On the semantic motivation of some verbal prefixes in Lithuanian (original) (raw)
Related papers
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.
Prepositions and Verbal Prefixes: The Case of Slavic
This monograph is concerned with prepositional elements in Slavic languages, prepositions, verbal prefixes and functional elements of prepositional nature. It argues that verbal prefixes are incorporated prepositions projecting its argument structure in the complement position of the verbal root. The meaning of prefixes is based on the two-argument meaning of prepositions, which is enriched with the CAUSE operator, which conjoins the state denoted by the prepositional phrase and the event expressed by the verbal root. This accounts for various effects of prefixation. The book investigates idiomaticity in the realm of prefixed verbs and proposes a novel analysis of non-compositional prefixed verbs. The non-compositional interpretation arises inter alia because of the fact that either the meaning of the verbal part or the meaning of the prepositional part is shifted by means of Nunberg’s (1995) predicate transfer in the course of the derivation. This study also offers a uniform analysis of cases: prepositional as well as non-prepositional cases are treated as a reflection of the operation Agree between Tense-features and phi-features. It presents a new model of prepositional case assignment, in which the type of prepositional case is determined by semantic properties of particular heads of the decomposed preposition. Furthermore, it investigates prepositional movement from diachronic perspective. It is shown that prepositions can be grammaticalised as a functional element of the higher clausal structure.
The prepositional aspect of Slavic prefixes and the goal-source asymmetry
Proceedings of ESSLLI workshop on Formal Semantics and Cross-Linguistic Data, ed. H. de Hoop & J. Zwarts, 47-56 , 2005
The aim of this paper is twofold. First, I will apply the framework of prepositional aspect, proposed by Zwarts (to appear) for English locative and directional prepositions, to the semantics of Russian and Czech prefixes on motion verbs. Furthermore, I will extend the account of measure phrase modification with locative PPs provided by and to directional PPs. I will show that an apparent aspectual asymmetry between Czech goal-and source-oriented prefixes addressed in , namely that only the latter but not the former can be modified by measure phrases, is more fine-grained in that it follows from the semantics of spatial expressions rather than from an aspectual opposition between these two types of prefixes. Specifically, I will show that there is, in fact, no aspectual difference: both types are telic.
Jezikoslovlje, 2013
Semantička i gramatička svojstva prefiksa o-/ob- u slovenskim glagolima za izražavanje emocija. A cognitive linguistic view of South Slavic prepositions and prefixes (str.5-17) / Ljiljana Šarić Semantic and grammatical features of o-/ob- in verbs of emotion in Slovene (str.19-39) / Agnieszka Będkowska-Kopczyk Kretanje od – do u hrvatskome. Analiza polazišta, ciljeva i dvojnih čitanja dativa. Moving od(-) and do(-) in Croatian. An account of sources, goals and dual readings of the dative (str.41-69) / Maja Brala-Vukanović, Anita Memišević Orphan prefixes and the grammaticalization of aspect in South Slavic. Osamostaljeni prefiksi i gramatikalizacija vida u južnoslavenskim jezicima (str.71-105) / Stephen M. Dickey Prijedlog i prefiks nad u južnoslavenskim jezicima s naglaskom na makedonskom jeziku.The preposition and prefix nad in South Slavic languages with emphasis on Macedonian (str.107-150). / Liljana Mitkovska, Eleni Bužarovska Prijedlog uz u hrvatskome: kognitivni pristup. The Croatian preposition uz: A cognitive approach (str.151-190) / Ljiljana Šarić Kognitivnosemantička analiza prefiksa uz u hrvatskom jeziku. A cognitive semantic account of the prefix uz in Croatian 191-218 (str.191-218) / Ljiljana Šarić Kognitivna analiza bugarskih prijedloga i glagolskih prefiksa nad i pod A cognitive analysis of the Bulgarian prepositions and verbal prefixes NAD and POD (str.219-260)/Ivelina Tchizmarova
Russian prefixed verbs as constructional schemas
Russian Linguistics, 2021
This study tests the morphological gradience theory on Russian prefixed verbs. With the help of a specially designed experiment, in which participants were asked to evaluate the semantic transparency of a prefixed nonse verb given in minimal context, as well as to semanticise it by suggesting an existing Russian verb with the same prefix, we offer evidence that these verbs can be analysed as constructional schemas and that the degree of their morphological decomposition depends upon the different levels of activation of their sequential and lexical links. We prove that speakers of Russian are very sensitive to the etymological connection between verb prefixes and the prepositions they are related to. Thus, prefix-stem constructions with prefixes that correspond to prepositions are more likely to be morphologically decomposed, while prefix-stem constructions with prefixes that do not relate to prepositions tend to be regarded as single lexical units. Moreover, the general, highly abstract semantics of Russian prefix-stem constructions, especially of those that retain their 'prepositional' meaning, is undoubtedly accessible to language users, which is confirmed by the fact that the interpretability of these constructions is affected by priming.
Asymmetries in Linguistic Construal : Russian Prefixes and the Locative Alternation
2012
The dissertation contains data and statistical analysis forthcoming in: Sokolova S. V., O. Lyashevskaya, and L. Janda forthcoming. The Locative Alternation and the Russian ‘empty’ prefixes: A case study of the verb gruzit’ ‘load’. Frequency effects in cognitive linguistics 2: what statistical effects can(not) explain. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Trends in Linguistics Series. The article should appear in 2012.