https://doi.org/10.31261/NEO.2025.37.08
The object of the paper is Russian multiplicative verbs, that is verbs denoting repeating homogenous acts, cf. šagat’ («to step»), maxat’ («to wave»), ikat’ («to hiccup»), etc. My goal is to specify the definition of this class of verbs and to interpretate from the semantic point of view a well known systemic ambiguity of some sentences with such a verb. The study is carried out within the frame of Moscow semantic school. The problem is that there are many verbs which denote processes consisting of repeating homogenous acts, and still such verbs are never classified as multiplicative; cf. idti («to walk»); bežat’ («to run»); kosit’ travu («to mow the grass»), etc. The point is that in the focus of the meaning of a multiplicative verb are repeating homogenous acts while in the focus of idti ‘to walk’, bežat’ ‘to run’, kosit’ travu ‘to mow the grass’, etc. is purpose of action. I also demonstrate that meaning of many multiplicative verbs contains semantic component ‘once or more than once’, and because of that in some contexts they denote not series of homogenous acts but a single act. I call such multiplicative verbs non-strict as opposed to strict multiplicatives which always denote repeating homogenous acts (cf. drožat’ «to tremble for some time»). From this point of view I discuss aspectual pairs like šagat’ – šagnut’, maxat’ – maxnut’. The semantic interpretation of the verbs under discussion allows us to reveal the direction of derivation in the pair multiplicative – semelfactive.
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2025
Published: 2021-10-12
10.31261/NEO
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
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