“How to account for aspectual derivation in Russian" Laura A. Janda UNC-Chapel Hill/University of Tromsø

Laura A. Janda Tartu Main Idea Traditional aspectual pair model is inadequate Incorporate the traditional aspectual pair model in a more complex, more accurate model The new model: aspectual clusters Where pairs exist, they do so in the context of (usually larger) aspectual clusters

Laura A. Janda Tartu Overview Traditional aspectual pair model Definition of aspectual cluster Metaphorical motivation of types of perfectives Distribution of types of perfectives Implicational hierarchy Distribution of cluster types Comparison with pair model Conclusions

Laura A. Janda Tartu The Russian aspectual system: All verbs and all forms of all verbs are marked for either Perfective or Imperfective aspect –(Exception: a small set of biaspectual verbs lacks overt marking, but aspect is always disambiguated in context) –Perfective and Imperfective will be marked with superscript “p” and “i” –For example: писать i ‘write’, написать p ‘write’, пописать p ‘write for a while’, переписать p ‘rewrite’, переписывать i ‘rewrite’, etc. Scholars have traditionally assumed that all (or nearly all) verbs exist in aspectual pairs

Laura A. Janda Tartu Problem: Model of aspectual “pairs” has a long tradition: –Vinogradov 1938, Šaxmatov 1941, Bondarko 1983, Čertkova 1996, Zaliznjak & Šmelev 2000, Timberlake 2004 Suspicions that aspectual relationships involve more complex clusters have arisen: –Isačenko 1960, Bertinetto & Delfitto 2000, Tatevosov 2002, Janda forthcoming

Laura A. Janda Tartu 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 Tartu Metaphors and types of perfectives: Three metaphors govern the Russian aspectual system, based on: properties of matter, motion, granularity These metaphors motivate the derivation of four different types of perfective verbs These metaphors interact to motivate the structure of aspectual clusters of Russian verbs

Laura A. Janda Tartu The three metaphors Solid vs. Substance => Perfective vs. Imperfective Travel vs. Motion => Construal of Completability Granular vs. Fluid => Construal of Singularizability

Laura A. Janda Tartu Travel vs. Motion One can travel to a destination –or – One can move without a destination This distinction is grammaticalized in Russian motion verbs: идти i ‘walk (somewhere)’ vs. ходить i ‘walk (around, back and forth)’ This can be likened to the Completability of an action

Laura A. Janda Tartu Completability: Писатель пишет i книгу. ‘The writer is writing a book.’ Профессор работает i в университете. ‘The professor is working at the university.’ Note that Completability is a scale involving various kinds of construal.

Laura A. Janda Tartu Completability: Many verbs are Ambiguous: –Completable Писатель пишет i книгу ‘A writer is writing a book’ –Non-Completable Писатель пишет i книги ‘A writer writes books’ Some verbs are Non-Completable: стонать i ‘moan’ –But some can be Completable if specialized работать i ‘work’ > переработать p ‘revise’ Few verbs are unambiguously Completable: крепнуть i > окрепнуть p ‘get stronger’

Laura A. Janda Tartu What Completability means for aspectual derivation: Only verbs that can be construed as Completable have Natural Perfectives –писать i ‘write’ > написать p ‘write’, крепнуть i ‘get stronger’ > окрепнуть p ‘get stronger’ Only verbs that can be construed as Non-Completable have Complex Act Perfectives –писать i ‘write’> пописать p ‘write a while’, стонать i ‘moan’> постонать p ‘moan a while’, работать i ‘work’> поработать p ‘work a while’ Verbs that can be Completable if specialized have Specialized Perfectives –писать i ‘write’> переписать p ‘rewrite’, работать i ‘work’ > переработать p ‘revise’

Laura A. Janda Tartu Granular vs. Fluid: Substances can be: Particulate, like sand Continuous, like water This can be likened to Singularizability of an action

Laura A. Janda Tartu Singularizability: Мальчик дул i на одуванчик. ‘The boy was blowing on the dandelion.’ Мальчик дунул p на одуванчик. ‘The boy blew once on the dandelion.’ Профессор работал i в университете. ‘The professor was working at the university.’

Laura A. Janda Tartu 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: щипать i ‘pinch/pluck’ + пощипать p ‘pinch/pluck a while’ > щипнуть p ‘pinch/pluck once’ дуть i ‘blow’ + подуть p ‘blow a while’ > дунуть p ‘blow once’ скрипеть i ‘squeak’ + поскрипеть p ‘squeak a while’ > скрипнуть p ‘squeak once’ работать i ‘work’ + поработать p ‘work a while’ > *работнуть p ‘work once’ [NB: Some are formed ad-hoc]

Laura A. Janda Tartu Singularizability and motion verbs: The Non-Completable motion verbs can also be construed as Singularizable –ходить i ‘walk’ can refer to multiple round-trips, in which case there is a Single Act Perfective сходить p ‘make a single round trip’

Laura A. Janda Tartu Summary thus far: Two metaphors distinguish four different types of Perfectives: –Natural Perfectives писать i ‘write’ > написать p ‘write’ –Specialized Perfectives работать i ‘work’ > переработать p ‘revise’ –Complex Act Perfectives стонать i ‘moan’> постонать p ‘moan a while’ –Single Act Perfectives дуть i ‘blow’ + подуть p ‘blow a while’ > дунуть p ‘blow once’

Laura A. Janda Tartu Distribution of the four types of Perfectives: Natural Perfective: –написать p ‘write’, связать p ‘tie’, о(б)щипать p ‘pinch/pluck’, окрепнуть p ‘get stronger’ Specialized Perfective: –переписать p ‘rewrite’, развязать p ‘untie’, переработать p ‘revise’, вдуть p ‘blow in’, выщипать p ‘pluck out’ Complex Act: –пописать p ‘write a while’, поработать p ‘work a while’, подуть p ‘blow a while’, пощипать p ‘pinch/pluck a while’, поскрипеть p ‘squeak a while’ Single Act: –дунуть p ‘blow once’, щипнуть p ‘pinch/pluck once’, скрипнуть p ‘squeak once’

Laura A. Janda Tartu Distribution of the four types of Perfectives: Natural Perfective: –написать p ‘write’, связать p ‘tie’, о(б)щипать p ‘pinch/pluck’, окрепнуть p ‘get stronger’ Specialized Perfective: –переписать p ‘rewrite’, развязать p ‘untie’, переработать p ‘revise’, вдуть p ‘blow in’, выщипать p ‘pluck out’ Complex Act: –пописать p ‘write a while’, поработать p ‘work a while’, подуть p ‘blow a while’, пощипать p ‘pinch/pluck a while’, поскрипеть p ‘squeak a while’ Single Act: –дунуть p ‘blow once’, щипнуть p ‘pinch/pluck once’, скрипнуть p ‘squeak once’

Laura A. Janda Tartu 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 Tartu 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 a empirical study of a multiply stratified sample of 283 verb clusters (including over 2000 verbs).

Laura A. Janda Tartu The Implicational Hierarchy: Activity щипать i ‘pinch/pluck’ > (Natural/Specialized Perfective) о(б)щипать p ‘pinch/pluck’/выщипать p ‘pluck out’ > Complex Act пощипать p ‘pinch/pluck a while’ > Single Act щипнуть p ‘pinch/pluck once’

Laura A. Janda Tartu 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

Laura A. Janda Tartu What the hierarchy excludes: 19 unattested cluster types 1 cluster type (not predicted by hierarchy) that is rare, but known to exist: –Natural Perfective (perfectiva tantum) рухнуть p ‘collapse’, уцелеть p ‘survive’ morphologically complex, probably remnants of clusters that were historically larger

Laura A. Janda Tartu Distribution of extant cluster types: Three cluster types account for over half the verbs in the lexicon –Activity+Natural+Specialized+Complex Act Like писать i ‘write’ –Activity+Natural+Specialized Like вязать i ‘tie’ –Activity+Specialized+Complex Act Like работать i ‘work’ Five cluster types follow, each representing less than 10% of verbs Remaining cluster types are rare (2% or less)

Laura A. Janda Tartu 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): –Иван окреп. Потом он еще больше окреп. ‘Ivan got stronger. Then he got even stronger.’ –Иван написал книгу. *Потом он еще больше написал книгу. ‘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

Laura A. Janda Tartu 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. Both linguists and pedagogues should describe aspectual relationships in terms of clusters.