Verbal derived stems and semantics of prefixed verbs in the earliest Lithuanian texts

This article discusses the deverbal verb derivation by the means of the prefixes in the Old Lithuanian language, basing on the corpus of about 110 primary verbs and their approximately 460 derivates attested in the Evangelijos bei epistolos (Gospels and Epistles, ViE) and the Catechism (ViC) of Balt...

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Main Author: Otso Vanhala
Format: Article
Language:deu
Published: Vilnius University 2022-12-01
Series:Lietuvių Kalba
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.zurnalai.vu.lt/lietuviu-kalba/article/view/31438
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author Otso Vanhala
author_facet Otso Vanhala
author_sort Otso Vanhala
collection DOAJ
description This article discusses the deverbal verb derivation by the means of the prefixes in the Old Lithuanian language, basing on the corpus of about 110 primary verbs and their approximately 460 derivates attested in the Evangelijos bei epistolos (Gospels and Epistles, ViE) and the Catechism (ViC) of Baltramiejus Vilentas, with additional data from other Prussian Old Lithuanian sources up to the year 1600. By comparing the derived verbs with their bases occurring in the Old Lithuanian texts, the co-occurring morphological and semantical changes were found out. Attention is brought on the together co-occurring morphological and semantical changes used in deriving telic verbs from their often atelic bases, e. g. the loss of infinitive formants -ė- and -o-, as in giedoti ‘to sing’→ pragysti ‘to start to sing, to start to crow’, or the ablaut change in šaukti ‘to shout’ → prašukti ‘to cry out, to exclaim’. The change in telicity can be used to classify the derived verbs into aktionsart classes (e. g. ingressive/momentaneous, delimitative). The telic ingressive/momentaneous derivatives also have the nasal infix or -st- formant in the present tense. This article shows that the non-prefixed verbs with ingressive or momentaneous meaning of the type gysti occur extremely rarely in the oldest Lithuanian texts, and are better seen as later de-prefixed derivatives of the type pragysti, i.e. pragysti → gysti. Similarly, the derived type pragiedoti is rare in Old Lithuanian as the prefixation is usually accompanied by the shortening of the infinitive stems in the derivatives of this semantic class, leading to pragysti, although the type pragiedoti also occurs. This has led to the formal patterning of the derivatives and base verbs into two new models similar to that of degti → sudegti, the two new patterns showing only a simple prefixation: gysti → pragysti and giedoti → pragiedoti.
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spelling doaj.art-4c9485b09b334585ac53c0ee41348ec02023-02-02T09:44:57ZdeuVilnius UniversityLietuvių Kalba1822-525X2022-12-011710.15388/LK.2022.3Verbal derived stems and semantics of prefixed verbs in the earliest Lithuanian textsOtso Vanhala0Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, GermanyThis article discusses the deverbal verb derivation by the means of the prefixes in the Old Lithuanian language, basing on the corpus of about 110 primary verbs and their approximately 460 derivates attested in the Evangelijos bei epistolos (Gospels and Epistles, ViE) and the Catechism (ViC) of Baltramiejus Vilentas, with additional data from other Prussian Old Lithuanian sources up to the year 1600. By comparing the derived verbs with their bases occurring in the Old Lithuanian texts, the co-occurring morphological and semantical changes were found out. Attention is brought on the together co-occurring morphological and semantical changes used in deriving telic verbs from their often atelic bases, e. g. the loss of infinitive formants -ė- and -o-, as in giedoti ‘to sing’→ pragysti ‘to start to sing, to start to crow’, or the ablaut change in šaukti ‘to shout’ → prašukti ‘to cry out, to exclaim’. The change in telicity can be used to classify the derived verbs into aktionsart classes (e. g. ingressive/momentaneous, delimitative). The telic ingressive/momentaneous derivatives also have the nasal infix or -st- formant in the present tense. This article shows that the non-prefixed verbs with ingressive or momentaneous meaning of the type gysti occur extremely rarely in the oldest Lithuanian texts, and are better seen as later de-prefixed derivatives of the type pragysti, i.e. pragysti → gysti. Similarly, the derived type pragiedoti is rare in Old Lithuanian as the prefixation is usually accompanied by the shortening of the infinitive stems in the derivatives of this semantic class, leading to pragysti, although the type pragiedoti also occurs. This has led to the formal patterning of the derivatives and base verbs into two new models similar to that of degti → sudegti, the two new patterns showing only a simple prefixation: gysti → pragysti and giedoti → pragiedoti. https://www.zurnalai.vu.lt/lietuviu-kalba/article/view/31438verbal derivationmomentaneous verbsVilentasde-prefixationprefixationaktionsart
spellingShingle Otso Vanhala
Verbal derived stems and semantics of prefixed verbs in the earliest Lithuanian texts
Lietuvių Kalba
verbal derivation
momentaneous verbs
Vilentas
de-prefixation
prefixation
aktionsart
title Verbal derived stems and semantics of prefixed verbs in the earliest Lithuanian texts
title_full Verbal derived stems and semantics of prefixed verbs in the earliest Lithuanian texts
title_fullStr Verbal derived stems and semantics of prefixed verbs in the earliest Lithuanian texts
title_full_unstemmed Verbal derived stems and semantics of prefixed verbs in the earliest Lithuanian texts
title_short Verbal derived stems and semantics of prefixed verbs in the earliest Lithuanian texts
title_sort verbal derived stems and semantics of prefixed verbs in the earliest lithuanian texts
topic verbal derivation
momentaneous verbs
Vilentas
de-prefixation
prefixation
aktionsart
url https://www.zurnalai.vu.lt/lietuviu-kalba/article/view/31438
work_keys_str_mv AT otsovanhala verbalderivedstemsandsemanticsofprefixedverbsintheearliestlithuaniantexts