Quantification Contrasts of tvoriti – sъtvoriti Verbs and Their Synonyms in Old East Slavic Sources (Based on the “Manuscript” Historical Corpus)

Abstract

The article presents the first attempt to describe the quantification contrasts of verbs belonging to lexical series dělati – sъdělati, dějati – sъdějati, tvoriti – sъtvoriti. Quantification is understood as a quantitative measurement of qualitative characteristics, namely grammatical parameters of lexical units. The research is based on the “Manuscript” historical corpus. For the analysis, the author selects the Gospels and Chronicles subcorpora; birchbark letters data are also involved. The author discovers that the named verb pairs express the aspectual meaning as long as they are represented by identical lexical meanings. The entire lexical range is related by synonymy. Secondary imperfectivation led to the series expansion with three more lexemes: sъdělovati, sъděvati, sъtvarjati. The quantification results demonstrate a group of contrasting correlations: a quantitative predominance of the verb pair tvoriti – sъtvoriti; a larger quantitative weight of the perfective verb, unlike the other two verb pairs; a notice- able quantitative predominance of Present forms, primarily from imperfective verbs in the Gospels; a significant predominance of perfective Aorist forms, and so on. The contrasting relations reveal the discursive features of texts, as well as the special role of the tvoriti – sъtvoriti verbs in expressing predication and substitution. The replacement of the tvoriti verb with the dělati verb is first noticed in the Suzdal Chronicle.

Keywords

• quantification
• verb
• synonymic series
• aspectual pairs
• contrast
• grammatical positions
• old east slavic manuscript
• the “manuscript” historical corpus