LIETUVIŲ KALBOTYROS KLAUSIMAI, XXVIII (1989)

KALBŲ RYŠIAI IR SĄVEIKOS

STASĖ KRINICKAITĖ

PRIMARY LITHUANIAN VERBS IN TERMS OF TRANSITIVITY (INFINITIVE HOMOFORMS)

Studies of interaction among many languages have shown that one of its characteristic features is interference in government, especially prepositional government (Гавранек 1972, 103; Ыым 1982, 30—31; Михальченко 1984, 185; Кононенко 1985, 26; Пути повышения культуры русской речи на Украине, 1986, 105—120; Панькин 1987, 13; Исаченко-Лисовая 1987, 118). This also includes fairly frequent fluctuations in verb government arising under the influence of other languages, when certain government patterns are imitated or their frequency of use increases. Apparently, variants in government can also arise spontaneously in a language, and it is difficult to distinguish them from phenomena originating in interference. For example, it is thought that the long-standing tendency in German to transitivize intransitive verbs acquired its current conspicuous form in the Federal Republic of Germany under the influence of the American variety of English (Бок, Гарниш, Лангнер, Штарке 1979, 277).

To anticipate at least most possible cases of interference (probably not all of them can be anticipated), current language practice suggests that we should bear in mind not only the valency of Lithuanian verbs but also the distinctive character of the morphological system and its principal functional classes. In Lithuanian, as in other synthetic languages, alongside semantic valency we must also consider formal valency, a characteristic property of a language that either coincides with semantic valency or conflicts with it (Кацнельсон 1987, 21—22). The interaction and contradictions between semantic and formal features are consequences of various factors in language history and, at the same time, the starting point for further changes.

If we take the sentence—utterance to be the basic unit of communication, then, as semiological grammar argues, the sentence can be viewed only as something semantically integral and unified. If this semantic unity is divided into parts, that is, into words, then in characterizing each word we should not forget that it reflects that unity. In other words, each word must be seen in terms of what semantically connects it with another word attached to it, which is called semantic agreement. (Степанов 1981, 250). From this perspective, there is no pre-established semantic commonality among words; semantic commonality is essentially characteristic only of an utterance. If we speak of a word’s tendency to combine with certain words, this is only because that tendency is abstracted from the word’s use in utterances and generalized as a characteristic of the word.

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Semantic agreement (semantic combinability) is manifested in every utterance consisting of more than one word. The part of an utterance’s content that is subject to agreement is called a continuous semantic component (длинный семантический компонент). This continuous component can be understood either as consisting of the words’ shared semantic features (the synthetic approach) or as abstracted from the unity of the sentence (the analytic approach) (Ibid., 257–258). Extending across the entire utterance, the continuous semantic component is expressed differently in its various parts. In one direction it grows stronger—either from an earlier word to a later one, or from a later word to an earlier one, depending on which of them dominates in the utterance. In turn, in the opposite direction it weakens and is interrupted if a later part of the utterance contrasts with the first (Ibid., 261).

A verb is usually in semantic agreement with nouns denoting subjects or objects. This agreement varies across languages and periods. For the Proto-Baltic and Proto-Slavic periods, two types of syntagms, or one-part sentences, are reconstructed, illustrating the former semantic agreement between nouns and verbs. One such type consisted of nouns denoting living beings combined with verbs of the corresponding “animate” diathesis (voice). These combinations were unified by the continuous semantic component “animacy” (“одушевленность”). The second type of combination consisted of nouns denoting inanimate things together with verbs of the corresponding “inanimate” diathesis. The continuous semantic component of this latter type was “inanimacy” (“неодушевленность”). Later, this agreement broke down. In Slavic languages, the semantic “animacy–inanimacy” component became concentrated in nouns and ceased to matter for verbs. As a result, Slavic languages exhibit a lexical-semantic division of nouns into two groups according to the feature “animacy–inanimacy” (“одушевленные – неодушевленные”). By contrast, no corresponding diatheses are distinguished for verbs. In the Baltic languages, things developed differently. Here the semantic “animacy–inanimacy” component was concentrated in the verb, giving rise to an opposition between verbs of the “animate, or active” diathesis and verbs of the “inanimate” diathesis (cf. daūžti (of living beings) | dūžti (of inanimate things), and also laužti | lūžti). Over time, this opposition developed into the transitive (causative, or causal) and intransitive verb diatheses. In the Baltic languages, nouns denoting living beings and inanimate things are not distinguished by any formal features.

In Slavic languages, once verbs no longer needed to express the opposition between animacy and inanimacy, the second past tenses of verbs with stems ending in -ā and -ē were specialized as markers of verbs opposed according to the category of aspect. For this reason, pairs of primary verbs in Baltic and Slavic languages represent the same action from different perspectives. In Baltic languages, an action is presented in relation to the subject | object (transitivity | intransitivity), with one aspectual meaning, for example, Lithuanian beriu žirnių | žirniai byra ‘I am pouring peas | the peas are spilling’, with an inceptive aspectual nuance (cf. barstyti, with a continuative or iterative aspectual nuance; also merkti, but mirkyti). In Slavic languages, an action is represented in terms of whether it has a boundary or not (of definite or indefinite duration), with either a transitive or an intransitive meaning, e.g., Old Church Slavonic соуму сопе | -сыпати, -сыпна ‘to pour’ (Ibid., 322–323).

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The distinction between transitive and intransitive diatheses also explains the semantic derivational oppositions of primary¹verbs (Степанов 1975; Грамматика литовского языка 1985; Paulauskienė 1979; Криницкайте 1980). In J. Stepanov’s general classification, two principal classes of Lithuanian verbs are distinguished—intransitive and transitive. These classes differ from one another in four respects. The first class is characterized by: 1) roots of the TAT-, TET-, TIT-, TIR- types with short vowels (T denotes a plosive consonant, R a sonorant, and A, E, I vowels of the corresponding types); in the present tense these roots take the infix -n- or the formant -st-, or both together; 2) the present-tense ending -a; 3) the simple past ending -o; 4) an effective intransitive meaning (the verb cannot take an object), e.g.: à˙nka, à˙ko, à˙kti; geñda, geñdo, geñsti. The characteristic features of the verbs in the second class are: 1) roots of the TER(T) type with diphthongs or long vowels; 2) the present-tense ending -ia; 3) the simple past ending -ė; 4) an effective transitive meaning (the verb generally takes an object denoting the entity affected by the action, e.g., “to dig the earth”): baigia, baigė, baigti; braukia, braukė, braukti. (Степанов 1975, 169). These two verb classes, opposed in form and meaning, are the most numerous and reflect the principal developmental tendency of the Lithuanian verb system. All other verb groups that arise are characterized by differing from the principal classes in one, two, or three of the features mentioned above. In this way, all Lithuanian verbs fall into a total of 13 classes.

The first principal class (I, 1) would also include, according to all four features, for example, bÿra, biro, birti; liñksta, liñko, liñkti, and others. Most of these are associated with corresponding verbs of the second principal class, characterized by transitivity, e.g.: bÿra, biro, birti | bẽria, bẽrė, bẽrti; liñksta, liñko, liñkti | leñkia, leñkė, leñkti, and others. The second class (I, 2) differs from the first in one feature—the verbs in this class have a long root vowel in all forms, e.g.: grįžta, grįžo, grįžti; nyksta, nyko, nykti. Fewer verbs in this class have counterparts that correlate with them in terms of transitivity, and they can generally be associated only with derived verbs, e.g.: nyksta, nyko, nykti – naikina, naikino, naikinti; sprógsta, sprógo, sprógti – sprogdina, sprogdino, sprogdinti. The third class (I, 3) consists of only two verbs, which have a different past-tense ending—-ė rather than -o: miršta, mirė, mirti; gimsta, gimė, gimti. The fourth class (I, 4) includes verbs with the infix -n- in the present-tense forms. In addition, their semantics are irregular: they denote not a transition into a state, but movement or actions directed toward the result of an action, e.g.: kañka, kãko, kãkti; rañda, rãdo, rãsti. This grammatical meaning, in which a verb denotes an action directed toward the result of an action rather than toward an actually affected object, is called ineffective transitive meaning. The fifth class (I, 5) consists of verbs that no longer have the infix -n-, but have the same ineffective transitive semantics, e.g.: brūka, brūko, brūkti; lipa, lipo, lipti. The sixth class (I, 6) differs from this one in a single feature—the past-tense ending -ė—and from the principal class in a further, semantic feature, e.g.: dẽga, dẽgė, dẽgti; kẽpa, kẽpė, kẽpti.

¹ Pirminiais, kaip ir „Lietuvių kalbos gramatikoje“ (V., 1971. T. 2.) vadinami tie veiksmažodžiai, kurie dabartinės kalbos požiūriu laikomi neišvestiniais, nes neturi priesagų nei priešdėlių, iš kurių visos trys pagrindinės formos yra dviskiemenės.

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With respect to the second principal class, six classes are likewise distinguished. The first (II, 1), in addition to those mentioned above, consists of most verbs with effective transitive meaning that occur alongside intransitives, e.g.: keičia, keitė, keisti (cf. kinta, kito, kisti), merkią, merkė, merkti (cf. miršta, mirko, mirkti). The second class (II, 2) is characterized by one distinguishing feature—the present-tense root contains diphthongs with e-type vowels, while the past-tense root has long vowels, e.g.: bėria, bėrė, bėrti; karia, korė, karti. The third class (II, 3) consists of verbs that differ from the principal class only in root structure as well. The relationship among the present-tense, past-tense, and infinitive roots here is the same as in the second class, except that the general root form here is TIR (rather than TER), that is, with i-type vowels. E.g.: giria, gyrė, girti; iria, yrė, irti; duria, dūrė, durti; kulia, kūlė, kult. The fourth class (II, 4) consists of verbs with two distinguishing features: the present-tense ending -a (not -ia) and a different root structure. The relationship of the infinitive root to the past- and present-tense roots is the same as in the third class, e.g.: gina, gynė, ginti; mina, mynė, minti; pina, pynė, pinti. The fifth class (II, 5) is characterized by the fact that the long root vowel is not generalized throughout the paradigm (as in the principal class), but occurs only in the past-tense and infinitive roots. E.g.: drėbia, drėbė, drėbti; drėskia, drėškė, drėksti; gręžia, gręšė, gręžti. The sixth class (II, 6) consists of two groups of verbs: a) sėja, sėjo, sėti; spėja, spėjo, spėti; joja, jojo, joti; b) bliauna, bliovė, bliūti; džiaunga, džiovė, džiūti; griauna, griovė, griūti. The formation of the present- and past-tense stems of verbs in these groups varies across dialects (bliauna < bliaują). Their characteristic meaning is ineffective transitive. Finally, one more class remains, which can be distinguished only with respect to both principal classes (I, 7 — II, 7), since the present-tense root has a vowel that is historically of the strong grade, while the past-tense root has one of the weak grade, e.g.: kemša, kimšo, kimšti; kerpa, kirpo, kirpti; keršta, kirto, kirsti. Semantically, these verbs are also heterogeneous—some are effective transitive, others effective intransitive (Ibid., pp. 169—179).

The regularities of verb meaning and form reflected in this classification show that the two verb classes under discussion, with differing root structures and endings and correspondingly different semantics, encompass only a portion of the verbs (about 42 pairs). Only some intransitive verbs have corresponding transitive verbs that match them in all four of the features mentioned above. The others can be compared only with derived verbs or verbs with entirely different roots—in other words, with different lexemes. The formerly strong opposition between intransitivity and transitivity in the Baltic languages has eroded, and in some Latvian dialects may be considered to have disappeared entirely (Kazlauskas 1968, 355).

Taking particular account of the last intermediate class of Lithuanian verbs, transitivity in Lithuanian verbs is characterized in three ways: 1) the root relationship TeRT — | TiRT may occur within the paradigm of the same verb (as in the verbs of the last class), e.g.: perka, pirko, pirkti; perša, piršo, piršti; 2) it is characteristic of two separate, correlating verbs, e.g.: sv(e)rti | svĭrti, ž(e)rti | žirti; 3) verbs may be related in meaning, while having no formal relationship at all and being entirely different lexemes. Essentially, verbs whose relationship is irregular or

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forms, or in terms of meaning. For example, both gėlti, and gilti have the same meaning in the modern language, “to sting, bite,” although regularly this meaning should be characteristic only of the former. Moreover, the former also has other meanings, e.g. “to hurt badly,” “to be very cold,” which would be more fitting for the latter, but are not at all characteristic of the latter. Comparing verbs that regularly correspond in form, nėria, nėrė, nérti (“to dive into water”) and nyra (nirsta), niro, nirti (“to dive”), one might expect the former to be transitive. However, this is not the case. It is a verb of motion that does not require an object expressed by the accusative case. Some of the regularly corresponding verbs are found only in different Lithuanian dialects (one in one dialect, the other in another), or in different Baltic languages, e.g. Lithuanian svilti and Latvian svel’u svelt (Степанов. Указ. соч. 180—183).

Another irregularity of the verbs is that, as the classification shows, although they differ in their root vowels and in the endings of the present and past tenses, they all have the same infinitive ending -ti. The infinitives of some verbs with similar phonetic structures also coincide completely, becoming homoforms, i.e. forms of entirely different words with the same phonetic structure (Jakaitienė 1980, 43); cf. lipti (limpa, lipo) (I, 4) || lipti (lipa, lipo (I, 5). Incidentally, the past-tense forms of these verbs, as well as of several others, also coincide.

At first, it may seem that such coinciding forms (cf. also the future-tense forms virs (vėrda, virė) (I, 6) || virs | virsta, virto (I, 1)) are incompatible with the purposive nature of the linguistic sign. Nevertheless, such forms do exist in the language, and their coincidence generally goes unnoticed. This is evidently explained in part by the fact that, on a semantic basis, speakers associate all forms of each word into a single, separate whole. Meanings (“senses”), according to V. Vinogradov, form internally connected paradigms (series) in language, linked by an element or feature common to them, and are related primarily within these paradigms. These series, in turn, enter into higher-level paradigms on the same basis, and so on. Paradigms not only relate to one another but are also interconnected and interdependent. This is how the systemic nature of language is manifested. Consequently, various cases of homonymy are possible in this system, where two meanings belonging to different, sometimes very distant paradigms are expressed by forms of the same shape (Виноградов 1975, 297—298).

This is also suggested by the four pairs of primary verbs found in the “Dictionary of the Modern Lithuanian Language” (V., 1972; hereafter DLKŽ), which have homonymous past-tense and infinitive forms: 1. Dūja, dūjo, dūiti (I, 1) 1. to become enveloped in smoke or mist. 2. to lose one’s senses, go mad. 2. Dūja, dūjo, dūiti (II, 6) to run fast, dash: Dūiti namo. 1. Kērpa, kirpo, kirpti (I, 7—II, 7) 1. to cut with scissors: To cut hair, a beard, nails. Shears for shearing sheep. 2. to cut fabric with scissors for sewing: To cut out a shirt. 3. figurative: to bite, nip, hurt: The rye beer bites the tongue. The cold bites one’s ears. 4. colloquial: to stride along briskly: He strides across the field. 2. Kirpsta, kirpo, kirpti (I, 1) see gižti. Lipa, lipo, lipti (I, 5). 1. to go, ascend or descend; to climb: To climb a mountain. To keep climbing higher up a mountain. To climb a tree. To get off a train. To climb down from a roof. To step over a threshold, over a fence. Not to get out of bed (because of illness). All the goats climb onto the leaning willow (fictional). 2. figurative: to rise and overflow: The dough is rising over the rim of the trough. 2. Lim-

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pa, lipo, lipti (I, 4) 1. to stick, adhere: That glue sticks well. Snow sticks to one’s feet. 2. to be attracted, to cling: The boys are attracted to her. 3. to be contagious: A contagious disease. Typhus is contagious. 1. Žūva (žūsta), žuvo, žūti (I, 1) 1. to perish, die: He died at the front, in battle. He died at the enemy’s hand. 2. to disappear, be lost: All the valuables disappeared. Where had you vanished to? The last hope was lost. Noble deeds do not perish. 3. to toil, struggle: The woman toils all day with the children. 2. Žūsta, žuvo, žūti (I, 4) eastern dialect: to fish: We fished in the lake with a net. The men went fishing.

As can be seen, the last two verbs may be regarded as almost true homonyms, since their present-tense forms would also coincide if not for the difference in the frequency of the variants.

It is generally held that language avoids lexical homonyms, i.e. words whose forms all coincide (Степанов 1975, 27). This is also evident from the examples already given: the verbs with coinciding forms, being words with different lexical meanings, differ from one another by at least one sound or at least by accent. Two verbs with present-tense and infinitive forms that differ in accent (homographs) are found in DLKŽ:

1. Bręsta, brendo, bręsti (I, 1) 1. to become fit for use; to ripen (of fruit): Grain and nuts are ripening. || figurative: A plan is taking shape (becoming clear); 2. to mature intellectually, become stronger: Grown, but not matured. || figurative: Maturing ideologically. 2. Brėsta, brėto, brėsti (I, 1) to rot, decay: The crops are rotting in the field. The homonymy of these verb forms can, of course, be discussed only with reference to reading texts without accent marks.

In the paradigms of these two verbs, in addition to the difference in accent, there are also different past-tense stem-final consonants (-d-, -t-). These two features distinguish the verbs as words with different lexical meanings. As has been shown, grammatical classification is based on the four more general features mentioned above, which are related to grammatical semantics encompassing certain groups of lexical meanings. Therefore, in this classification bręsti and brėsti belong to the same class.

For a substantial number of verbs (23 pairs), only the infinitives coincide. As in the examples already given, these include both verbs belonging to the same classification class and verbs assigned to different classes. Most interestingly, the majority (18 pairs) consists of verbs where one belongs to the main transitive class (with endings -ia, -ė), while the other belongs to the main intransitive class (with endings -a, -o).

Among the verbs with endings -a, -o assigned to the same class (I, 1), two pairs have homonymous infinitives: 1. Genėda, gėdo, gėsti (I, 1) 1. to become unfit, lose its good qualities: The machine began to break down (malfunction). The teeth are decaying (rotting). Unsalted meat spoils quickly (rots). 2. figurative: to become swollen, go bad: A person deteriorates when doing no work. 3. to suffer from rabies, go mad: The dog has rabies. 2. Gęsta, gęso, gęsti (I, 1) 1. for fire or light to die out; fade: The fire, candle, and embers are dying out. The evening glow is fading. 2. figurative: to weaken, diminish: Health is already failing. Unremitting pain. The last hope is fading. 1. Kinta, kito, kisti (I, 1) 1. to change, alter: Everything in nature is constantly changing. The weather changes. People’s consciousness changes. 2. Ki̇nda, ki̇do, ki̇sti to begin to wear out, become shabby, tear: The shirt is wearing out.

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Two more pairs of verbs have homophonous infinitives alongside identical present- and past-tense endings -ia, -ė. E.g.: Jaučia, jautė, jausti (II, 1) 1. to experience, feel inner experiences, feelings: Jausti malonumą, skausmą, simpatiją. || reflexive. Jaučiuosi pailsėjęs. 2. to be able to experience, sense external impressions: Jausti šaltį, kvapą, skonį. 3. to suspect, intuit: Jausti pavojų. Jaučiu jį turint pinigų. || reflexive. Nesijaučiu kaltas. 2. Jaušia, jaušė, jaušti (II, 1) eastern dialect, to make a mess, disorder, overturn: Jausti spintas, skrynias. 1. Siaudžia, siaudė, siausti (II, 1) 1. to cover or uncover while wrapping: Siaudžia pečius skara. Siaudžia skarą ant pečių (nuo pečių). || reflexive: Siaūškis kailinidis. 2. to envelop: Kariuomenė priešą siaudžia. 3. to winnow grain in the wind so that chaff or inferior grains are separated: Siausti rugius. Atnešk siaudžiamą geldą. 4. to run about, frolic, romp: Vaikai siaudžia. 5. to rage, storm: Siaudžia baisi audra. Siaudžia vėjas, pūga. 6. to rule unchecked, act arbitrarily, gain the upper hand: Plėšikai siaudžia. Ligos, epidemijos siaudžia. 7. to throw, hurl: Popierius siaudžia į krosnį. 8. to form heads (of cabbages): Kopūstai pradėjo siausti. 9. figurative, to do something energetically (go, hit, drink): Siausk, vyru, namo! Kad siautė diržų (kirto)! Po truputį ir jis siaudžia (geria). 2. Siaudžia, siaudė, siausti (II, 1) 1. to rustle, murmur, resound pleasantly: Kur tik klausai, vis linksma: šlama, siaudžia, ūžia. Vėjelis pūtė, pušelės siaudė. 2. to ring out (usually pleasantly): Ramiai siaudė žmonių giesmelės. Siaudžia trake bitinėlis (d.). Paukščiai karklyne siaudžia. Two verbs have homographic infinitives alongside identical endings (-a, -ė) and differ especially in the relationship between their root vowels in the paradigm; they belong to different classes, cf. 1. Mina, mynė, minti (II, 4) 1. to press with the feet, trample: Minti pievą. Minti purvyną (klampoti). Vaikščioja kasdien mintais takais. Molį, durpes minti (minkyti). Vežimą, šiaudus stirtoje minti. || reflexive. Bulvės minasi po kojomis. 2. to put one's foot down, step, support oneself with one's feet: Mink ant šio akmens. Minti į purvyną. 3. to separate fiber from shives: Linus minti || reflexive: Ar gerai minasi linai? 4. to process, soften: Kailius, odą minti. 5. to press a treadle, foot pedal: Minti ratelį (verpti). Minti dumples. Koja minima mašina. 6. to walk, stride: Jis tankiai mina. Mina vietoje. 2. Mėna, minė, mini (I, 7–II, 7) 1. to keep in mind, not forget: Menu savo vaikystę. Nemenu, kada tai buvo. 2. to revive in one's consciousness, remind: Vaikystė mėna kiekvieną kertę. 3. to guess: Mįslę minti. Menu, kad rytoj bus giedra. 4. to give (a name): Kas tau minė vardelį? In other cases, verbs with different endings have matching infinitives. In two such pairs, one verb has the endings -a, -ė, and the other -da, -o. E.g.: 1. Rāka, rākė, rākti (I, 6) 1. to prick, pick at: Skylę rākti: Rākė, rākė ir prarākė skaudulį. 2. figurative, to do something clumsily or ineptly, pick at: Pirštinė rākti. 3. eastern dialect, dig, pull out: Burokus rāk­ti. 4. figurative, colloquial, to wrong, deceive; fleece at cards: Žiūrėk, jis tave rāka. 2. Rāka, rāko, rākti (I, 1) (I, 1) for a hole to get smaller, wrinkle, cloud over: Ežeras baigia rāk­ti. 1. Sėka, sėkė, sėkti (I, 6) 1. to go, proceed behind: Prašom sekti paskui mane (man iš paskos). Sekti kieno pėdomis. Šuo seka žmogų. Paskui arklą sekti (arti). 2. to watch a moving object: Sėka akimis plaukiojančių žuvų šešėlius. Sekti lėktuvo skridimą. 3. to observe someone's actions (usually secretly) in order to expose them: Sekti prieš judėjimą. Sekti priešą agentą. Budrios akys jį seka. 4. to follow a subject closely, take an interest in: Sekti paskutines mokslo naujienas. 5. to keep to (the right path): Geras arklys ir naktį kelią seka. 6. to do as someone else does, imitate, resemble: Jis

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follows his teacher. The girl repeated her grandmother’s words (repeated). Follow my advice. 7. to tell: Pasaką sekti. 8. to take after: Sūnus tėvų sėkės. 2. Sėnka, sėko, sėkti (I, 1) 1. to decrease, subside (of water): The river is already receding || figurative. Raw-material resources are dwindling rapidly senka. 2. figurative, to decline, diminish: Sveikata senka.

The infinitive homophones of other verbs (15 pairs) occur in cases where one belongs to the main transitive class and has the endings -ia, -ė, while the other belongs to the intransitive class and has the endings -a, -o. E.g. (for brevity, in the examples below the infinitive is listed first, as in dictionaries): 1. Barškšti, -škia, -škė (II, 1) 1. to rattle: Lietus jau barškia. 2. to travel with a rattling sound: Plentu barškia vežimas. 2. Barškšti, -ta, barško (I, 1) eastern dialect. Žirniai jau barška. 1. Būbti, -ia, -ė (II, 1) 1. to buzz, whirr: Lėktuvas burbia. Ratelis verpian t burbia. 2. to speak indistinctly, mumble. 3. to soil (of flies): Musės langus burbia. 2. Būbti, -sta, -o (II, 1) eastern dialect, to swell, become inflamed: Votis burbsta. Nušalusi nosis burbsta. 1. Kaisti, -čia, -tė (II, 1) 1. to put a vessel on the fire to heat or boil: Kaisti puodą, katilą, vandenį. Kaišk vak arienę. 2. colloquial, to go, drive, run quickly: Kad kaičia, tai kaičia vyras! 2. Kaisti, -sta, -to (I, 1) 1. to become hot, warm up (from fire, friction): Krosnis jau kaista, tuoj bus karšta. 2. to ferment, rot: Kaista šienas, miltai, grūdai (drėgni). 3. to perspire: Jis greit kaista. Arklys kaista. 4. to turn red, burn with shame or some other emotion: Mėluojant ausys kaista. 1. Kaũšti, -ta, -o (I, 1) to become drunk, become giddy from alcohol: Įgėrusių galvos kaušo. 2. Kaũšti, -ia, -ė (II, 1) 1. to drink or eat greedily: Pieną kaušti. Vaikas košę kaušia. 2. to drink alcoholic beverages: Jie alų kaušia. 3. Kaũšti, -ia, -ė (I, 1) to hollow out, dig: Akmenyje duobę kaušti. 1. Niũkti, -ia, -ė (II, 1) 1. to whimper, whine: Girdžiu, kad kažkas niūkia už durų. Nebylis tik niūkia ir daugiau nieko. Ligonis vos benū́kia. 2. to hum dully, murmur: Niūkė rudens miškas. Niūkia vėjas. 3. Dzūkian, eastern dialect, to talk: Seniai visą vakarą niūkė. 4. colloquial, to urge someone to do something: Tingini vis reikia niūkti. 5. colloquial, to scold, reprimand: Jis niūkia ir niūkia savo vaikus. 6. colloquial, to carry or drag with difficulty, or work at something: Niūk ir niūk tą vandenį. 2. Niũkti, -sta, -o (I, 2) to become overcast, cloud over: Dangus pradėjo niūkti. 1. Nók ti, -sta, -o (I, 1) 1. to ripen, mature: Uogos, vaisiai, javai noksta. Sūriai noksta. 2. to weaken, decline: Motina tebenoko ligos patale. 3. to wilt: Noko rūta, noko mėta, noko lelijėlė (d.). 4. dialectal, to be hungry, starve. 2. Nók ti, -ia, -ė (II, 1) dialectal, to follow close behind, pursue: Tu aną turi vis nokti. 1. Parp­ti -ia, -ė (II, 1) to produce a repeated, irregular, monotonous sound; buzz, sputter: Motociklas parpia. Senis traukia iš parpiančios pypkės dūmus. Griežlė parpia. 2. to snort, snuffle: Arkliai parpia. Jis tik parpia pro nosį. 3. to wheeze, rasp: Gerklė parpia. Balsas parpia. 4. to snore, sleep. 2. Parp­ti, -sta, -o (I, 1) colloquial, to swell, become puffy: Ridikai pradėjo parpti. 1. Pėpti, -ia, -ė (II, 1) to squeal in a high, thin voice: Žąsiukai piepia. Ji tik piepia, o ne dainuoja. 2. Piẽpti, -sta, -o (I, 1) colloquial, to dwindle, weaken, languish. Pūrpti, -ia, -ė (II, 1) 1. to sleep snoring; snore: Purpia kaip katinas. Ar nebus gana purpti, kelkis! 2. to buzz, whirr: Mot oras, motociklas purpia. 3. to purr (of a cat). 4. colloquial, to slurp loudly: Gražiai valgyk sriubą, nepū́rpk. 5. to fly, beating one’s wings: Putpelės pū́pdam os pakilo iš po kojų. 2. Pūrpti, -sta, -o (I, 1) see pursti. 1. Raũsti, -ia, -ė (II, 1) to dig, root up, turn over: Duobę, žemę rausti. Šernas pievą rausia. || reflexive. Vėžys rausiasi po dumblą. 2. Raũsti, -sta, -do (I, 1) 1. to turn red: Pomidorai jau rausta. Rytai rausta. 2. from cold, from embarrassment

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to turn red: He reddens the puddle, and it reddens. The cheeks redden. He blushed with shame. 1. Skaudžia, skaudė, skausti (II, 1) see skriausti: Everyone hurts me. 2. Skausta, skaudo, skausti (I, 1) to begin to ache: My head aches. My head aches from beer (folkl.). 1. Skilti, skyla, -o (I, 1) 1. to split: A knotty tree splits well. The oak does not split. 2. to chap, crack: The lips crack from the wind. 3. to hatch, emerge from an egg: The goslings are already hatching. 4. to separate, divide: The organization split into groups. 5. to break into parts, disintegrate: The atoms of some substances split spontaneously. 2. Skilti, skýla, skýlė (II, 3) 1. to make fire with a flint: They used a flint to make fire. 2. to strike, split: Give him a whack on the ear. 3. colloq. to run, ride, or fly at great speed: There goes a hare tearing across the field. 1. Skuisti, -sta, -to (I, 1) dialect. to romp, frolic. 2. Skuisti, -čia, -tė (II, 1) dialect. see kuisti 2. 1. Sūnkti, -ia, -ė (II, 1) to strain a liquid; press so that the juice runs out: The potatoes are cooked; they need to be strained. To strain honey or wax. 2. Sūnkti, -sta, -o (I, 1) to become heavy: My head is already getting heavy; I feel sleepy. 1. Tinti, -a, týne (II, 4) 1. to peen a scythe: The men are peening the scythes. 2. colloq. to beat, thrash: He began beating him with a stick across the sides. You'll get a beating. 2. Tinti, -sta, -o (I, 1) to swell abnormally, become edematous (of tissues): The hand is swelling. It swells from hunger.

These examples suggest that in the language, infinitives shared by transitive and intransitive verbs of different classes are tolerated. This is apparently because speakers perceive a relationship between the forms in the paradigms, recognizing that the infinitives belong to different paradigms. Moreover, in linguistics the present- and past-tense forms have traditionally been regarded as the principal forms of a verb paradigm, rather than the infinitive; compare the four pairs available: kaisti (kaǐčia, kaǐtė) || kaisti (kaista, kaito); kaušti (kaušia, kaušė) || kaušti (kaušta, kaušo); skaūsti (skaudžia, skaudė) || skaūsti (skaūsta, skaūdo); skilti (skilia, skylė) || skilti (skyla, skilo).

Given that homophonous forms are thus maintained and the paradigms consistently distinguished, it is difficult even to imagine that they might change in any way. Yet the verb classification presented above already showed that the former paradigms are considerably disordered and eroded. Do these paradigms and their mutual relationship not indicate a tendency to continue changing?

One premise for change is that paradigms in a language are not only distinguished from one another but also linked to one another to some extent and dependent on one another. They are linked through similarities both in form and in meaning. The sound pattern of words and their phonetic similarity affect how they are perceived and influence their semantic relationships (Виноградов 1976, 298). The verbs under discussion, which share a root, are very similar phonetically. When their infinitives coincide, many other forms derived from the infinitive coincide as well—past frequentative tense and its active participle, future tense and its participles of both types, supine and subjunctive, imperative, half-participle, past passive participle, necessity participle, and adverbial participle. Thus, quite a large number of forms of these verbs are neutral with respect to formal transitivity. In this sense, coinciding infinitives may be considered a source of neutralization of this opposition. We will not discuss here the further influence of the infinitive on leveling this opposition through the possibility of leveling the root vowels of present-tense forms on its basis (Zinkevičius 1981, 90).

If one considers only infinitives that differ more markedly, one may already expect a greater difference between their paradigms, even when the infinitives differ only in accent. The DLKŽ lists

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five such pairs of verbs (with the endings -ia, -ė and -a, -o) that have homographic infinitive forms. Yet of none of them can it be said that the verbs in the pair are related in terms of transitivity, that is, that they share a cognate root. For example: 1. Dulk­ti, -ia, -ė (II, 1) to drizzle: It isn't raining here or anything; it's just drizzling, that's all. 2. Dulk­ti, -sta, -o (I, 1) to gather dust: The road, the feathers are getting dusty. 1. Juosti, -ia, -ė (II, 1) 1. to tie or wrap with a band, belt, etc.: Bind your waist with a belt ‖ refl. The father belts himself (takes off or fastens his belt). 2. fig. to strike, beat, thrash: To lash with a whip, belt, or stick. 2. Juõšti, -sta, -do (I, 1) to turn black: The hands are turning black. Smoking makes the teeth black. 1. Kaŕšti, -ia, -ė (II, 1) 1. to card wool with special implements (before spinning): To card wool. 2. to comb flax heads with a hackle: They are already finishing hackling the flax. 3. colloq. to do something (walk, drive, eat, etc.) vigorously: They are tearing across the fields. They are gobbling cabbage. The rain is pouring down. To give someone a hiding (thrash, beat). 2. Káršti, -ta, -o (I, 1) 1. to live out one's life, grow old: He lived out his days in good health with his son. 2. to be no longer able to do anything, to be weak and lose one's strength through old age. 1. Kliõkti, -ia -ė (II, 1) 1. to rain heavily, pour, gush noisily: The rain poured down in torrents. The streams are gushing. 2. to pour copiously: Why are you pouring out that water? 3. to boil, bubble. 4. to shout or quarrel loudly; to sing badly. 2. Kliõkti, -sta, -o (I, 1) dialect. to shrink, collapse: The empty stomach is shrinking. 1. Skóbti, -sta, -o (I, 1) to ferment unpleasantly: The beer is fermenting badly. 2. Skóbti, -ia, -ė (II, 1) 1. to carve, hollow out: To hollow out a trough. To carve spoons. 2. to pick, pluck, strip: To pick apples.

It can be said of these and the previously mentioned verb pairs, which have homonymous infinitives but are not related in terms of transitivity, that some arose through newly formed denominal derivatives whose infinitive forms became similar to those of verbs already in existence; compare rausti (rausia, rausė) ‖ rausti (rausta, raudo). The secondary character of these derivatives may still be perceptible from the standpoint of present-day language, since nouns and adjectives are also used alongside them, for example: dulk­ti (: dulkė), juosti (: juodas), niūkti (: niūkus), rausti (: rausvas), skausti (: skaudūs), sunk­ti (: sunkūs). This thus reflects a certain productivity of infixed and -sta stems. On the other hand, some verbs ending in -ia may likewise be understood as derived sound-imitative verbs; compare barškėti (barškia, barškė), parpti (parpia, parpė), purpti (purpia, purpė), piepti (piepia, piepė), kliokti (kliokia, kliokė). These verbs in turn reflect the productivity of the -ia stem, the most productive stem (Ibid., 89).

This would also indicate that transitive and intransitive verbs newly formed from nouns and adjectives may come to resemble other existing verbs in their infinitives and corresponding other forms, and perhaps even fall within their sphere of attraction.

Transitive and intransitive verbs sharing a root have much more realistic opportunities to become similar. This is above all because, as the DLKŽ shows, some of these verbs are not consistently opposed in meaning. In certain respects, some have more in common semantically than they have differences (Urbutis 1981, 60).

Moreover, most of the transitive verbs listed in the DLKŽ can also be used intransitively. Alongside transitive meanings, according to the laws of semantics, not

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Few of them have also acquired intransitive meanings. It follows that some verbs used intransitively can become intransitive (when their transitive meanings become unpopular or irrelevant). The reverse can apparently happen less often with intransitive verbs, since they are more difficult to use transitively, and fewer of them acquire transitive meanings. Cf. the verb žerti, žerti, used in two ways (To stoke the stove. To scatter embers. The sun scatters its rays, and Where are you rushing off so healthy? (walking, driving)), and the verb žirti, used only intransitively (Sparks fly in all directions. Eyes sparkle (shine, dazzle). However, such verbs still differ in their semantic compatibility with the subject: žerti is used with nouns denoting active subjects, whereas žirti is used with nouns referring to inanimate things, inactive subjects.

Nevertheless, some transitive verbs display greater semantic flexibility and can combine with the same subjects as intransitive verbs. Cf. the three-meaning verb nerti, two of whose meanings coincide completely with the two meanings of nirti: 1.1. to descend, sink into water: Dive where it is deeper. He dived down into the depths; He sank deeper. 3.2. to go quickly, run, flee: The children rushed through the door. The plane dives into the clouds; The child disappeared from sight. If you see that things are going badly—run. As can be seen, these two verbs are used in exactly the same way in sentences and are semantically compatible with the same nouns.

The absence of a clear semantic opposition is fully consistent with the increasing dominance of the -ia stem. Therefore, nothing prevents, for example, a speaker of an eastern Highland dialect, when adopting the literary-language word skauda, from unconsciously adapting it to the -ia stem and reshaping it as skaudžia, at least until they understand literary-language skaudžia. ([The doctor] asks: where does it hurt?). In language use, dulkia and dulksta are sometimes confused, especially when used with subjects whose “animacy—inanimacy” or “activity—inactivity” is not clear-cut (road, rain). Without context, it is unclear which paradigms to use to inflect barškšti I and barškšti II if we do not know what will be discussed. Finally, even barškia and baršksta amount to paronyms in language teaching practice, which are among the most common cases of interference (Михальченко 1984, 181—188).

Homoforms particularly demonstrate that, for dictionaries to be useful in language teaching or learning, the subjects and, of course, the objects, wherever possible, must be indicated for each meaning of a verb. Psychological research has established that recognition of visual stimuli begins with their most general characteristics, which are then supplemented by an ever-growing number of details discerned gradually (Гофман 1986, 25). The speaker, like the listener, makes the agent the subject and focuses on it (Engelkamp, Zimmer 1983). The more active the subject, the greater the likelihood of transitivity (Hopper, Thompson 1982, 3). Dictionaries—not only those concerning homoforms or homonyms with subjects and objects—are particularly necessary for automatic text analysis (Пиотровский 1987, 73). A speaker’s attention to language should be close to that of a linguist, at least enough to ensure that neither semantics nor form is forgotten.

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ПЕРВИЧНЫЕ ГЛАГОЛЫ ЛИТОВСКОГО ЯЗЫКА С ТОЧКИ ЗРЕНИЯ ПЕРЕХОДНОСТИ (ОМОФОРМЫ ИНФИНИТИВА)

Резюме

В статье представлены все омоформы первичных глаголов литовского языка с точки зрения формальной и семантической переходности. Для предупреждения ошибок управления, характерных для взаимодействия языков, а также для автоматического анализа текстов рекомендуется в словарях указывать при глаголах употребительные субъекты и объекты. Обращается также внимание на возможные случаи смешения парадигм переходных и непереходных глаголов. Утверждается, что взгляды на язык говорящего и языковеда должны совпадать хотя бы в такой мере, чтобы одинаковое внимание уделялось как семантике, так и форме.

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