Aspectual clusters of Russian verbs

✍ Scribed by Janda L.A.

• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 42
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Studies in Language 31:3 (2007), 607–648.

The traditional “pair” model of Russian aspect fails to distinguish among Perfectives and ignores the fact that most verbs exist in larger clusters of
three or more aspectually related forms. I propose semantic parameters that account for the interaction of aspect and actionality and use them to construct a semantic map of Russian aspectual relationships. I show, using a multiply stratified sample of 283 verb clusters (including over 2000 verbs), that the composition of clusters conforms to a strict implicational hierarchy that predicts all and only the cluster types attested in Russian. The proposed model replaces aspectual “pairs” with a model that captures the more complex reality of aspectual relationships among Russian verbs and provides a hypothesis for cross-linguistic comparison.

Introduction
The semantic map of Russian aspect
Data on the Russian verb clusters
Interpreting the data
Brief excursus on problematic types
Conclusions

✦ Subjects

Языки и языкознание;Русский язык;Словообразование и морфология