A Semantic Characteristic of Bi-Aspectual Deadjectival Verbs (Can Bi-Aspectuals Be Activity Predicates?)

The article describes a semantic group of bi-aspectual verbs formed from adjectives with the suffix -izirova(t’), with the meaning ‘generalized nomination of diverse actions, which together are aimed at achieving a specific goal called by a motivating adjective’, such as: evropeizirovat’ (to Europeanize), optimizirovat’ (to optimize), sistematizirovat’, (to systematize). This group has a set of derivational, grammatical, and referential properties that allow attributing it to the semantic type of activity. The study of this group is the first step in identifying the yet unexplored semantic types of bi-aspectual verbs, although there is extensive literature on the problems of semantic types of predicates and on bi-aspectuals. This broadens the idea of the system of actional classes, their properties, as well as the role of the semantic type in maintaining/losing bi-aspectuality. About 1,000 statements have been analyzed as the material for the study, including bi-aspectual deadjectival verbs with the suffix -izirovat’ (70 lexemes), extracted from the Russian National Corpus. The work uses the methodology of categorical situations by Alexander V. Bondarko. The analysis of the group composition is based on the word-formation characteristic that takes into account the semantic structure of motivating adjectives, additional motivation from the nouns ending with -atsiya, and the semantics of the “semi-borrowed” suffix -irova (t ’). This brings the idiomatic component into the meaning of the verbs: generalization of several implicit acts occurring simultaneously, but nominating the whole process. The description of the referential features of statements with bi-aspectual deadjectival verbs has shown that, in some cases, the extended context contains indications of action variables that are generalized, the spectrum of objects that they are aimed at, and the subjects that control, initiate, and perform these actions. In most statements, the variety of subjects, objects, and generalized acts remains implicit, but it affects the properties of the described predicates. Particular attention is paid to the aspectual properties of this group of verbs that distinguish them from other bi-aspectual verbs. The repertoire of perfect and imperfect meanings, which are realized in statements, has been determined. The prohibition of the present continuous, limited and unlimited multiple meanings of the Imperfect aspect, the visual-approximate and total meanings of the Perfect aspect, the modification of other meanings, the types of contexts (minimal and “double”) are identified, in which a number of particular meanings of Perfect and Imperfect aspects are not differentiated. Bi-aspectual deadjectival verbs are assigned to the class of activity verbs based on their functioning and semantic attributes and considering the description of this class in the linguistic literature: bilayer semantics (a number of heterogeneous actions and their generalization); focus; duration of the period (the extra-long interval in which generalized actions are carried out); controllability of the situation, non-localization in time and special unobservable processuality.

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