Russian verbs capable of expressing spatial displacement (among other meanings) allow the prefix po- to express two contradictory meanings: inchoation (onset of action: ‘Let’s go!’) and delimitation (temporal bounding: ‘Enough running!’). This article explores the conditions triggering this duality, focusing on the grammatical category of so-called “verbs of motion”. Within this small set, which contrasts determinate and indeterminate verbs, the former tendentially select the inchoative meaning, while the latter select the delimitative meaning. The analysis is carried out using the example of the determinate verb (po)nesti and the indeterminate (po)nosit′, with extension to non-motion uses.
The core argument is that determinate verbs – like other motion-capable verbs – rely on an unstable term a, whereas indeterminate verbs, as products of a morphological derivation process, operate on the feature that distinguishes verbs within this category: the mechanism creating this instability. In the case of nesti/nosit′, this involves a contingently defined locator (e.g., a “carrier”). Consequently, po- prefixed to determinate verbs targets the existence of a, while with indeterminate verbs, it modifies the properties of the “carrier”. For verbs outside the determinate/indeterminate opposition, the ambiguity stems directly from the verbal base’s interpretation, generating specific semantic effects.
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