From transitivity to aspect: Causative-inchoative alternation and its extensions in Lithuanian (original) (raw)

Lithuanian morphological causatives: A corpus-based study

We analyse morphological causative verbs in Lithuanian on the basis of an annotated corpus, studying the distribution of different causative suffixes across the valency types of base verbs, as well as the argument structure of the causatives themselves. We show that different causative suffixes are unevenly distributed with respect to the transitivity and agentivity of the base verbs and that morphological causatives in Lithuanian, being no longer productive, tend to pattern in their argument structure and interpretation together with ordinary transitive verbs. The not very numerous causatives based on transitive verbs are investigated, and it is shown that causatives based on "ingestive" verbs like 'eat' or 'drink' behave differently from causatives formed from other semantic types of bases, in particular in that they allow the expression of both participants of the caused event. The non-ingestive transitive verbs derive so called "curative" causatives which are peculiar in that they never allow regular overt expression of the agent of the caused situation and are therefore not valency-increasing in the strict sense of the term. Such causatives are also shown to undergo meaning shifts rendering them partly synonymous with their base verbs, the original causative semantics being lost.

The Reanalysis of Lithuanian Reflexive -si-: A DM Approach

2017

This paper argues that in prefixed verbs -siis not a second position clitic. New data from prefix stacking demonstrate that after linearization -siin prefixed verbs is always attached to the root. We distinguish the aspectual, so-called lexical, prefixes pain (1b) and suin (2b) from the pseudo-prefix pa(2b)1, the former has a transparent perfective meaning, the latter is a part of a complex root and has a non-transparent meaning. Lexical prefixes originate inside a vP (Svenonius, 2004), while -siis a valency reducing morpheme which starts off in VoiceP above a vP (Schäfer, 2008; Wood, 2015). We argue that the preverbal and postverbal placement of a clitic2 requires two different initial linear positions and an assumption that Local Dislocation (LD) can manipulate the output of syntax at PF. However, LD manipulates only certain kinds of sub-words i.e., only aspectual prefixes, not pseudo-prefixes showing that LD at the sub-word level is restricted.

Scalar markers between aspect and modality: The case of Lithuanian be-

Zeitschrift für Slawistik, 2024

The present article proposes an analysis of a subset of functions of the Lithuanian verbal prefix be-, one of a small group of prefixes performing functions usually characteristic of particles rather than prefixes, such as those of focus, phasal and scalar markers. They have correspondingly been called ‘particle-like prefixes’ in Lithuanian grammar. While in its aspectual use be- is mainly progressive in modern Lithuanian, its original function was phasal (continuative), and it is this meaning that extended to scalar meanings. The article focuses on the variety of functions this scalar be- has acquired in grammar, and the ways in which it has become a marker of various constructional meanings that can be characterized as modal. More generally, it shows the importance of the Lithuanian data in elucidating the role of scalarity as a mediator between aspect and modality.

On the semantic motivation of some verbal prefixes in Lithuanian. Pp. 55–83.

Diego Ardoino and Adriano Cerri (eds). Intersezioni baltistiche. Studi e saggi. (Baltica Pisana Series). Novi Ligure: Joker. , 2021

The paper sets out to examine the polysemy of two selected Lithuanian prefixes, which has been so far mostly tackled in a structural linguistic framework. The present investigation demonstrates how the cognitive linguistic approach adhering to the motivated polysemy principle contributes to a more coherent treatment of polysemous prefixes. The investigation of the prefixes į- (‘in, into’) and iš- (‘from, out of’) demonstrates that the prefixal meaning is not arbitrary. A number of senses can be accounted for by the mechanism of container metaphor linking more concrete meanings of location or direction with more abstract meanings of emotion, reasoning and other human experiences.

Morphological adaptation of adjectival borrowings in modern Lithuanian

In this article, the following types of morphological adaptation of borrowed adjectives in Lithuanian are identified: (1) zero adaptation, (2) assignment to inflection class (IC), (3) addition of derivational suffix, (4) substitution of derivational suffix, (5) truncation of derivational suffix. Zero adaptation is very rare in internationalisms, but appears quite frequently in slang borrowings. Assignment to ICs is noted in internationalisms and slang borrowings with nearly complementary distribution of ICs in-us and-as. Addition of derivational suffixes is rare, but available in non-standard use and also possible, but difficult to prove, in internationalisms. Substitution of derivational suffixes is the main strategy for adaptation of internationalisms, the central role being played by the relational suffix-in-is. Truncation of derivational suffixes is very rare and is noted only in internationalisms where affixes of Latin origin can be occasionally deleted.