This article surveys two types of semantic interaction of lexical prefixes and verb stems in Russian, identified as compositional and non-compositional. As a result of non-compositional prefixation, a stem acquires eventualities that were not part of its denotation. This is manifested in the lack of entailment from sentences with prefixed verbs to sentences with their non-prefixed counterparts, which is the case for opisat' 'describe', zakryt' 'close, shut' and the like. In contrast, the denotation obtained by compositional prefixation only contains eventualities from the original denotation of a stem, even though not necessarily all such eventualities. This happens in case of podpisat' 'sign', napisat' 'write down', spisat' 'copy', vypisat' 'write out', etc. Compositional prefixation falls into two varieties. One is obtained if result states introduced by the prefix are compatible with any culminating eventualities described by the stem. In the previous literature, this case was designated as "purely as pectual" or "empty" prefixation, e.g., napisat' 'write down'. The second variety leads to strengthening of the meaning of a verb through narrowing down of the original denotation, as, e.g., with podpisat' 'sign', vypisat' 'write out' and similar verbs.
The article is dedicated to the morphosyntactic properties and grammatical functions of the Shughni marker-ard. Shughni, like many other Iranian languages, has a reduced case system that seems to be gradually evolving and expanding. We demonstrate that the marker-ard is one of the main candidates for the status of a new case marker in modern Shughni. Using tests on word-class selectivity, detachability, morphological integration, and repeatability, we show that the marker-ard is closer to the affixal pole on the clitic-affix continuum (especially when combined with pronominal bases). In terms of its grammatical functions, the marker-ard is close to the dative: it marks the addressee, recipient, beneficiary, experiencer, the subject of judgment (dativus judicantis), purpose, as well as location, time, and point of application. Nevertheless, it shows a typologically unexpected pattern: the meanings it covers do not correspond to a connected segment on the semantic map of dative functions proposed by Martin Haspelmath (2003). In our view, this typological deviation results from diachronic processes occurring both in Shughni and in some related languages, particularly the loss of one of the core meanings within the dative grammatical domain, i.e., that of direction.
The paper examines two interrelated topics from Chukchi phonetics: the status of the glottal stop as a segment or prosody and the rules for stem doubling in incomplete reduplications that form the nominative singular. We create a database comprising 181 inflectional reduplications. Reduplications containing a glottal stop and therefore located "at the junction" of these two topics are discussed in detail. We demonstrate that, contrary to the observations of previous researchers, the behavior of the glottal stop in reduplications cannot serve as an argument in favor of its prosodic analysis. This allows us to consider the segmental analysis of the Chukchi glottal stop as the most plausible. We use the database to refine the rule for simplification of final consonant clusters. We identify a number of reduplications which demonstrate that cluster resolution can preserve not only the first but also the second consonant of the cluster and offer an explanation accounting for the distribution of the two resolution options, which relies on more general properties of Chukchi phonotactics constraining the compatibility of phonemes with different places of articulation. The paper also makes observations on the synchronic and historical properties of specific Chukchi lexemes, thus contributing to the Proto-Chukchi-Koryak reconstruction.
The paper is a descriptive survey of reported speech constructions in standard and Maloe Karachkino (Poshkart) Chuvash based on a typological questionnaire. On the basis of corpus data, it is shown that reported speech constructions vary depending on whether reported speech is introduced by a complementizer-like element in combination with an ordinary speech verb; directly by the grammaticalized / semi-lexical verb 'say'; by a lexical verb without the complementizer in a paratactic structure; by a lexical verb in combination with a "resumptive /quotative" use of the verb 'say' (in a finite form). Perspectival properties, related to the interpretation of indexical elements within reported speech (from the point of view of the current vs. reported speech situation), are examined based on elicited data. The data show that, unlike European languages with a clear-cut distinction between direct and indirect speech, the choice of perspective in Chuvash is not correlated with the type of construction (at least for major morphosyntactic types) but is an independent property of speech reports. Yet, there is also evidence for an underlying direct vs. indirect distinction from the ban on mixing of perspectives within the same reported speech. Further interesting features are discussed, including differences between 'say' and ordinary speech verbs, the status of the 'say'-based complementizer, and a special logophoric-like construction.
The system of taste designations in the Udmurt language contains basic terms: & cacute;eski t 'sweet, tasty', & cacute;i rs 'sour', ku & zacute;i t 'salty', and kuri t 'bitter'. These terms describe strong, distinct tastes that can be either pleasant or unpleasant. Additionally, there are terms for weaker tastes that are often translated in dictionaries as 'bland', but in reality, these words rather express the idea of a weaker version of the strong taste: Udm. ko & nacute;al, ko & nacute;it 'slightly sweet, sickly sweet', jumal 'insufficiently sour, slightly sweet', ku & zacute;i r-ma & zacute;i r 'slightly sour, a bit salty', ku & zacute;al 'slightly bitter with a salty taste'. These weaker tastes can be treated as positive or negative, depending on the context. In addition, there are specific terms denoting the absence of saltiness (& scaron;eg 'bland, unseasoned') and sweetness (ke & scaron; 'unsweetened, unpleasant to the taste'). In this system, ku & zacute;i r-ma & zacute;ir 'slightly sour, a bit salty' is used very rarely and only in specific contexts. Instead of it, Udm. korel (dialectal korer) 'savory, meaty; tasty; salty (a little bit salty)', which always has a positive meaning, should be put into the scheme. An analysis of contexts with Udm. korel represented in the Corpora of the Udmurt Language shows that this word fully corresponds to the meaning 'umami' (the fifth basic taste, discovered by Japanese scientists in the 20th century). The article also discusses the etymology of Udm. korel and other gustatory terms.
