When three is company: The relation between aspect and metaphor in Russian aspectual triplets

2.1 Russian Paired IPFVs and PFVs

Traditionally in Russian linguistics, an imperfective verb and a perfective verb that share the same root and the same lexical meaning are said to constitute an aspectual pair (see Švedova et al. 1980; Čertkova 1996; Zaliznjak and Šmelev 2000). In Slavic languages the perfective aspect is characterized by telicity, i.e. “the presence of a limit or end-state for the process” (Bybee and Dahl 1989: 87–88). In the development of Russian aspect, telicity is associated with verbal prefixes (Dickey 2012). The secondary imperfective contains a prefix and in general is opposed to the primary imperfective in terms of telicity (for further discussion see Kuznetsova and Sokolova 2016 and Section 3 below).

The notion of an aspectual pair can be called a “central notion in [Russian] aspectology” (Čertkova 1996: 110). Perfective and imperfective verbs are related morphologically. Most simplex unprefixed verbs are imperfective, e.g., pisat’ ‘write-IPFV’. With regard to the form, the perfective verb is a combination of a prefix and the imperfective base, e.g., napisat’ ‘write-PFV’. A secondary imperfective can be seen as a combination of the prefix, an imperfective base, and an imperfectivizing suffix, e.g., perepisat’ ‘re-write-PFV’ – perepisyvat’ ‘rewrite-IPFV’. Thus, morphologically, Russian has two types of imperfective verbs: unprefixed simplex verbs, or “primary imperfectives”, and prefixed verbs with an imperfectivizing suffix, or “secondary imperfectives” (Švedova et al. 1980). We use the abbreviations IPFV1 and IPFV2 to refer to these two types of verbs. Subsequently, there are two types of aspectual pairs: pairs that consist of a perfective and a primary imperfective and pairs that consist of a perfective and a secondary imperfective, as presented in Table 1.

Aspectual pairs that consist of a perfective and a secondary imperfective are traditionally considered prototypical (Isačenko 1960: 130–175; Kasevič 1977: 77–78; Glovinskaya 2001: 55; Percov 2001: 120, 125; Timberlake 2004; Plungian 2011: 409). Pairs that consist of a perfective and a primary imperfective often are problematic, because several perfectives with different prefixes can be related to the same simplex imperfective. However, most traditional analyses (Vinogradov 1947; Šaxmatov 1952; Švedova 1980; Čertkova 1996; Anna Zaliznjak and Šmelev 2000) and practically all dictionaries and textbooks accept both kinds of pairs (see the discussion in Janda and Lyashevskaya 2011a).

In addition to morphological criteria, researchers in Russian linguistics have proposed several diagnostic contexts in which a perfective verb and an imperfective verb that form an aspectual pair show complementary distribution. The most important context is a criterion proposed by Maslov (1984), which states that in a sequence of past actions, we should be able to replace the perfective verb used in the past tense by the imperfective verb in praesens historicum:

1. Past tense (PFV):

   On ot rasterjannosti okamenel, i ona tože zastyla licom (Ju. Trifonov)

   ‘He was petrified with perplexity and her face also froze.’

1. Praesens historicum (IPFV):

   I vot on ot rasterjannosti kameneet, i ona tože zastyvaet licom

   ‘And so he is petrified with perplexity and her face also freezes.’

   (Zaliznjak and Šmelev 2000: 44)

Another diagnostic context is the use of the imperative. In Russian, perfective imperatives change their aspect to imperfective when negated:

1. Positive imperative (PFV):

   Pozvoni žene.

   ‘Call your wife.’

1. Imperative with negation (IPFV):

   Ne zvoni žene.

   ‘Don’t call your wife.’

   (Zaliznjak and Šmelev 2000: 44)

Paired IPFV and PFV are believed to share similar constructional profiles (see discussion in Berdičevskis and Eckhoff 2014; Kuznetsova 2015). All the ‘load’ verbs that are considered in this study can potentially be used in the same constructions ^[1] (see Sections 4 and 5.1 for detail). However, when presenting constructions, the degree of granularity becomes crucial as the same construction might have different metaphorical extensions depending on the semantics of the nouns that fill the construction slots and a broader context. In this article we place major focus on metaphorical extensions.

2.2 Aspectual triplets

As shown in Section 2.1, we can classify aspectual pairs into two different types: (1) a base imperfective verb with its perfective counterpart formed via prefixation (pisat’-IPFV ‘write’ – napisat’-PFV) and (2) a specialized perfective and its secondary imperfective formed via suffixation (perepisat’ ‘rewrite-PFV’ – perepisyvat’ ‘rewrite-IPFV’). However, a given perfective counterpart can have two corresponding imperfectives: the base imperfective (IPFV1) and the secondary imperfective (IPFV2), thus forming an aspectual triplet (Veyrenc 1980; Apresjan 1995; Petruxina 2000; Jasai 2001; Xrakovskij 2005; Zaliznjak and Mikaèljan 2010; Kuznetsova and Sokolova 2016; Nordrum 2017; Kozera 2018). Examples of Russian aspectual triplets are offered in Table 5.

If one assumes that the Russian aspectual system is based on aspectual pairs, the existence of aspectual triplets appears to be surprising, as has been pointed out in a number of works (Apresjan 1995; Petruxina 2000; and others). Why does the system allow for two IPFVs that are expected to function as equivalents? Can we say that “two is a company, and three is a crowd”? Before we present our hypothesis and proceed with the analysis, it is important to provide a brief overview of the prefixes that will be considered in this study.

2.3 Aspectual prefixes na-, za-, and po-

The prefixes na-, za-, and po- were selected for this study as only the load verbs with these prefixes are in a triplet relation with the simplex verb gruzit’ ‘load’. The information has been culled from dictionaries like Evgen’eva 1999 and Ožegov and Švedova 2001 and described in detail in Janda et al. (2013a) (see also the webpage of the project ^[2]). The verb gruzit’ ‘load’ can be combined with other prefixes, like pere-, but in such cases a different lexical meaning is produced, which is reflected in the gloss: peregruzit’-PFV and peregružat’-IPFV acquire the meaning ‘reload, overload’ and thus cannot be in a triplet relation with the verb gruzit’ ‘load’.

Janda et al. (2013a) have shown that Russian verbal prefixes always express meaning, even when they are used to form the perfective partners of aspectual pairs. The semantics of the aspectual prefix in an aspectual pair overlaps with the semantics of the verbal stem, which makes the semantics of the prefix less noticeable on the surface (hence the imperfective and the perfective verb in the pair retain relatively similar semantics). Since the semantics of the prefix in aspectual pairs is preserved, the same should be true for aspectual triplets (where the IPFV1, PFV, and IPFV2, in general, share the same gloss). Thus, for a more elaborate analysis of the ‘load’ aspectual triplets a short overview of the prefixes na-, za-, and po- is essential. For the examples considered in this study the prototypical, or central, meaning of the prefix is particularly relevant. While the radial categories for za- and po-have been explored in some cognitive studies (Janda 1986; Shull 2003; Sokolova and Endresen 2017 on za-; LeBlanc 2010 on po-), comprehensive studies of na- are mostly found within atomistic and structural tradition. ^[3]

The Semantics of the Prefix na-. In the atomistic tradition, as in Švedova et al. (1980), the semantics of na- is represented via spatial (‘direct an action on the surface of something’: naexat’ ‘drive on(to)-PFV’, nakleit’ ‘stick/attach-PFV’), resultative (napugat’ ‘scare-PFV’; nagret’ ‘heat-PFV’) and various cumulative/quantitative meanings like accumulation of objects: (nalovit’ ryby ‘to catch a lot of fish-PFV’ from lovit’ ‘catch-IPFV’) and accumulation of events (intensive activity): (nagrešit’ ‘sin a lot’ from grešit’ ‘sin-IPFV’). In a structural model, proposed by Russell (1985), the prefix na- minimally contains two notions: locus and quantity. Under this analysis, locus and quantity are regarded as extremes on a scale. There can be varying degrees of locative or quantitative meaning present in different verb stems and syntactic combinations.

In a relatively recent study, Janda and Lyashevskaya (2013) analyze the semantics of the prefix na- by means of semantic profiling that shows which semantic classes of verbs ^[4] the prefix is attracted to and repelled from. According to their findings, the semantic profile of na- is more diffuse than for the other prefixes, since it lacks the focus of having one strongly attracted semantic class. The two semantic classes that na- is almost equally attracted to are IMPACT (verbs like navoščit’ ‘wax’ and namylit’(sja) ‘soap’) and BEHAVIOR (nabezobrazničat’ ‘behave disgracefully’ and naxuliganit’ ‘behave like a hooligan’).

To sum up, we can conclude that the most salient meanings of na- appear to be related to SURFACE or ACCUMULATION.

The Semantics of the Prefix za-. In the literature the prefix za- has been called “the most varied” (Keller 1992: 35), “versatile and difficult” (Townsend 2008: 124) of the Russian prefixes (see also Sokolova and Endresen 2017). Without enumerating all possible meanings of the prefix za-, we will focus on the central ones that have often been discussed in relation with the radial category of this prefix.

Different authors propose different semantic candidates for the prototype of the prefix za-: DEVIATION (Janda 1985: 27); BEHIND (Shull 2003); COVER / BEHIND (Sokolova and Endresen 2017). According to Janda (1985), the central configuration (or spatial image-schema) for za- can be described in terms of the trajector transgressing the boundary of the landmark and passing into the area outside the landmark. Janda lists DEVIATION (or “deflection”) as the first meaning within the central configuration, illustrated in (3).

1. Zajti v magazin po puti domoj

   za-walk in store-ACC on way-DAT home

   ‘Stop by a store on the way home.’

According to Shull, deviation (or “deviance”) together with other meanings of za- is “the result of the experiential correlation of objects going behind/beyond landmarks with losing sight of and access to those objects” (Shull 2003:194); see example (4).

1. Mal’čik zašel za dom.

   Boy-NOM za-walked behind house-ACC

   ‘The boy walked (to) behind the house.’ (Shull 2003: 194)

Sokolova and Endresen (2017) suggest a “double” prototype for za-, namely COVER / BEHIND. This double prototype is based on the notion of construal (Langacker 1987, 1999: 206): depending on the semantics of the simplex verbal stem, the prefix za- can realize either one or the other side of its “double” schema, i.e. COVER or BEHIND. Examples (5) and (6) below make this idea explicit with the word ščit ‘shield’.

1. zakryt’sja ščitom

   cover-self shield-INS

   ‘cover oneself with a shield’

1. zaiti za ščit

   za-walk behind shield-ACC

   ‘walk behind the shield/board’

Both expressions involve a motion after which the object is covered with a shield. However, in the first case ščit ‘shield’ represents a trajector (movable object), whereas in the second case ščit ‘shield/board’ is a landmark (with the moving person being a trajector).

Since the meaning DEVIATION is restricted to verbs of motion (see Sokolova and Endresen 2017), the relevant meanings for this study are COVER and BEHIND.

The Semantics of the Prefix po-. Lexicographers and grammarians assigned po- between three and nine meanings or even more if one counts the sub-contexts. A comprehensive overview is offered in (LeBlanc 2010), which presents a statistical study of the verbs prefixed in po- from the RNC. For perfective verbs, LeBlanc identifies the following meanings of po-: resultative (e.g. postroit’ ‘build’), delimitative (e.g. postojat’ ‘stand for a while’), attenuative (e.g. poostyt’ ‘cool off somewhat’), ^[5] distributive (e.g. pobrosat’ ‘throw (distributively)’), and ingressive (e.g. poletet’ ‘(begin to) fly’).

LeBlanc (2010) concludes that the meanings of po- can be grouped into two clusters: Cluster one is comprised of the attenuative, delimitative, ingressive, and resultative meanings. Cluster two contains more peripheral meanings (e.g. distributive). He claims that the resultative meaning is prototypical and indicates that the subject has traversed the metaphorical PATH implied by the base verb in its entirety. The remaining meanings are metaphorical and metonymic extensions of that central meaning. This view of the semantics of po- coincides with what is known about the historical development of the prefix (see Dickey 2007).

Although according to some studies it remains unclear to which extent PATH is part of the semantics of the prefix (see Nesset 2008 on po- with verbs of motion), we will depart from LeBlanc’s proposal that the metaphorical PATH (reflected in the resultative meaning) can potentially be a salient semantic component of the prefix po-.

5.1 Triplets and constructions

The ‘load’ verbs are compatible with both the Theme-Object and the Goal-Object constructions (see examples 4 and 5 above). The relative distribution of the non-passive forms of the ‘load’ triplets across the Locative Alternation constructions is summarized in Table 7 and Figure 1 below. The verbs with the prefix po- (pogruzit’-PFV, pogružat’-IPFV2) are used almost exclusively in the Theme-object construction. IPFV2 with the prefix po- changes the meaning from ‘load’ to ‘submerge, sink’. For these reasons we have excluded the verbs with prefix po- from the further analysis.

Figure 1

Locative Alternation within the non-passive forms of the Russian ‘load’ verbs.

In Figure 1, we see that IPFV2s are similar to the corresponding PFVs but are all different from gruzit’-IPFV1. The unprefixed gruzit’ strongly prefers the Theme-Object construction. The prefixed verb nagruzit’-PFV and the secondary imperfective nagružat’-IPFV2 are nearly the mirror image, preferring the Goal-Object construction. The preference of na-verbs for profiling the Goal may be motivated by the SURFACE meaning of na- that has been mentioned in Section 2.3. The focus is rather placed on the changes that the Goal undergoes rather than on the placement of the Theme. On the contrary, pogruzit’-PFV and pogružat’-IPFV2 are almost exclusively restricted to the Theme-Object construction, suggesting a focus on the Theme that is loaded rather than the place where the load ends up. This may serve as an indirect evidence in support of LeBlanc’s claim (LeBlanc 2010), according to which the prototype of the prefix po- is related to PATH.

Zagruzit’-PFV and zagružat’-IPFV2 are the only verbs that show an almost even distribution across the two constructions. ^[8] A more elaborate analysis of the examples indicates that this could be due to additional metaphorical uses that the za-verbs have in the Goal-Object construction. As shown in (Sokolova 2013: 194), in the literal uses, zagruzit’-PFV favors the Theme-Object construction: the database contains 70 examples (55%) of the Theme-Object construction vs. 57 examples (45%) of the Goal-Object construction. However, in metaphorical contexts, the distribution is skewed towards the Goal-Object construction: 24 metaphorical examples (30%) used in the Theme-Object construction vs. 57 metaphorical examples in the Goal-Object construction (70%). A more even distribution of the two constructions in the case of za-verbs is in accordance with the “double” nature of the prototype of za- described in Section 2.3. The Theme-Object construction is compatible with the meaning BEHIND, whereas the uses in the Goal-Object construction represent the meaning COVER (or the meaning FILL as we are mostly dealing with three dimensional Goals).

In general, the prefix has an effect on the base verb, which is preserved in the secondary imperfectives. We see a clear contrast between the constructional profile of the unprefixed base verb and the prefixed ‘load’ verbs. Thus, prediction (A) is confirmed. At the same time the prefixed PFVs and their corresponding IPFV2s reveal closer profiles. Here a more detailed analysis, including analysis of the metaphorical extensions, is needed.

Janda et al. (2013a) and Kuznetsova and Sokolova (2016) have shown that secondary imperfectives are preferred in contexts where a result is implied. Thus, although IPFV1 and IPFV2 are used in the same constructions and similar contexts, we often get a semantic difference between these two imperfectives. Cf. examples (11–14) below that present a situation of loading people into vehicles (cars or trains):

1. Ja poterjala ljubimyj zont… zagružala dočku v mašinu, ostavila zont

   na kryše. Tak i poexali… [Naši deti: Malyši do goda (forum) (2004)]

   ‘I lost my favorite umbrella… I was helping my daughter to get into

   the car and left it on the top of the car. And we drove away like this.’

1. Provodnikii i passažiry, vstretiv ix kak rodstvenniki, zagružajut mat’

   s det’mi v tambur. [Aleksandr Iličevskij. Pers (2009)]

   ‘The conductors … are helping the mother with the children to get onto the train.’

1. Včera moj tovarišč tak upilsja, čto gruzili ego v mašinu ^[9]

   ‘Yesterday my friend got so drunk that we had to load him into the car.’

1. – Telo bylo?

   – Ešče by!

   – Gruzili ego v mašinu? ^[10]

   ‘– Was there a body?

   – Of course!

   – Did you load it into the car?’

In examples (11) ad (12), the load is represented by people and their luggage. IPFV2 considers the boundaries of the Theme (and thus is more telic than IPFV1): zagružat’-IPFV2 is more commonly used with separate objects that need to be placed in a container (as opposed to a mass) and hence it is preferred in sentences that refer to careful actions. The verb gruzit’-IPFV1, on the other hand, does not set bounds on the Theme and is preferred when people are treated as a regular load or a mass. As can be seen from examples (13) and (14) above, the loading of dead bodies and drunk people is presented with IPFV1.

5.2 Triplets and metaphorical extensions

Of the three prefixed counterparts to the verb gruzit’ ‘load’, zagruzit’ is more often used metaphorically: zagruzit’ has 39% metaphorical uses, while nagruzit’ has 25% (see Table 8 and Figure 2). ^[11] The major metaphorical extensions of zagruzit’ involve a “person” (Goal), who serves as the metaphorical CONTAINER, and “information” or “work” (Theme), which represent metaphorical CONTENTS, as shown in (10), repeated here as (15), and (16).

Figure 2

Relative frequencies of metaphorical contexts in the aspectual triplets of the ‘load’ verbs.

1. Ax, vam interesny podrobnosti iz žizni

   oh you-DAT are-interesting particulars-NOM from life-GEN

   zvezd? Radi boga, Andrej Maksimov “zagruzit”

   pop-stars-GEN? For god Andrej Maksimov-NOM za-load-FUT

   vas ètoj informaciej.

   you-ACC this information-INS

   ‘Oh, you are interested in the details of the life of our pop stars? No problem, Andrej Maksimov will provide you with this information.’

1. Zasedanie Gossoveta po kul’ture zagruzit

   Meeting-NOM State-Council-GEN on culture-DAT za-load-FUT

   rabotoj sotrudnikov Minsterstva kul’tury

   work-INS members-ACC Ministry-GEN Culture-GEN

   na bližajšie neskol’ko let.

   for nearest-ACC few-ACC years-GEN

   ‘The agenda of the State Council on Culture will keep the members of the Ministry of culture busy for several years.’

The distribution of the two constructions among the ‘load’ verbs in the RNC indicates that IPFV2 behave differently from IPFV1 in terms of metaphorical extensions. As can be seen from Figure 2 above, IPFV2s indeed show a higher frequency of metaphorical uses than IPFV1: 25% (gruzit’) vs. 44% (zagružat’) and 60% (nagružat’), which supports prediction (B).

5.3 Triplets and metaphorical patterns

Although the verbs gruzit’ (IPFV1) and nagruzit’ (na-PFV) show similar general distribution of metaphorical constructions, they appear to have different combinations of metaphorical Themes and Goals within metaphorical representations. Table 9 and Figure 3 present the most frequent metaphorical patterns attested for the ‘load’ verbs. The patterns HUMAN+INFORMATION and HUMAN+WORK are attested for all the ‘load’ verbs considered in the section.

Figure 3

The distribution of various metaphorical patterns among the ‘load’ verbs.

Figure 3 illustrates that the unprefixed and prefixed ‘load’ verbs show different distributions of the basic metaphorical patterns. Prefixes seem to have a greater effect on the distribution of metaphorical patterns than verbal aspect. This way prediction (C) (IPFV2 are used in metaphorical patterns that are typical of prefixed perfective verbs) is confirmed. However, there is one pattern that characterizes only imperfective verbs, namely HUMAN+PROBLEMS:

GOAL:HUMAN + THEME:PROBLEMS

1. Bespomoščnoj ličnosti, čtoby ona ne “gruzilavas

   Helpless personality in-order-to it not loadyou-ACC

   svoimi problemami”, prosto ne nado davat’ sovety.

   its problems-INS just not should give advice

   ‘You should not provide advice to a needy person unless you are prepared for him to dump [load of] his problems on you.’ (Tat’jana Blažnova. Karl Gustav Mannergeim. Memuary (2000) // “Kar’era”, 2000.02.01.)

The unprefixed verb gruzit’ ‘load’ selects mostly humans as metaphorical Goals that can be loaded with work, information or problems. Quite remarkably, however, it is the unprefixed ‘load’ verb that is more often used with the patterns HUMAN+INFORMATION and HUMAN+PROBLEMS, whereas the prefixed ‘load’ verbs to a greater extent select the pattern HUMAN+WORK.

To understand why IPFV1 is more frequent in the patterns HUMAN+INFORMATION and HUMAN+PROBLEMS than IPFV2s, let us look at a related example from Bulygina and Šmelev (1997), which represents a well-known dialogue from a Russian fairy-tale (18).

1. Kolobok, kolobok, ja tebja s”em!

   ‘Kolobok, I am going to eat you!’

1. Ne eš’ menja seryj volk!

   ‘Don’t eat me, Big Bad Wolf!’

1. ?Ne s”edaj menja, seryj volk!

   ‘Do not eat me up, Big Bad Wolf!’

The primary imperfective est’ ‘eat’ in (18b) cannot be replaced with the secondary imperfective s”edat’, as shown in example (18c), as the secondary imperfective can only mean ‘Eat me, but do not eat me up’. Negated imperatives imply that the event will not take place and, therefore, no result will be achieved. Hence, the imperative with negation implies no result and tends to use the primary imperfective that does not consider the result (see Kuznetsova and Sokolova 2016 for detail).

Metaphorical patterns HUMAN+PROBLEMS and HUMAN+WORK resemble the tendencies in examples in (18). In the case of HUMAN+PROBLEMS, the boundary is not profiled as any amount of problems is unwelcome. The implication here is that the action should not take place at all. In HUMAN+WORK, work is an expected load, however, in this case it is important to keep it within the allocated boundaries (the potential of the person who represents the Goal) and not to exceed the limit.

In the remainder of the section I will focus on the effect that specific prefixes have on metaphorical patterns. The verbs with the prefix za- are characterized by the most “balanced” distribution where all major patterns constitute around 20%. The most frequent patterns here are HUMAN+INFORMATION, HUMAN+WORK, and FACILITY+WORK. Illustrative examples of major metaphorical representations listed in Table 9 and Figure 3 are given below.

GOAL:HUMAN + THEME:INFORMATION

1. Sledujuščie 15 minut ja “gružu” ego informaciej

   Next 15 minutes I loadhim-ACC information-INS

   o svoej rodine – ostrove Saxalin.

   about my native-land – island Saxalin

   ‘In the next 15 minutes, I loadedhim with information about my native land – the land of Island of Saxalin.’ (Dmitrij Kovalenin. Marafonec Murakami (2002) // “Domovoj”, 2002.11.04.)

1. Xačatrjan ne sderžal neudovolstvija ot togo,

   Xačatrjan didn’t suppress discontent from that

   čto Kolomnin, kotorogo on toropilsja

   what Kolomnin whom-ACC he was hurrying

   “nagruzit’” informaciej, beskonečno otvlekaetsja.

   to loadinformation-INS endlessly gets-distracted

   ‘Xačatrjan didn’t hide his discontent that Kolomnin whom he was trying to quickly fillwith information got distracted all the time.’ (Semen Daniljuk. Biznes-klass (2003).)

1. Ax, vam interesny podrobnosti iz žizni

   oh you-DAT are-interesting particulars-NOM from life-GEN

   zvezd? Radi boga, Andrej Maksimov “zagruzit”

   pop-stars-GEN? For god Andrej Maksimov-NOM za-load-FUT

   vas ètoj informaciej.

   you-ACC this information-INS

   ‘Oh, you are interested in the details of the life of our pop stars? No problem, Andrej Maksimov will provide you with this information.’

GOAL:HUMAN + THEME:WORK

1. Ja, skažem, idu pokupat’ trubočnika ljubimoj ljaguške,

   I, let’s-say, go to-buy sludge-worm favourite frog

   a druz’ja, radujas’ čužoj bede, gruzjatporučenijami.

   and friends, gloating another’s misfortune loadcommissions-INS

   Exat’ nikto ne xočet.

   go nobody not wants

   ‘Let’s say, I am going to the pet market to buy a sludge worm for my favorite frog. My friends, gloating over my misfortune, start commissioning me. Nobody wants to go.’ (Aleksej Torgašev. “Ptičku” snova žalko. Kak ob’’jasnit’ trudjaščimsja, počemu na Ptič’em rynke nel’zja pokupat’ košek (2002) // “Izvestija”, 2002.01.20.)

1. Neobxodim byl professional, kotoryj by stal “parovozom”,

   Needed was professional which would become locomotive,

   nagruzil sebja vsej rabotoj.

   load itself-ACC all work-INS]

   ‘They needed a work horse, someone who would loadhimselfupwith all the work’ (I. È. Kio. Illjuzii bez illjuzij (1995–1999).)

1. Zasedanie Gossoveta po kul’ture zagruzitrabotoj

   Meeting State-Council-GEN on culture will-loadwork-INS

   sotrudnikov Minsterstva kul’tury na bližajšie neskol’ko

   members- Ministry- Culture- for nearest few

   ACC GEN GEN

   let.

   years

   ‘The agenda of the State Council on Culture will keepthe members of the Ministry of culture busy for several years.’ (Andrej Reut. Gossovet gotov spasti rossijskuju kul’turu // “Gazeta”, 2003.)

GOAL:FACILITY + THEME:WORK

1. V samom dele, razve pod vlijaniem reklamy

   in very thing if under influence advertisement-GEN

   my stanem dol’še kipjatit’ čajnik na gazovoj konforke,

   we begin longer burn boiler on gas burner

   a elektrocstancii zagruzjat rabotoj lišnie turbiny?

   and power-plants will-loadwork-INS additional turbines

   ‘Really, is it possible that due to the advertisement we will boil the kettle longer on a gas burner or that the electrical power-plants will provideadditional turbines with work?’ (Veseljaščij gaz (2003) // “Novaja gazeta”, 2003.01.16.)

The ‘load’ verbs prefixed in za- demonstrate metaphorical patterns in both constructions, whereas other verbs are used metaphorically almost exclusively in one of the constructions (gruzit’ and nagruzit’ in the Goal-Object, and pogruzit’ in the Theme-Object). In addition to the metaphorical patterns mentioned above that go with the Goal-Object construction, zagruzit’ (za-PFV) and its IPFV2 zagružat’ show metaphorical extensions in the Theme-Object construction (cf. the pattern ELECTRONIC DEVICE+FILE):

GOAL:ELECTRONIC DEVICE + THEME:FILE

1. Každyj, kto rassčityvaet v Afinax zapustit’ v set’ virus

   Everybody who intends in Athens to-launch into net-ACC virus

   ili zagruzit’drugoe PO, smožet ubedit’sja, čto

   or loadanother software-ACC will-be-able to-see that

   dostup k diskovodam, a takže k USB-portam na PK i

   access to disk-drives and also to USB-ports on PC and

   serverax zakryt.

   servers closed

   ‘Everybody with the intention to launch a virus or uploadsoftware onto the net in Athens will see that the access to the disk drives as well as to the USB ports on PCs and servers is closed.’ (Olimpiada komp’juternaja // “Computerworld”, 2004.)

Unlike the unprefixed verb gruzit’ (IPFV1) and the verbs with the prefix za-that show a strong preference towards certain patterns, the verbs prefixed in na- are characterized by a number of additional patterns, such as loading words or texts with meaning (the discussion of other smaller patterns is provided below).

GOAL:WORDS + THEME:MEANING

1. Posle simvolistov … slovo utratilo ves; akmeisty zaxoteli bylo

   After symbolists … word lost weight, acmeists wanted was

   ego nagruzit’ – no polučalas’ libo priključenčeskaja proza,

   it-ACC load – but came-out either adventurous prose

   libo nesvjaznoe, xot’ i angel’skoe bormotanie

   or incoherent, although and angel-like murmur

   ‘After symbolists … the word lost its significance, acmeists wanted to fill it with a new meaning but this attempt ended up either as adventurous prose or as an incoherent, even though angelic murmur…’ (Dmitrij Bykov. Orfografija (2002).)

These additional patterns build upon the original semantics of the prefix na-. As can be seen from example (27) above, the meaning of the word is compared to a weight: obtaining a meaning is accumulating a load on the surface of a weighing scale. The heavier the weight, the more the word is worth (hence its significance).

The option “other” in Figure 3 includes other metaphorical combinations of Theme and Goal which are represented by merely one or two examples. As follows from Figure 3, metaphorical representations of both gruzit’ (IPFV1) and zagruzit’ (za-PFV) are constituted by larger groupings whereas nagruzit’ (na-PFV) is used in a number of smaller combinations. This is probably related to the fact that metaphorical contexts of the na-PFV mostly deal with more abstract notions for both Theme and Goal (see examples 28 and 29 below).

GOAL: TRIP + THEME: AIM

1. Ja ponjala: nado beč, štob ne vzrastit’ razdraženie uže

   I realized: needed run in-order-to not grow irritation already

   k Šure, kotoruju ja nežno ljublju, i ne vinovata ona,

   towards Šura which I tenderly love and not to-blame she

   čto ja nagruzila rodstvennuju poezdku k nej podspudnoj zadačej.

   that I loadedfamily trip-ACC to her additional task-INS

   ‘I realized that I need to run if I didn’t want to exhibit frustration towards Šura, who I tenderly love. It is not her fault that I added a personal task to the family trip.’ (Galina Ščerbakova. Mitina ljubov’ (1996).)

GOAL: RELATIONSHIP THEME: TRUTH

1. Ona … bojalas’ daže treščiny, kotoraja mogla pojavit’sja, esli na

   She … was-afraid even crack which could appear if on

   ix xrupkie otnošenija nagruzit’ sliškom mnogo pravdy.

   their fragile relations-ACC load too-much truth-ACC]

   ‘She was afraid that their fragile relationship would crack under the burden of too much truth’ (Ol’ga Novikova. Ženskij roman (1993).)

In the case of (27) having a considerable weight is something desirable as words should be meaningful, and that is what the poets are concerned about. Examples (28) and (29) also reflect the WEIGHT metaphor, however, in this case the weight is a heavy load: the family trip is burdened by a personal task and the fragile relationship could crack under the burden of too much truth.

Summing up, we can say that the prefix has a greater impact on metaphorical patterns than aspect. Metaphorical uses depend on the semantics of the prefix, which is preserved both in the perfective counterparts and IPFV2s. Imperfectives are more compatible with metaphorical contexts where the boundaries are not profiled. Hence, IPFV1 is the most natural verb with the metaphorical patterns HUMAN+INFORMATION and HUMAN+PROB-LEMS, which imply that the action should not be taking place.However, in the patterns where the boundaries are emphasized, for instance HUMAN+WORK, IPFV2s are preferred over IPFV1.