Julia Kuznetsova

Russian purely aspectual prefixes: Not so empty after all?

Abstract Nearly two thousand perfective verbs in Russian are formed via the addition of so-called “empty prefixes” (čistovidovye pristavki) to imperfective base verbs. The traditional assumption that prefixes are semantically “empty” when used to form aspectual pairs is problematic because the same prefixes are clearly “non-empty” when combined with other base verbs. Though some scholars have suspected that the prefixes are not empty but instead have meanings that overlap with the meanings of the base verbs, proof of this hypothesis has eluded researchers. With the advent of corpora and electronic resources it is possible to explore this question on the basis of large quantities of data. This article presents a new methodology, called “radial category profiling”, in which the semantic network of a prefix is established on the basis of its “non-empty” uses and then compared, node by node, with the semantic network of base verbs that use the same prefix as an “empty” perfectivizing morpheme. This methodology facilitates a comprehensive analysis of ten prefixes, comparing their meanings in “non-empty” and “empty” uses and showing precisely how in the latter case overlap produces the illusion of emptiness. We are able to fully specify the semantic network of each prefix, and discover that for some prefixes there is overlap throughout the network, while for others overlap is restricted to a contiguous subsection of the network. We investigate the dynamic interactions among prefixes, and identify what meanings are incompatible with the “purely aspectual” function of the so-called “empty” prefixes. The results of our analyses, including complete lists of verbs, are publicly available at: http://emptyprefixes.uit.no/ and http://emptyprefixes.uit.no/methodology_eng.htm.

In Which Case Are Russians Afraid?: Bojat'sja with Genitive and Accusative Objects

The present article investigates case usage with the verb bojat’sja ‘be scared’ in Russian. Many verbs with -sja never combine with objects in the accusative case. The verb bojat’sja historically was among them, but this verb is undergoing a shift and is currently used with both genitive and accusative objects. This study examines the parameters that motivate this change. Using data from the Russian National Corpus and an experimental study, this article shows that the accusative case is more likely to appear when the object is individuated. It is furthermore demonstrated that the use of accusative objects depends on register: Less restricted registers, such as newspaper texts and answers in the experiment, show higher use of accusative objects.

Stability and Complexity: Russian Suffix Shift over Time

Suffix shift is a phenomenon in which some Russian verbs replace the unproductive suffix /a/ with the productive /aj/, thus supplanting forms like bryzžut ‘(they) spatter’ with bryzgajut. This article reports on a large-scale corpus-based study of the development of suffix shift over time. We investigate the phenomenon on three levels. First, the overall picture emerging from our study is one of stability over time: in general, suffix shift has shown very limited growth from the eighteenth century to the present day. Second, we explore a number of factors pertaining to the shape of the verbal stem. Although these factors display statistical significance, our analysis shows that the factors have limited impact. Our investigation of the shape of the stem therefore lends further support to the diachronic stability of suffix shift. At the same time, the differences among the factors under scrutiny show that suffix shift is a complex diachronic phenomenon. The third level we discuss is that of individual lexemes. Our study testifies to the complexity of suffix shift, insofar as individual verbs display very different behaviors.

Why по слушать, but у слышать?

This article provides a preliminary analysis of aspectual prefixation of Russian perception verbs. It is argued that the choice of prefix is not arbitrary, but depends on the meaning of the verb stem.