"Constraints on the formal structure of Russian verb clusters" Laura A. Janda UNC-Chapel Hill...
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Transcript of "Constraints on the formal structure of Russian verb clusters" Laura A. Janda UNC-Chapel Hill...
"Constraints on the formal structure of Russian verb clusters"
Laura A. JandaUNC-Chapel [email protected],
www.unc.edu/~lajanda
Laura A. Janda AATSEEL 2005 2
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 AATSEEL 2005 3
Solution:
• 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 AATSEEL 2005 4
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 up to four types of Perfective verbs: – Natural Perfective, Specialized Perfective,
Complex Act, Single Act
Laura A. Janda AATSEEL 2005 5
The four types of Perfectives:
• Natural Perfective: – написать ‘write’, связать ‘tie’, о(б)щипать ‘pinch/pluck’,
окрепнуть ‘get stronger’
• Specialized Perfective: – переписать ‘rewrite’, развязать ‘untie’, оплакать ‘mourn’, вдуть
‘blow in’, выщипать ‘pluck out’
• Complex Act: – пописать ‘write (a while)’, поплакать ‘cry (a while)’, подуть
‘blow (a while)’, пощипать ‘pinch/pluck (a while)’, поскрипеть ‘squeak (a while)’
• Single Act:– дунуть ‘blow (once)’, щипнуть ‘pinch/pluck (once)’, скрипнуть
‘squeak (once)’
Laura A. Janda AATSEEL 2005 6
The four types of Perfectives:
• Natural Perfective: – написать ‘write’, связать ‘tie’, о(б)щипать ‘pinch/pluck’,
окрепнуть ‘get stronger’
• Specialized Perfective: – переписать ‘rewrite’, развязать ‘untie’, оплакать ‘mourn’, вдуть
‘blow in’, выщипать ‘pluck out’
• Complex Act: – пописать ‘write (a while)’, поплакать ‘cry (a while)’, подуть
‘blow (a while)’, пощипать ‘pinch/pluck (a while)’, поскрипеть ‘squeak (a while)’
• Single Act:– дунуть ‘blow (once)’, щипнуть ‘pinch/pluck (once)’, скрипнуть
‘squeak (once)’
Laura A. Janda AATSEEL 2005 7
Cluster components:
• There are five aspectually distinct types of verbs expressing:– Activity, Natural Perfective, Specialized
Perfective, Complex Act, Single Act
• Five items can compose 31 different combinations.
• The Implicational Hierarchy constrains the structure of aspectual clusters
Laura A. Janda AATSEEL 2005 8
The Implicational Hierarchy:
Activityщипать ‘pinch/pluck’
> (Natural/Specialized Perfective) о(б)щипать ‘pinch/pluck’/выщипать ‘pluck out’
> Complex Act пощипать ‘pinch/pluck (a while)’
> Single Act щипнуть ‘pinch/pluck
(once)’
Laura A. Janda AATSEEL 2005 9
Extant verb clusters
• Activity• Activity + Natural Perfective• Activity + Specialized Perfective• Activity + Natural Perfective + Specialized
PerfectiveTo any of the above one can add either:
…+ Complex Act…+ Complex Act + Single Act
Total: 12 extant cluster types
Laura A. Janda AATSEEL 2005 10
What the hierarchy excludes:
• 18 unattested cluster types
• 1 cluster type that is rare, but known to exist: – Natural Perfective (perfectiva tantum)
• more rare than Imperfective isolates• morphologically complex, probably remnants of
clusters that were historically larger
Laura A. Janda AATSEEL 2005 11
Distribution of extant cluster types:
• Three cluster types account for over half the verbs in the lexicon
• Five cluster types follow, each representing less than 10% of verbs
• Five cluster types are rare (2% or less)
Laura A. Janda AATSEEL 2005 12
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 AATSEEL 2005 13
Concepts that motivate cluster structure:
• Completable vs. Non-Completable:
Аспирант пишет диссертацию.
‘The grad student is writing a dissertation.’
vs.Профессор работает в
университете.‘The professor works at the
university.’
• Singularizable vs. Non-Singularizable:
(щипать >) щипнуть ‘pinch/pluck (once)’, (скрипеть >) скрипнуть ‘squeak (once)’
vs.(писать >) * ‘?’,
работать >) * ‘?’
Laura A. Janda AATSEEL 2005 14
Completable:
• Many verbs are Ambiguous:– Completable
• Писатель пишет книгу ‘A writer is writing a book’
– Non-Completable• Писатель пишет книги ‘A writer writes books’
• Some verbs are Non-Completable: стонать ‘moan’
– But some can be Completable if specialized• плакать ‘cry’ > оплакать ‘mourn’
• A few verbs are Completable: крепнуть ‘get stronger’
Laura A. Janda AATSEEL 2005 15
What Completable vs. Non-Completable means for clusters:
• Only verbs that can be interpreted as Completable have Natural Perfectives– писать > написать, крепнуть > окрепнуть
• Only verbs that can be interpreted as Non-Completable have Complex Acts– писать > пописать, стонать > постонать, плакать >
поплакать
• Verbs that can be Completable if specialized have Specialized Perfectives– писать > переписать, плакать > оплакать
Laura A. Janda AATSEEL 2005 16
Singularizable
• Only verbs that can be interpreted as Non-Completable and have a Complex Act can also be Singularizable.– A subset of verbs with a Complex Act also have
Single Act Perfectives:• щипать ‘pinch/pluck’ + пощипать ‘pinch/pluck (a while)’ >
щипнуть ‘pinch/pluck (once)’• дуть ‘blow’ + подуть ‘blow (a while)’ > дунуть ‘blow (once)’• скрипеть ‘squeak’ + поскрипеть ‘squeak (a while)’ >
скрипнуть ‘squeak (once)’• писать ‘write’ + пописать ‘write (a while)’ > *писнуть ‘write
(once)’• плакать ‘cry’ + поплакать ‘cry (a while)’ > *плакнуть ‘cry
(once)’ [NB: Some are formed ad-hoc]
Laura A. Janda AATSEEL 2005 17
Inventory of Extant Cluster Types:
• Cluster types will be listed in order of descending frequency
• For examples of some of the verbs in each cluster, follow your handout
• [NB: Not all verbs in a cluster are listed – only a representative sample is given to show the cluster type]
Laura A. Janda AATSEEL 2005 18
Three Dominant Cluster Types:
• Activity + Natural Perfective + Specialized Perfective + Complex Act: писать ‘write’– Ambiguous (both Completable and Non-Completable)– Non-Singularizable
• Activity + Natural Perfective + Specialized Perfective: вязать ‘tie’– Completable– Non-Singularizable
• Activity + Specialized Perfective + Complex Act: плакать ‘cry’– Non-Completable, but Completable if done in a special way– Non-Singularizable
Laura A. Janda AATSEEL 2005 19
Less Common Cluster Types:
• Activity + Complex Act: стонать ‘moan’– Non-Completable– Non-Singularizable
• Activity + Specialized Perfective + Complex Act + Single Act: дуть ‘blow’– Non-Completable, but Completable if done in a special way– Singularizable
• Activity + Natural Perfective + Specialized Perfective + Complex Act + Single Act: щипать ‘pinch/pluck’ – Ambiguous (both Completable and Non-Completable)– Singularizable
Laura A. Janda AATSEEL 2005 20
Less Common Cluster Types (cont’d):
• Activity + Natural Perfective: крепнуть ‘get stronger’– Completable– Non-Singularizable
• Activity + Complex Act + Single Act: скрипеть ‘squeak’ – Non-Completable– Singularizable
Laura A. Janda AATSEEL 2005 21
Rare Cluster Types:
• Activity: предвидеть ‘foresee’– [NB: No Perfectives are formed!]
• Activity + Specialized Perfective: крепить ‘strengthen’– Non-Completable, but Completable if done in a
special way [NB – No Complex Act!]– Non-Singularizable
• Activity + Natural Perfective + Complex Act: пользоваться ‘use’– Ambiguous (both Completable and Non-Completable)
[NB – No Specialized Perfective!]– Non-Singularizable
Laura A. Janda AATSEEL 2005 22
Extremely Rare Cluster Types:
• Activity + Natural Perfective + Complex Act + Single Act: ошибаться ‘make a mistake’– Ambiguous (both Completable and Non-
Completable) [NB – No Specialized Perfective!]
– Singularizable
• Natural Perfective: уцелеть ‘survive’– [NB: Defective structure, no Activity verb to
serve as source for other Perfectives!]
Laura A. Janda AATSEEL 2005 23
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.
• Motion verbs are entirely regular, consisting of complementary subclusters with Completable (Determined) and Non-Completable (Non-Determined) properties.
• Both linguists and pedagogs should describe aspectual relationships in terms of clusters.