Verbal Prefixes Research Articles

The Tigrinya zɨ- prefix

Abstract Head-final languages are not expected to display verbal prefixes. However, in Tigrinya—a consistent SOV Ethio-Semitic language—the “relative marker” is a prefix that precedes the subordinate verb. Taking an antisymmetric and LCA approach to head-finality, I challenge the idea that what have been traditionally called prefixes in head-final languages have an intrinsic “prefixal morphological property”. Instead, I argue that prefixes are elements that are subject to specific syntactic constraints that result in them appearing in front of verbs. I therefore propose a new syntactic analysis of relative clauses in Tigrinya that explains not only the appearance of the prefix zɨ- on the left of the subordinate verb, but also its occurrence on both the verb and the auxiliary in periphrastic verbal forms expressing progressive aspect: I suggest that zɨ- is a marker of successive-cyclic movement.

Особенности выражения значения результативности глаголами специально-результативных способов действия в современном осетинском языке (в сопоставлении с русским)

The study of expressing the effectiveness of an action in the modern Ossetian language shows that Ossetian prefixal verbs can denote not only the effectiveness of an action, but also various aspectualactional shades of effectiveness, which are denoted by verbs of special effective Aktionsarten. Similarity in terms of aspectual-actional meaning is observed in the verbs of the following Ossetian and Russian special effective Aktionsarten derived from telic verbs: distributive-total, cumulative, total, and softening. In the above semantics in both languages, verbs of the following Aktionsarten derived from atelic verbs coincide: inchoative, durative-limited, restrictive, semelfactive, and reiterative. A separate group of special effective Aktionsarten that distinguish Ossetian from Russian is formed by verbs with specific shades of effective actionality: partially effective, total-qualitative, instantaneously effective, thoroughly effective, intensively effective, normatively effective, and comparatively effective. A subject of particular attention in this article are the verbs with the fæprefix. An attempt is made to explain the reasons for the unlimited aspectual-actional activity of this prefix. According to the author, such activity is associated with the freedom of this prefix from the spatial-orientational semantics, which resulted in a later (than other prefixes) involvement in denoting the specific-process meaning of the imperfective aspect, or rather, the perceptivity of an action and, accordingly, other aspectual meanings. As a consequence, this prefix was in great aspectual-actional demand at the later stages of development of the aspect as a grammatical category in the Ossetian language. A comparison of functional and translational Ossetian and Russian aspectual-actional equivalents reveals both universal and idioethnic elements in assessing the nature of the progression and distribution of an action in time. Differences in this assessment (with similar perception by speakers of different languages of the same situations of extralinguistic reality) are of undoubted interest for Ossetian and Russian general and comparative aspectology.

The Elusive Transformation of Alliterative Meter

ABSTRACT That Old English meter evolved directly into Middle English alliterative meter is a newly won consensus position among metrical specialists. Exactly how it did so remains elusive. The changes, at the level of metrical patterning, are few yet far-reaching, transforming a meter in mirrored half-lines of four metrical positions apiece into a long-line meter with asymmetry between its halves. This essay fills in further details, taking up the challenge to infer from surviving texts how one state of a metrical system slowly became another. Specifically, it is argued that four difficult elements in Old English meter guided metrical evolution. Metrical resolution, the conflicted treatment of verbal prefixes, rare verses of five metrical positions, and a special extended metrical style known as hypermeter pulled against the four-position framework of Old English meter and accelerated and directed metrical change.

Modeling locative prefix semantics. A formal account of the English verbal prefix out-

The English verbal prefix out- gives rise to at least two semantic categories: comparative forms as in to outplay someone and locative forms as in to outstream from somewhere. While most available studies on the comparative sense rely on insufficient databases, systematic studies on the actual behavior of locative verbal out-forms are lacking altogether. Building on a set of more than 1,500 tokens culled from corpora, this study is the first to systematically analyze, formalize, and contrast the two senses. The formal analysis will be couched in frame semantics and model both individual attested examples as well as lexeme-formation rules based on generalizations. Formalizations of the two prefixes, and their implications, are shown to speak against an analysis of one underlying, underspecified prefix. Locative out- essentially functions as a morphologically bound, and highly restricted, version of out- as a particle, while comparative out- is a highly specialized, idiosynchratic construction.

Functions of Russian prefix verbs of motion in terms of cognitive studies (based on modern Russian songs)

This paper studies the functions of Russian motion verbs from the perspective of cognitive linguistics. We analyze the functions of the prefix structure of the verb идти in the lyrics of modern Russian songs. Here, we consider independent prefixes used with Russian motion verbs, such as по-, вы-, у-, от-, при-, до-, за-, под-, в/во-, про-, etc. They have different meanings. This study is based on the lyrics of modern Russian songs. In the framework of the study, we have explored about 150 songs. The main research method is observation. We have concretized the meaning of the prefix structure from the perspective of cognitive linguistics and found that the verbs of motion, prefixed with от/ото-, include emotions of worry and fear. The prefix у- has the meaning of sadness, sorrow, despair and other emotions. The paper also represents the emotional meanings of other prefixes. For example, the verb выйти may indicate that the subject is trying to get rid of some complex or difficult situation. The verbs прийти and дойти indicate that a person successfully reaches a certain place, but прийти usually indicates the place, which the subject visits regularly. Дойти represents the movement undertaken with a certain goal or task and so on.

Aspect processing across languages: A visual world eye-tracking study

The study employed a combination of a picture selection task and Visual World eye-tracking to investigate the processing of grammatical aspect (perfective vs. imperfective) in three languages: Russian, Spanish and English. In order to probe into the cognitive representations triggered by the aspectual forms we contrasted visual representations of different temporal portions of telic events—a snapshot of the process stage (ongoing event) and a snapshot of the immediate aftermath of the event/the result state (completed event). In all three languages, the gaze patterns and offline responses revealed a strong preference for representations of ongoing events in the imperfective condition. This confirms that the imperfective forms in all the three languages draw attention to the in-progress portion of a telic event. In the perfective condition, however, we found robust differences. Russian uses verbal prefixes to mark perfective aspect, and our results suggest that perfective telic verbs in Russian strongly highlight the result state of an event. In Spanish, the perfective past tense form (Preterite) also highlights event completion, but to a lesser extent than in Russian—in line with its less restrictive semantics in not requiring an inherent boundary. In contrast to Russian and Spanish, English speakers did not show a preference for representations of completed events in the perfective (Simple Past) condition. This suggests that the English Simple Past form does not encode a preferential cognitive salience for either the activity portion of an event or its result state, and lends support to the analysis of the English Simple Past as a non-aspectual tense form.

I prefissi verbali russi pri- e do-: semantica spaziale e possibili corrispondenze in italiano

In this paper, we analyse the spatial meaning of verbal prefixes pri- and do- and their semantic contribution to the lexicalisation of motion events. Our analysis is based primarily on the lexicographic description of these prefixes proposed in the Academic Grammar of the Russian Language (Švedova et al., 1980) and on the interpretation given to them in different works devoted to the study of the semantics of verbal prefixes in the Russian language. In different contributions, it is observed that the spatial meaning of the prefix pri- expresses the reaching of the goal of motion, including the crossing of its threshold (boundary-crossing). In contrast, the spatial semantics of the prefix do- is mostly described in relation to the progressive approaching to an endpoint along a spatial scale (boundary-reaching). In the course of the contrastive analysis, an attempt will be made to identify and describe possible Italian correspondences for Russian verbs of motion with prefixes pri- and do-. We also consider which semantic components of a motion event encoded in a Russian prefixed verb are expressed or omitted in the corresponding Italian constructions. The research has been conducted on the parallel Russian-Italian corpus, part of the National Corpus of the Russian Language (we consider just a few examples).

Common-Root Words: Between Synonymy and Paronymy

The article discusses the relationship between the concepts of synonymy and paronymy, as well as the functioning in the language of prefixal verbal paronyms. The definition of paronyms as common-rooted words with different affixes, which are regularly misused in speech as synonyms, is clarified. Some verbs on the synchronic level may be considered as synonyms or as paronyms, depending on the focus of the speaker’s or listener’s attention. As for the diachronic aspect of language study, there are processes of synonymization of common-root prefixal verbs, associated mainly with hypo-hyperonymic relations between lexical units. The possibility of synonymous use of common-root words is determined by the proximity of prefixes’ meanings, neutralization of the context and the norm’s inattention to changes in usage. The norm can either leave unnoticed the appearance of a new way of expressing linguistic meaning, or mark the changes in dictionaries, fixing the word as a synonym. Sometimes it can also insist on the preservation of paronymic distinctions even when there are already no such distinctions in usage. Thus, the paronyms remain the common-rooted words, which, mixing in speech usage, draw the norm’s attention to themselves.

Verbal modifiers in areal perspective: The case of Latvian Romani

Based on the analysis of the texts collected in the 1930s in Latvia and Estonia, this paper provides a description of the semantics of the verbal modifiers, i.e., prefixes (preverbs) and particles, in Latvian Romani. The system of verbal modifiers in Latvian Romani is an innovation evolved under Slavic and Baltic influence. Most preverbs are instances of MAT-borrowing from Slavic and Baltic, whereas verb particles are a PATborrowing, modelled after the Latvian system. The paper argues that even preverbs of Slavic origin often copy the semantics and derivational patterns of Latvian prefixed verbs. It is also shown that, differently from Latvian, in Romani both preverbs and verb particles can affect the verb’s argument structure (e.g., by making it transitive) and change its aspectual value (e.g., by making it perfective). Finally, the distribution of verbal modifiers in Latvian Romani (the development of verb particles as opposed to other closely related Northeastern Romani dialects which only have prefixes, and higher frequency of verb particles in Estonia than in Latvia) confirms the areal cline in the spread of verb particles.

Toward a supralexical analysis of the repetitive/restitutive ambiguity

AbstractSyntactic decomposition theories of argument structure take predicates to be syntactically complex, consisting of a root and one or more functional heads. Traditionally, these functional heads have been used as potential attachment sites for adverbs, such as the repetitive adverbagain,giving rise to the repetitive/restitutive ambiguity. In this paper, I question the assumption that these functional heads provide sublexical attachment sites based on theoretical and empirical objections. Taking both the scope of the adverb and effects of focus into account, I present a supralexical approach to the ambiguity. Discussing novel data of two Dutch repetitive adverbs as well as a repetitive verbal prefix, I argue thatagainhas a default restitutive reading that becomes repetitive if the adverb scopes over the object or if focus is placed on the adverb. This research has implications for syntactic decomposition approaches to argument structure.

Furious Feedback and the Revolutionary Ode to Noise

Furious Feedback and the Revolutionary Ode to Noise

GRAMATICAL RELATION ON OBJECT IN DELI JAVANESE DIALECT: TYPOLOGY STUDY

This research is aimed at describing one of the properties of grammatical relation namely object in Deli Javanese Language (DJL). The purpose of this research is to analyze the forms of the object based on its behavior which depicts (a) FN as object controlling object prefix on verb, (b) FN as object directly follows verb and (c) object as FN can be raised to the position of Subject through the process of passivity. This research refers to the grammatical relation concept of tipology study by obtaining the data from text books, journals and interview. The result showed that object relation was an FN that directly follows verbs and could not be inserted by any adverb. The verb prefix as transitive verb could be placed after subject and it needed an object as the second arguments of the clause. Object relation, then, could be raised to subject position at the DJL passivity; meanwhile the subject of original clause became an Oblique relation. Furthermore these findings are expected to give much contribution on understanding in studying gramatical relation with Typology approach.
 
 Keywords: Object, Grammatical Relation, Deli Javanese Language, Typology approach.

Passive Imperatives in Indonesian

An imperative clause is understood as a construction in which the subject is commonly filled by a second person but it is licitly dropped and the verb that co-occurs with it is commonly realized by a basic form in Indonesian. An active clause, on the other hand, contains an obligatory subject, the verb inflected with meN verbal prefix, and an object that makes the sentence readily transformed into its passive clause counterpart. Given the characteristic contrasts between an imperative clause and an active clause in Indonesian, it seems to be impossible to derive a passive imperative. However, imperative passives are available in Indonesian. The present study aims to uncover the issues of imperative passives in Indonesian. The study employs a descriptive qualitative method. Most of the data for the study were obtained from Leipzig Corpora and the remaining data were elicited from other speakers of Indonesian. Adopting the theory of a speaker commitment hypothesis for the analysis, the findings show that Indonesian has a passive imperative. This support can be evidenced by the fact that an imperative passive can be associated with a complex sentence construction in which the subject of the passive imperative clause can be recovered from the main clause thereby corroborating the idea that passive imperatives operate on a par with negative imperatives which possess prototypical passive constructions.

Innovative semantics of modern English prefixal verbs

The article is devoted to the study of neоlogisms of prefixal verbs of modern English. The essence of the concept of "neologism" and its definition based on the authoritative views of linguists and the author's vision are highlighted. The analysis of active conductive neological processes of the prefix verb in the system of modern English is carried out. It is noted that prefixation is the most productive way of forming verbs. It is proved that the main function of neologism is not only in naming a new subject of reality, but also in the need to clarify and form its semantics, is the result of linguistic and creative activities associated with the transition of a new verb unit from individual concrete usage to the language community. The argument is given that the evolution of innovative semantics in verbs occurs according to common law, i.e. lexical innovations can be associated with a new referent. The article outlines the perspective that rethinking and semantic shifts cause the processes of expansion and contraction of the semantic volume of the prefixal neologism, the formation of new meanings and changes in the scope of their functioning in modern English. The article concludes that the presence of a generalized invariant feature of the prefix in terms of language and its differential features in terms of speech, is a factor in generalizing different senses of the prefix verb. The description of the ways of verb neologisms and development of new meanings and uses of prefix verbs will have perspectives for lexicographic practice of compiling dictionaries of different types, will promote in-depth understanding, structural-semantic functional-pragmatic and word-forming aspects of verb neological vocabulary.

Labial-Palatalization and Tone: A Critical Overview in Akuapem Phonology

This paper addresses the labial-palatalization process in Akuapem, a dialect of Akan. In this paper, we study the labial-palatalization, and the tonal processes related to the verbal prefix bɛ when cliticized to reduplicative verbs in the Akuapem dialect of Akan. Based on labial-palatalization, it is not all the Akuapem dialect that labial-palatalizes a C in a CUa/e string that triggers the labial-palatalization process. The study also concluded that when the verbal prefix or the modal marker bɛ is cliticized to reduplicated class I verbs, all the reduplicant and the base form of the verb assume different tonal melody in all the sub-dialect of Akuapem.

Lehçe ön ekli fiillerin işlevi

Lehçe fiillerin baş kısmında yer alan eklerin kuşkusuz önemli işlevleri vardır. Bu ön ekler fiilin ön eksiz biçimiyle sahip olduğu anlama zıt veya yakın anlam katmakla birlikte, çoğu zaman yeni anlam katar. Ancak bir ön ekin fiile kattığı yalnızca tek bir anlam olmadığından fiilin ön ekli ve ön eksiz biçimleri arasındaki anlam farklılıklarını kategorize etmek Lehçe dil bilgisinin her zaman en büyük sorunsallarından bir tanesi olmuştur. Her ön ek ayrıca farklı farklı kendi alt anlam kategorilerine ayrılır ve dahası bir ön ekin fiile kattığı anlamı bir diğer ön ek de yükleyebilmektedir. Genel anlamda konunun belki de en zor yanını yansıtan bu saptamalardan her ön ekin gelişigüzel her fiille birlikte kullanılabileceği, istenilen her fiile eklenebileceği sonucu çıkarılmamalıdır. Ön ekler aynı zamanda sözcük türetme yöntemleri arasında son derece işlevsel özellik göstermesi bağlamında genel olarak sözcük yapımı konusunun çok önemli bir kısmını oluşturur. Dört harften oluşan iki adet ön ekin yanı sıra üç harften oluşan üç adet ön ek, iki harften oluşan yedi adet ve hatta tek harften oluşan üç adet ön ekin olduğu ve bu ön eklerin fiil kökünde her ne kadar biçim bilimsel açıdan herhangi bir değişikliğe yol açmasa da anlamda büsbütün değişikliğe neden olduğu düşünüldüğünde, fiil ön eklerinin işlevini inceleyen bir çalışmanın yapılmasını ihtiyaç haline getirir.

Verb Prefixes in Russian Language

The article deals with the problem of widespread polysemy of Russian verbal prefixes, especially when adding them to movement verbs. Different uses of the prefix have a common basic lexical meaning, but differ in their syntactic position. In this case, the value refers to the spatial domain. When the same prefix is added to a verb of non-directional movement, it behaves like a lexical prefix, i.e. it is generated in a syntactically higher position, above the aspect, and its meaning is related to the time domain.

Językoznawstwo kognitywne a niemieckie czasowniki przedrostkowe ze szczególnym uwzględnieniem morfemu „durch”

The paper aims at elaborating on prefixal verbs, particularly those containing the morpheme durch, with regard to cognitive grammar. The reflections are carried out against the background of cognitive theories. They revolve around phenomena such as metonymy and conceptual metaphors – regarded as ubiquitous processes enabling us to capture the notion of abstract entities, and based on an inborn ability of the human mind to create analogies. The paper is dedicated to metaphorical extensions that play a vital role contributing to the expansion of radial semantic networks described according to Langacker. Crucial prominence is given to conceptual blending that allows to use certain prefixes with noticeable efficacy.

A sketch grammar of Siyuewu Khroskyabs [HL Archive 9

Khroskyabs is a rGyalronic (Tibeto-Burman) language of northwestern Sichuan province in the People's Republic of China. There are an estimated 10,000 speakers of Khroskyabs living in several villages and townships in the river valleys of part of the Tibetan plateau (Huang, 2003). Khroskyabs speakers identify as ethnically Tibetan, and the language is under immense social pressure both from Amdo Tibetan (the prestige language of the community) and Mandarin Chinese (the language of schooling). There is also some lexical borrowing from both Tibetan and Sichuan Mandarin.Khroskyabs exhibits many typologically interesting characteristics, including hierarchical alignment, verb stem alternation, partial stem reduplication in reciprocal verbs, and pervasive use of directional verb prefixes which have extended uses as aspect markers. Data for this sketch was conducted in the context of a year-long graduate Field Methods seminar with a native speaker who is committed to the documentation and maintenance of her language. While it is subject to the usual limitations that come from working with a single speaker at a far geographic remove from the larger community and sociolinguistic context, Yulha’s linguistic training and personal motivation were a key advantage in this enterprise.

A Category With Multiple Centers: The Case of the Ukrainian Verbal Prefix Za-

The present study aims to reconstruct the structure of the Ukrainian verbal prefix za- as a category. Cognitive modeling and the network approach are used to this end, similarly to other works within the Cognitive Linguistics paradigm (Janda 1985, 1986), (Sokolova & Endresen, 2017), (Tabakowska, 2003). The modeling phase is preceded by an analysis of a large sample of Ukrainian za- verbs, which are grouped into semantic blocks based on shared semantic content. These blocks are then mapped onto a network of conceptual schemas, which includes such prominent centers as CURVE and APPEAR. The latter and several other nodes are shown to be modifications of CURVE with the links between them constituting family resemblances (Wittgenstein, 2009). The conceptual schema APPEAR is actively used by native speakers to coin new inchoative za- verbs in Ukrainian and several Slavic languages, which means that conscious (Type 2) categorization (Starko, 2014) is employed. This and other considerations suggest that APPEAR is a psychologically real conceptual entity in its own right. Thus, an argument is made in favor of a bifocal, rather than unicentric, topology of the za- network, which is contrary to the popular assumption about the existence of a single central element (prototype) from which all other network nodes are derived in what is called “radial structure” or “radical category” (Lakoff, 1987). The a priori assumption in the study of categories should be that they may be unicentric or pluricentric.