LIETUVIŲ KALBOS SANDAROS TYRINĖJIMAI

LIETUVIŲ KALBOTYROS KLAUSIMAI, XXVI (1987)

ALGIRDAS MALAKAUSKAS

ACTIVE-PARTICIPLE PRESENT-TENSE FORMS IN THE SYNTACTIC POSITION OF A NOUN

The article analyzes active present participles that occur in a sentence without a modified word and perform the functions of subject, object, and non-agreeing attribute.

By meaning and usage characteristics, they can be divided into three groups. Some are used as nouns only in a particular situation and denote one specific person (or a specific group of people) by reference to an action being performed at the present time or at the time discussed in the sentence, e.g.: The person working raised his head and laughed Krtn. The drowning person cried for help Dkš. The sick person told him not to marry BM251 (Krp.). Someone announced that lunch vouchers were being given to the workers. Everyone ran tsp. They competed in youth, blushed and paled,... and still stubbornly jostled in the crowd of dancers AvD81. Soon I was transferred to another hospital together with a group of convalescents tsp. Kristupas Daukintis followed behind, lagging well behind those accompanying him Radz PV117. Those receiving treatment here are taken to and from work by the factory bus tsp. In such cases, the definite forms of participles are most often used; they emphasize omitted nouns denoting specific people, often already known from the preceding context.

Other participles used as nouns denote an indefinite person or a generalized group of people by reference to some action unrelated to a specific time. In this noun-like sense, the indefinite forms of present participles are generally used (they are especially characteristic of proverbs and sayings), e.g.: She must be patient, compassionate, suffering, gentle-natured, devoted, and caring—such is the ideal of a nurse trš. He said that those who are indifferent, not those who make mistakes, are dangerous to us AvD242. Meaningful individual work with believers and doubters tsp. Earlier, when I had just started teaching, I used to take it very much to heart that there were students who did not study, but merely played at being students tsp. But there are still many young people who merely “sympathize” with sport, preferring to watch those who play rather than play themselves tsp. To one who is afraid, even the bushes crackle Skr. God helps those who work Jnš. Do not marry a drinker, sister Lknv. One should marry someone who leads, not someone who makes promises LTR (Vkš). Many take, but few give LTR (Šll). Help those who work; promise to those who ask LTR (Jnš). Weep with the one who weeps, sing with the one who sings, and you will fit in everywhere Gs. A drowning person will even clutch at a straw LMD (Valk).

In contemporary standard Lithuanian, a third group of present participles is becoming nominalized; it tends to turn into names for people denoting a specific characteristic of an agent unrelated to a particular time. The following participles with specialized meanings are used—

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learner, person on duty, worker, drinker, hearer, speaker, lover, nondrinker, nonsmoker, nonbeliever, writer, seer, person with impaired hearing, sick person, drowning person, leader, believer, player and a few others¹. For example, sometimes learner is used to mean school pupil or student, person on duty to mean attendant, leader to mean presenter, sick person to mean patient, and player to mean athlete: Approximately 74% of learners receive a scholarship, according to their academic progress and social activities trš. A considerable proportion of learners explain that during lectures they prepare for seminars because there are not enough books at other times tsp. Floor representatives are responsible for order and cleanliness on the floors, assign kitchen duty personnel, and supervise their work trš. Cashiers, flight attendants, and women on duty in the transport organization departments of the Lithuanian Civil Aviation Authority had gathered in Vilnius for the final round of the professional skills competition tsp. Real—and terrifying in its realism—the presenter of murderous television reports tsp.... a republican competition of leisure-evening hosts’ skills was held, dedicated to the 40th anniversary of the Soviet people’s victory in the Great Patriotic War tsp. A medical practitioner must like people, seek knowledge and take an interest in scientific developments, sympathize with the patient and want to help them trš. The patient’s age determines only the period for which the certificate may be issued tsp. According to their level of preparation, players are divided into those who can and cannot swim tsp.

Most often, the participle the worker (workers) has the meaning of a noun. In various contexts it is used to mean: a) laborers, b) employees, c) working people, e.g.: a) And the pay is good: sixty percent of the workers receive no less than two hundred per month, the others 148 rubles each, but they too can attain the highest grade tsp;... it is possible not only to fulfill today’s production tasks successfully, but also to forecast the physical capacity of the workers tsp.; b) every work collective needs a living person who will lead hundreds of workers on mass or recreational tourist hikes tsp. The workers at the Šilutė furniture combine work splendidly; today they will take part in large numbers in the communist Saturday work bee tsp. When choosing a profession, one needs to know its particular features and the requirements it places on the worker trš. Qualification is a characteristic of every worker trš. Some workers are closer to the production process, directly operate machines and machine tools, and perform production operations; others only plan the factory’s technical and economic organization, while still others manage production, keep its accounts, and so on. trš.; c) the workers of Kapsukas actively participate in communist Saturday work bees tsp. Therefore, in our country, great attention is paid to organizing workers’ leisure trš. Every year, workers are provided with ever better opportunities to study in evening and correspondence programs... tsp. An atmosphere of creative work must be established everywhere, and workers’ initiative—which, as we know, inspired the pioneers of the Stakhanovite movement to work well tsp.... A Finnish sauna is fine, I don’t deny it, but let the Finns themselves enjoy it; we would rather build several more communal bathhouses, since workers are very much in need of them AvD235.

¹ Apart from singular forms, almost all of them also have plural forms.

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The substantivized participle dirbantieji, which J. Pikčilingis was already correcting 20 years ago², is rather reluctant to disappear from usage, although it seems we have a suitable replacement for it. The word darbininkai is customarily used to refer to people who perform only physical labor. The language could have broadened the meaning of darbininko (cf. expressions such as mokslo darbininkas, protinio darbo darbininkas), but this did not happen. The word darbuotojai, on the other hand, is broadening its meaning: in addition to people who do not produce material goods (e.g., kultūros, medicinos, prekybos, švietimo ir kt. darbuotojai), it is also coming to refer to all people working in one company, factory, or organization or another (e.g., televizorių gamyklos darbuotojai = darbininkai + tarnautojai). In general terms, we use darbo žmogus, darbo žmonės. Incidentally, in this sense dirbantysis is listed in DLKŽ (p. 140), DLKŽ₁ (p. 122), and LKŽ (p. 565). LRKŽ (p. 147) also has dirbantysis, while LLŽ translates pracujący as dirbantysis, and o masy pracujące — dirbantieji (p. 533). It should also be added that sometimes, when the substantivized, polysemous participle dirbantieji is used, the sentence becomes unclear, e.g.: A fine example was set by the Vilnius Drill Factory, which undertook to increase production with the same number of workers tsp. It is unclear whether only manual workers are meant, or all employees (cf. also: Production per worker declined at the Šiauliai Woodworking Combine).

rūkantysis, rūkantieji (‘smoker(s)’) are very common; geriantysis, geriantieji (‘drinker(s)’) are used less often, e.g.: Moreover, it is worth remembering that those who breathe air polluted with tobacco smoke harm their health along with the smoker. trš. Over time, the smoker’s body develops a certain resistance to tobacco poisons. trš. All doctors and students can readily list what awaits smokers. trš. In the United States, an insurance company calculates the life expectancy of smokers and nonsmokers using special tables and takes this into account when insuring a person’s life. trš. Druskininkai should become the republic’s first city for nonsmokers tsp. Lately, the view has begun to prevail that nonsmokers have the right to breathe unpolluted air in public places. trš. Accidents occur 35 times more frequently among drinkers than among those who do not consume alcohol. trš. Thus, of every hundred drinkers, six are already alcoholics or will become so. trš.... in a drinker’s family, as Dr. P. Baublys notes, discord often reigns—the children’s ruin trš.

Instead of the widespread rūkančiojo (‘smoker’), the word rūkytojas is proposed; unlike the former, it works perfectly with a modifier (a tobacco smoker, a cigarette smoker)³. Incidentally, ŠŽ (p. 353) gives rūkantysis as the main entry (alongside rūkančiojo, nerūkantysis pairs well with it). The occasional rūkoris is considered a colloquial word or a hybrid, while rūkalus has a derogatory meaning and is therefore not very suitable for standard language. Geriantieji are called people who enjoy drinking, alcohol, intoxicating drinks, or a tipple.

The forms meaning ‘one who writes, one who speaks, one who loves’ also become nouns. In a particular context, one who writes, one who speaks, one who loves. One who writes could sometimes be replaced by a writer, which in Lithuanian usually

² Pikčilingis J. Žodžio aiškumas ir tikslumas. — V., 1965, p. 87.

³ Plg. Klimavičius J. Rūkytojas, rūkoris, rūkalus. — Mūsų kalba, 1980, Nr. 2, p. 58. Šiame straipsnyje apie rūkantįjį iš viso neužsimenama.

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has a narrower meaning, ‘someone who works in literature, writes works of fiction’ (DLKŽ₁, p. 652), while kalbantysis is not always semantically equivalent to kalbėtojui, just as mylintysis – išmylėjėliui, e.g.: Transcription and the application of the rules of morphology still rely on each writer’s intuition, and writings are consequently rife with variation in the spelling of foreign proper (and common) names. trš. When using a word figuratively, a speaker or writer can use the same word to express a different concept. trš. But there is another view: Koserijus believes that a speaker has a good grasp of the system of their language (has a feel for the language), distinguishes phenomena that are not characteristic of the language, and creates (or recreates) only words that fit its system. trš. It is not enough for linguists merely to talk about work on language culture, carefully collecting and classifying the errors made by various specialists or just ordinary speakers. trš. – Apparently, all those who love (and are loved!) are endowed with a special sense AvD395. The beloved rarely corresponds to the ideal formed in the lover’s imagination trš.

Some substantivized participles stand in for nouns that do not exist (there are no such words in our language to name certain people), e.g.: Believers like to say that atheists are fighting God. trš. Numerous believers can confirm the words of the parish priest SajK297. But what makes a believer devote himself entirely to God? trš. The Criminal Code of the Lithuanian SSR equally protects the constitutional rights of believers and nonbelievers tsp. Recently, many different devices have been developed to help blind and deaf people communicate with one another or with sighted people trš. A sighted person can use vision to determine when their body is in a vertical position, whereas a blind person can rely only on proprioceptive and vestibular signals trš. The earlier we begin, the less delayed he (the deaf person) will be in relation to the hearing person trš. Children who lose their hearing later must also be brought up and taught in institutions for the education and upbringing of deaf and hard-of-hearing children trš. It is no less important to maintain a firm daily routine in the family of a deaf or hard-of-hearing person trš.

The participles skęstantysis, stojantysis, mirštantysis (‘the one who is drowning, entering, dying’) are also used substantivally. They very often designate people by an action being performed at a particular time (temporary, nonpermanent), unrelated either to the time being discussed in the sentence or to the present, e.g.: One does not often have to risk carrying a child out of a burning house or save someone who is drowning tsp. The publication explains rules of conduct in water and describes how to rescue and revive a drowning person, taking into account the conditions and resources available tsp. There are still many areas of activity for the primary organizations of the Lithuanian Drowning Rescue Society that can prevent accidents tsp. A nurse often has to be on night duty, feel helpless beside a dying patient, and listen to unjustified complaints from the patient’s relatives trš. It is no secret that the Faculty of Mathematics lacks applicants every year, yet the targets are nevertheless met tsp.

It should also be noted that present-tense participles used in place of nouns sometimes occur with dependent words, e.g.: Although much has been achieved in treating people with diabetes, the disease cannot yet be cured completely trš. … a literary club of Russian-language writers, “Aplinka,” formed under the Lithuanian Shipping Company tsp. … he used to ask those applying for directing studies not why they wanted to become directors, but what they wanted to say to people tsp. Those writing to the editorial office are asked to provide the postal code of their communications department tsp. It was found that among those drinking hard wa

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Among those suffering from circulatory diseases, there were 41 percent fewer women and 25 percent fewer men, compared with people who drink soft water tsp. Working students are admitted to all specializations in their field tsp. Studies by scientists from various countries have shown that the intellectual capacity (productivity) of those who have smoked for longer periods decreases considerably trš. The totally blind and those with impaired vision make up the first group of people with visual disabilities trš. Participles with dependent words can also be simple in the same context—no more pronounced distinction is apparent.

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Declinable participles, like adjectives, can denote persons when they occupy the case positions of nouns. Research shows that Lithuanian uses more participles with terminologized meanings (especially in various written texts and the press) than had been assumed a priori, and it is not easy to explain this solely by the influence of other languages⁴, because 1) participles denoting personal characteristics generally tend to become nouns, 2) these participles are formed from present-tense verbs with a generalizing temporal meaning (speaks, loves, writes, sees, smokes, believes, etc.), 3) they are used when a) there are no nouns with the corresponding meaning at all, b) existing nouns are not semantically equivalent to them, or c) those nouns are not common in the standard language or are unsuitable for certain reasons. When Lithuanian has nouns with an equivalent meaning, language standardizers recommend avoiding such participles⁵.

ABBREVIATIONS

AvD — Avyžius J. Degimai. — V., 1984.

DLKŽ — Dabartinės lietuvių kalbos žodynas. — V., 1954.

DLKŽ₁ — Dabartinės lietuvių kalbos žodynas/2 papild. leid. — V., 1972.

LKŽ — Lietuvių kalbos žodynas. — V., 1969, t. 2.

LLŽ — Vaitkevičiūtė V. Lenkų—lietuvių kalbų žodynas. — V., 1979.

LRKŽ — Lyberis A. Lietuvių—rusų kalbų žodynas. — V., 1971.

RadzPV — Radzevičius B. Priešaušrio vieškeliai. — V., 1979.

SajK — Saja K. Klaidžiojimas: Apysakos ir apsakymai. — V., 1982.

ŠŽ — Lyberis A. Sinonimų žodynas. — V., 1980.

Others—as in LKŽ.

PRESENT ACTIVE PARTICIPLES IN THE SYNTACTIC POSITION OF A NOUN

Summary

The article examines the use of Lithuanian present active participles as nouns. Three groups of such participles are distinguished: 1) participles used only in a particular situation and denoting one specific person (or group of specific persons) by an action performed by that person at the present time or at the time referred to in the sentence, e.g.: Besigydantiejičia at-

⁴ Pupkis A. Kalbos kultūros pagrindai. — V., 1980, p. 138.

⁵ See Kalbos praktikos patarimai/2-asis patais. ir papild. leid. — V., 1985, p. 47, 51, 65, 258.

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are transported and taken to work by the factory bus “I fly and they bring them here and take them to work by factory bus.” Dirbantis raised his head and laughed “The working man raised his head and laughed”; 2) participles denoting an indefinite person or a generalized group of people by some action unrelated to a specific time, e.g., Su verkiančiu verk, su dainuojančiu dainuok, tai visur tiksi “Weep with the one who weeps, sing with the one who sings, and then you’ll fit in everywhere”; 3) participles denoting persons (or a person) by an action they perform habitually, e.g., Tikintieji mėgsta sakyti, kad ateistai kovoja su dievu “Believers like to say that atheists fight against God.” Druskininkai turėtų tapti pirmuoju nerūkančiųjų miestų respublikoje “Druskininkai should become the first city of non-smokers in the republic.”

The article’s author notes that terminologized participles (group 3), complementing the system of suffixal nouns, are generally used when the language has no nouns with an equivalent meaning, when the available nouns are not semantically identical to the substantivized participles, or when such nouns are unpopular in the literary language. In cases where semantically equivalent nouns are available, language codifiers recommend that such participles preferably not be used in speech.