Abstract
This article compares aspectual usage in contexts of negation in Russian and Czech narratives. It examines the four possible aspectual correspondences: Russian imperfective : Czech imperfective (common), Russian perfective : Czech perfective (common), Russian imperfective : Czech perfective (frequent), and Russian perfective : Czech imperfective (infrequent). The data is argued to support the hypothesis that aspect in Czech primarily expresses a distinction in totality, whereas aspect in Russian expresses a distinction in temporal definiteness. Aspectual usage in contexts of negated repetition is also examined. The question of grounding is considered in light of the comparative data, and it is found that previous views of grounding with regard to aspect and negation can be replaced by a more nuanced sense of grounding that accommodates variation across languages. Finally, data from other Slavic languages are adduced, which indicate that the differences discussed between Czech and Russian are symptomatic of the overall east-west division in Slavic aspect established by Dickey (2000).
Аннотация
В статье сравнивается употребление вида в контексте отрицания в русском и чешском повествовании. Рассматриваются четыре возможные видовые соотношения: русский несовершенный : чешский несовершенный (распространенный вариант), русский совершенный : чешский совершенный (распространенный вариант), русский несовершенный : чешский совершенный (часто встречающийся) и русский совершенный : чешский несовершенный (редко встречающийся). Данные, собранные в статье, поддерживают гипотезу о том, что вид в чешском языке главным образом выражает различие в целостности, в то время как вид в русском выражает различие во временной определенности. В статье также рассматривается употребление вида в контекстах отрицания повторяющегося действия. Рассмотрение вопроса фоновых различий в свете сравнительных данных указывает на то, что предыдущие воззрения на эти различия и их взаимоотношения с видом и отрицанием могут быть заменены на более нюансированное понятие фоновых различий, допускающее языковые вариации. Наконец, в статье приведены данные из других славянских языков, указывающие на то, что рассмотренные выше различия между чешским и русским отражают различия между видом в западных и восточных славянских языках, установленные Dickey (2000).
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Authorship is shared equally. We wish to thank Tomáš Eiselt, Lída Holá, Ilona Kořánová, Tomáš Samek and Alena Šimunková for help with some of the Czech material in this paper, Jan Galimov, Roman Kasparovich, Vladimir Kresin, Vera Shemelis and Alina Israeli for their assistance with the Russian material, Alexander Tsiovkh for providing some Ukrainian material, and Barbara Bacz, Ewa Buchard, Mariana Chodorowska-Pilch, Marek Łazinski and Malgorzata Stamm for their assistance with the Polish material. Any errors and inaccuracies are naturally our responsibility.
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Dickey, S.M., Kresin, S.C. Verbal aspect and negation in Russian and Czech. Russian Linguistics 33, 121–176 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11185-009-9040-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11185-009-9040-0