Typology of the Non-Finite Forms of the Verb

Lesson 8. Typology of Verbals. Some Peculiar Features of English and Ukrainian Verbs

Contents

1. Typology of the Non-Finite Forms of the Verb. 1

2. Some Peculiar Features of English and Ukrainian Verbs. 2

English versus Ukrainian Verbals. 4

Typology of the Non-Finite Forms of the Verb

The nomenclature of verbals in the contrasted languages includes some common/isomorphic and some divergent/allomorphic forms. Common are the infinitive and the two participles; divergent are the gerund in English and дієприслівник in Ukrainian.

Allomorphisms. The English infinitive is almost always distinguished by its identifier "to" (to come, to be asked, to be doing), whereas the Ukrainian infinitive is characterised by the suffixes -ти, -ть, -тись, -тися.The suffix -тиis always added to the stem ending in a consonant (бігти, везти, сісти), and the suffix -ть, like the suffix -тися/ -тись,may be added to a stem ending either in a vowel or in a consonant (носити/ носить, носитися/носитись; їхати/їхать, сіяти/сіять).

Specifically Ukrainian, as was pointed out, is the diminutive infinitive formed by combined suffixes: спатки, спатоньки,спатусі, спатусеньки, купці, купоньки, сістоньки, їстоньки.

Allomorphism is observed in the categorical meanings of the infinitive and the participle. The infinitive and Participle in Ukrainian have no perfect(perfective) passive, continuousaspect, perfect active and perfect passiveforms.

The gerund and дієприслівник present allomorphic verbals in English and Ukrainian. They can not be contrasted. The gerund has both verbal and noun characteristics, the former being those of tense and voice (asking — being asked, havingasked — having been asked) and the ability of taking an objective complement: I like reading books, as well as the ability of being modified by an adverb: Going quickly never tiers him. The noun characteristics of the gerund find their expression in its functions in the sentence as subject, object, the predicative part, the attribute, and as an adverbial modifier of manner. For example, as subject and predicative: Deciding is acting. (Saying). As object: He won't stand beating. As an attribute: She found an opportunity of taking him away. As adverbial modifiers: The Mouse shook its head impatiently without opening its eyes. (L. Carroll) The rain poured down without ceasing. (Maugham) On arriving at the garden entrance, he stopped to look at the view. (Galsworthy)

The gerund can also be a complex subject, a complex object and other parts of the sentence (cf. His being ill is unknown to me. That was his being ill that spoiled everything. I know nothing of his being ill), etc.

The Ukrainian дієприслівник, whether active or passive or non-perfective present and perfective past, remains an indeclinable verbal form. The diyepryslivnyk may be formed from the present stem of the verb or from the infinitive of both the transitive and intransitive verbs. The imperfective (present) дієприслівник is formed from the present stem of the verb belonging to the first verbal declension by adding the suffix -учи/-ючи.Cf. нес/уть + -учи: несучи; працю/ють + -ючи — працюючи. Cf. Слухаючи їх жартівливу розмову, уверне слівце й од себе. (Нечуй-Левицький)

Perfective (past) дієприслівник is formed from the infinitival stems with the help of the suffix -ши,added to the stem that ends in a consonant, or the suffix -вшиthat is added to the stem of perfective and non-perfective verbs which end in a consonant: донес/ти + -ши — донісши; привез/ти/ + -ши — привізши and similarlу~знавши, пивши, ївши, etc. When the infinitival stem ends in a vowel, the suffix -вши is added: здола/ти/ + -вши — здолавши; побачи/ти/ + -вши — побачивши. Cf. Устромивши люльку в рот і закривши очі, він ще потроху пахкав. (Панас Мирний)

Perfective and imperfective дієприслівник may also be formed from verbs having the postfix -ся/-сь: Хвилюючись,все ще не опам'ятавшись, солдат розповідав про себе. (Гончар) Similarly in турбуючись, милуючись, дивуючись,etc.

The semantic and functional equivalents to the imperfective (present) and perfective (past) дієприслівник in English are indefinite or perfect participles (both active and passive) performing the functions of the adverbial modifiers of time: "...while working so hard he needed sea air" (Galsworthy); or attending circumstances: Clara sat in the cool parlour reading. (Lawrence); the adverbial modifiers of cause: "Being tired he thought of sleep." (J. K. Jerome); and that of result: ...having seen all that was to be seen he came out. (Galsworthy), etc.

The functions of the infinitive and the participles in the sentence generally coincide in both languages, though Ukrainian participles have gender, number and case distinctions, which are lost by their English equivalent verbals. Cf. gender and number categories: працюючий, працююча, працююче (колесо); number and case: працюючого, працюючому, працюючим; працююча, працюючої; працюючі, працюючих, працюючим, працюючими, etc.

Allomorphic for the Ukrainian language are some syntactic functions pertained to English participles and infinitives which may form with some classes of verbs (for example, those of the physical and mental perceptions) complex parts of the sentence. These parts of the sentence are completely alien to Ukrainian, cf: He was seen to go/going home. We heard him sing/singing. He wants me to be reading. The lesson (being) over, the students went to the reading-hall. Each of these secondary predication complexes, with the only exception of the for-to-infinitive construction, has a subordinate clause for its equivalent in Ukrainian: Бачили, як він ішов/коли він ішов додому. Ми чули, як він співає/ співав. Після того/оскільки заняття закінчилося, студенти пішли до читальної зали.