This book addresses the complexity of Russian verbal prefixation system that has been extensively studied but yet not explained. Traditionally, different meanings have been investigated and listed in the dictionaries and grammars and more recently linguists attempted to unify various prefix usages under more general descriptions. The existent semantic approaches, however, do not aim to use semantic representations in order to account for the problems of prefix stacking and aspect determination. This task has been so far undertaken by syntactic approaches to prefixation, that divide verbal prefixes in classes and limit complex verb formation by restricting structural positions available for the members of each class. I show that these approaches have two major drawbacks: the implicit prediction of the non-existence of complex biaspectual verbs and the absence of uniformly accepted formal criteria for the underlying prefix classification. In this book the reader can find an implementable formal semantic approach to prefixation that covers five prefixes: za-, na-, po-, pere-, and do-. It is shown how to predict the existence, semantics, and aspect of a given complex verb with the help of the combination of an LTAG and frame semantics. The task of identifying the possible affix combinations is distributed between three modules: syntax, which is kept simple (only basic structural assumptions), frame semantics, which ensures that the constraints are respected, and pragmatics, which rules out some prefixed verbs and restricts the range of available interpretations. For the purpose of the evaluation of the theory, an implementation of the proposed analysis for a grammar fragment using a metagrammar description is provided. It is shown that the proposed analysis delivers more accurate and complete predictions with respect to the existence of complex verbs than the most precise syntactic account.

The third edition of Terence Wade’s A Comprehensive Russian Grammar, newly updated and revised, offers the definitive guide to current Russian usage. Provides the most complete, accurate and authoritative English language reference grammar of Russian available on the market Includes up-to-date material from a wide range of literary and non-literary sources, including Russian government websites Features a comprehensive approach to grammar exposition Retains the accessible yet comprehensive coverage of the previous edition while adding updated examples and illustrations, as well as insights into several new developments in Russian language usage since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991

This monograph is concerned with prepositional elements in Slavic languages, prepositions, verbal prefixes and functional elements of prepositional nature. It argues that verbal prefixes are incorporated prepositions projecting their argument structure in the complement of the verbal root and that their meaning is based on the two-argument meaning of prepositions, enriched with the CAUSE operator. The book investigates idiomaticity in the realm of prefixed verbs and proposes a novel analysis of non-compositional prefixed verbs based on the operation of predicate transfer. It also offers a uniform analysis of cases. Prepositional as well as non-prepositional cases are treated as a reflection of the agreement operation, whereat the type of prepositional case is determined by semantic properties of the decomposed preposition. Furthermore, it examines prepositions from a diachronic perspective and argues that they can be grammaticalised as future markers under certain circumstances.

The Semantics of German Verb Prefixes is the most comprehensive study ever undertaken in this area of German grammar. Using an extensive collection of naturally occurring data, the author proposes an image-schematic interpretation for each of the productive prefixes be-, ver-, er-, ent-, zer-, um-, über-, unter-, and durch-. These abstract semantic patterns underlie a remarkable range of particular meanings, and they consistently account for subtle contrasts between prefixed verbs and alternative constructions such as simple verbs, particle verbs, and verbs with other prefixes. Furthermore, the author develops a schematic meaning for the prefixed verb construction itself. This grammatical meaning reflects the interpreter’s perspective and attentional focus as the objective event is imagined to unfold. Underlying all of these proposals is a novel conception of meaning as a dynamic and flexible process with a constantly active role for the interpreter. This volume will be of great value to cognitive linguists as well as scholars and students of German who want to gain insights into a central and puzzling part of the morphosyntax and semantics of the German language.

Proposes a new analytical approach to the semantics of Russian verbal prefixes, using modern theoretical tools to explore wide-ranging data.

This book examines the aspect - the relationship between imperfective and perfective verbs - found in the Russian language.

Russian Translation: Theory and Practice is a comprehensive practical course in translation for advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students of Russian. The course aims to provide intensive exposure with a view to mastering translation from Russian into English while carefully analyzing the specific problems that arise in the translation process. Offering over 75 practical translation exercises and texts analyzed in detail to illustrate the stage-by-stage presentation of the method, Russian Translation addresses translation issues such as cultural differences, genre and translation goals. The book features material taken from a wide range of sources, including: journalistic medical scholarly legal economic popular culture – literature (prose and poetry), media, internet, humour, music. Central grammatical and lexical topics that will be addressed across the volume through the source texts and target texts include: declensional and agreement gender; case usage; impersonal constructions; verbal aspect; verbal government; word order; Russian word formation, especially prefixation and suffixation; collocations and proverbs; and abbreviations. Russian Translation: Theory and Practice is essential reading for all students seriously interested in improving their translation skills. A Tutor’s Handbook for this course, giving guidance on teaching methods and assessment, as well as specimen answers, is available in PDF format from our website at http://www.routledge.com/books/Russian-Translation-isbn9780415473477. Edna Andrews is Professor of Linguistics and Cultural Anthropology, Director of the Center for Slavic, Eurasian and East European Studies at Duke University, USA. Elena Maksimova is Associate Professor of the Practice in the Department of Slavic and Eurasian Studies at Duke University, USA.

This book describes and systematizes all aspects of the grammar of Russian: the patterns of orthography, sounds, inflection, syntax, tense-aspect-mood, word order, and intonation. It is especially concerned with the meaning of combinations of words (constructions). The core concept is that of the predicate history: a record of the states of entities through time and across possibilities. Using predicate histories, the book presents an integrated account of the semantics of verbs, nouns, case, and aspect. More attention is paid to syntax than in any other grammars of Russian written in English or in other languages of Western Europe. Alan Timberlake refers to the literature on variation and trends in development, and makes use of contemporary data from the internet. This book will appeal to students, scholars and language professionals interested in Russian.

Edited in collaboration with FoLLI, the Association of Logic, Language and Information, this book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 22nd International Conference on Formal Grammar, FG 2017, collocated with the European Summer School in Logic, Language and Information in July 2017. The 9 contributed papers were carefully reviewed and selected from 14 submissions. The focus of papers are as follows: Formal and computational phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics and pragmatics Model-theoretic and proof-theoretic methods in linguistics Logical aspects of linguistic structure Constraint-based and resource-sensitive approaches to grammar Learnability of formal grammar Integration of stochastic and symbolic models of grammar Foundational, methodological and architectural issues in grammar and linguistics Mathematical foundations of statistical approaches to linguistic analysis