Article.

Ekaterina Vinogradova

УДК 81-116.1                                                                                                

THE GRAMMATICALIZATION PATHS

(NEW PREPOSITIONS IN RUSSIAN LANGUAGE)

This paper attempts to apply the implications of the grammaticalization theory to the Russian prepositional system. Special attention is given to reconstruction of the grammaticalization path "noun à preposition" (example – evolution of Russian prepositional unit лицом к лицу с кем-чем ‘face to face with smth.-smb.’, ‘facing smb.-smth.’) and to design of a grammaticalization scale for 8 prepositional units including somatic noun глаз ‘eye’ on basis of their grammaticalization level determined.

Keywords: grammaticalization, grammaticalization path, grammaticalization scale, Russian preposition, prepositional unit, somatic noun.

Over the course of the last decades, a great amount of data has been published on the grammaticalization theory [Lehman 2002; Hopper, Traugott 2003], which concerns with its sources and channels studies, its word lexicon creation, semantic maps construction and a wide range of typology researches. The observations executed during the research in the project "Slavic Prepositions in Synchrony and Diachrony Aspects: Morphology and Syntax" [Всеволодова, Кукушкина, Поликарпов 2013; Канюшкевіч 2008-2010; Загнiтко та ін. 2007; Славянските 2007] have convinced us that grammaticalization is very active for Russian prepositional field. Therefore the purpose of the paper is to study paths and stages of grammaticalization (grammaticalization scale) within the field pointed out. The topic seems to be quite an actual problem not only theoretically as a grammaticalization process in Russian prepositional system description but for practical application as well – the results can be used in lexicography e. g. for dictionaries – new prepositional articles should be included.

To achieve the objective it seems to be necessary to analyze Russian prepositional units in order to define their place on grammaticalization scale and to show the possible grammaticalization paths. Prepositions and units functioning as prepositions have also been an object of permanent Russian scholars’ interest. The eminent point for us is studies dealing with transition of words belonging to different parts of speech into prepositional units [Шереметьева 2008; Ши­га­нова 2001]. Nevertheless these papers don’t regard to grammaticalization itself, its paths and scales.

Before we delve into specifies of prepositional grammaticalization as such, it is necessary to clarify some key terms alluding to grammaticalization and Russian prepositional system. "Grammaticalization is defined as the development from lexical to grammatical forms and from grammatical to even more grammatical forms" [Heine, Kuteva 2002: 2]. The development of grammatical form depends on the construction they belong to, that is why it’s essential to study construction as a whole but not an independent word, i. e. prepositional units. Obviously Givon’s aphorism "Today’s morphology is yesterday’s syntax" is not out of place here. Aiming to observe grammaticalization paths we focus on the main mechanisms grammaticalization involves:

a)                      desemantization (or "semantic bleaching") – loss in meaning content;

b)                      extension (or context generalization) – use in new contexts;

c)                      decategorialization[1] – loss in morphosyntactic properties characteristic of lexical or other less grammaticalized forms (for grammaticalization criteria relevant for Russian prepositional units see also [Всеволодова 2011]).

Under the influence of these mechanisms new prepositions appear, e. g. in English: event (noun) à in the event of (preposition), head (noun) à ahead of (preposition), back (noun) à in the back of (preposition), respect (noun)à with respect to (preposition) etc.; in Russian: течение (noun, ‘flow’, ‘course’) à в течение чего (preposition, ‘during’), следствие (noun, ‘consequence’) à вследствие чего (preposition, ‘in consequence off’, ‘owing to’), отличие (noun, ‘distinction’) à в отличие от чего (preposition, ‘in contrast to’, ‘unlike’), связь (noun, ‘bond’, ‘connection’) à в связи с чем (preposition, ‘because of’, ‘in view of’), подобие (noun, ‘resemblance’)à наподобие чего (preposition, ‘like’), путь (noun, ‘way’) à путем чего (preposition, ‘by’, ‘by means of’), etc.

It’s well known that the sources of grammaticalization are usually presented by a restricted set of notions. Thus, demonstrative pronouns can develop into articles (German definite articles der, die, das), verbs of motion evolve into tense and aspect auxiliaries (English: to go à I am going to read a book (future tense auxiliary)), nouns expressing parts of body often become prepositions [Svorou 1994] (English: head à ahead of; Persian: bar ru-ye miz ‘on the table’, literally ‘on the face of table’) and so on (see above-mentioned papers of Ch. Lehman, P. J. Hopper, B. Heine, etc.). Therefore it seems reasonable to pay special attention to certain lexical groups while studying grammaticalization path "nounà preposition". So the target object for us is somatic nouns, or nouns expressing human body parts[2]. Nevertheless we should admit that the Russian prepositional units in question unambiguously serving a grammatical function still have a morphosyntactic structure of their earlier uses as noun structures (перед лицом кого – ‘in the face of’, ‘in front of’, от лица кого – ‘on behalf of’, на глазах (у) кого – ‘in smb’s presence’, etc.). However, it appeared that such items express not only space meaning in Russian[3] but become more and more abstract ("semantic bleaching") conveying relational and characterization senses.

As far as prepositional system in Russian concerns we should mention that theoretical basis adopted here is the one of the project "Slavic Prepositions in Synchrony and Diachrony Aspects: Morphology and Syntax". It concerns with a very broad interpretation of prepositional units – for such are taken all units serving a grammatical function of preposition i. e. both proper prepositions (introducing functional parts of speech and having no other functions except for prepositional) and prepositional equivalents – units serving a grammatical function of preposition in certain contexts, but still representing notional words.

This article explores

1) a grammaticalization path "noun à preposition" by an example of the prepositional unit лицом к лицу с кем-чем (‘face to face with smb.-smth.’, ‘facing smb.-smth.’);

2) a grammaticalization scale of 8 prepositional units, including lexeme глаз ‘eye’.

1. A grammaticalization path "noun à preposition"

As it has been already noticed grammaticalization is inevitably bonded to desemantization , context generalization and decategorialization. Here we consider the grammaticalization path of the prepositional unit лицом к лицу с кем-чем (‘face to face with smb.-smth.’, ‘facing smb.-smth.’) starting with non-grammaticalized uses (ex. 1) further to the most grammaticalized (ex. 5).

(1) Он столкнулся лицом к лицу с бывшей женой (‘He clashed his ex-wife face to face’, ‘He faced his ex-wife’). Here we collide with notional, or nominative use of the noun лицо ‘face’: его лицо (‘his face’), лицо бывшей жены (‘my ex-wife’s face’) and therefore can eliminate лицом к лицу (‘face to face’) easily: Он столкнулся с бывшей женой (‘He clashed his ex-wife’) à

(2) Он столкнулся лицом к лицу с опасностью (‘He faced a danger’), where его лицо (‘his face’) appears to be still direct, notional use but *лицо опасности (*’a danger’s face’) is not obviously. The elimination of лицом к лицу (‘face to face’) is quite possible: Он столкнулся с опасностью (‘He stood against a danger’) à

(3) Человечество оказалось лицом к лицу с опасностью (‘The mankind turned out to face the danger’). Both *лицо человечества (*’the mankind’s face’) and *лицо опасности (*’the danger’s face’) are not in use. The item лицом к лицу (‘face to face’) is obligatory: *человечество оказалось с опасностью (*‘the mankind turned out the danger’) à

(4) Я купил дом лицом к лицу с храмом (‘I bought a house facing the temple’), where we observe a noun modifier Какой дом? (‘What kind of house?’) – Дом лицом к лицу с храмом (‘a house facing the temple’); both *лицо дома (‘*a house’s face’) and *лицо храма (‘*the temple’s face’) are inadequate, thus лицом к лицу (‘face to face’) can’t be omitted: *Я купил дом с храмом (*I bought a house with a temple) – the considerable semantic shift appears à

(5) книга Н. Хрущева «Лицом к лицу с Америкой» (‘N. Khrushchev’s book "America face to face"), with the independent use of the item лицом к лицу (‘face to face’), which elimination is unfeasible.

As for the desemantization it’s quite obvious that the meaning develops from the space one in (1) to more abstract senses: (2) object, (3) state, (4) characterization, (5) relation. Exx. 1-5 represent thus a grammaticalization path involving desemantization , context generalization. Having acquired grammatical meaning this form tends to become increasingly divergent from its first uses: it loses in categorical properties characteristic of its first uses, hence undergoing decategorialization. We would like to emphasize that in the most grammaticalized contexts (exx. 3-5) the unit лицом к лицу c кем-чем (‘face to face with smb.-smth.’) serves as a proper preposition and deserves in our opinion a special dictionary article.

2. A grammaticalization scale

In this part we explore prepositional units, including lexeme глаз (‘eye’), describe each unit and construct grammaticalization scale out of these units. We focus here on 8 prepositional units which were singled out during continuous study of idioms and contexts with the lexeme глаз (‘eye’):

a)                      глазами кого-чего (‘through the eyes of’),

b)                      глазом кого (‘with the eye of’),

c)                      в глаза₁ кому-чему (бросаться) (‘to catch smb’s eyes’),

d)                     в глаза₂ кому-чему (говорить) (‘to say straight to smb’s face’),

e)                      в глаза₃ кому-чему (смотреть) (‘to face smth.’, ‘to confront smth.’),

f)                       в глазах кого-чего [prop[4]] (‘in smb’s opinion’),

g)                      на глаза кому-чему (попадаться, показываться) (‘to catch smb’s eyes’),

h)                      на глазах кого-чего (‘in smb’s presence’).

In order to define the grammaticalization degree of each unit we consider it profitable to view the following aspects: desematization, context generalization and decategorialization which reveals itself in the change of morphosyntactic paradigm.

a) ГЛАЗАМИ КОГО-ЧЕГО (‘through the eyes of’)

Россия глазами иностранцев (‘Russia thought the eyes of foreigners’). The sense of this structure is to be revealed as follows: ‘Иностранцы видят Россию следующим образом’ (‘Foreigners see Russian the next way’), so the prepositional unit serves to express the role of an Observer. The meaning and contexts develop generalization: реальность глазами Партии (‘the reality through the eyes of the Party’) à *глаза Партии (*’the Party’s eyes’). It’s eminent to note that the prepositional unit forms so called “free syntaxeme” – a word combination with prominent meaning independent of context which can be used separately (titles, headlines, etc.): Глазами мента (‘Through the eyes of a cop’).

b) ГЛАЗОМ КОГО (‘with the eye of’)

Глазом художника он сразу отметил странные тени (‘Being an artist he has noted strange shadows at once’ lit. ‘with the eye of an artist he has notes strange shadows at once’). The unit expresses characteristics, the synonym is как (‘as’). In our opinion глазом кого (‘with the eye of’) is a potential preposition since no signs confirming grammaticalization has been revealed.

c) В ГЛАЗА₁ КОМУ-ЧЕМУ (БРОСАТЬСЯ) (‘to catch smb’s eyes’)

Беспорядок бросился гостям в глаза (‘The mess caught the guests’ eyes’). The prepositional unit conveys the Protagonist role: ‘Гости увидели беспорядок’ (‘The guests saw the mess’) and forms “a determined syntaxeme” being used only within the structure <N_nom бросается в глаза N _{dative/genitive}>. It serves an important communicative function – shades the Protagonist and illuminates the Object, making the latter syntactic, or grammatical subject. В глаза₁ кому-чему (бросаться) (‘to catch smb’s eyes’) represents a highly grammaticalized item: Зарубежным фирмам бросается в глаза бюрократия (‘The bureaucracy catches the eyes of foreign companies’) – *глаза зарубежных фирм (‘*the eyes of foreign companies’). The propositional unit obtains a morphosyntactic paradigm irrelevant for the noun: в глаза кому-чему (N_dative) – в глаза кого-чего (N_genitive): Беспорядок бросился в глаза гостям (dative case) – Беспорядок бросился в глаза гостей (genitive case) (‘The mess caught the guests’ eyes’).

d) В ГЛАЗА₂ КОМУ-ЧЕМУ (ГОВОРИТЬ) (‘to say straight to smb’s face’)

Генерал сказал правду в глаза правительству (‘The general said the truth straight to the government’ lit. ‘to the eyes of the government’). Being used solely after verbs of speech the prepositional unit is assumed to form “a bond syntaxeme”. The bond syntaxemes usually are observed to be less grammaticalized and have less generalization: сказать правду в глаза мужу (‘to say the truth straight to the husband’s face’ lit. ‘to the husband’s eyes’) – глаза мужа (the husband’s eyes), though some desemantization contexts are detected: в глаза правительству (‘to the eyes of the government’) – *глаза правительства (‘*the eyes of government’). The prepositional unit displays a morphosyntactic paradigm: в глаза кому-чему (N_dative) – в глаза кого-чего (N_genitive): Генерал сказал правду в глаза правительству (dative case) – Генерал сказал правду в глаза правительства (genitive case) (‘The general said the truth straight to the government’ lit. ‘to the eyes of the government’).

e) В ГЛАЗА₃ КОМУ-ЧЕМУ (СМОТРЕТЬ) (‘to face smth.’, ‘to confront smth.’)

Нужно смотреть правде в глаза (‘One should face the truth’, lit. ‘watch the truth’s eyes’). The construction including the prepositional unit forms “a bonded syntaxeme” used strictly after verbs like смотреть (‘to watch’) and so on. Unlike most bonded syntaxemes the meaning and contexts are highly generalized: смотреть в глаза правде (lit. ‘to watch the truth’s eyes’) – *глаза правды (*’the truth’s eyes’). The meaning of the construction (‘One should realize the truth’) has nothing in common with the semes constituting the lexeme глаз (‘eye’). The morphosyntactic paradigm is peculiar to the unit: в глаза кому-чему (N_dative) – в глаза кого-чего (N_genitive): Нужно смотреть в глаза правде (dative case) – Нужно смотреть в глаза правды (genitive case) (‘One should face the truth’, lit. ‘watch the truth’s eyes’).

f) В ГЛАЗАХ КОГО-ЧЕГО [PROP] (‘in smb’s opinion’)

В глазах матери Вася еще дитя (‘In his mother’s opinion Vasya is still a baby’). The prepositional unit obtains the same meaning indicating an Observer as (а) глазами кого-чего (‘through the eyes of’) but its syntactic behavior restrains us to assume them synonyms. The point is that (f) в глазах кого-чего [prop] (‘in smb’s opinion’) requires 2 propositions, forming therefore “a determined syntaxeme” – the item with the meaning clarified only in definite construction. The first obligatory proposition indicates the Observer: Мама считает (‘The mother considers’) and the second one expresses characteristics: Вася еще дитя (‘Vasya is still a baby’). On the contrary the second proposition is never attached within one sentence to (a) глазами кого-чего (‘through the eyes of’). The preposition tends to be highly grammaticalized: в глазах общественности (‘in public opinion’, lit. ‘in the eyes of community’) – *глаза общественности (*’the eyes of community’).

g) НА ГЛАЗА КОМУ-ЧЕМУ (ПОПАДАТЬСЯ, ПОКАЗЫВАТЬСЯ) (‘to catch smb’s eyes’)

The unit forms “a determined syntaxeme” and appears within 2 structures: (1) Эта газета случайно попалась на глаза жене (‘My wife saw the newspaper by accident’ lit. ‘The newspaper caught my wife’s eyes accidentally’); (2) Он не хочет показываться на глаза боссу (‘He doesn’t want to be seen by the boss’ lit. ‘He doesn’t want to show up in the boss’s eyes’). No grammaticalization traces has been found for the unit except for morphosyntactic paradigm: на глаза кому-чему (N_dative) – на глаза кого-чего (N_genitive): (1) Эта газета случайно попалась на глаза жене (dative case) / жены (genitive case) (‘My wife saw the newspaper by accident’ lit. ‘The newspaper caught my wife’s eyes accidentally’); (2) Он не хочет показываться на глаза боссу (dative case) / босса (genitive case) (‘He doesn’t want to be seen by the boss’ lit. ‘He doesn’t want to show up in the boss’s eyes’).

h) НА ГЛАЗАХ КОГО-ЧЕГО (‘in smb’s presence’)

Это происходит на глазах всего мира (‘This is witnessed by the whole world’ lit. ‘It is happening on the eyes of the whole world’). The unit functionally serves for the Observer role: Весь мир видит это (‘The whole world witnesses it’) and is assumed to be highly grammaticalized (desematicization and context generalization): на глазах всего мира (lit. ‘on the eyes of the whole world’) – *глаза всего мира (‘*the eyes of the whole world’), constituting moreover a morphosyntactic paradigm: на глазах кого-чего – на глазах у кого-чего: Это происходит на глазах всего мира – Это происходит на глазах у всего мира (‘This is witnessed by the whole world’ lit. ‘It is happening on the eyes of the whole world’).

The summarized data for the discussed prepositional units are presented in the table 1.

Table 1. Prepositional units including lexeme глаз ‘eye’ and their grammaticalization features

On the basis of table 1 we can design agrammaticalization scale for the prepositional units including lexeme глаз ‘eye’ (Fig. 1.).

A grammaticalization scale

Thus, we suppose that the prepositional units (a) глазами кого-чего ‘through the eyes of smb.’, (h) на глазах кого-чего ‘in smb’s presence’, (c) в глаза₁ кому-чему что (бросается и под.) ‘to catch smb’s eyes’, (f) в глазах кого-чего [prop] ‘in smb’s opinion’ have completed their grammaticalization and become prepositions. We suggest them to be worthy of having a separate articles in the dictionaries taking into consideration their only possible interpretation within prepositional construction. The prepositional unit (e) в глаза₃ кому-чему (смотреть) ‘to face smth’ is on its way to prepositions and (d) в глаза₂ кому-чему (говорить) ‘to say straight to smb’s face’, (g) на глаза кому-чему (попасться, показаться) ‘to catch smb’s eyes’, (b) глазом кого ‘with the eye of smb’ have just started the grammaticalization and still are settled within the noun field.

Here we summarize our conclusions with regard to its theoretical and practical implications. First of all, it has been pointed out that grammaticalization process is very active in Russian within prepositional system. We expect to find the same process in other semantic groups especially in the ones of somatic nouns. The conclusion can be transferred to Russian prepositions as a category – it is assumed to be a very rapidly replenished class. Second, on the basis of one grammaticalization path discussed in the paper we can identify the grammaticalization channels peculiar to prepositional unit and enlighten the active process in the sphere which is very significant for drawing attention to the considerable changes in Russian prepositions as a category. Third, our study has identified the grammaticalization level of 8 prepositional units in Russian language which allowed us to construct a grammaticalization scale for these units. It offers a great potential for analysis and synthesis of the items in question. The material of the paper thus has implications for Russian language as foreign studying, machine translation and lexicography practice.

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Svorou 1993: Svorou, S. The grammar of space (Typological studies in language : Vol. 25) [Text] / S. Svorou. – Amsterdam : John Benjamins, 1994. – 290 pp. – Ref. : Pp. 263-278. – ISBN 90 272 2911 2.

Статтю присвячено вивченню процесу граматикалізації у прийменниковій системі російської мови. Особливу увагу приділено реконструкції шляхів граматикалізації «іменникà прийменник» (на прикладі прийменникової одиниці лицом к лицу с кем-чем) і побудові шкали граматикалізації для 8 прийменникових одиниць, що містять соматизм глаз, за ступенем їх граматикалізації.

Ключові слова: граматикалізація, шлях граматикалізації, шкала граматикалізації, російський прийменник, прийменникова одиниця, соматизм.

Available 27 September 2013.