Verbālie virziena salikteņi ķīniešu valodā un priedēkļa/bezpriedēkļa verbu konstrukcijas latviešu valodā: kopīgais un atšķirīgais
Directional verbal compounds in Chinese and prefixed/non-prefixed verb constructions in Latvian: Similarities and differences

Summary/Abstract: This article explores whether there are analogues of Latvian prefixed verbs and prefixed/non-prefixed verb + adverb/preposition constructions in Chinese. It presents findings from a study on the possibility of rendering Latvian prefixed verbs in Chinese. Since Latvian often expresses direction in various ways, this study investigates whether there are any analogues of prefixed/ non-prefixed verb + adverb/preposition constructions and whether these analogues differ from those that semantically correspond to prefixed verbs of motion. Data from a parallel LatvianChinese corpus were used to clarify this issue. The corpus was analysed to extract examples in which the direction of action in Latvian is expressed by a prefixed verb alone or by a broader prefixed/non-prefixed verb construction. The analysis shows that authors of Latvian texts mostly used prefixed verbs alone to express direction. However, the available data suggest that prefixed/ non-prefixed verb constructions with adverbs and/or prepositions found in Latvian are represented in the same way in Chinese – with a directional verbal compound. If the Chinese rules allow it, a perfective aspect marker is added in cases with prefixed verbs and prefixed verb constructions. Some constructions that are possible in Latvian were not included in the analysis due to the limited amount of corpus data. The paper concludes that a larger corpus would allow for a more comprehensive treatment of the issues raised.

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