Expressivity in language manifests itself at different linguistic levels. Here we will examine this problem from the point of view of pa-verbs. What is interesting is the repeated use of pa-verbs. Repeated use of prefixed verbs with the same base verb or of prefixed verbs with the same prefix is an issue often discussed in Russian word-formation studies as an expressive means (Blinova 2010: 133, Zemskaja 2009:
167–169, 177–179). Referring to the repeated use of words belonging to the same word-formation type, Zemskaja (2009: 167) states that, “it is used as a means of cohesion and emphasis mainly for the purpose of artistic expressivity” (my trans- lation). Such repetitive use of verbs with the same prefix places verbs on the same semantic level and emphasizes the semantics of the prefix in the sentence. The following examples show that this observation is definitely true for Latvian, too.
Repeated use of two or more pa-verbs is encountered quite frequently. In example (24), objectively listening to critics and experiencing bitterness take place in a short period of time. The use of two aspectually perfective pa-verbs in a sequence contextually juxtaposes two actions or just connects the aspect of
coordinated parts of the sentence. Simultaneously, the speaker, who is an actress, shows the unimportance of accepting criticism by attenuating these actions.
(24) Nu, ja ir kād-s aizvainojum-s, rūgtum-s, well if be:prs.3 some-nom.sg.m offence-nom.sg bitterness-nom.sg es pa-klausos, pa-raudu kaut kur kakt-iņ-ā, I.nom pa-listen:prs.1sg pa-cry:prs.1sg somewhere corner-dim-loc.sg
un – vis-i ejam tālāk. Tas man
and all-nom.pl.m go:prs.1pl further that:nom.sg.m me:dat ir sāpīgi, bet laikam šajā
be:prs.1pl painful but probably this:loc.sg
amat-ā normāli.
profession-loc.sg normal
‘Well, if there is some offence or bitterness, I have a listen, have a cry somewhere in a corner, and – we all move on. It’s painful for me, but probably normal in this profession.’ (D: 14.08.2010)
Example (25), with three actions named by pa-verbs, is from an utterance by a mother about her leisure time with her children. Interestingly, in example (26), we see diminutives of ‘books’ grāmatiņas, which are envisaged to read, glue, and paint together (all are attenuative pa-verbs), and the augmentative verb savest ‘bring in a great quantity’ that can be regarded as an intensifier of the expressivity of the utterance.
(25) Ar maz-ajiem kopā pa-dziedu,
with little.one-dat.pl.m.def together pa-sing:prs.1sg pa-dejoju, pa-spēlējos.
pa-dance:prs.1sg pa-play:prs.1sg
‘I sing, dance, play together with my little ones.’ (MM: June/2010) (26) Kad atbrauc pilsēt-as om-e, viņ-a
when come:prs.3 city-gen.sg granny-nom.sg she-nom saved visād-as interesant-as grāmat-iņ-as, bring:prs.3 all.kinds.of-acc.pl interesting-acc.pl books-dim-acc:pl k-o kopā pa-lasīt, pa-līmēt, pa-krāsot.
which-acc together pa-read:inf pa-glue:inf pa-paint:inf
‘When city granny comes over, she brings all kinds of interesting books to read, glue and paint together.’ (MM: June/2010)
Example (27) contains five imperatives of pa-verbs. The speaker, changing his tone of speech, ironically imitates a person longing for others’ attention.
Aspectually, the speaker requests to execute a concrete and single action, but the imperatives of pa-verbs make the utterance softened so as to attract others’
attention and, most importantly, so that the imitated and ironized person gains their sympathy.
(27) “Psiholoģij-ā tur droši vien dēvē-tu par uzmanīb-as psychology-loc.sg there supposedly call:sbjv as attention-gen.sg deficīt-a sindrom-u. Nu redziet, tajā
deficit-gen.sg syndrome-acc.sg well see:imp:2pl that-loc.sg brīdī, kad tu šitā izspēlējies, jā, moment-loc.sg when you(sg).nom like.this act.out:prs.2sg yes
tu patiesībā ko saki?
you(sg).nom fact:loc.sg what:acc say:prs.2sg
ôNu pa-žēlo mani, nu pa-skaties, cik well pa-pity:imp.2sg I:acc well pa-look:imp.2sg how
man ir slikti, atnāc pa-runāt ar mani, me:dat be:prs.3 bad come:imp.2sg pa-talk:inf with I:acc pa-turi man-u rok-u, pa-žēlo mani, pa-hold:imp.2sg my-acc.sg hand-acc.sg pa-pity:imp.2sg I:acc pa-lasi man pasac-iņ-u priekšā!ằ Tas
pa-read:imp.2sg I:dat tale-dim-acc.sg ahead it:nom.sg.m ir tas, ka nu ôPievērsiet taču
be:prs.3 it:nom.sg.m that well pay:imp.2pl yet mums uzmanīb-u!.
we:dat attention-acc.sg
‘“In psychology it would probably be called attention deficit syndrome.
You see, at that moment when you behave like this, what in fact are you saying? ôWell comfort me, look how bad it is for me, come here to talk to me, hold my hand, comfort me, read a story to me!ằ It’s like ôPay attention to us, will you!ằ.”’ (LR: 29.04.2010)
The expressivity of the repeated use of pa-verbs can be studied textually. In example (28), from a local newspaper, we find the feature “Burts aiz burta” ‘Letter by letter’, where all the words start with the same letter. The text titled “Pirtiņa”
‘Sauna (diminutive)’ contains altogether 342 words starting with the letter p, inclu- ding 118 verb forms. Of these 118 verb forms we count 74 forms of pa-verbs. Exclu- ding lexicalized pa-verbs like palīdzēt ‘to help’, patikt ‘to please’, pamest ‘to leave’, pateikties ‘to thank’, we identify at least 48 attenuative pa-verbs. A text with such a feature is already expressive enough, but pa-verbs play an important role in crea- ting a global expressivity of the text, and most importantly, attenuative pa-verbs account for more than half of all pa-verbs. Here is a fragment of the text where in two sentences we count nine pa-verbs, which are all identifiable as attenuative.
Repeated use of pa-verbs, which are perfective, represents attenuated actions as performed in a sequence. All verbs refer to physical actions and are thus physically attenuated.
(28) Pa-slaucīja, pa-mazgāja, pa-berza pirt-iņ-u,
pa-wipe:pst.3 pa-wash:pst.3 pa-scrub:pst.3 sauna-dim-acc.sg pa-lasīja pustukš-ā pašbrūvēt-ā
pa-gather:pst.3 half-empty-gen.sg.def home.brewed-gen.sg.def punš-a plastmas-as pudel-es, pa-nesa paklāj-u toddy-gen.sg plastic-gen.sg bottle-acc.pl pa-bring:pst.3 mat-acc.sg
pirt-iņ-as priekšā, pa-purināja, pa-karināja sauna-dim-gen.sg front pa-shake:pst.3 pa-hang:pst.3 pa-žāvēties. Pamatīgi pa-strādāja.
pa-dry:inf thoroughly pa-work:pst.3
‘They wiped, washed, scrubbed the sauna, gathered half-empty plastic- bottles of home-brewed toddy, brought the mat to the front of the sauna, shook it, hung it out to dry. They worked quite hard.’ (V: July/2008, http://www.valdgale.lv/docs/773/av ize.7.2008.pdf)
As in example (1), where we see a sequence of diminutives, in examples (24)–(28) attenuativity radiates globally across the whole text and the repeated use of pa- verbs make the text especially expressive.
5 Conclusion
Although the parts of speech that the two derivations apply to differ, diminutive nominals and attenuative pa-verbs have a common subjective side, and the dimi- nutive suffixes and the attenuative prefix are both regarded as markers of a sub- jective attitude on the part of the speaker. It should not be so surprising because the aspects themselves, including individual aspectual meanings (Aktionsarten), represent the speaker’s evaluation of events in their internal structure.
This common feature of “evaluation” unites these two different categories covering two different parts of speech, but it somehow shades the subjective side of this feature in the aspectual domain. While diminutives sometimes show only their subjective side, most attenuative pa-verbs keep in some way their objective side backed up by aspectual interpretations, and a few of them are definitely subjective, where the evaluative overtone prevails over the aspectual meaning.
Thanks to this subjective side, both diminutives and pa-verbs serve as emotive and expressive means in communication.
Naturally, an object is evaluated on the basis of not only its “smallness”, but also “largeness”. Despite the absence of augmentative nouns in Latvian, a parallel would be similarly drawn between augmentative nouns and aspect. It would broaden the studies on the connection between the verbal aspect and the speaker’s subjective evaluation.
Acknowledgments
I am grateful to the editors and reviewers for their valuable comments to the earlier versions of this chapter.
Abbreviations
acc accusative dat dative def definite dim diminutive evid evidential fut future gen genitive
idp indeclinable participle imp imperative
inf infinitive loc locative
neg negation nom nominative pa active participle pl plural
pp passive participle prs present
pst past
q question particle sbjv subjunctive sg singular
Data sources
AP: Apollo portāls (website) D: Diena (newspaper) JA: Jaunā Avīze (newspaper) K: Klubs (magazine)
LA: Latvijas Avīze (newspaper)
LR: Latvijas Radio, daily program Kā labāk dzīvot?
LV: Latvijas Vēstnesis (newspaper) L: Lilita (magazine)
MM: Mans Mazais (magazine)
NRA: Neatkarīgā Rīta Avīze (newspaper)
V: Talsu rajona Valdgales pagasta padomes informatīvais izdevums (newspaper)
VZŽ: Vakara Ziņu Žurnāls (magazine)
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1 Introduction
In this chapter, I propose that the standard version of case theory in generative/
Minimalist syntax (Chomsky 1986, 1995) does not adequately capture the range of case licensing phenomena. Such a view has been advanced by Babby (1986, 1994), as well as more recently by Woolford (2006), Richardson (2008), and Matushansky (2008, 2010). The major shortcoming of the standard theory, which Babby and Woolford in particular address, is that there are only two kinds of case:
structural case, which is dependent on the structural position of the noun phrase when case is licensed in the derivation, and inherent case, which is not. Inherent case, I will argue, includes idiosyncratic lexical case, which is dependent on a lexical item, and semantic case, which is linked to a particular theta role and contributes to the semantic interpretation of the sentence.
In Lithuanian, there is evidence for a finer distinction between types of case than just structural and nonstructural, based on instances of internal arguments marked with a morphological case other than accusative. I consider these to be non-canonical case markings, since accusative is the expected morphological case for the object. First, I consider oblique passivization: verbs that use an oblique (genitive, dative, or instrumental) case to mark the object and yet undergo passivi- zation (contra Freidin 1992), resulting in a nominative subject in passive, as in (1).
Not all oblique case-marking verbs passivize, but this is evidence that passiviza- tion is not a true test for structural or non-structural case. Further evidence comes from passives with subjects apparently derived from adjuncts, as in (2).
(1) a. Advokat-as atstovav-o darbinink-ui/*darbinink-ą.
lawyer-nom.sg represent-pst.3 worker-dat.sg/*acc.sg
‘The lawyer represented the worker.’
b. Darbinink-as buvo advokat-o atstovau-t-as.
worker-nom.sg aux.pst.3 lawyer-gen.sg represented-pst.pp-nom.sg.m
‘The worker was represented by the lawyer.’
(2) a. Žvėr-ys gyven-a urv-uose.
animal-nom.pl inhabit-prs.3 cave-loc.pl
‘Animals live in caves.’
b. Urv-ai yra žvėri-ų gyven-am-i.
cave-nom.pl aux.prs.3 animal-gen.pl inhabit-prs.pp-nom.pl.m
‘Caves are lived in by animals.’ (Ambrazas 2006: 322)
Next, I turn to object case in purpose infinitival clauses, in which the accusative usually seen with the verb is replaced by dative or genitive, as in (3) and (4). If the main clause verb is a verb of motion, genitive case is licensed on the internal argument of the lower clause. Otherwise, dative case is licensed. In this construction, it is the semantics of the clause that determine the morphological case, rather than structural position or a lexical item.
(3) Padovano-jau vyr-ui patog-ų krėsl-ą give-pst.1.sg husband-dat.sg comfortable-acc.sg.m chair-acc.sg knyg-ams skaity-ti.
books-dat.pl read-inf
‘I gave my husband a comfortable chair to read books in.’
(4) Berniuk-as nuėjo į parduotuv-ę knyg-os nupirk-ti.
boy-nom.sg go:pst.3 to store-acc.sg book-gen.sg buy-inf
‘The boy went to the store to buy a book.’
Finally, I examine case alternations: Certain verbs in Lithuanian allow either accusative or instrumental case on the internal argument. I will argue that this is not only an alternation in morphological case, but in argument structure as well. The difference in case correlates to a difference in interpre- tation. I will show that accusative is not only a structural case, but associated with prototypical patients, in the sense of Dowty (1991), and that instrumen- tal case is not a lexical requirement of the verb, but contributes to the overall meaning of the phrase. Examples of verbs that participate in this case alterna- tion are shown in (5).
(5) a. Berniuk-ai mėt-ė akmen-imis/akmen-isį lang-ą.
boy-nom.pl throw-pst.3 stone-ins.pl/acc.pl in window-acc.sg
‘The boys threw stones at the window.’
b. Šuo vizgin-o uodeg-a/uodeg-ą.
dog:nom.sg wag-pst.3 tail-ins.sg/acc.sg ‘The dog wagged its tail.’
c. Apsauginink-as žvangin-o rakt-us/rakt-ais.
guard-nom.sg jingle-pst.3 key-acc.pl/ins.pl
‘The guard jingled the keys.’
d. Mergait-ė apsireng-ė džins-us/džins-ais.
girl-nom.sg dress-pst.3 jeans-acc.pl/ins.pl
‘The girl put on jeans.’
The examples in (1)–(5) pose a problem for traditional case theory, which has focused more on the licensing of noun phrases than on accounting for the morphological case in which they appear. A similar point is made by Matushansky (2008, 2010) and McFadden (2004) regarding licensing non- structural case. However, in this chapter, I do not address issues of licensing, but rather discuss the relationship between case and event structure. There is a growing body of literature connecting case to aspect (Tenny 1994, Kiparsky 1998 broadly, although see Armoškaitė 2006 for evidence against such an analysis for Lithuanian), suggesting that structural position is not the only relevant factor for case licensing. Additionally, there is an increasing amount of research on the relationship between syntax and event structure (Borer 2005, Ramchand 2008), so examining morphological case marking is proving to be insightful to approa- ches to argument realization. The purpose of the current article is to show that Lithuanian alone presents several problems for the standard view of case theory.
The organization of the chapter is as follows: In Section 2, I will present a background on case theory, both the standard view as well as alternatives that propose additional types of case, as mentioned above. Next, in Section 3, I will discuss the oblique passive and show that not only structural case positions are available for promotion under passivization, contra Freidin (1992) and Woolford (2006). I will also distinguish between inherent and lexical case on the basis of the distribution of oblique passivization. In Section 4, I will discuss the dative and genitive case in purpose clauses as evidence for semantic case, a type of non-structural case that is predictable from the theta role, yet unlike inherent case, makes a contribution to the interpretation of the sentence. In Section 5, the instrumental/accusative case alternations are presented in detail, with further evidence for semantic case, and showing that event structure influences the mor- phological case marking of an argument. I conclude with a revised case theory, which follows the spirit of Babby (1986, 1994), in proposing the distinction between three types of non-structural case: lexical, inherent, and semantic case.
2 Case theory
Case theory originated as a means of explaining why certain non-finite clauses allowed overt subjects and others did not (Chomsky 1981: 49, building on ideas