Prefixed verbs of motion in the Russian language: aspectual correlativity and speciation

The paper presents the results of a corpus and Runet study of the imperfectivability and aspectual correlation of Russian prefixed verbs which are derivatives of verbs of motion (VoM), a group of Russian verb lexicon with special properties. Since this group is a subset of prefixed verbs, the imperfectivability of VoM is compared with the general ability of prefixed verbs to form imperfectives. Various theoretical models for describing the aspectual correlativeness of VoM derivatives, as well as morphological mechanisms of their formation, are also discussed. One of the issues under scrutiny is whether imperfectives of the type uchoditMODIFIER LETTER PRIMEImprf are formed by adding a prefix to simplicia of the type choditMODIFIER LETTER PRIMEImprf (assuming an Imprf <- Imprf prefixation model) or by suffixal imperfectivization from prefixed perfectives like ujtiPrf (involving, besides stem suppletion, the postulation of the stressed -i- as a new imperfectivization suffix). The paper argues for the first option. It also describes two types of aspectual correlation between prefixed VoM formed from simplicia that differ in (not)unidirectionality (idtiImprf - choditMODIFIER LETTER PRIMEImprf, katitMODIFIER LETTER PRIMEImprf - katatMODIFIER LETTER PRIMEImprf): the model specific for the VoM: prijtiPrf- prichoditMODIFIER LETTER PRIMEImprf, and the model of suffixal imperfectivization common with other prefixed verbs: dokatatMODIFIER LETTER PRIMEPrf (and dokatitMODIFIER LETTER PRIMEPrf) - dokat-yva-tMODIFIER LETTER PRIMEImprf.