In:Analogy and Contrast in Language: Perspectives from Cognitive Linguistics
Edited by Karolina Krawczak, Barbara Lewandowska-Tomaszczyk and Marcin Grygiel
[Human Cognitive Processing 73] 2022
► pp. 159–192
Chapter 6From nouns to verbs
Analogy across parts of speech
Published online: 27 October 2022
https://doi.org/10.1075/hcp.73.06jan
https://doi.org/10.1075/hcp.73.06jan
Abstract
A conceptual metaphor motivates an analogy between nouns and verbs, here termed the Noun → Verb Analogy.
The metaphor maps properties from the source domain of space for nouns to the target domain of time for verbs. Three
case studies present evidence for this metaphorical analogy using data from Russian. The first study examines the
metaphor that underlies the Russian system of verbal aspect. The second study catalogs parallels between numeral
classifiers and aspectual markers in Russian. The third study, of the distribution of grammatical forms, shows that
aspect in verbs behaves much like number in nouns. Recognition of the Noun → Verb Analogy facilitates a more orderly
and straightforward understanding of Russian verbs.
Keywords: aspect, classifier, metaphor, Russian
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 1.1Native speakers always know which aspect to use, and, in fact, even children never make errors in the use of aspect
- 1.2Perfective vs. Imperfective is a simple binary distinction
- 1.3Aspectual markers are semantically empty
- 2.The properties of spatial and temporal objects
- 3.Classifiers for spatial and temporal objects
- 4.Number and aspect as the identifying features of spatial and temporal objects
- 5.Conclusion
Notes References
References (68)
Andrews, E., Aver’janova, G. N., & Pjadusova, G. I. 2001. The
Russian verb: Form &
function. Moscow: Russkij jazyk.
Biber, D., S. Johansson, G. Leech, S. Conrad, & E. Finegan. 1999. Longman
grammar of spoken and written
English. Harlow: Pearson Education.
Bisang, W. 1999. Classifiers
in east and southeast Asian languages: Counting and
beyond. In J. Gvozdanović (Ed.), Numeral
types and changes
worldwide (113–185). Berlin & New York: Mouton De Gruyter.
Carlson, L. 1981. Aspect
and quantification. In P. J. Tedeschi, & A. Zaenen (Eds.), Syntax
and semantics, vol. 14. Tense and
aspect (31–64). New York: Academic Press.
Čertkova, M. 1996. Grammatičeskaja
kategorija vida v sovremennom russkom
jazyke. Moscow: Izdatel’stvo Moskovskogo universiteta.
Childers, J. B., & Tomasello, M. 2006. Are
nouns easier to learn than verbs? Three experimental
studies. In K. A. Hirsh-Pasek, & R. M. Golinkoff (Eds.), Action
meets word: How children learn verbs. Oxford Scholarship Online.
Deepadung, S. 1997. Extension
in the usage of the Thai classifier /tua/. Southeast Asian Linguistic Studies
in Honour of Vichin
Panupong (49–55). Bangkok: Chulalongkorn University Press.
Dickey, S. M., & Janda, L. A. 2015. Slavic
aspectual prefixes and numeral classifiers: Two kinds of lexico-grammatical
unitizers. Lingua, 168, 57–84.
Eckhoff, H. M., Janda, L. A., & Lyashevskaya, O. 2017. Predicting
Russian aspect by frequency across genres. Slavic and East European
Journal, 64, 844–875.
Endresen, A., Janda, L. A., Reynolds, R., & Tyers, F. M. 2016. Who
needs particles? A challenge to the classification of particles as a part of speech in
Russian. Russian
Linguistics, 40, 103–132. .
Gagarina, N. 2004. Does
the acquisition of aspect have anything to do with aspectual pairs? ZAS Papers
in
Linguistics, 33, 39–61.
Galton, H. 1976. The
main functions of the Slavic verbal
aspect. Skopje: Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts.
Gao, M. Y., & Malt, B. C. 2009. Mental
representation and cognitive consequences of Chinese individual
classifiers. Languages and Cognitive
Processes, 24, 1124–1179.
Gentner, D. 1982. Why
nouns are learned before verbs: Linguistic relativity versus natural
partitioning. In S. A. Kuczaj II (Ed.), Language development: Vol.
2. Language, thought and
culture (301–344). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Gentner, D., & Boroditsky; L. 2001. Individuation,
relativity, and early word learning. In M. Bowerman, & S. C. Levinson (Eds.), Language
acquisition and conceptual
development (215–256). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Gjervold, J. H. 2014. Prefix
variation in Russian. A comparison between occasional verbs and standardized
language. MA Thesis, UiT, The Arctic University of Norway.
Glovinskaja, M. Ja. 1982. Semantičeskie tipy
vidovyx protivopostavlenij russkogo
glagola. Moscow: Nauka.
Isačenko, A. V. 1960. Grammatičeskij
stroj russkogo jazyka v sopostavlenii s slovackim – Čast’ vtoraja:
morfologija. Bratislava: Izdatel’stvo akademii nauk.
Jakobson, R. O. 1957/1971. Shifters,
verbal categories, and the Russian verb. In Selected
writings II. The Hague: Mouton, 130–147.
Janda, L. A. 2003. A
user-friendly conceptualization of aspect. Slavic and East European
Journal, 47, 251–281.
2004. A
metaphor in search of a source domain: The categories of Slavic
aspect. Cognitive
Linguistics, 15, 471–527.
2007. Aspectual
clusters of Russian verbs. Studies in
Language, 31, 607–648.
Janda, L. A., & Lyashevskaya, O. 2011. Grammatical
profiles and the interaction of the lexicon with aspect, tense and mood in
Russian. Cognitive
Linguistics, 22, 719–763.
Janda, L. A., Endresen, A., Kuznetsova, J., Lyashevskaya, O., Makarova, A., Nesset, T., & Sokolova, S. 2013. Why
Russian aspectual prefixes aren’t empty: Prefixes as verb
classifiers. Bloomington, IN: Slavica.
Janda, L. A., & Reynolds, R. J. 2019. Construal
vs. redundancy: Russian aspect in context. Cognitive
Linguistics, 30, 467–497.
Janda, L. A., & Tyers, F. M. 2018. Less
is more: Why all paradigms are defective, and why that is a good thing. Corpus
Linguistics and Linguistic
Theory, 17(1), 109–141. .
1991. Concept,
image, and symbol: The cognitive basis of grammar. Berlin & New York: Mouton de Gruyter.
2000. Systems
of nominal classification: A concluding
discussion. In G. Senft (Ed.), Systems
of nominal
classification (326–341). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Lyashevskaya, O. 2016. Korpusnye
instrumenty v leksiko-grammaticheskikh issledovavijakh russkogo
jazyka. Moscow: Languages of Slavic culture press.
Majsak, T. A. 2005. Tipologija
grammatikalizacii konstrukcij s glagolami dviženija i glagolami
pozicii. Moscow: Jazyki slavjanskix kul’tur.
Martelle, W. 2011. Testing
the aspect hypothesis in L2 Russian. Doctoral Dissertation, University of Pittsburgh.
Maslov, J. S. 1965. Sistema
osnovnyx ponjatij i terminov slavjanskoj aspektologii. Voprosy obščego
jazykoznanija, 1, 53–80.
McGregor, W. B. 2002. Verb
classification in Australian languages. (Empirical Approaches to Language
Typology 25). Berlin & New York: Mouton de Gruyter.
Mehlig, H. R. 1996. Some
analogies between the morphology of nouns and the morphology of aspect in
Russian. Folia
Linguistica, 30, 87–109.
Mikaelian, I., Shmelev, A., & Zaliznjak, A. 2007. Imperfectivization
in Russian. Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Meaning Text Theory, Klagenfurt, May 20–24,
315–23. [ Wiener slawistischer
Almanach, 60.]
Mironova, L. Ju. 2004. Vid glagola i
sootnošenie leksiko-semantičeskix variantov mnogoznačnogo
slova. Tambov: Avtoreferat.
Morrow, D. G. 1986. Grammatical
morphemes and conceptual structure in discourse processing. Cognitive
Science, 10, 423–455.
Plungjan, V. A. 2011. Vvedenie
v grammatičeskuju semantiku: Grammatičeskie značenija i grammatičeskie sistemy jazykov
mira. Moscow: Rossijskij gosudarstvennyj gumanitarnyj institut.
Tixonov, A. N. 1964. Čistovidovye
pristavki v sisteme russkogo vidovogo formoobrazovanija. Voprosy
jazykoznanija, 1, 42–52.
1998. Vidovye
korrelacii v sovremennom russkom jazyke. In Marina Ju. Čertkova (Ed.), Tipologija
vida: Problemy, poiski, rešenija,
(466–477). Moscow: Jazyki russkoj kul’tury.
van Schooneveld, C. H. 1958. The
so-called ‘préverbes vides’ and neutralization. Dutch Contributions to the
Fourth International Congress of
Slavistics (159–61). The Hague: Mouton.
