Russian modals možet 'can' and dolžen 'must' selecting the imperfective in negative contexts
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Elena Padučeva
Abstract
As is well known, there is a strong tendency in the Slavic languages to use the imperfective in negative contexts. However, linguistic mechanisms that lead to a correlation between negation and imperfective are still poorly understood and need further investigation. This paper deals with negation and the imperfective in modal contexts. For example, with the impersonal modal nado ‘‘it is necessary’’, occurring in its primary meaning exclusively with verbs denoting actions (and activities), negation drastically influences the choice of aspect in its dependent infinitive. While in non-negated contexts both aspects are possible, imperfective (ipfv) as well as perfective (pfv), with the ipfv version putting the activity at the center of attention, while with the pfv the focus is transferred to the resulting state. However, in the context of negated nado the only possibility is imperfective. This will be discussed in great detail in the ensuing sections with varying modalities. Section 1 concerns possibility, Section 2 is devoted to necessity. Section 3 deals with disputable examples.
Abstract
As is well known, there is a strong tendency in the Slavic languages to use the imperfective in negative contexts. However, linguistic mechanisms that lead to a correlation between negation and imperfective are still poorly understood and need further investigation. This paper deals with negation and the imperfective in modal contexts. For example, with the impersonal modal nado ‘‘it is necessary’’, occurring in its primary meaning exclusively with verbs denoting actions (and activities), negation drastically influences the choice of aspect in its dependent infinitive. While in non-negated contexts both aspects are possible, imperfective (ipfv) as well as perfective (pfv), with the ipfv version putting the activity at the center of attention, while with the pfv the focus is transferred to the resulting state. However, in the context of negated nado the only possibility is imperfective. This will be discussed in great detail in the ensuing sections with varying modalities. Section 1 concerns possibility, Section 2 is devoted to necessity. Section 3 deals with disputable examples.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- List of contributors vii
- Preface ix
- Introduction: Aspect-modality interfaces and interchanges across languages xi
-
General
- On the logic of generalizations about cross-linguistic aspect-modality links 3
- The silent and aspect-driven patterns of deonticity and epistemicity: A chapter in diachronic typology 15
- Propositional aspect and the development of modal inferences in English 43
- Towards an understanding of the progressive form in English: The Imperative as a heuristic tool 81
- Epistemic modality and aspect contingency in Armenian, Russian, and German 97
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Slavic
- Indefiniteness and imperfectivity as micro-grammatical contexts of epistemicity in German-Slovene translations 119
- The connections between modality, aspectuality, and temporality in Modern Russian 147
- Aspectual coercion in Bulgarian negative imperatives 175
- Russian modals možet 'can' and dolžen 'must' selecting the imperfective in negative contexts 197
-
African
- Tense, mood, and aspect in Gungbe (Kwa) 215
- The modal system of the Igbo language 241
-
Asian
- The aspect-modality link in the Japanese verbal complex and beyond 279
- The aspect-modality link in Japanese: The case of the evaluating sentence 309
-
Amerindian
- The Lakota aspect/modality markers - kinica and tkhá 331
-
Creole
- A note on modality and aspect in Saramaccan 359
-
Diachronic
- Aspects of a reconstruction of form and function of modal verbs in Germanic and other languages 371
- The autopsy of a modal – insights from the historical development of German 385
- Index of authors 417
- Index of subjects 419
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- List of contributors vii
- Preface ix
- Introduction: Aspect-modality interfaces and interchanges across languages xi
-
General
- On the logic of generalizations about cross-linguistic aspect-modality links 3
- The silent and aspect-driven patterns of deonticity and epistemicity: A chapter in diachronic typology 15
- Propositional aspect and the development of modal inferences in English 43
- Towards an understanding of the progressive form in English: The Imperative as a heuristic tool 81
- Epistemic modality and aspect contingency in Armenian, Russian, and German 97
-
Slavic
- Indefiniteness and imperfectivity as micro-grammatical contexts of epistemicity in German-Slovene translations 119
- The connections between modality, aspectuality, and temporality in Modern Russian 147
- Aspectual coercion in Bulgarian negative imperatives 175
- Russian modals možet 'can' and dolžen 'must' selecting the imperfective in negative contexts 197
-
African
- Tense, mood, and aspect in Gungbe (Kwa) 215
- The modal system of the Igbo language 241
-
Asian
- The aspect-modality link in the Japanese verbal complex and beyond 279
- The aspect-modality link in Japanese: The case of the evaluating sentence 309
-
Amerindian
- The Lakota aspect/modality markers - kinica and tkhá 331
-
Creole
- A note on modality and aspect in Saramaccan 359
-
Diachronic
- Aspects of a reconstruction of form and function of modal verbs in Germanic and other languages 371
- The autopsy of a modal – insights from the historical development of German 385
- Index of authors 417
- Index of subjects 419
