Lexical Aspects in Modern Russian: Subcategorization and Formal Manifestation

Abstract

The verbal class of the event type набегаться ‘to run until tired’ is investigated in the framework of Russian lexical aspectuality. Quantified categories are applied as an analytic parameter to study the semantics of this class, and they are configured as specified vs. unspecified coordinates on scales of temporal and non-temporal aspectuality. Consequently, the inner temporal structure of the verbal event is quantified. Four classes of the events are distinguished and subclassified according to the finer Aktionsart distinctions. Russian uses morphological markers (prefixes as well as suffixes), syntactic markers (auxiliaries in analytical constructions), and contextual markers (lexical means denoting aspect) in order to signal eventivity in formal terms. Refs 28. Figs 2. Table 1.