Manuscript

Ekaterina A. Melnik

THE REPRESENTATION OF THE RATIONAL AND LOGICAL

SITUATION ON THE CONTITIVE SEMANTIC AND

MORPHOSYNTACTIC LEVELS

(a study of Yiddish verbs with the prefix unter-)

Speciality 10.02.19 – Language Theory

AN ABSTRACT

of the dissertation for the degree of

the Candidate of Philological Sciences

Kemerovo – 2013

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The research was conducted at the Department of German Philology, Kemerovo

State University, Kemerovo.

Research supervisor:

Kirill A. Shishigin - Candidate of Philological Sciences, Docent, Head of the

German Philology Department, Kemerovo State University

Official opponents:

Natalia B. Lebedeva - Doctor of Philological Sciences, Full Professor at the

Department of Rhetoric and Stylistics, Kemerovo State University, and a

Corresponding Member of the Siberian Branch of the International Academy of

Higher Education Sciences

Sergey G. Proskurin - Doctor of Philological Sciences, Full Professor at the

English Philology Department at the Faculty of Foreign Languages, Novosibirsk

State University

Opponent organisation:

Siberian Federal University, Krasnoyarsk

The defence will take place at the meeting of the Dissertation Board D212.088.01

at Kemerovo State University (6 ul. Krasnaya, Kemerovo 650043) at 14.00 on 19

October 2013.

The dissertation is available at the Research Library of Kemerovo State University.

The Abstract was sent out on 17 September 2013.

Academic secretary of the

Dissertation Board М. А. Osadchy

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GENERAL DESCRIPTION

The object of the dissertation is linguistic representation of the rational and logical

extralinguistic situation, whereas its subject is Yiddish verbs with the prefix unter- as a

means of this representation on the levels of semantics and morphosyntax.

The urgency/relevance of the research lies in the fact that although the problem of

linguistic representation of extralinguistic reality has been widely studied in many

languages, building a more complete picture of linguistic worldviews requires a wider

variety of languages to be covered, including Yiddish, which has been ignored by

Russian linguistics over the last few decades. Being a hybrid language, Yiddish combines

three ways of representing reality - German, Semitic and Slavic - allowing for a cross-

language study of various parallels and ways in which these three systems interact with

each other.

The purpose of research is to identify ways of representing the rational and logical

situation on the cognitive semantic and morphosyntactic levels using Yiddish verbs with

the prefix unter- formed from unprefixed motivating verbs.

Achieving this purpose involves a number of objectives, namely to:

review scientific literature on various aspects of the research problem in

Yiddish, as well as Germanic and Slavic Studies;

identify cognitive semantic characteristics and develop a cognitive semantic

classification of Yiddish verbs with the prefix unter- based on semes of

different levels of abstraction, and to assess the semantic power of the

prefix unter- to combine with motivating verbs;

demonstrate that Yiddish prefixed verbs can conceptualise a situation

symmetrically or asymmetrically in relation to the rational and logical

situation;

compare morphosyntactic characteristics of verbs with the prefix unter- and

those of motivating verbs;

identify and analyse correlations of prefixed verbs on different levels

(referential, semantic and syntactic) compared to motivating verbs.

The dissertation addresses the problems studied by a large number of linguists,

including: a) in semantics – Yu.D. Apresian, N.D. Arutyunova, V.V. Bogdanov, A.V.

Bondarko, K. Bühler, V.V. Vinogradov, G.V. Kolshansky, B. Comrie, J. Lyons, E.V.

Paducheva, I.A. Sternin, V.A. Uspensky, Ch. Fillmore et al; in particular, the semantics

of Yiddish prefixed verbs - P. Wexler, D. Katz, Yu. Mark, L. Talmy, E. Timm, M.

Schechter, K.A. Shishigin and G. Estraikh; b) in cognitive linguistics, including the

linguistic conceptualisation of the world - T. Bulygina, A. Wierzbicka, W. von

Humboldt, V.Z. Demyankov, M. Johnson, E.S. Kubryakova, G. Lakoff, N. B. Lebedeva,

E.V. Paducheva, G.G. Pocheptsov, I.A. Sternin, A.D. Shmelev, E. Yakovleva et al; c) in

syntax and morphosyntax – V.V. Bogdanov, I. Mel’chuk, E.A. Pimenov and L. Tesnière;

in particular, Yiddish syntax and the morphosyntax of Yiddish prefixed verbs - E. Gold,

M. Taube, M.H. Friedberg, R. Hall and K.A. Shishigin; d) German prefixed verbs - I.

Bartz, G. Mungan, V.P. Nedialkov, M.D. Stepanova, V. Flyasher, F. Hundsnursher, G.

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Tsifonun et al; d) prefixed verbs in Slavic languages – G.A. Volokhina, P.K. Kovalev,

M.A. Krongauz, N.B. Lebedeva, Z.D. Popova, E. Stankevich et al; e) general Yiddish

studies – M. Aptroot, S. Birnbaum, M. Weinreich (the founder of Yiddish studies), U.

Weinreich, S. Krogh, I. Niborsky, N. Stuchkov and H. Shmeruk.

The theoretical significance of the work is substantiated by: a) analysing a notion of

symmetry/asymmetry of extralinguistic situations "down" and "middle" and the concepts

of these situations expressed by Yiddish utterances with unter- verbs; b) developing a

cognitive semantic classification of prefixed verbs, a classification of verbal utterances by

type of referent structures and a classification of unter- verbs based on morphosyntactic

and semantic modification; c) broadening the understanding of a diathesis as a correlation

between a referent and a role of its linguistic unit on the semantic and syntactic levels of

analysis; d) contributing, through Yiddish, to the development of language theory,

namely its statements about linguistic conceptualisation of extralinguistic reality, the

theory of reference, valency and diatheses, and a verb as a part of speech; e)

incorporating Yiddish studies into the modern scientific paradigm; and f) allowing for the

research results to be used to study Yiddish verbs with other prefixes or prefixed verbs of

other languages.

The novelty of this research is seen in the fact that for the first time in Russian

linguistics, ways of representing the rational and logical situation are studied using the

Yiddish language in general and Yiddish verbs with the prefix unter- in particular, as a

complex of cognitive semantic and morphosyntactic aspects, relying on the idea that an

extralinguistic situation is opposed to a concept of this situation represented by an

utterance.

The material for research comes from Yiddish classical literature (from the late 19th

century to 1920; 24 sources), contemporary literature (from 1920 to date; 14 sources) and

newspapers (21st century; 1 source), as well as two authoritative lexicographical sources

(in total, 41 sources).

The research methods include the following: a) continuous sampling and analysis of

dictionary definitions to collect and initially process the material; b) modelling,

conceptual analysis and some elements of contrastive and componential analysis to

describe the material; c) quantitative and statistical methods to analyse the results; and c)

the descriptive method at all stages.

The practical significance of the work lies in the fact that its results can be used in

further cognitive semantic and morphosyntactic research in Yiddish and other Indo-

European languages, namely Germanic and Slavic, as well as in teaching Yiddish and

theoretical courses of General Linguistics, Introduction to Germanic Philology, History

of the German Language and other courses for the university programmes of "Jewish

Languages and Literatures" and "Judaica".

The major results of the research have been presented in various publications and

talks at seven international conferences.

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Propositions to be defended

1. Situations described by utterances with unter- verbs differ from those in the

rational and logical reality. A situation as a phenomenon of extralinguistic reality is

contrasted to a concept of this situation as a phenomenon of the mental world represented

by linguistic means. The relation between the situation and its concept can be

symmetrical if the conceptualisation corresponds to the rational and logical picture of the

world, or asymmetrical if it does not.

2. Situations described by utterances with unter- verbs can include the following

referents: the first (animated) referent, the second (specific and/or abstract) referent and

adverbial referents (time, place and modus), which are represented by linguistic units at

different levels in an explicit, incorporated and/or syncretic way, and have different ranks

(focal, peripheral and marginal).

3. A cognitive semantic classification of Yiddish unter- verbs is based on

distinguishing semes of different level of abstraction in their semantic structure and

includes two groups: a) Group I "Verbs conceptualising a situation as "related to

down/below"" (based on the archiseme "down/below") and b) Group II "Verbs

conceptualising a situation as "happening in the middle"" (based on the archiseme

"middle", which is both integral and differential). Group I is divided into subgroups

(based on the integral semes "down/below", "addition", "degree", "phase" and

"approach") which in their turn break down into classes (based on a number of specific

differential semes). The meanings of all Yiddish unter- verbs can therefore be said to

refer to cognitive semantic phenomena, namely: a) archisemes "down/below" and

"middle", and b) depending on the etymology of unter- verbs of a certain class, they can

conceptualise a situation in the German or (more often) Slavic way.

4. Adding the prefix unter- to a motivating verb does not modify the description of

a situation (except for verbs describing actions with a hidden intention); however, it

specifies certain details of an extralinguistic situation such as where, in what direction, to

what extent, at what stage or in what form it happens.

5. Diatheses are broadly understood as correlations between a referent and a role of

its linguistic unit on the semantic (role) and syntactic (member of sentence) levels of

presenting the situation.

Structurally, the dissertation comprises 193 pages and consists of Introduction,

three chapters, Conclusion, Bibliography, List of Internet sources, List of sources of

material and their codes, List of abbreviations and symbols, and two appendices.

The Introduction formulates the dissertation’s object and subject, purpose and

objectives, material and methods of research, explains its urgency/relevance, novelty,

theoretical and practical significance, lists the conferences where the results were

presented and the propositions to be defended, outlines the structure and content of the

work, and describes the principles of collecting data, analysing prefixed verbs with unter-

(hereinafter - "unter- PVs" or "PVs"), of giving examples, referencing and citing.

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Chapter 1 discusses the state of research and theoretical aspects of studying

Yiddish PVs. Sections 1 and 2 cover historical etymology and derivation.

Section 3 studies how unter- PVs function in utterances in relation to situations, i.e.

fragments of extralinguistic reality described by these utterances. A situation is contrasted

with its concept understood as a generalized abstracted way, determined by the speakers’

naive notions about the world, of representing certain fragments of extralinguistic reality

with PVs. The concept of a situation belongs to the mental world represented by

linguistic means, whereas the situation itself belongs to objective reality.

A situation can be presented as a set of participants and circumstances that are

referents of the words and phrases used in an utterance. In other words, referents are

extralinguistic objects and phenomena referred to by specific linguistic expressions. We

distinguish between the following types of referents: a) the first (animated) (Ref1), b) the

second: concrete (Conc) or abstract (Abst); c) adverbial: time (Chron), place (Top) and

modus (Modus). In language, referents can be represented by linguistic units of different

levels; therefore, we propose three types of referent representation, namely: a) explicit, b)

incorporated, and c) syncretic.

A situation described by an utterance with a PV may be presented as a number of

role structures, with roles similar in content forming hyper roles, such as:

1) Subject hyper role (S) - attributed to linguistic units representing active referent-

participants or inanimate referent-participants that cause processes or conditions - Agent

(Ag), Initiator (Init), Causer (Caus), Adjutant (Adj), and Element (El);

2) Object hyper role (O) - attributed to linguistic units representing major passive

referent-participants - Additive (Add), Addressee (Adr), Beneficiary (Ben), Victim (Vic),

Object (Ob), Patient (Pt), and Experiencer (Exp);

3) Secondary hyper role (A) - attributed to linguistic units representing minor

passive referent-participants - Instrument (Inst), Support (Supp), Content (Cont), and

Medium (Med);

4) Locative hyper role (L) - attributed to linguistic units representing the place of a

situation – Destination (Ad), Location (Loc), and Direction (Dir);

5) Temporal hyper role (T) - attributed to linguistic units representing the time of a

situation - Time (Temp), Final phase (Fin), Initial phase (Princ), and Period (Period);

6) Modus hyper role (M) - attributed to linguistic units representing the mode of a

situation - Mode (Mod) and Degree (Grad); and

7) Ambivalent roles - referring to different hyper roles depending on the situation

described or the syntactic structure of a sentence - Head (Cap), Possessor (Pos), and Goal

(Goal).

Section 4 emphasizes that morphosyntax, being a formal level, is connected with

the level of a situation and semantics. Following I.A. Mel'čuk, E.V. Paducheva and E.A.

Pimenov, we examine the relationship between the number of referents and PV valency,

a communicative rank of a referent and a syntactic rank of the sentence members.

The way an utterance describes an extralinguistic situation is often different from

the way things are in the objective reality, i.e. a situation as such and its concept can

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correlate differently. Therefore, in Chapter 2, we distinguish between: a) symmetrical

concepts of situations, where a situation is conceptualised in accordance with its logical

interpretation, and b) asymmetrical concepts of situations that do not agree with the

rational and logical picture of the world.

The hybridity of Yiddish resulted, inter alia, in the fact that most unter- PVs lost

their German meanings and therefore ceased to express the German view of the world or

the German conceptualisation of reality. Having kept the German form, they are now

largely Slavic in content [K. A. Shishigin]. Under the Slavic influence, the concept of a

"down/below" situation acquired in Yiddish a wider range of interpretations, compared to

German, including the following:

1. Symmetrical concepts of situations

а) Below the observer's level:

(1) Rus.: podkatit' bochku pod saray [G.А. Volokhina] 'roll a barrel under the shed';

(2) Yidd.: unterleygn 'put under': unterleygn a tserate untern tishtekh [Y. Mark]

'put an oilcloth under the tablecloth'.

In these examples, the observer, from the rational and logical point of view, is on

the level of the shed and the tablecloth, respectively, but the actions (rolling a barrel and

putting an oilcloth) are performed below this level. Figure 1 illustrates both the situation

and its concept.

Observer

Down

Figure 1. The situation and the concept "Below the observer's level"

Verbs in utterances like (1) and (2) describe the situation rationally and logically:

the action takes place "under something" and is described, i.e. conceptualised, as

"occurring under the observer, or below the observer’s level"; so here we witness a

symmetrical relation between the situation and its concept.

2. Asymmetrical concepts of situations

The concepts presented below are asymmetrical because rationally and logically

horizontal axes are conceptualised as vertical.

b) Aside from the observer and approaching the observer:

(3) Rus.: pоdjekhat' k stene [G.А. Volokhina] 'drive up to the wall';

(4) Yidd.: untergeyn 'come to': tsum tish iz untergegangen bubnov [Y. Mark]

'Bubnov came to the table'.

In these situations, the animate referent (who coincides with the observer)

approaches from one side, and the "side" is conceptualised as "down/bottom", i.e. it is

"like" approaching the bottom of the inanimate referent (the wall and the table,

respectively). Here, the situation unfolding horizontally, from the rational and logical

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point of view, is conceptualised vertically, i.e. the horizontal axis conceptually turns into

vertical, and the side becomes the bottom.

Situation Concept

Side

Down/bottom

Figure 2. The situation and the concept "Aside from the observer"

When analysing such conceptualisations through unter- PVs, we should also take

into consideration Slavic semantic borrowings. In Slavic languages, the prefix pod-/pid-

gives a motivating verb (hereinafter - "MV") a meaning "to enter into close proximity to

the observer", which is conceptualised as "approaching from below", for example:

(5) Rus.: pодvesti konya k komandiru [G.А. Volokhina] 'bring a horse to the

commander';

(6) Yidd.: unterfirn 'drive (give a lift)': krikht aroyf, vel ikh aykh unterfirn tsum

reben [Y. Mark] 'Get in, I'll drive you (give you a lift) to the rebbe'.

In these examples, the observer is at the endpoint of the horizontal axis of

movement, but the situation can be conceptualised as "moving up along the vertical axis,

where the endpoint, with the observer there, is the top and the starting point is the

bottom".

Situation Concept

Observer

Observer

Figure 3. The situation and the concept "Approaching the observer"

c) Behind the observer:

Here, as in the example above, the horizontal axis is conceptualised as vertical, with

the observer at the top/endpoint, therefore the situation is seen as "occurring below the

observer’s level".

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(7) Yidd.: unterblaybn 'lag behind' (literally: stay below'): lerer, moyshele iz

untergeblibn, lomir vartn oyf im [Y. Mark] 'Teacher, Moishele is lagging behind, let's

wait for him'.

The scheme here is the same as in (b), so we will use it for the situation in (7).

Situation Concept

Moishele

Teacher (=Observer)

Teacher (=Observer)

Moishele

Figure 4. The situation and the concept "Behind the observer"

As shown above, the situations "below the observer", "aside from the observer and

approaching the observer" and "behind the observer" are conceptualised as "below the

observer’s level". This may be due to the fact that the linguistic representation of the

world is "incomplete and/or inaccurate in terms of information given" and "does not

cover the world as a whole, but only its peaks, i.e. those components which the speaker

finds most important or relevant..." [G.G. Pocheptsov].

In addition, the concept of "down/bottom" becomes even more diverse when unter-

PVs are used in their abstract, rather than concrete, spatial meanings. Therefore, it seems

necessary to distinguish between:

а) concrete spatial (or concrete) situations, i.e. situations perceived by the senses

and described by verbs in their direct (literal) meaning, and

b) abstract spatial (or abstract) situations, i.e. situations conceptualised as having

features that are largely unrelated to their real prototypes, and described by verbs in an

indirect (figurative) meaning.

Section 2 of Chapter 2 presents a cognitive semantic classification based on

distinguishing semes of different levels of abstraction in the semantic structure of PVs.

Yiddish unter- PVs:

1) are divided into two groups (Roman numerals), where: a) Group I is divided into

subgroups I (Cyrillic letters), consisting of classes (Arabic numerals); b) Group II is also

Class 21;

2) in addition: a) a group’s feature is an archiseme, i.e. an integral seme of a high

level of abstraction, common for all subgroups and classes of this group; b) a subgroup’s

feature is an integral seme, i.e. a generic seme, common for all PV classes, which does

not perform a distinctive function within this subgroup; c) a class’s feature is a

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differential seme that species a generic notion ("down/bottom", "addition",

"degree/extent", "phase", "approach" and "middle").

We propose the following cognitive semantic classification of Yiddish unter- PVs:

I. Verbs conceptualising a situation as "related to down/below":

А. Actions, processes or states related to "down/below":

1. Referent's supporting contact with the lower part of another referent

2. Downward effect on the referent

3. Downward movement

4. Upward movement

5. Referent's moving or being below the observer's level

6. Referent's change below

B. Additional action:

7. Addition

8. Providing the referent with something

9. Initiating an action

10. Accompanying action

C. Degree of intensity of an action, process or state:

11. Intensive action, process or state

12. Periodical action, process or state

13. Gradual action, process or state

14. Non-intensive action, process or state

15. Insufficient action

D. Phase of an action or process

16. Beginning of an action or process

17. Termination of an action or process

E. Approaching:

18. Bringing a referent into proximity to another referent

19. Referent's entry into proximity to another referent

20. Action with a hidden intention

II/21. Verbs conceptualising a situation as "happening in the middle"

When identifying archisemes, integral and differential semes, we should take into

consideration the concept of a situation as "...language does not reproduce the world

directly: it reflects a concept of the world, i.e. ordinary or ... naive views that people have

about the world" [A. Wierzbicka]. In some cases, before identifying a class, we should

not only establish a differential seme, but also a thematic class of MVs.

Classes 1, 7, 12, 19, 20, 21 are exemplified below.

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Class 1. Referent's supporting contact with the lower part of another referent

Class 1 PVs are formed from MVs of direct effect and share the following cognitive

semantic features:

Differential seme: down/below, supporting contact

Concept of situation: A participant is placed under the lower part of another

participant coinciding with the observer, with both

referents coming into contact.

Hyper role structure: S+O(+A)+L (concrete situations)

S+O (abstract situations)

(8) unterleygn 'put under': er blutikt ayn dos kishn, leygt zi (Ref1, Ag) im (Ref1,

Ben) unter ir fartekh (Conc, Ob) untern kop (Top, Loc)... [I. Vaysenberg] 'His pillow

covered in blood, she puts her apron under his head…'

This example illustrates a concrete spatial situation: one participant (referent of the

pronoun zi 'she') puts under another participant (referent of the noun kop 'head', which is

related to the pronoun er 'he' in the from im) an apron (referent of the noun fartekh), with

the head being the point of reference – the observer above. There is a physical contact

here between the lower part of one referent and another referent serving as a support. In

this case, the relation between the concept and the situation is symmetrical.

(9) Unterhaltn 'support': di mitsves (Abst, Caus)… dinen vi a "gaystiker

brenshtof", velkher halt Unter dem inerlekhn "bren" (Abst, Ob) inem mentsh…

[Forverts] 'The commandments… are some sort of "spiritual fuel" which keeps a person's

inner "fire" burning…'

The concept of this situation is as follows: an abstract object is conceptualised as

something "having a bottom" under which a support is placed: the commandments

(abstract referent of the noun mitsves) are imagined under the "inner fire" (abstract

referent of the phrase inerlekher bren) as some sort of support which keeps the "fire"

burning. In this case, the reason why the relation between the situation and its concept is

asymmetrical is not because the axis changes its direction, but because the language

represents a support that does not exist in the rational and logical situation.

Class 7. Addition

Class 7 PVs are mainly formed from MVs of direct effect and activity and share the

following cognitive semantic features:

Differential seme: addition

Concept of situation: One referent is added to another below or downwards,

including a part added to a whole, or one object to a similar

(homogeneous) object, or a correlative action.

Hyper role structure: S+O1+O2(=L)+M (concrete situations)

S1+S2+O+M (abstract situations)

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(10) untergisn 'add by pouring': me (Ref1, Ag) muz nokh (Modus, Mod) untergisn

vaser (Conc, Add) kedey di zup (Conc, Ob) zol vern shiterer [Y. Mark] 'We need to add

more water to dilute the soup'.

In this example, the PV describes the addition of an object to a homogeneous

object. However, this action is conceptualised as downward: adding water (concrete

referent of the noun vaser) to the soup (concrete referent of the noun zup) is seen as

pouring water downwards; but although it happens along the vertical axis (as this is how

water is poured), the relation between the concept and the situation is asymmetrical.

PVs belonging to this class have their etymological roots in Slavic languages where

verbs with the prefixes pod-/pid- have a meaning of "adding a small part to the whole"

(cf.: Rus. podsypat’ sakhara ‘add more sugar’) or just "addition" (cf.: Rus. podkolot’

drov ‘chop more wood’).

Class 12. Periodical action, process or state

Class 12 PVs are formed from MVs of any thematic class and share the following

cognitive semantic features:

Differential seme: periodically

Concept of situation: An action, process or state occurs intermittently, but is

periodically repeated, which is conceptualised as an "action,

process or state below"

Hyper role structure: obligatory: T; the other hyper roles depend on PVs

а) PVs of activity: (11) unterganve[ne]n 'steal in a small way': azoy iz er (Ref1,

Ag) a …shpiler un er ganvet unter a bisl (Chron, Period) oykh" [Y. Mark] 'He is actually

a gambler, but sometimes he does a bit of stealing as well'.

b) PVs of behaviour: (12) unterbaleven 'spoil/indulge from time to time': zi (Ref1,

Ag) balevet unter ir ben-yokhed (Ref1, Ben) [Y. Mark] 'She spoils her only son every

now and then'.

c) PVs of feeling: (13) unterdaygen 'worry sometimes': shoyn a natur aza:

untertsudaygen, afile ven es geyt im gut [Y. Mark] 'It is human nature to worry at times,

even when all is well'.

In these sentences, describing periodically repeated situations, the MVs name the

situation and the prefix unter- specifies its modus (periodicity). The semantic role of

period can be expressed explicitly, as in (11), or incorporated through the prefix unter-,

as in the other examples.

The PVs of this class, which do not express spatial localisation, maintain the

concept of "down/below" in an abstract sense due to the fact that humans associate

discontinuity and periodicity of actions, processes and states with their incompleteness,

which, in its turn, is conceptualised as a lower degree and, therefore, as the lowest point

in space. As a result, the relation between the concept and the situation is asymmetrical.

This can be observed in Slavic languages, e.g. in Russian verbs with the prefix pod-.

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Class 19. Referent's entry into proximity to another referent

Class 19 PVs are formed from MVs of movement and share the following cognitive

semantic features:

Differential seme: close/near, movement

Concept of situation: A participant approaches another participant in a concrete

or abstract space, which is conceptualised as "approaching

from below/upwards"

Hyper role structure: S+A=L (concrete situations)

O(+T) (abstract situations)

In utterances with PVs of this class, the adverbial referent "place" is represented by

the prefix unter- and, as a rule, it coincides with the referent-participant who is being

approached. The observer is syncretically the referent "place", so the linguistic units

representing the observer syncretically perform the roles of purpose and destination (see

example below).

(14) untershpringen 'jump up':…yekhiel (Ref1, Ag)… shpringt unter tsum tatn

(Ref1=Top, Goal=Ad)... [Sholem-Aleykhem] '…Yekhiel… jumps up to his father…'.

In this situation, a person (referent of the proper name yekhiel) approaches another

person (referent of the noun tate 'father') by a jump (MV shpringen 'jump'). The PVs of

this class abstractly maintain the idea of ''down/below'' and approaching from a side is

conceptualised as an "action from below". The same PVs can be used to describe an

abstract situation conceptualised asymmetrically as "approaching", for example:

(15) unterkumen 'approach/come near' (literally: come up to): …az es kumt unter a

yon-tev (Abst, Ob), gloybt keyner nit dem luekh… [Sholem-Aleykhem] '…when a

holiday is coming, nobody believes the calendar…'.

In this example, a temporal approach is nevertheless conceptualised as spatial.

Class 20. Action with a hidden intention

Class 20 PVs are formed from action MVs of direct effect, activity, movement and

social action and share the following cognitive semantic features:

Differential seme: hidden intention

Concept of situation: A participant realises their hidden intention, which is

conceptualised as "approaching from below/upwards".

Hyper role structure: S+O+A(=L)

S+A(=L)

Such verbs are classified as a separate class because of their differential feature, i.e.

a seme of "hidden intention", and negative connotations. "Hidden intention", however, is

used here as a reference term and in some cases it means an "undesirable action that is

socially/morally condemned". PVs with unter- conceptualise such actions as

"approaching (from below)", which results in an asymmetrical relation between the

concept and the situation.

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(16) untershikn 'send (with a secret purpose)': …me (Ref1, Ag) zol untershikn

tsum porets (Ref1, Vic) eynem fun zayne mekurovim (Ref1, Pt), betn rakhmim (Modus,

Goal) [Mendele] '…we need to send to the landlord one of his close friends so that they

could persuade him'.

Here, some participants (animate referent of the indefinite personal pronoun me)

send another participant (animate referent of the phrase eyner fun zayne mekurovim 'one

of his close friends') to the third participant (animate referent of the noun porets

'landlord') without him knowing and, possibly, desiring that.

The most common role structure for PVs describing actions with a hidden intention

is Ag+Pt+Vic/Ben(=Ad), where a linguistic unit represents the victim if the action is

negative for its referent, or the beneficiary if the action is positive.

Thematically, such PVs become different from MVs. For example, stative MVs of

perception turn into action PVs of activity, MVs of direct effect and provision become

PVs of social action, and MVs of activity become PVs of movement. Following Slavic

patterns, such PVs often become reflexive as well.

(17) kukn 'look' (MV of perception) – unterkukn zikh 'watch furtively/peep' (PV of

activity): hot zi zikh bahaltn bay zikh oyfn boydem un genumen unterkukn zikh, tomer

vet ir gerotn khapn dem ganev [Sholem-Aleykhem] 'She hid in the attic and began to

peep, wondering if she could catch the thief'.

A special, and quite substantial, group is made up of PVs of social action formed

from MVs of direct effect or activity by adding the prefix unter- and the reflexive zikh.

Such PVs completely lose the meaning of the MVs they come from, which demonstrates

an asymmetrical relation between the rational and logical situation and its concept. For

example, informal, negatively connotated PVs meaning "flatter, be obsequious to":

(18) dreyen 'turn/twist' – unterdreyen zikh 'wheedle/suck up to': unterdreyen zikh

mit narishe komplimentn [Y. Mark] 'suck up with silly compliments'.

Apparently, conceptualising actions with hidden intentions as "happening from

below" could be explained by the fact that what is happening below seems to Yiddish

speakers (as in Slavic cultures) invisible or less noticeable, or - in the case of absolutely

negative connotations – by the metaphors "good is up, bad is down" [G. Lakoff].

Group II / Class 21. Verbs conceptualising a situation as "happening in the middle"

Class 21 PVs share the following cognitive semantic features:

Archiseme = integral/

differential seme:

middle

Concept of situation: One participant performs some action in an abstract

middle of another participant.

Hyper role structure: S+O

Verbs falling into this class are formed from action MVs of direct effect, some of

which having a direct meaning of destruction or change of the physical structure (brekhn

'break', mishn 'mix', breklen 'crumble'). These PVs only abstractly are connected with a

15

spatial middle, therefore the relation between a rational and logical situation and its

concept will always be asymmetrical. In other words, in utterances containing such PVs

the adverbial referent ''place'' (''middle'') is represented by the prefix unter- only

conceptually.

(19) unterBrekhn 'interrupt': do muz ikh (Ref1, Ag) mikh aleyn (Ref1, Pt)

unterBrekhn... [Sholem-Aleykhem] "Here I have to interrupt myself…"

(20) untermishn zikh 'interfere': ikh vel nit lozn, ir (Ref1, Ag) zolt zikh untermishn

in mayne asokim (Abst, Ob) [Y. Mark] 'I won’t allow you to interfere in my business'.

Here, the "middle" is conceptualised asymmetrically as intervention into something,

such as the interruption of one's own talk (implicit referent) and interference in

somebody's affairs (abstract referent of the noun asokim), respectively.

Although, on the level of semantic roles, none of the linguistic units above

represents a locative hyper role, PVs of this type are classified as a separate group

because their meanings fall outside Group I PVs and are determined by an etymological

combination of ''below'' and ''between'' in the prefix unter-, borrowed from German.

The summary table in Section 3 of Chapter 2 (see below) illustrates the

distribution of PVs by cognitive semantic classes in descending order, their etymology

and the relation between the rational and logical situation and its concept (symmetrical /

asymmetrical).

Class

№

Num-

ber

Fre-

quency

Ety-

mology

Con-

cept

12 436 46.68% Slav. asym.

14 404 43.25% Slav. asym.

20 131 14.03% Slav. asym.

6 97 10.39% Slav. asym.

2 65 6.96% Germ. sym./

asym.

11 64 6.85% Slav. asym.

7 46 4.93% Slav. asym.

15 46 4.93% Germ. asym.

8 45 4.82% Slav. asym.

13 45 4.82% Slav. asym.

10 44 4.71% Slav. asym.

Class

№

Num-

ber

Fre-

quency

Ety-

mology

Con-

cept

1 36 3.85% Germ. sym./

asym.

18 31 3.32% Slav. asym.

9 28 3% Slav. asym.

16 27 2.89% Slav. asym.

17 27 2.89% Slav. asym.

19 27 2.89% Slav. asym.

4 19 2.03% Slav. sym./

asym.

21 19 2.03% Germ. asym.

3 13 1.39% Germ. sym./

asym.

5 11 0.18% Slav. asym.

Table. Summary table

The table above shows that 1) most Yiddish unter- verbs are of Slavic origin, which

correlates with an always asymmetrical relation between a rational and logical situation

and its concept; 2) in the case of verbs of German origin, this relation can be: a)

symmetrical, when it is a concrete spatial situation, or b) asymmetrical, when the

16

situation is abstract or concrete, but it does not relate to “down/below’’ rationally and

logically.

On the whole, the analysis and the cognitive semantic classification of Yiddish

unter- verbs confirm that a word has a "socially established content" which can be

defined as "... an internal system of divergent reflections of various "slices of reality"

which become semantically connected in a certain language" [V.V. Vinogradov].

Chapter 3 demonstrates that the morphosyntactic analysis of Yiddish PVs allows

us to draw analogies between different levels of description and representation of unter-

PVs. This can be explained by the fact that syntax "... deals with those linguistic units

that people use directly to communicate and therefore these units have a direct relation to

reality..." [Russian Grammar].

Section 1 describes different ranks of referents, namely distinguishing between: a)

focal referents - major referents represented syntactically and referents that fill the

syntactic position of subject and direct (less often - indirect) object; b) peripheral

referents - the remaining referents expressed syntactically (e.g. by indirect object or an

adverbial modifier of time and place); and c) marginal referents – referents that are not

represented syntactically, being "outside the periphery".

Section 2 presents a classification of utterances with PVs by type of referent

structure, which is based on the supposition that all unter- PVs conceptualise a situation,

symmetrically or asymmetrically, as an "action, process or state happening below or in

the middle", therefore we find mainly adverbial referents in utterances with them, such as

"place" (Top), "modus" (Modus) and "time" (Chron). With a two-member sentence being

the most common in Yiddish, at least one participant of a situation must be explicitly

represented. Therefore we can distinguish between the following types of referent

structures for utterances with PVs:

I. Locative-personal structures:

1. Participant+Participant+Place

2. Participant+ Place

3. Participant+Participant+Participant+/=Place

4. Participant+Participant+/=PlaceA

II. Modus-personal structures:

5. Participant+Participant+Participant+Modus

6. Participant+Participant+Modus

7. Participant+Modus

III. Temporal-personal structures:

8. Participant+Participant+Time

9. Participant+Time

IV. Personal structures:

10. Participant+Participant+Participant

11. Participant+Participant

12. Participant+0

17

Types 1, 7 and 10 are exemplified below.

Type 1. Participant+Participant+Place

Type 1 structures, with most PVs being verbs of action, represent a peripheral

referent of "place", incorporated by the prefix unter- or expressed explicitly as well, and

two focal participants expressed explicitly. For example:

(21) untershteln 'put under': a teyl (Ref1) shteln unter shiselekh (Conc) nebn

berezene beymer (Top) [Mendele] 'Some (people) put bowls under the birch trees'.

(22) unterboygn 'bend down': dernokh boygt er (Ref11) unter eyn fus (Ref12)…

[Sholem-Aleykhem] 'Then he tucks his leg…'

In situation (21), the participant Ref1 directs the participant Conc downwards, to an

explicitly expressed place (Top). In situation (22), the participant Ref11 directs the

participant Ref12 upwards, and the place is represented by the prefix unter-. In both

examples, the referent participants are focal, syntactically corresponding to subject and

direct object, whereas the referent ''place'' is peripheral.

This referent structure is common for verbs in the cognitive semantic group A,

which conceptualise concrete spatial situations symmetrically.

Type 7. Participant+Modus

Type 7 structures, with most PVs being verbs of action and process, represent

obligatorily a focal referent and a marginal referent of "modus", expressed by the prefix

unter- or explicitly as well.

(23) unterflien 'fly badly, clumsily': yunge gendzlekh (Ref1) tseflien zikh,

unterfliendik a bisl (Modus)… [Y. Mark] ''Young goslings scatter clumsily taking

wing…'

Here, we have a focal participant (Ref1) and a mode (modus) of action (''clumsily'')

expressed by the prefix unter-, with another modus represented on the periphery by the

modal phrase a bisl 'a little', expressing a degree of action.

(24) unterhoglen 'hail a little': …es hoglt unter [Y. Mark] '…it is hailing a

little/lightly'.

In example (24), both the referent participant ''hail'' and the modus ''a little/lightly'',

which are expressed by the root of the verbal lexeme and the prefix respectively, are

marginal because they do not correspond to any syntactic actants.

This referent structure is common for verbs in the cognitive semantic group C.

Personal structures

Personal structures most clearly reveal the difference between a situation and its

concept. When PVs are used in their direct meaning to describe a concrete spatial

situation, this situation is connected with an action, process or state that really happens

below; whereas with PVs used figuratively to describe an abstract situation, the spatial

relationship can be seen as quite nominal as the real extralinguistic situation does not

have a referent of "place".

18

For example, Type 10 personal structures "Participant+Participant" that are

expressed with PVs of direct effect, activity and sound production usually represent two

focal participants.

(25) unterkhapn 'pick up/catch up': di ershte hobn zikh frantsoyzn gezungen, bald

hobn di rusn (Ref1) untergekhapt dos lidl (Сonc)… [Ts. Kanar] 'The French started

singing and soon the Russians joined in the song…"

The situation in (25) is described by the verb unterkhapn, which means ''continue

what was started by somebody else''. The real situation (unlike its concept) does not

involve any action below and goes like this: the focal participant Ref1 continues the

action referred to in the first part of the compound sentence and related to the focal

participant Conc.

Personal referent structures always correlate with an asymmetrical

conceptualisation of a situation and are common for some verbs from both cognitive

semantic groups.

Section 4 examines such morphosyntactic characteristics of unter- PVs as valency

and transitivity/intransitivity. Following Lucien Tesnière, we define valency as a number

of syntactic actants that can be used with a verb, and transitivity/intransitivity as a verb’s

ability or inability to control the direct object. The term ''modification'' introduced here

can be understood in two ways: a) morphosyntactically, as an ability of a motivating verb

to become transitive/intransitive when a prefix is added to its stem; and b) semantically,

as a considerable change in the meaning of such verbs as a result of prefixation.

Our classification of unter- PVs (see below) according to morphosyntactic and

semantic modification is grounded in:

а) the conclusion - derived from the analysis of factual data - that adding the prefix

unter- to a motivating verbal stem in most cases does not lead to a morphosyntactic

modification in terms of transitivity/intransitivity of PVs compared to MVs;

b) the fact that the morphosyntactic level correlates with the semantic level of MVs

and PVs.

So PVs are classified into morphosyntactically and semantically modified or

unmodified as follows:

I. Unmodified verbs:

1. Transitive, semantically unmodified

2. Intransitive, semantically unmodified

II. Modified verbs:

3. Transitive, semantically modified

4. Transitivised, semantically unmodified

5. Transitivised, semantically modified

6. Intransitivised, semantically unmodified

7. Intransitivised, semantically modified

19

The calculation of logically possible classes shows a theoretical possibility of

intransitive, semantically modified verbs, but we have not identified any in our analysis

of factual material. Classes 1, 3, 5 and 7 are exemplified below.

Class 1. Transitive, semantically unmodified PVs

Class 1 includes transitive PVs that are formed from transitive MVs, maintaining

the meaning of the motivating stem after prefixation.

(26а) raysn 'pull apart/take hold of and remove': ven zi hert dem firleyg, geyt royt-

kapterl raysn blumen Odir [Aptrod] 'Hearing this, Little Red Riding Hood goes to pick

flowers'.

(26b) unterraysn 'pull in order to remove' (literally: remove from below):

unterraysn di tsaytike epl Odir [Y. Mark] 'pluck ripe apples'.

Both the MV raysn and PV unterraysn are transitive because they take direct

objects, the nouns blumen 'flowers' and epl 'apples' respectively. The PV is not

semantically modified, i.e. it does not change the meaning of the motivating stem,

describing the same action ('take a branch or stalk and break it off'), but specifying it

(from below).

Class 3. Transitive, semantically modified PVs

Class 3 includes transitive PVs that are formed from transitive MVs with a change

in the meaning of the motivating stem after prefixation.

(27а) firn 'lead smb. to': zi hot flink dos ferd Odir in shtal gefirt [Sh. Ash] 'She

deftly led the horse to the stable'.

(27b) unterfirn 'let smb. down': fir mikh Odir nit unter [M.А. Shapiro] 'Don't let me

down'.

Both the MV firn and PV unterfirn are transitive as they take direct objects, the

noun ferd 'horse' and the personal pronoun ikh 'I' respectively. The prefixation, however,

semantically modifies the motivating stem, i.e. the meaning of the PV differs from that of

the MV: 'lead (somebody or something)' and 'let somebody down' express different

situations, the second having no motivated connection with the first.

Class 5. Transitivised, semantically modified PVs

Class 5 covers transitive PVs that are formed from intransitive MVs with a change

in the meaning of the motivating stem after prefixation.

(28а) fayfn 'whistle': …"tshto takoye? ir hert, er heyst undz fayfn!" …elye ruft zikh

on tsum konduktor shoyn mit kaas: "fayf aleyn" [Sholem-Aleykhem] '…"What is it? Did

you hear, he tells us to whistle!"… Elya turns to the conductor angrily: "Whistle

yourself"'.

(28b) unterfayfn 'sneak, cheat, steal': unterfayfn dem nadn Odir [Y. Mark] 'cheat

with a dowry'.

The MV fayfn is intransitive and never takes a direct object. However, adding the

prefix unter- transitivises the verb (unterfayfn) and gives it a meaning of 'acting in bad

faith ', which has no connection with the meaning of the motivating stem ('whistle').

20

Class 7. Intransitivised, semantically unmodified PVs

Class 7 includes intransitive PVs that are formed from transitive MVs by means of

prefixation and reflexivation with a considerable change in the meaning of the motivating

stem.

(29а) narn 'deceive': zogt zi: vey, gimpl, kh'hob dikh (Odir) nebekh mies genart…

[Y. Bashevis-Zinger] 'Alas, Gimpel, I lied to you meanly…'

(29b) unternarn zikh 'make up to': ikh ken nisht tsugeyn tsu yenem mit a

shmeykhele, makhn a komplimentl oder azoy unternarn zikh [I.-M. Vaysenberg] 'I can't

go to him and smile, pay a compliment or make up to him in some other way '.

The transitive MV narn, used in (28а) with a direct object dikh (accusative of the

personal pronoun du 'you'), means to 'mislead, act in bad faith' and has no semantic

connection with the PV unternarn zikh, intransitivised by reflexivisation, which means

'win somebody's flavour by flattering'.

In general, it is noteworthy that the morphosyntactic level quite clearly correlates

with the cognitive semantic level. For example, intransitivised, semantically modified

verbs in most cases describe actions committed with some hidden intention.

Section 5 deals with valency of PVs and correlations at different levels of

description and representation.

A verb’s syntactic valency, i.e. its ability to combine with a certain number of

sentence members, is directly related to the fact that a sentence (or a phrase) represents

and symmetrically or asymmetrically conceptualises a certain rational and logical

extralinguistic situation. Consequently, the number of sentence members will depend on

the number of referents involved in this situation. In other words, the morphosyntactic

level correlates with the referent level.

At the same time, linguistic units perform certain semantic roles, which shows a

correlation between the morphosyntactic and the semantic levels. A.A. Kholodovich

named this correlation a "diathesis", i.e. a "scheme of correlations between semantic and

syntactic actants" [A.A. Kholodovich], or a "scheme of correlations between a set of

participants... in the situation expressed… by a verbal word-form and a set of... members

of the linguistic structure " [V.A. Uspensky].

In this work, a diathesis, or a correlation of levels, is broadly understood as a

correlation between a referent and a role of its linguistic unit on the semantic and

morphosyntactic levels of representing a rational and logical situation.

Increasing or reducing valency of PVs, compared to MVs, is also related to the

situation, i.e. the number of its participants and circumstances that can increase, decrease

or remain the same, causing the valency of a PV describing this situation to increase,

decrease or remain the same. Thus, PVs can be divided into three syntactic classes [E. A.

Pimenov], namely:

1. Accessive PVs – PVs whose syntactic valency is higher than that of MVs in

utterances describing correlated referent situations.

An increased number of referents is often found in situations described by verbs of

sound production, direct effect and activity. For example, MVs of sound production

21

undergo a semantic modification as a result of prefixation, turning, thematically, into

verbs of speech, information or social action.

(30а) beken 'bleat': di shaf (1) beket [M. А. Shapiro] 'A sheep bleats'.

(30b) unterbeken 'assent in a flattering way/say ditto to': er (1) beket dem knaker

(2) unter [Y. Mark] 'He says ditto to his boss'.

The above situations correlate at the level of the concept as saying ditto to

somebody in a flattering way is likened to an animal’s bleating. However, in situation

(30a) we only find the doer of the action – a sheep (referent of the noun shaf), whereas

situation (30b) involves at least two participants – the one who agrees and the one who is

agreed with (referents of the personal pronoun er 'he' and the noun knaker 'boss',

respectively).

The structures of different levels in the above examples can be presented as the

following correlation1:

Referent Semantic role

Member of sentence

(30а) Ref1 (1) - Ag (1) - S (1) -

(30b) Ref1 (1) Ref1 (2) Ag (1) Ben (2) S (1) Oindir (2)

2. Recessive PVs – PVs whose syntactic valency is lower than that of MVs in

utterances describing correlated referent situations, i.e. PVs describing situations with a

smaller number of referents than in similar or abstractly similar situations described by

MVs.

A reduced number of referents is often found in situations described by PVs in the

cognitive semantic subgroup C "Degree of intensity of an action, process or state". A

distinctive feature of recessive PVs in this subgroup is that adding the prefix unter- to a

MV makes the explication of the adverbial referents ''time'' and ''modus'' unnecessary as

they are incorporated in the prefix, for example:

(31а) shpiln 'play (a musical instrument)': … shpil im a bisl oyf der piano [D.

Bergelson] '…play the piano a little for him'.

(31b) untershpiln 'play (a musical instrument) a little': untershpiln oyfn fidl [Y.

Mark] 'play the violin a little'.

Example (31a) with the MV shpiln requires an explicit expression of an adverbial

modifier of time "a little/not for long" by means of an adverb (e.g. a bisl 'a little').

However, the PV untershpiln makes the explication of this referent unnecessary. This

verb is considered recessive as its valency is smaller than that of the MV shpiln.

1 Correlations are to be read as follows: "In example (30b), the animate referent represented by

linguistic unit (2) correlates with the role of beneficiary on the semantic level and with an

indirect object on the sentence level" (the numbers following the symbols of referents, semantic

roles and members of sentence refer to the corresponding linguistic units in the utterance).

Members of sentence are abbreviated as follows: S – subject; Odir, indir, prep – object (direct,

indirect, prepositional); AMtime, place – adverbial modifier of time, place.

22

To illustrate correlations of different levels in structures with MVs and PVs, we can

resort to modelling utterances with the greatest possible number of actants. For this

reason, the imperative sentence and the phrase (see above) are converted into declarative

sentences below.

(31c) … shpil im a bisl (Mod) oyf der piano zi (1) shpilt im (2) a bisl (4) oyf der

piano (3) 'She will play the piano a little for him'.

(31d) untershpiln oyfn fidl zi (1) shpilt im (2) unter oyfn fidl (3) 'She will play

the violin a little for him'.

The above situations involve four referents each; however, in (31d) one of them -

the referent ''time'' - is incorporated in the prefix unter-, with therefore no need for an

adverbial modifier of time to be used with the PV. For this reason, the PV untershpiln can

be regarded as recessive in relation to the MV shpiln.

The structures of different levels in the above examples can be presented as the

following correlation:

Referent Semantic role

Member of sentence

(31c) Ref1

(1)

Ref1

(2)

Conc

(3)

Chron

(4)

Ag

(1)

Adr

(2)

Inst

(3)

Period

(4)

S

(1)

Oindir

(2)

Oprep

(3)

AMtime

(4)

(31d) Ref1

(1)

Ref1

(2)

Conc

(3)

Chron

(inc.)

Ag

(1)

Adr

(2)

Inst

(3)

Period

(inc.)

S

(1)

Oindir

(2)

Oprep

(3)

-

3. Equivalent PVs – PVs whose syntactic valency is the same as that of MVs in

utterances describing correlated referent situations, i.e. PVs describing situations with the

same number of referents as in similar or abstractly similar situations described by MVs.

(32а) zetsn 'plant': …er (1) hot… dortn (3)… gezetst kavenes (2) un dinyes (2)... un

shor-yerokes (2)… [Sholem-Aleykhem] '…he… planted ... there… water melons, melons

and other greens…'

(32b) unterzetsn 'seat/help to a seat': er (1) hot untergezetst dos kind (2) oyfn tepl

(3) [Y. Mark] 'He put the child on the potty'.

Both situations described by MVs and PVs in (32a) and (32b) involve three

referents. The structures of different levels in the above examples can be presented as the

following correlation:

Referent Semantic role

Member of sentence

(32а) Ref1

(1)

Conc

(2)

Top

(3)

Ag

(1)

Ob

(2)

Loc

(3)

S

(1)

Odir

(2)

AMplace

(3)

(32b) Ref1

(1)

Ref1

(2)

Top

(3)

Ag

(1)

Pt

(2)

Loc

(3)

S

(1)

Odir

(2)

AMplace

(3)

Despite the difference on the referent and role levels (inanimate vs. animate

referents and object vs. patient), these situations, however, can be correlated, as both

referents experience the action, and the semantic roles of object and patient belong to the

object hyper role.

23

In general, it should be noted that the vast majority of prefixed verbs fall into the

syntactic class of recessive verbs in terms of their valency. This can be explained by the

semantics of prefixed verbs compared to that of motivating verbs: the prefix unter- does

not generally modify the description of the situation, but it specifies where (cognitive

semantic subgroup A and Group II), in what direction (sub-group A and E), to what

extent (subgroup C), at what stage (subgroup D), or in what form (subgroup B) the

extralinguistic situation unfolds, which makes the explicit representation of the referents

of "place", "time" and "modus" unnecessary.

The Conclusion makes some general comments on the object of study, in

particular, the modes of representing the rational and logical situation by means of unter-

PVs on the cognitive semantic and morphosyntactic levels.

The study has shown that the meanings of all Yiddish unter- PVs refer to cognitive

semantic phenomena, the archisemes "below/down" and "middle", and, depending on

their etymology, these verbs can conceptualise situations in a German or Slavic way.

Unter- PVs of German origin can conceptualise a situation both symmetrically (in

the case of concrete spatial rational and logical situations) and asymmetrically (when a

situation is abstract or concrete, but rationally and logically it is not related to

"below/down").

The morphosyntactic analysis has shown that adding the prefix unter- to MVs in

most cases does not result in transitivised/intransitivised PVs; however, it reduces their

valency. The prefix unter- does not modify the description of a situation, but mostly

specifies its location, modus, degree, or phase.

This research has been the first in the last 40 years that placed the Yiddish language

in the paradigm of Russian linguistics, and its methodology of cognitive semantic and

morphosyntactic analysis can be applied to study Yiddish verbs with other prefixes, as

well as prefixed verbs in other Germanic, or Indo-European, languages.

24

List of Publications

In the leading peer-reviewed scientific journals recommended by the Higher

Attestation Commission (VAK) of the RF Ministry of Education:

Melnik, E.A. Glagoly s prefiksom unter- yazyka idish, opisyvayushchiye situatsii

priblizheniya [Tekst] / E.A. Melnik // Vestnik KemGU. – Kemerovo, 2011. – № 4 (48). –

S. 196-200. (‘Yiddish verbs with the prefix unter- describing situations of approaching’)

Melnik, E.A. Semantiko-kognitivnye kharakteristiki glagolov s prefiksom unter- v

yazyke idish [Tekst] / E.A. Melnik, K.A. Shishigin // Gumanitarniy vektor / red. serii G.

D. Akhmetova, Ts. P. Vanchikova. – Chita: ZabGGPU, 2011. – № 4 (28). – S. 102-106.

(‘Semantic cognitive characteristics of Yiddish verbs with the prefix unter-‘)

Melnik, E. A. Idishskiye glagoly s prefiksom unter-: valentnost' i korrelyatsii

raznykh urovney opisaniya i predstavleniya [Tekst] / E.A. Melnik // Vestnik KemGU. –

Kemerovo, 2013. – № 2 (54). – S. 110-113. (‘Yiddish verbs with the prefix unter-:

valency and correlations of different levels of description and presentation’)

Melnik, E.A. Klassifikatsiya glagolov yazyka idish po priznaku

morfosintaksicheskoy i semanticheskoy modifikatsii (na primere glagolov s prefiksom

unter-) [Tekst] / E.A. Melnik // Filologicheskiye nauki. Voprosy teorii i praktiki. –

Tambov, 2013. – № 4.– S. 114-117. (‘The classification of Yiddish verbs on the basis of

morphosyntactic and semantic modifications (a study of verbs with the prefix unter-)’)

In the materials of national and international scientific conferences and collected

articles:

Melnik, E.A. Semantika, etimologiya i morfosintaksis glagolov s prefiksom unter- v

nemetskom yazyke i yazyke idish [Tekst] / E.A. Melnik, K.A. Shishigin // Lingvistika.

Germenevtika. Kontseptologiya: Sb. nauch. trudov, posv. 60-letnemu yubileyu prof. E.

A. Pimenova / otv. red. R. D. Kerimov. – Kemerovo: Kuzbassvuzizdat, 2008. – S. 489-

497. (‘Semantics, etymology and morphosyntax of verbs with the prefix unter- in German

and Yiddish’)

Melnik, E.A. Klassifikatsiya glagol'nykh vyskazyvaniy po tipu referentnoy

struktury (na primere glagolov s prefiksom unter- yazyka idish) [Tekst] / E.A. Melnik //

Kontsept i kul'tura: Sb. statey (V Mezhdunar. nauchnaya konferentsiya, Kemerovo, 8-10

Oktyabrya 2012).- Kemerovo: KemGU, 2012. – S.520-527. (‘The classification of verbal

utterances by type of referent structure (a study of Yiddish verbs with the prefix unter-)‘)

Melnik, E. A. Slavyanskiy komponent znacheniy idishskikh glagolov s prefiksom

unter-, opisyvayushchikh stepen' vyrazhennosti deystviya, protsessa ili sostoyaniya

[Tekst] / E.A. Melnik // Slavyanskaya filologiya: issledovatel'skiy i metodicheskiy

aspekty: sb. nauch. statey / nauch. red. N. B. Lebedeva; otv. red. E. V. Yevpak. –

Elektron. dan. i progr. (2,22 Mb). – Kemerovo: Izd. KemGU, 2012. – 1 CD-ROM. – S.

25

61-69. (‘The Slavic component in the meaning of Yiddish verbs with the prefix unter-

describing the intensity of an action, process or state’)

Melnik, E. A. Nekotoryye aspekty morfosintaksisa nemetskikh prefiksal'nykh

glagolov [Tekst] / K.A. Shishigin, E.A. Melnik // Kontsept i kul'tura: materialy III

Mezhdunarodnoy nauchnoy konferentsii … pamyati dokt. filol. nauk, prof. N.V.

Feoktistovoy / Otv. red. G.I. Lushnikova, L.P. Prokhorova. – Kemerovo:

Kuzbassvuzizdat, 2008. – S. 880-884. (‘Some aspects of morphosyntax of German

prefixed verbs’)