Superlexical versus lexical prefixes

This paper is intended to justify the classification of all the Rus- sian prefixes into lexical and superlexical. It gives semantic and syntactic criteria for distinguishing between the two groups, includ- ing: the idiosyncratic or spatial lexical meaning versus operator-like function; the (in)abil...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Eugenia Romanova
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Septentrio Academic Publishing 2005-03-01
Series:Nordlyd: Tromsø University Working Papers on Language & Linguistics
Subjects:
Online Access:https://septentrio.uit.no/index.php/nordlyd/article/view/69
Description
Summary:This paper is intended to justify the classification of all the Rus- sian prefixes into lexical and superlexical. It gives semantic and syntactic criteria for distinguishing between the two groups, includ- ing: the idiosyncratic or spatial lexical meaning versus operator-like function; the (in)ability to measure over objects and events; the (in)ability to stack; the (in)ability of a host verb to form secondary imperfective; attaching to (a)telic stems; the (in)ability to change the argument structure of a host verb. Applying these criteria results in finer gradation within the group of superlexical prefixes. It is ac- counted for by their different syntactic positions with respect to vP. At the end of the paper I speculate about the effect this architecture can have on the prefixation of unaccusative and unergative verbs.
ISSN:1503-8599