Article

Name: Semantic functions of complex verb constructions in the Hill Mari language

Authors: Egor V. Kashkin

Vinogradov Russian Language Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russian Federation; Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russian Federation

In the section Linguistics

Abstract:

The paper focuses on the semantics of complex verb constructions in Hill Mari (< Uralic) comprising a converb of a lexical verb and a grammaticalized verb. The data were collected using a questionnaire, analyzing field recordings, and referring to published sources. Although semantic properties and combinational constraints of some of the constructions in question have been previously described, the question of whether complex verb constructions in Hill Mari have any invariant functions has yet to be addressed. First, the author considers the actional properties of these constructions and shows the tendency for grammaticalized verbs to specify the telic meaning of a predicate. Sometimes they can add telic meaning to constructions with atelic lexical verbs or attach to unambiguously telic verbs. Second, the use of complex verb constructions is analyzed in terms of the scalar approach adopted for units expressing a certain degree of some semantic parameter (adjectives, prefixes, and other verbal modifiers). In Hill Mari, complex verb constructions indicate that a particular situation parameter (quantity of some resource, affectedness of a participant, speed, and frequency) has a value higher than the standard or maximal value on some related scale. A similar analysis can account for the meaning of unexpectedness conveyed by some constructions in question: different alternatives can be ordered as more expected or less expected for the speaker. Also, some typological parallels coming from the Altaic languages are discussed, with some of them supposed to have triggered the development of complex verb constructions in Hill Mari due to language contact.

Keywords: Uralic languages, Hill Mari, complex verbs, actionality, scales, semantics

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