Semantic Motivations for Aspectual Clusters of Russian verbs

1
Semantic Motivations for Aspectual Clusters of
Russian verbs

• Laura A. Janda
• University of Tromsø
• laura.janda_at_hum.uit.no
• hum.uit.no/lajanda

2
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

3
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

4
Overview

• Cluster model
• Types of Perfectives
• Implicational hierarchy
• Metaphorical motivation of Perfectives
• Travel vs. motion and Completability
• Granular vs. fluid and Singularizability
• Conclusions

What is the structure of the aspect system?
Why does it have this structure?
Lexical meaning motivates aspectual behavior
5
Part 1

• What is the structure of the aspect system?

6
Problem

• Model of aspectual pairs has a long tradition
• Vinogradov 1938, axmatov 1941, Bondarko 1983,
  Certkova 1996, Zaliznjak melev 2000,
  Timberlake 2004

• Suspicions that aspectual relationships involve
  more complex clusters have arisen
• Isacenko 1960, Bertinetto Delfitto 2000,
  Tatevosov 2002, Janda forthcoming

7
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

8
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 Perfective
• ????????p write a while, ??????????p work a
  while, ??????p blow a while, ????????p
  pinch/pluck a while, ??????????p squeak a
  while
• Single Act Perfective
• ??????p blow once, ???????p pinch/pluck once,
  ?????????p squeak once

9
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

10
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).

11
The Implicational Hierarchy

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

12
Cluster Structures

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

13
Part 2

• Why does the aspect system have this structure?

14
Metaphors and types of perfectives

• Three metaphors govern the Russian aspectual
  system
• These metaphors motivate the derivation of four
  different types of Perfective verbs

15
The three metaphors

• Solid vs. Substance gt Perfective vs.
  Imperfective
• Travel vs. Motion gt Construal of Completability
• Granular vs. Fluid gt Construal of
  Singularizability

16
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

17
Completability

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

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

Note that Completability is a scale involving
various kinds of construal.
18
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

19
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

20
Granular vs. Fluid

• Substances can be
• Particulate, like sand
• Continuous, like water

This can be likened to Singularizability of an
action
21
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.

22
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
• ??????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

23
Singularizability and motion verbs

• The Non-Completable motion verbs can also be
  construed as Singularizable
• ??????i walk can refer to multiple round-trips,
  in which case there is a Single Act Perfective
  ???????p make a single round trip

24
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

25
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