On the development of the substantive form of the Russian verb (the problem of the verb aspect in -(e)nie, -tie word forms in the 18th–early 21st c.)

Abstract

The substantive form of the verb in the Russian language includes -nie, -enie, and -tie word forms. There is a historical tendency towards the grammaticalization of these formations. The category of aspect penetrates into their composition through the -yvanie forms, preserving the meaning of the imperfective aspect. Their productivity has been growing since the middle of the 18th c. by “waves,” reaching a maximum in 1761–1800, 1861–1880, 1921–1940, and 2001–2020. Half of the -yvanie forms are formed earlier than their pairs from the perfective verbs ending in -(e)nie and -tie which combine the meaning of both types; in the synchronously operating system, the aspectual pair is “completed.” With pure aspectual prefixes, po- and s-, the -yvanie forms are practically not formed. If the aspectual opposition does not add up at the stage of perfectivization, perfective prefix verbs easily form at the stage of imperfectivization their aspectual pair ending in -yvanie. Thus, the category of aspect penetrates into the system of the substantive form of the verb, enhancing the effect of this verbal category on the nominal forms of the verb.