On the aspectual uses of the prefix be- in Lithuanian


Abstract

The prefix be-, which appears in a variety of verbal forms and constructions in Lithuanian, has not been subject to a detailed and theoretically informed synchronic description. This paper attempts to fill this gap by providing an account of the two most clearly identifiable aspectual uses of be-: (i) its being part of the periphrastic forms expressing the avertive meaning recently established as a cross-linguistic gram; (ii) its use in the positive and negative continuative forms. I discuss the semantics and use of these constructions, and pay particular attention to their interactions with other aspectually relevant categories of Lithuanian.

 

Keywords

aspect; prefixation; avertive; continuative; scope; Lithuanian

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Published : 2011-12-31


Arkadiev, P. (2011). On the aspectual uses of the prefix be- in Lithuanian. Baltic Linguistics, 2, 37-78. https://doi.org/10.32798/bl.426

Peter Arkadiev  peterarkadiev@yandex.ru
Russian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Slavic Studies, Leninskij prospekt 32-A, RU-119334 Moscow  Russian Federation
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4503-2634