Formation and development of the lexical-semantic paradigm of the Old Russian verb БЫТИ / ѤСМЬ

The purpose of the paper is to highlight the emergence and further development of the lexical-semantic paradigm of the suppletive verb БЫТИ/ѤСМЬ. This subject remains inadequately addressed in modern scientific discourse. The investigation resulted in a reconstruction of the formation stages of the paradigm and a description of the lexical specificity of this Slavic athematic verb in the Russian language. The analysis relied upon a multifaceted approach, drawing upon various scientific sources to objectively explore the available data concerning the research subject. The analysis was augmented by observations made during the examination of the ancient Greek written monument, the text of the chronicle “The Tale of Bygone Years” in the Laurentian and Ipatiev editions. The linguistic investigation employed a range of methodologies, including descriptive-historical analysis, dictionary definition interpretation, and contextual approaches. The choice of the verb БЫТИ/ѤСМЬ as the object of study was dictated by the fact that scholars recognize non-thematic verbs as one of the most ancient relics of the Indo-European verbal system. The analysis of the reasons for the emergence of the suppletive verb БЫТИ/ѤСМЬ has allowed the author to conclude that the origins of the formation of contaminated type structures should be sought not only in the field of grammar. Semantics should be taken into account, for grammar and semantics categories are interconnected, often activating mutual changes.

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