Untangling the functions of aspectual distinctions in the Lithuanian imperative against the background of Slavonic.
Abstract
In general linguistics, the functions of the perfective and the imperfective aspect have been thoroughly investigated in the domain of realis, especially in the past tense. However, there are languages which exhibit this sort of contrast in other domains, for example, in the imperative. The functions of the aspectual grams in the imperative may differ significantly from those documented in the realis. In the present paper, I argue that this is the case in Lithuanian. I build on the studies of the aspectual contrast in the imperative documented for Russian and Slavonic in general. I test whether the functional contrasts found there exist in Lithuanian as well. The results of this pilot study suggest that with regard to the use of the aspectual grams in the imperative, Lithuanian converges to a large extent with the North-Eastern subgroup of Slavonic.
Keywords
imperative, aspect, Russian, Slavonic, Lithuanian
References
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Panov, Vladimir. 2020b. Exploring the asymmetric coding of autobenefactive in Lithuanian and beyond. Baltic Linguistics 11 = Studies in the Voice Domain in Baltic and Its Neighbours (thematic volume), 343–371.
Seržant, Ilja A. 2021. Slavic morphosyntax is primarily determined by its geographic location and contact configuration. Scando-Slavica 67.1, 65–90.
Šatunovskij, Ilja B. 2009. Problemy russkogo vida [Problems of Russian aspect]. Moscow: Jazyki slavjanskoj kul’tury.
Tomelleri, Vittorio S. & Manana Topadze Gäumann. 2015. Aspectual pairs in Georgian: some questions. STUF―Language Typology and Universals 68.1, 49–85.
Waldenfels, Ruprecht von. 2012. Aspect in the Imperative across Slavic―a corpus driven pilot study. Oslo Studies in Language 4.1, 141–154
Wiemer, Björn. 2003. Population linguistics on a micro-scale. Lessons to be learnt from Baltic and Slavic dialects in contact. In: Bernd Kortmann, ed., Dialectology meets Typology. Dialect Grammar from a Cross-Linguistic Perspective. Berlin-New York: Mouton de Gruyter, 487–526.
Wiemer, Björn, Ilja A. Seržant & Aksana Erker. 2014. Convergence in the Baltic-Slavic contact zone: Triangulation approach. In Juliane Besters-Dilger, Cynthia Dermarkar, Stefan Pfänder & Achim Rabus, eds., Congruence in Contact-Induced Language Change. Berlin-Boston: De Gruyter, 15–42.
Ambrazas, Vytautas, ed., 2006. Lithuanian Grammar. 2nd, revised edn. Vilnius: Baltos lankos.
Arkadiev, Peter M. 2011. Aspect and actionality in Lithuanian on a typological background. In: Daniel Petit, Claire Le Feuvre & Henri Menantaud, eds., Langues baltiques, langues slaves. Paris: Éditions CNRS, 57–86.
Auwera, Johan van der, Andrej L. Malchukov & Ewa Schalley. 2009. Thoughts on (im)perfective imperatives. In: Johannes Helmbrecht, Yoko Nishina, Yong-Min Shin, Stavros Skopeteas & Elisabeth Verhoeven, eds., Form and Function in Language Research, Berlin-New York: Mouton de Gruyter, 93–106.
Auwera, Johan van der & Kalyanamalini Sahoo. 2015. On comparative concepts and descriptive categories, such as they are. Acta Linguistica Hafniensia 47.2, 136–173.
Benacchio, Rosanna. 2010. Vid i kategorija vežlivosti v slavjanskom imperative. Sravnitel’nyj analiz [Verbal Aspect and Linguistic Politeness in the Slavic Imperative. A Comparative Analysis]. München: Otto Sagner.
Benacchio, Rosanna. 2013. Ješče raz o glagol’nom vide i kategorii vežlivosti v imperative: sopostavlenie slavjanskix jazykov s novogrečeskim [Once more on the verbal aspect and linguistic politeness in the Slavonic imperative: A parallel with Modern Greek]. Južnoslovenski filolog 69, 169–183.
Benacchio, Rosanna. 2018. Verbal aspect and linguistic politeness in the Slavic imperative. In: Davide Bertocci, Sara Gesuato, Matteo Santipolo, eds., Atti del convegno ‘In ricordo di Alberto Mioni’ (Quaderni di lavoro asit 22), 137–153.
Binnick, Robert I., ed. 2012. The Oxford Handbook of Tense and Aspect. Oxford-New York: Oxford University Press.
Brown, Penelope & Stephen C. Levinson. 1987. Politeness: Some Universals in Language Usage. Cambridge-New York: Cambridge University Press.
Bulygina, Tatiana V. & Alexei D. Shmelev. 1999. On the semantics of some Russian causative constructions: aspect, control, and types of causation. In: Werner Abraham & Leonid Kulikov, eds., Tense-Aspect, Transitivity and Causativity: Essays in Honour of Vladimir Nedjalkov. Amsterdam-Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 97–113.
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 & New York: B. Blackwell.
Dickey, Stephen M. 2000. Parameters of Slavic Aspect: A Cognitive Approach. Stanford, Calif: Center for the Study of Language and Information.
Dickey, Stephen M. 2020. Time out of tense: Russian aspect in the imperative. Journal of Linguistics 56.3, 541–576.
Dobrushina, Nina R. 2006. Grammatičeskie formy i konstrukcii so značeniem opasenija i predostereženija [Grammatical forms and constuctions denoting apprehension and warnings]. Voprosy jazykoznanija 2006.2, 28–67.
Elliott, Jennifer R. 2000. Realis and irrealis: Forms and concepts of the grammaticalisation of reality. Linguistic Typology 4.1, 55–90.
Gusev, Valentin. 2011. Review of: Vid i kategorija vežlivosti v slavjanskom imperative. Sravnitel’nyj analiz [Verbal aspect and linguistic politeness in the Slavic imperative. A comparative analysis]. Voprosy jazykoznanija 2011.5, 113–116.
Haspelmath, Martin. 2010. Comparative concepts and descriptive categories in crosslinguistic studies. Language 86.3, 663–687.
Holvoet, Axel, Anna Daugavet & Vaiva Žeimantienė. Perfective presents in Lithuanian. Baltic Linguistics 12 = Studies in the TAME Domain in Baltic and Its Neighbours (thematic issue), 249–293.
Keersmaekers, Alek & Toon Van Hal. 2016. Aspectual Choice in Greek Imperatives: A Corpus-Based Review of Existing Theories. Les Études classiques 84, 19–51.
Leech, Geoffrey N. 1983. Principles of pragmatics (Longman Linguistics Library title no. 30). London-New York: Longman.
Mackridge, Peter. 1985. The Modern Greek Language: A Descriptive Analysis of Standard Modern Greek. Oxford-New York: Oxford University Press.
Matić, Dejan & Irina Nikolaeva. 2014. Realis mood, focus, and existential closure in Tundra Yukaghir. Lingua 150. 202–231. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lingua.2014.07.016.
Nau, Nicole & Peter Arkadiev. 2015. Towards a standard of glossing Baltic languages: The Salos Glossing Rules. Baltic Linguistics 6, 195–241.
Padučeva, Elena V. 2010. Semantičeskie issledovanija: semantika vremeni i vida v russkom jazyke; semantika narrativa. Moskva: Jazyki slavjanskoj kul’tury.
Panov, Vladimir. 2020a. The marking of uncontroversial information in Europe: presenting the enimitive. Acta Linguistica Hafniensia 52.1, 1–44.
Panov, Vladimir. 2020b. Exploring the asymmetric coding of autobenefactive in Lithuanian and beyond. Baltic Linguistics 11 = Studies in the Voice Domain in Baltic and Its Neighbours (thematic volume), 343–371.
Seržant, Ilja A. 2021. Slavic morphosyntax is primarily determined by its geographic location and contact configuration. Scando-Slavica 67.1, 65–90.
Šatunovskij, Ilja B. 2009. Problemy russkogo vida [Problems of Russian aspect]. Moscow: Jazyki slavjanskoj kul’tury.
Tomelleri, Vittorio S. & Manana Topadze Gäumann. 2015. Aspectual pairs in Georgian: some questions. STUF―Language Typology and Universals 68.1, 49–85.
Waldenfels, Ruprecht von. 2012. Aspect in the Imperative across Slavic―a corpus driven pilot study. Oslo Studies in Language 4.1, 141–154
Wiemer, Björn. 2003. Population linguistics on a micro-scale. Lessons to be learnt from Baltic and Slavic dialects in contact. In: Bernd Kortmann, ed., Dialectology meets Typology. Dialect Grammar from a Cross-Linguistic Perspective. Berlin-New York: Mouton de Gruyter, 487–526.
Wiemer, Björn, Ilja A. Seržant & Aksana Erker. 2014. Convergence in the Baltic-Slavic contact zone: Triangulation approach. In Juliane Besters-Dilger, Cynthia Dermarkar, Stefan Pfänder & Achim Rabus, eds., Congruence in Contact-Induced Language Change. Berlin-Boston: De Gruyter, 15–42.
