The perfects in Latvian and Lithuanian: A comparative study based on questionnaire and corpus data


Abstract

This paper presents a comprehensive comparative analysis of the functions of the present, past and future perfect forms in standard Latvian and Lithuanian based on two complementary types of data: the typological questionnaire devised for the study of the perfect for the EUROTYP project and the Lithuanian-Latvian parallel corpus. We analyse the data qualitatively as well as quantitatively and demonstrate that the two Baltic languages show both similarities and important differences in their perfect grams. While the Present Perfect in Latvian clearly shows a higher degree of grammaticalisation than in Lithuanian, manifested in the frequency of use, obligatoriness and functional extent, the differences between
the two languages in the uses of the other tenses of the perfect are more intricate and largely pertain to the expression of modal and discourse-oriented functions.

Keywords

aspect, Baltic, discourse modes, Latvian, Lithuanian, parallel corpus, perfect, pluperfect, questionnaire, tense

Ambrazas, Vytautas. 1990. Sravnitel’nyj sintaksis pričastij baltijskix jazykov [The comparative syntax of participles in the Baltic languages]. Vilnius: Mokslas.

Ambrazas, Vytautas. 2006. Lietuvių kalbos istorinė sintaksė [A Lithuanian historical syntax]. Vilnius: Lietuvių kalbos instituto leidykla.

Arkadiev, Peter M. 2012. Aspektual’naja sistema litovskogo jazyka (s privlečeniem areal’nyx dannyx) [The Aspectual System of Lithuanian (with references to areal data)] In: Vladimir A. Plungian, ed., Issledovanija po teorii grammatiki. Vyp. 6: Tipologija aspektual’nyx sistem i kategorij [Studies in the Theory of Grammar. Vol. 6. Typology of Aspectual Systems and Categories] (Acta Linguistica Petropolitana viii, part 2). St Petersburg: Nauka, 45–121.

Arkadiev, Peter M. 2016. Vzaimodejstvie perfekta i otricanija v litovskom jazyke: areal’naja i tipologičeskaja perspektiva [Interaction of perfect and negation in Lithuanian: areal and typological perspectives]. In: Timur A. Maisak, Vladimir A. Plungian & Xenia P. Semionova, eds., Issledovanija po teorii grammatiki. Vyp. 7. Tipologija perfekta. [Studies in the Theory of Grammar. Vol. 7. Typology of the Perfect] (Acta Linguistica Petropolitana xii, part 2). Saint Petersburg: Nauka, 115–163.

Arkadiev, Peter. 2021. Perfect and negation: Evidence from Lithuanian and sundry languages. In: Kristin Melum Eide & Marc Fryd, eds. The Perfect Volume: Papers on the Perfect. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 138–161.

Arkadiev, Peter M. & Anna D. Daugavet. 2021. Perfekt v litovskom i latyšskom jazykax: sopostavitel’nyj analiz na osnove tipologičeskoj ankety [Perfect grams in Lithuanian and Latvian: A comparative analysis based on a typological questionnaire]. Voprosy jazykoznanija, 2021.4, 7–41.

Arkadiev, Peter, Axel Holvoet & Björn Wiemer. 2015. Introduction. Baltic linguistics: State of the art. In: Peter Arkadiev, Axel Holvoet & Björn Wiemer, eds., Contemporary Approaches to Baltic Linguistics. Berlin-Boston: De Gruyter Mouton, 1–109

Arkadiev, Peter & Björn Wiemer. 2020. Perfects in Baltic and Slavic. In: Robert Crellin & Thomas Jügel, eds., Perfects in Indo-European Languages and Beyond. Amsterdam- Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 123–214.

Bybee, Joan, Revere D. Perkins & William Pagliuca. 1994. The Evolution of Grammar. Tense, Aspect and Modality in the Languages of the World. Chicago & London: The University of Chicago Press.

Comrie, Bernard. 1976. Aspect. An Introduction to the Study of Verbal Aspect and Related Problems. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Dahl, Östen. 1985. Tense and Aspect Systems. Oxford: Blackwell.

Dahl, Östen. 2021. ‘Universal’ readings of perfects and iamitives in typological perspective. In: Kristin Melum Eide & Marc Fryd, eds., The Perfect Volume: Papers on the Perfect. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 43–63.

Dahl, Östen. 2000. ed., Tense and Aspect in the Languages of Europe. Berlin-New York: Mouton de Gruyter.

Dahl, Östen & Eva Hedin. 2000. Current relevance and event reference. In: Östen Dahl, ed., Tense and Aspect in the Languages of Europe. Berlin-New York: Mouton de Gruyter, 385–401.

Drinka, Bridget. 2017. Language Contact in Europe. The Periphrastic Perfect through History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Fleischman, Suzanne. 1985. Discourse functions of tense-aspect oppositions in narrative: toward a theory of grounding. Linguistics 23, 851–882.

Fleischman, Suzanne. 1990. Tense and Narrativity: From Medieval Performance to Modern Fiction. London: Routledge, 1990.

Geniušienė, Emma. 1989. O vzaimodejstvii perfekta i vida v litovskom jazyke [On the interaction between perfect and aspect in Lithuanian]. Baltistica 3.2, 285–291.

Geniušienė, Emma. 1990. Perfekt i vid v litovskom jazyke [Perfect and aspect in Lithuanian]. In:
Viktor S. Xrakovskij, ed., Tipologija i grammatika [Typology and Grammar]. Leningrad: Nauka, 135–140.

Geniušienė, Emma & Vladimir P. Nedjalkov. 1983, Rezul’tativ, passiv i perfekt v litovskom jazyke [Resultative, passive and perfect in Lithuanian]. In: Vladimir P. Nedjalkov, ed., Tipologija rezul’tativnyx konstrukcij [Typology of Resultative Constructions]. Leningrad: Nauka, 160–166.

Geniušienė, Emma & Vladimir P. Nedjalkov. 1988. Resultative, passive, and perfect in Lithuanian. In: Vladimir P. Nedjalkov, ed., Typology of Resultative Constructions. Amsterdam-Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 369–386.

Holvoet, Axel. 2007. Mood and Modality in Baltic. Kraków: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego.

Holvoet, Axel, Anna Daugavet, Birutė Spraunienė & Asta Laugalienė. 2019. The agentive construction in Baltic and Fennic. Baltic Linguistics 10 = Minor Grams in Baltic, Slavonic and Fennic (thematic issue), 195–236.

Holvoet, Axel & Jūratė Pajėdienė. 2004. Laiko kategorija ir laiko formos [Tense category and tense forms]. In: Axel Holvoet & Loreta Semėnienė, eds., Lietuvių kalbos gramatikos darbai, T. 2. Gramatiniu̧ kategorijų tyrimai [Studies in Lithuanian Grammar. Vol. 2. Studies in Grammatical Categories]. Vilnius: Lietuvių kalbos institutas, 121–140.

Holvoet, Axel, Anna Daugavet & Vaiva Žeimantienė. 2021. The perfective present in Lithuanian. Baltic Linguistics 12 = Studies in the TAME Domain in Baltic and Its Neighbours (thematic issue), 249–293.

Horrocks, Geoffrey. 2020. The perfect in Medieval and Modern Greek. In: Robert Crellin & Thomas Jügel, eds., Perfects in Indo-European Languages and Beyond. Amsterdam- Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 483–503.

Iatridou, Sabine, Elena Anagnostopoulou & Roumyana Izvorski. 2001. Observations about the form and meaning of the perfect. In: Michael Kenstowicz, ed., Ken Hale: A Life in Language. Cambridge MA: mit Press, 189–238.

Kapkan, Danguolė K. 2021. Perfect in Lithuanian: A case study based on the data from Facebook comments. Baltic Linguistics 12 = Studies in the TAME Domain in Baltic and Its Neighbours (thematic issue), 21–71.

Kehayov, Petar. 2008. An Areal-Typological Perspective to Evidentiality: The Cases of the Balkan and Baltic Linguistic Areas. (Dissertationes Linguisticae Universitatis Tartuensis, 10.) Tartu: Tartu University Press.

Klein, Wolfgang. 1994. Time in Language. London, New York: Routledge.

Kuteva, Tania. 1998. On identifying an evasive gram: Action narrowly averted. Studies in Language 22.1, 113–160.

Kuteva, Tania, Bas Aarts, Gergana Popova & Anvita Abbi. 2019. The grammar of ‘non-realization’. Studies in Language 43.4, 850–895.

Lindstedt, Jouko. 2000. The perfect—aspectual, temporal and evidential. In: Östen Dahl, ed., Tense and Aspect in the Languages of Europe. Berlin-New York: Mouton de Gruyter, 365–383.

Mathiassen, Terje. 1996. Tense, Mood and Aspect in Lithuanian and Latvian. (Meddelelser av Slavisk-baltisk avdeling, Universitetet i Oslo, Nr. 75). Oslo: Universitetet i Oslo.

Mikulskas, Rolandas. 2017. Copular Constructions in Lithuanian (Valency, Argument Realization and Grammatical Relations in Baltic. Vol. 4). Amsterdam-Philadelphia: John Benjamins.

Nau, Nicole. 2005. Perfekts un saliktā tagadne latviešu valodā [Perfect and Compound Present in Latvian], Baltu filoloģija 14.2, 137–154.

Nau, Nicole, Birutė Spraunienė & Vaiva Žeimantienė. 2020. The Passive Family in Baltic. Baltic Linguistics, 11, 27–128.

Nedjalkov, Vladimir P. & Sergei Je. Jaxontov. 1988. The typology of resultative constructions. In: Vladimir P. Nedjalkov, ed., Typology of Resultative Constructions. Amsterdam-Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 3–62.

Padučeva, Elena. 1996. Semantičeskie issledovanija. Semantika vremeni i vida v russkom jazyke. Semantika narrativa. [Semantic investigations. Semantics of tense and aspect in Russian. Semantics of narrative.] Moscow: Jazyki russkoj kul’tury.

Paducheva, Elena. 2011. The Linguistics of Narrative. The Case of Russian. Saarbrücken: Lambert.
Parsons, Terrence. 1990. Events in the Semantics of English. Cambridge MA: MIT Press.

Plungian, Vladimir A. 2001. Antirezul’tativ: do i posle rezul’tata [Antiresultative: before and after the result] In: Vladimir A. Plungian, ed., Issledovanija po teorii grammatiki. Vyp. 1: Grammatičeskie kategorii [Studies in the Theory of Grammar. Vol. 1. Grammatical Categories]. Moscow: Russkie slovari, 50–88.

Plungian, Vladimir A. & Johan van der Auwera. Towards a typology of discontinuous past marking. Sprachtypologie und Universalienforschung 59.4, 317–349.

Reichenbach, Hans. 1947. Elements of Symbolic Logic. New York: Macmillan & Co.

Sakurai, Eiko. 2016. The perfect in Lithuanian: An empirical study. In: Andra Kalnača, Ilze Lokmane, Daiki Horiguči, eds., Valoda: Nozīme un forma. 7. Gramatika un saziņa [Language: Meaning and Form. Vol. 7 Grammar and Communication]. Riga: LU Akadēmiskais apgāds, 189–208.

Schumacher, Stefan. 2020. The perfect system of Old Albanian (Geg variety). In: Robert Crellin & Thomas Jügel, eds., Perfects in Indo-European Languages and Beyond. Amsterdam-Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 505–548.

Schwenter Scott A. 1994. ‘Hot news’ and the grammaticalization of perfects. Linguistics 32, 995–1028.

Servaitė̇, Laimutė. 1988. Subjektinis rezultatyvas lietuvių kalboje (Perfekto formos su rezultatinės būsenos reikšme) [Subject-oriented resultative in Lithuanian (Perfect with a meaning of resultant state)]. Kalbotyra 39.1, 81–89.

Sitchinava, Dmitri. 2013. Tipologija pljuskvamperfekta. Slavjanskij pljuskvamperfekt [The Typology of Pluperfect. The Slavic Pluperfect]. Moscow: AST-Press.

Sitchinava, Dmitri. 2016. Evropejskij perfekt skvoz’ prizmu parallel’nogo korpusa [The European perfects through the lens of parallel corpus]. In: Timur A. Maisak, Vladimir A. Plungian & Xenia P. Semionova, eds., Issledovanija po teorii grammatiki. Vyp. 7. Tipologija perfekta [Studies in the Theory of Grammar. Vol. 7. Typology of the Perfect]. (Acta Linguistica Petropolitana xii, part 2). St Petersburg: Nauka, 85–114.

Smith, Carlota S. 2003. Modes of Discourse: The Local Structure of Texts. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Squartini, Mario. 1999. On the semantics of the Pluperfect: Evidence from Germanic and Romance. Linguistic Typology 3.1, 51–89.

Wälchli, Bernhard. 2000. Infinite predication as a marker of evidentiality and modality in the languages of the Baltic region. Sprachtypologie und Universalienforschung 53.2, 186–210.

Wiemer, Björn. 2012. The Lithuanian have-resultative—a typological curiosum? Lingua Posnansiensis 54.2, 69–81.

Wiemer, Björn & Markus Giger. 2005. Resultativa in den nordslavischen und baltischen Sprachen. Bestandaufnahme unter arealen und grammatikalisierungstheoretischen Gesichtpunkten. München, Newcastle: LINCOM Europa.
Download

Published : 2022-01-03


Daugavet, A., & Arkadiev, P. (2022). The perfects in Latvian and Lithuanian: A comparative study based on questionnaire and corpus data. Baltic Linguistics, 1212, 73-165. https://doi.org/10.32798/bl.922

Anna Daugavet 
Peter Arkadiev 
Vilnius University & Russian Academy of Sciences  Russian Federation