Pagrindiniai sakinių modeliai su predikatinėmis negimininėmis būdvardžio formomis

LIETUVIŲ KALBOS SANDAROS TYRINĖJIMAI LIETUVIŲ KALBOTYROS KLAUSIMAI, XXVI (1987) DALIA TEKORIENĖ BASIC SENTENCE PATTERNS WITH PREDICATIVE INDECLINABLE ADJECTIVE FORMS 1. The grammatical nature of the forms gražų, gera is one of the as-yet-unsolved problems of Lithuanian grammar. It is impossible to resolve it within the framework of morphology alone. It is essential to rely on a functional analysis of these forms, since only in a sentence do the meanings and systemic relations of lexical-grammatical and morphological categories become apparent. The function of a linguistic unit is defined primarily as its role in the structure of a higher-level unit: the function of a morpheme in a word, of a word in a sentence, phrase, or text, and of a sentence in a text. The more complex a linguistic unit is from a structural and semantic point of view, the more aspects it can be examined from, and the more complex the functions of the lower-level units that compose it. An adjective is a word and therefore, as a constituent, it forms part of higher-level units—syntactic structures—namely, a phrase, a sentence, and a text, of which the sentence is the most important. Contemporary syntactic scholarship distinguishes four aspects of sentence analysis: formal, logical-grammatical, semantic, and communicative-structure (actual division). Accordingly, the functions of its constituent elements, including the adjective and its indeclinable forms, must be examined from all four aspects. No aspect taken in isolation reveals the essence and full range of the adjective’s functions. Moreover, when examined from just one aspect, adjective functions may even be misunderstood, and systemic linguistic relations distorted. Studies of Lithuanian have attempted to describe the distribution of the forms gražų, gera in the formal structure of the sentence by specifying the parts of speech and morphological forms of sentence constituents, while disregarding both their semantics and their necessity for the sentence’s communicative autonomy. Syntactic patterns established by this method often group together sentences with entirely different syntactic structures. For example, the sentences Jai baisu and Argi naudinga valstybei?1 are assigned to the same pattern solely because their formal structure consists of an indeclinable adjective form and a noun in the dative. It is easy to see that identical morphological forms here produce different sentence meanings: the sentence Jai baisu describes the subject’s state, whereas the sentence Argi naudinga valstybei? expresses an evaluation of some object, fact, or phenomenon (not expressed in the sentence and therefore making it communicatively non-autonomous) with respect to a dative of the person evaluated. Assigning these sentences to one syntactic pattern despite their different meanings runs counter not only to the principle of systematicity, but also to the simplest linguistic intuition. 1 Мустейкис К. В. Сопоставительная морфология русского и литовского языков. — В., 1972, с. 247. 165 Semantics and communicative autonomy are likewise disregarded in cases where, for example, the structures Čia padėta, aišku and Dabar jau jam buvo aišku, kad pilyje jų nėra² are examined separately, without relating one to the other. Thus, the functions of indeclinable adjective forms, like those of any other linguistic unit, become apparent only in a sentence pattern that generalizes not only the formal structure of the sentence but also its logical-grammatical structure; that is, a sentence pattern understood as “a minimal predicative combination of mutually determined constituents that can function as an autonomous, context-independent communicative unit and has a certain typical meaning”³. This understanding of the sentence pattern requires that, in establishing patterns with indeclinable adjective forms, the factual material—sentences excerpted from contemporary texts of various styles and genres—be examined from several aspects. 2.1. Structural analysis of sentences. First, sentences are selected in which the negative adjectival forms are used in their primary, predicative function. The subject and object functions of negative adjectival forms are secondary, since in this case they are used not as typical words denoting a property, but as substantivized, nominal forms. Clearly, the nominal functions of negative adjectival forms are also important to their functional and semantic characterization; however, they are not primary, and therefore it is appropriate to analyze them only after examining forms used predicatively. According to the number of components, the selected sentences are divided into one-member, two-member, three-member, and four-member sentences: Cold. I am cold. It is cold in the room. I am cold in the room. It is cold for me to sleep in the room. However, this classification is not purely mechanical, since it takes into account the dependency relations among components within the sentence. Thus, one-member and two-member do not mean consisting of one or two words. Sentence constituents are words that belong to the sentence as a whole and are connected with its predicative center—the negative adjectival form. For example, It is frightening. I am frightened. I am frightened of the wolf are considered one-member, two-member, and three-member sentences, respectively, because all constituents are directly connected with the negative adjectival form—the center of the sentence. Words that realize the valency potentials of other sentence constituents and do not belong to the sentence’s predicative center are not considered sentence constituents. For example, She is embarrassed about her brother and She is embarrassed about her little brother are both considered two-member sentences. The morphological composition of one-member, two-member, three-member, and four-member sentences is then described. If we understood a sentence model as a model of formal structure, our task would be complete. However, the sentence model as we understand it must be a minimal yet independent, context-independent communicative unit, which means that it must have a complete logical-grammatical structure containing two principal constituents—the predicate, or the word expressing a predicative property, and the subject, or the word denoting the bearer of the predicative property. 2.2. Logical-grammatical analysis of structural models. After describing the morphological composition of sentences, their logical subject and predicate must be identified. Morpho- ² Валеckене А. А. Формы среднего рода в грамматической системе литовского языка / Дис.... д-ра филол. наук [машинопись]. — В., 1983, с. 199, 224. ³ Золотова Г. А. Коммуникативные аспекты русского синтаксиса. — М., 1982, с. 98. 166 Logical characterization helps identify only the predicate—it is always expressed by a negative adjectival form. The morphological characteristics of the components are not sufficient to identify the logical subject, since a constituent with the same morphological form functions as the logical subject in some cases but not in others; this depends on the lexical meaning of the predicate, cf.: I am cheerful (I is the logical subject), It is beautiful to me (there is no logical subject). The criterion of communicative completeness of the sentence must be applied. The subject-predicate combination forms the foundation of the formal, semantic, and communicative structure of a sentence; if either of these two components is missing, the sentence is incomplete. Although such “incomplete” sentences often occur in texts, their lack of communicative information is supplied by the context, that is, their subject is expressed in the context or implied. Thus, the principle of communicative completeness helps distinguish sentences that contain a predicative minimum from those that do not. Applying this principle, sentences occurring in texts such as Is it comfortable to sit? — Fit for a king! are considered not to represent sentence models, but rather certain modifications of sentence models in the text. 2.3. Thus, after examining the material collected from texts from a structural and communicative perspective, one one-member and eight two-member sentence models with predicative negative adjectival forms were identified; these forms will be symbolically denoted by Praed. 1. Praed Windy. Clear. 2. Nnom+Praed Fruit is healthy. 3. Ndat+Praed I am cheerful. 4. Ngen+Praed There is little time. 5. Nloc+Praed It is green in the garden. It is beautiful all around. 6. Pronoun + Praed Everything is pleasant. 7. Inf + Praed It is dishonorable to ingratiate oneself. 8. Praed + Sšalutinis It is clear that you did not listen. 9. prep. N + Praed Bread is hard to come by. 3.1. Typical meanings of the patterns. A sentence, as a higher-level language unit, is two-sided: it has both form and content; therefore, the established sentence patterns also have a certain typical meaning. For example, I am happy. The child is afraid expresses the subject’s state, It is beautiful here. The garden is green characterizes a location, Lying is dishonorable. Studying is interesting evaluates an abstract process, It is wrong that you lied evaluates a fact, and so on. However, it is debatable how this typical meaning helps distinguish individual sentence patterns. There are two main possibilities: 1) minimal sentences with the same grammatical structure that are communicatively independent may have several typical meanings. The question arises whether they represent distinct sentence patterns or a single polysemous pattern; 2) sentences with different formal structures may have very similar semantic structures. This is precisely the case relevant to the material under consideration, since the established patterns 2, 7, and 9 have similar semantic structures. Since these patterns have different formal structures, they are considered distinct but synonymous sentence patterns. 4.1. Lexical realization of the patterns. The subject and predicate must agree semantically. However, not every subject and predicate are compatible; that is, not all predicative features can be attributed to the same subjects, and not all subjects can be described by the same features. For example: 167 Categorical properties may be attributed to the same subjects, and not all subjects can be described by the same properties. E.g.: It is cold in the yard — *It is true in the yard, I am cold — *I am true, Everything is soft — *It is soft, I am soft to sle­ep — *It is cloudy to sle­ep, etc. Agreement between the subject and non-agreeing adjective forms is not a property of individual adjectives, since entire groups of adjectives either agree or fail to agree with a particular subject. Thus, they are characterized by certain shared semantic categories; therefore, to understand and explain the functional properties of non-agreeing adjective forms, it is also necessary to identify and describe these shared functional-semantic classes of adjectives. To determine the limits of the lexical realization of the patterns, a list of 500 non-agreeing adjective forms was compiled, and each form on the list was tested with each of the 9 established patterns. The results of the study fell into three categories: a) the non-agreeing adjective form cannot combine with the second component at all: *In the yard it is clear, true; b) the combination of a non-agreeing adjective form with the second component is possible, but communicatively incomplete: Beneficial to the state, Faithful to a friend, It is beautiful to me; c) the combination of a non-agreeing adjective form with the second component is grammatically well-formed according to the rules of combinability and communicatively complete: I feel uneasy. It is deep near the shore. Swimming is dangerous. The study of the lexical realization of the patterns made it possible to refine the established patterns, brought their semantic structure into focus and, most importantly, showed that the ability of non-agreeing adjective forms to function in particular patterns depends directly on the adjective’s semantics. Therefore, the principal sentence patterns with non-agreeing adjective forms provide important material for the study of adjective semantics. 4.2. The one-member pattern Praed consists of only a small number of so-called non-subject adjective forms expressing atmospheric, temperature, temporal, and illumination properties: Windy. Cloudy. Dark. Light. Late. Cold. Hot. The one-member sentences found in texts that are formed with adjectives of other semantic types (Cadralike. Excellent. Disgusting. Interesting. Clear) are not communicatively independent. They are merely incomplete realizations of two-member patterns. Their variability is, of course, significant both semantically and communicatively, but it constitutes a separate problem—the realization of principal sentence patterns in texts and their derivation. 4.3. An examination of the lexical realization possibilities of the two-member pattern Pronoun + Praed revealed that the pronoun this differs markedly from other indefinite pronouns in its ability to combine with non-agreeing adjective forms, such as everything, what, nothing, anything, many things, something, something else: everything is naked — *this is naked, everything is muddy — *this is muddy, everything is white — *this is white, and so on. Such facts show that this belongs to a different functional-semantic subclass from everything. The semantic peculiarity of this pronoun is explained by the fact that its antecedent can only be a process or a fact, even when it is not structurally defined or expressed by a concrete noun. A. Rosinas assigns the pronoun this to a separate class of absolute demonstratives⁴. The different combinability of the pronoun this with non-agreeing adjective forms is also explained by this same semantic peculiarity: ⁴ Rosinas A. Lietuvių bendrinės kalbos įvardžių semantinė struktūra. — V., 1984, p. 53—62. 168 it combines only with adjectives whose properties can be attributed to a process or fact, and does not combine with adjectives denoting the properties of specific objects. The semantic and functional features of the pronoun tai provide grounds for assuming that the model [pronoun + Praed comprises two factually distinct models, Viskas + Praed and Tai + Praed. Thus, 10 basic sentence models with predicative indeclinable adjective forms are distinguished. 4.4. Indeclinable adjective forms combine almost without restriction with a dative noun, but, communicatively speaking, only combinations of indeclinable adjective forms denoting a state with the dative of a noun referring to a living being constitute independent sentences: I am happy. The child is glad. The father is angry. The girl is sad. Other two-member structures Ndat+ Praed do not constitute independent sentences communicatively. For example, when the sentence I find it beautiful is used without context, the question immediately arises: What is beautiful? or I find it deep — What / Where is deep? Thus, in these sentences the dative does not function as the bearer of the predicative property (the subject), but performs other semantic functions: that of the evaluative subject (I find it beautiful), the modal participant (It is dangerous for me), the criterion of evaluation (It is deep for me), or the perceiving subject (It is clear to me). 4.5. The typical meaning of the models Ngen+ Praed is a quantitative characterization of the subject: There is little peace. There is plenty of work. The snow is deep. People are scarce. There is abundant wealth. However, not every combination of an indeclinable adjective form with the genitive has a quantitative meaning. The genitive may express the second (complementary) argument of a two-place indeclinable adjective form: The wolf is frightening. It is worth the effort. Such sentences found in texts do not constitute a separate model, since they are either communicatively non-independent (they have no subject): Your tears are not worth it — What is not worth your tears? or denote an indefinite person’s state and the cause that brought it about, and should therefore be considered variants of the model Ndat+ Praed. 4.6. The typical meaning of sentence models Nloc/Advloc + Praed is a location and its characterization. This model includes all indeclinable adjective forms denoting both inherent and non-inherent properties that can be attributed to a specific object: It is deep by the shore. It is warm at home. It is green all around. It is beautiful in the city. Combinations of indeclinable adjective forms denoting properties attributable only to a process or fact with a locative do not constitute full-fledged sentences: It is dangerous by the shore — What is dangerous? Swimming? Playing? Such adjectives include hopeless, difficult, foolish, expedient, etc. 4.7. Although indeclinable adjective forms combine widely with infinitives, there are also restrictions, and not every such combination constitutes a full-fledged sentence. The following do not combine with an infinitive: a) indeclinable adjective forms denoting properties of specific objects, perceived as existing objectively and unaffected by subjective perception, such as color, shape, etc.; b) indeclinable adjective forms that can evaluate only facts (situations), but not individual processes, e.g.: clear, marked, evident, obvious, perceptible, inferable, etc. Indeclinable adjective forms denoting subjectively perceived inherent properties of objects do not form a full-fledged sentence with an infinitive (Uneven to write — Where is it uneven to write?) or represent expanded variants of non-subject models in which the infinitive denotes a criterion of evaluation (It is dark to write. It is rather cramped to get up. It is late to study). 169 The model Inf+Pred consists only of indeclinable adjective forms with an evaluative meaning (To reproach is dishonorable. To flatter is unbecoming) and indeclinable adjective forms denoting a state which, when combined with an infinitive, acquire an evaluative seme (Reading is interesting. Traveling around is fun). 4.8. In sentences It is natural that young people are not satisfied with traditional means. It is interesting why the actress chooses such a role. It is important, what he had in mind is the subject of a subordinate clause in the impersonal adjective form, i.e. it denotes a fact evaluated by the property expressed by the impersonal adjective form. 4.9. Although the components of the syntactic structures Fruit is healthy; Cheese is tasty are not grammatically congruent, they are fully-fledged communicative units and should therefore be regarded as sentences. The absence of agreement between their subject and predicate signals the special semantics of such sentences, namely: the property expressed by the indeclinable adjective form is attributed not to the specific object denoted by the noun, but to the fact of the object’s existence or to some implied action associated with that object, and so on. If no action to which the property could be attributed can be inferred, the sentence is incomprehensible; compare: The problems are difficult (i.e. solving the problems is difficult) and Mushrooms are difficult (What is difficult? Digesting mushrooms? Picking them? Cleaning them?). Thus, the model Nnom+Praed has a semantic structure close to that of Inf+Praed, so we regard these models as synonymous. The model prepN+Praed: With bread it is difficult. also belongs to this group of synonymous models. 5. Thus, we distinguish 1 one-member and 9 two-member sentence models, which we consider the basic sentence models with predicative indeclinable adjective forms, since they are minimal communicatively full-fledged sentences, have a characteristic semantic structure, and are not derived from other structures with indeclinable adjective forms by any syntactic derivation; conversely, they themselves provide the basis for deriving other structures with indeclinable adjective forms. BASIC SENTENCE MODELS WITH PREDICATIVE NON-GENDERED ADJECTIVE FORMS Abstract In this article, a sentence model is defined as a minimally sufficient predicative combination of mutually conditioned components that forms a communicative unit with a specific typical meaning. On this basis, 10 basic sentence models with predicative non-gendered adjective forms are established for modern Lithuanian. These models are considered a foundation for further study of the grammatical, functional, and semantic nature of non-gendered Lithuanian adjective forms.