How to account for aspectual derivation in Russian

1
How to account for aspectual derivation in
Russian

• Laura A. Janda
• UNC-Chapel Hill
• janda_at_unc.edu, www.unc.edu/lajanda

2
In a nutshell

• Q So, how DO we account for aspectual derivation
  in Russian?
• A Look at the verbs of motion!
• Verbs of motion are prototypical for the Russian
  aspectual system
• Understanding of events is metaphorically
  motivated by verbs of motion

3
Overview

• Metaphors based on properties of motion are
  crucial to understanding Russian aspectual
  derivation.
• These metaphors motivate the derivation of four
  different types of perfective verbs.
• There is a single implicational hierarchy that
  predicts all and only the aspectual clusters that
  exist in Russian.
• This result is based on an empirical study of a
  multiply stratified sample of 283 verb clusters
  (including over 2000 verbs).

4
The two metaphors

• Travel vs. Motion, metaphorically interpreted as
  Completability vs. Non-Completability
• Granular vs. Fluid, metaphorically interpreted as
  Singularizable vs. Non-Singularizable

5
Why are motion verbs so central?

• A prototypical event, like write a
  dissertation, has a beginning, a middle (where
  progress is made), and an end. We understand
  events and timelines as travel (through time)
  toward a goal (destination)

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Travel vs. Motion

• One can travel to a destination
• or
• One can move without a destination
• This distinction is grammaticalized in Russian
  motion verbs ????i walk (somewhere) vs.
  ??????i walk (around, back and forth)
• This can be likened to the Completability of an
  action

7
Completability

• ???????? ?????i ?????.
• The writer is writing a book.

• ????????? ????????i ? ????????????.
• The professor is working at the university.

For Non-Motion verbs, Completability is a scale
involving various kinds of construal.
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Completability

• Many verbs are Ambiguous
• Completable
• ???????? ?????i ????? A writer is writing a
  book
• Non-Completable
• ???????? ?????i ????? A writer writes books
• Some verbs are Non-Completable ???????i moan
• But some can be Completable if specialized
• ????????i work gt ????????????p revise
• Few verbs are unambiguously Completable
• ????????i gt ?????????p get stronger

9
Completability for Motion Verbs

• Motion verbs are NEVER Ambiguous
• Non-Determined Motion verbs are Non-Completable
  ??????i walk, go
• Determined Motion verbs are Completable ????i gt
  ?????p walk, go

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What Completability means for aspectual
derivation

• Only verbs that can be construed as Completable
  have Natural Perfectives
• ??????i write gt ????????p write, ????????i
  get stronger gt ?????????p get stronger
• Only verbs that can be construed as
  Non-Completable have Complex Act Perfectives
• ??????i writegt ????????p write a while,
  ???????i moangt ?????????p moan a while,
  ????????i workgt ??????????p work a while
• Verbs that can be Completable if specialized have
  Specialized Perfectives
• ??????i writegt ??????????p rewrite, ????????i
  work gt ????????????p revise

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What Completability means for aspectual
derivation

• Only verbs that can be construed as Completable
  have Natural Perfectives
• ??????i write gt ????????p write, ????????i
  get stronger gt ?????????p get stronger, ????i
  gt ?????p walk, go
• Only verbs that can be construed as
  Non-Completable have Complex Act Perfectives
• ??????i writegt ????????p write a while,
  ???????i moangt ?????????p moan a while,
  ????????i workgt ??????????p work a while,
  ??????i walk, gogt ????????p walk, go a while
• Verbs that can be Completable if specialized have
  Specialized Perfectives
• ??????i writegt ??????????p rewrite, ????????i
  work gt ????????????p revise, ????i walk,
  gogt ???????p walk across

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Granularity

• A Non-determined Motion verb (??????i walk, go)
  can represent different kinds of motion
• Fluid-like, non-directed
• Granular and repeated

???????p make one round trip
This can be likened to Singularizability
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Singularizability

• ??????? ???i ?? ?????????.
• The boy was blowing on the dandelion.
• ??????? ?????p ?? ?????????.
• The boy blew once on the dandelion.

• ????????? ???????i ? ????????????.
• The professor was working at the university.

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What Singularizability means for aspectual
derivation

• Only verbs that can be construed as
  Non-Completable and have a Complex Act can also
  have a Single Act Perfective
• ??????i pinch/pluck ????????p pinch/pluck a
  while gt ???????p pinch/pluck once
• ????i blow ??????p blow a while gt ??????p
  blow once
• ????????i squeak ??????????p squeak a while
  gt ?????????p squeak once
• ????????i work ??????????p work a while gt
  ?????????p work once NB Some are formed
  ad-hoc

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Summary thus far

• Two metaphors distinguish four different types of
  Perfectives
• Natural Perfectives
• ??????i write gt ????????p write
• Specialized Perfectives
• ????????i work gt ????????????p revise
• Complex Act Perfectives
• ???????i moan gt ?????????p moan a while
• Single Act Perfectives
• ????i blow gt ??????p blow once

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Adding in Motion verbs

• Two metaphors distinguish four different types of
  Perfectives
• Natural Perfectives
• ????i gt ?????p walk, go
• Specialized Perfectives
• ????i walk, gogt ???????p walk across
• Complex Act Perfectives
• ??????i walk, gogt ????????p walk, go a while
• Single Act Perfectives
• ???????p make one round trip

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Definition

• 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 all four types of
  Perfective verbs
• Natural Perfective, Specialized Perfective,
  Complex Act, Single Act

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Distribution of the four types of Perfectives

• Natural Perfective
• ????????p write, ???????p tie, ?(?)??????p
  pinch/pluck, ?????????p get stronger
• Specialized Perfective
• ??????????p rewrite, ?????????p untie,
  ????????????p revise, ?????p blow in,
  ????????p pluck out
• Complex Act
• ????????p write a while, ??????????p work a
  while, ??????p blow a while, ????????p
  pinch/pluck a while, ??????????p squeak a
  while
• Single Act
• ??????p blow once, ???????p pinch/pluck once,
  ?????????p squeak once

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Distribution of the four types of Perfectives

• Natural Perfective
• ????????p write, ???????p tie, ?(?)??????p
  pinch/pluck, ?????????p get stronger
• Specialized Perfective
• ??????????p rewrite, ?????????p untie,
  ????????????p revise, ?????p blow in,
  ????????p pluck out
• Complex Act
• ????????p write a while, ??????????p work a
  while, ??????p blow a while, ????????p
  pinch/pluck a while, ??????????p squeak a
  while
• Single Act
• ??????p blow once, ???????p pinch/pluck once,
  ?????????p squeak once

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Cluster components

• Five items (Imperfective Activity four types of
  Perfectives) can compose 31 different
  combinations, but only 12 cluster types are
  attested
• The metaphors motivate an Implicational Hierarchy
  that constrains the structure of aspectual
  clusters

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The Implicational Hierarchy

• Activity
• ??????i pinch/pluck
• gt (Natural/Specialized Perfective)
• ?(?)??????p pinch/pluck/????????p pluck out
• gt Complex Act
• ????????p pinch/pluck a while
• gt Single Act
• ???????p pinch/pluck once

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The Implicational Hierarchy Illustrated with a
Motion verb

• Activity
• ????i walk, go/??????i walk, go
• gt (Natural/Specialized Perfective)
• ?????p walk, go/???????p walk across
• gt Complex Act
• ????????p walk a while
• gt Single Act
• ???????p make one round trip

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Extant verb clusters

• Activity
• Activity Natural Perfective
• Activity Specialized Perfective
• Activity Natural Perfective Specialized
  Perfective
• To any of the above one can add either
• Complex Act
• Complex Act Single Act
• Total 12 extant cluster types

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What the hierarchy excludes

• 18 unattested cluster types
• 1 cluster type that is rare, but known to exist
• Natural Perfective (perfectiva tantum)
• ???????p collapse, ???????p survive
• morphologically complex, probably remnants of
  clusters that were historically larger

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Distribution of extant cluster types

• Three cluster types account for over half the
  verbs in the lexicon
• ActivityNaturalSpecializedComplex Act
• Like ??????i write
• ActivityNaturalSpecialized
• Like ??????i tie
• ActivitySpecializedComplex Act
• Like ????????i work
• Five cluster types follow, each representing less
  than 10 of verbs
• Remaining cluster types are rare (2 or less)

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Comparison with pair model

• Activity Natural Perfective type accounts for
  only 6.4, and is a semantically unusual group
  (can be continued after result is achieved)
• ???? ?????. ????? ?? ??? ?????? ?????.
• Ivan got stronger. Then he got even stronger.
• ???? ??????? ?????. ????? ?? ??? ?????? ???????
  ?????.
• Ivan wrote a book. Then he wrote the book even
  more.
• Most attested cluster structures have 3-5
  components
• The three most common cluster structures have 3
  or 4 components

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Conclusions

• The cluster model gives a richer, more accurate
  account of aspectual relationships than the
  pair model.
• Cluster structures are highly constrained and
  transparently motivated.
• In the cluster model, the Motion verbs are
  prototypical, not exceptional.

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Relevant works (all available at
www.unc.edu/lajanda)

• Aspectual clusters of Russian verbs,
  forthcoming in Studies in Language, 68pp.
• Totally normal chaos The aspectual behavior of
  Russian motion verbs, to appear in a festschrift
  for Michael S. Flier (Harvard Ukrainian Studies
  2006), 9pp.
• What makes Russian Bi-aspectual verbs Special,
  to appear in Dagmar Divjak and Agata Kochanska,
  eds. Slavic Contributions to Cognitive
  Linguistics. Cognitive Linguistics Research.
  Berlin/New York Mouton de Gruyter. 20pp.
• A Metaphor for Aspect in Slavic, Henrik
  Birnbaum in Memoriam (International Journal of
  Slavic Linguistics and Poetics, vol. 44-45,
  2002-03 released 2006), 249-60.
• A metaphor in search of a source domain the
  categories of Slavic aspect, Cognitive
  Linguistics, vol. 15, no. 4, 2004, 471-527.
• A user-friendly conceptualization of Aspect,
  Slavic and East European Journal, vol. 47, no. 2,
  2003, pp. 251-281.