perfectives Cluster structure largely predictable from the meanings of verbs • Motion verbs are prototypical Laura A. Janda Ohrid 2008
Overview • Cluster model • Types of Perfectives • Implicational hierarchy What is the structure of the aspect system? • Metaphorical motivation of Perfectives Why does it • Travel vs. motion and Completability have this structure? • Granular vs. fluid and Singularizability Lexical meaning motivates aspectual behavior • Conclusions Laura A. Janda Ohrid 2008
Part 1 What is the structure of the aspect system? Laura A. Janda Ohrid 2008
Problem: • Model of aspectual “pairs” has a long tradition: – Vinogradov 1938, Šaxmatov 1941, Bondarko 1983, Čertkova 1996, Zaliznjak & Šmelev 2000, Timberlake 2004 Laura A. Janda • Suspicions that aspectual relationships involve more complex clusters have arisen: – Isačenko 1960, Bertinetto & Delfitto 2000, Tatevosov 2002, Janda forthcoming Ohrid 2008
What is an aspectual cluster? • An aspectual cluster is a group of verbs joined via transitive relationships on the basis of aspectual derivational morphology – All verbs in a cluster are aspectually related to a single lexical item • In addition to Imperfective Activity verbs, an aspectual cluster can include four types of Perfective verbs: – Natural Perfective, Specialized Perfective, Complex Act, Single Act Laura A. Janda Ohrid 2008
Four types of Perfectives: • Natural Perfective: – написатьp ‘write’, связатьp ‘tie’, о(б)щипатьp ‘pinch/pluck’, окрепнутьp ‘get stronger’ • Specialized Perfective: – переписатьp ‘rewrite’, развязатьp ‘untie’, переработатьp ‘revise’, вдутьp ‘blow in’, выщипатьp ‘pluck out’ • Complex Act Perfective: – пописатьp ‘write a while’, поработатьp ‘work a while’, подутьp ‘blow a while’, пощипатьp ‘pinch/pluck a while’, поскрипетьp ‘squeak a while’ • Single Act Perfective: – дунутьp ‘blow once’, щипнутьp ‘pinch/pluck once’, скрипнутьp ‘squeak once’ Laura A. Janda Ohrid 2008
Cluster components: • Five items (Imperfective Activity + four types of Perfectives) can compose 31 different combinations, but only 12 cluster types are attested • The three metaphors motivate an Implicational Hierarchy that constrains the structure of aspectual clusters Laura A. Janda Ohrid 2008
The Implicational Hierarchy: • There is a single Implicational Hierarchy that predicts all and only the aspectual clusters that exist in Russian. – This result is based on empirical study of two multiply stratified samples of over 350 verb clusters (several thousand verbs). Laura A. Janda Ohrid 2008
The Implicational Hierarchy: Activity щипатьi ‘pinch/pluck’ > (Natural/Specialized Perfective) о(б)щипатьp ‘pinch/pluck’/выщипатьp ‘pluck out’ > Complex Act Perfective пощипатьp ‘pinch/pluck a while’ > Single Act Perfective щипнутьp ‘pinch/pluck once’ Laura A. Janda Ohrid 2008
Cluster Structures • • Activity + Natural Perfective Activity + Specialized Perfective Activity + Natural Perfective + Specialized Perfective To any of the above one can add either: …+ Complex Act Perfective + Single Act Perfective Total: 12 extant cluster types Laura A. Janda Ohrid 2008
Part 2 Why does the aspect system have this structure? Laura A. Janda Ohrid 2008
Metaphors and types of perfectives: • Three metaphors govern the Russian aspectual system • These metaphors motivate the derivation of four different types of Perfective verbs Laura A. Janda Ohrid 2008
The three metaphors • Solid vs. Substance => Perfective vs. Imperfective • Travel vs. Motion => Construal of Completability • Granular vs. Fluid => Construal of Singularizability Laura A. Janda Ohrid 2008
Travel vs. Motion One can travel to a destination – or – One can move without a destination This distinction is grammaticalized in Russian motion verbs: идтиi ‘walk (somewhere)’ vs. ходитьi ‘walk (around, back and forth)’ This can be likened to the Completability of an action Laura A. Janda Ohrid 2008
Completability: Писатель пишетi книгу. ‘The writer is writing a book. ’ Профессор работаетi в университете. ‘The professor is working at the university. ’ Note that Completability is a scale involving various kinds of construal. Laura A. Janda Ohrid 2008
Completability: • Many verbs are Ambiguous: – Completable • Писатель пишетi книгу ‘A writer is writing a book’ – Non-Completable • Писатель пишетi книги ‘A writer writes books’ • Some verbs are Non-Completable: стонатьi ‘moan’ – But some can be Completable if specialized • работатьi ‘work’ > переработатьp ‘revise’ • Few verbs are unambiguously Completable: • крепнутьi > окрепнутьp ‘get stronger’ Laura A. Janda Ohrid 2008
What Completability means for aspectual derivation: • Only verbs that can be construed as Completable have Natural Perfectives – писатьi ‘write’ > написатьp ‘write’, крепнутьi ‘get stronger’ > окрепнутьp ‘get stronger’ • Only verbs that can be construed as Non-Completable have Complex Act Perfectives – писатьi ‘write’> пописатьp ‘write a while’, стонатьi ‘moan’> постонатьp ‘moan a while’, работатьi ‘work’> поработатьp ‘work a while’ • Verbs that can be Completable if specialized have Specialized Perfectives – писатьi ‘write’> переписатьp ‘rewrite’, работатьi ‘work’ > переработатьp ‘revise’ Laura A. Janda Ohrid 2008
Granular vs. Fluid: Substances can be: Particulate, like sand Continuous, like water This can be likened to Singularizability of an action Laura A. Janda Ohrid 2008
Singularizability: Мальчик дулi на одуванчик. Профессор работалi в университете. ‘The boy was blowing on the ‘The professor was working dandelion. ’ at the university. ’ Мальчик дунулp на одуванчик. ‘The boy blew once on the dandelion. ’ Laura A. Janda Ohrid 2008
What Singularizability means for aspectual derivation: • Only verbs that can be construed as Non. Completable and have a Complex Act Perfective can also have a Single Act Perfective: • щипатьi ‘pinch/pluck’ + пощипатьp ‘pinch/pluck a while’ > щипнутьp ‘pinch/pluck once’ • дутьi ‘blow’ + подутьp ‘blow a while’ > дунутьp ‘blow once’ • скрипетьi ‘squeak’ + поскрипетьp ‘squeak a while’ > скрипнутьp ‘squeak once’ • работатьi ‘work’ + поработатьp ‘work a while’ > *работнутьp ‘work once’ [NB: Some are formed adhoc] Laura A. Janda Ohrid 2008
Singularizability and motion verbs: • The Non-Completable motion verbs can also be construed as Singularizable – ходитьi ‘walk’ can refer to multiple round-trips, in which case there is a Single Act Perfective сходитьp ‘make a single round trip’ Laura A. Janda Ohrid 2008
Conclusions: • The cluster model is more accurate than the “pair” model • Cluster structures are highly constrained and transparently motivated by meanings of verbs: – Verbs with Completable construals form Natural Perfectives – Verbs with Non-Completable construals form Complex Act Perfectives – Verbs with Granular construals form Single Act Perfectives • Motion verbs play a prototypical role in the system Laura A. Janda Ohrid 2008
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