Večfunkcijskost v morfologiji / Multifunctionality in Morphology (J6-4614)

(see below for English)

Osrednje vprašanje, ki ga naslavlja projekt Večfunkcijskost v morfologiji, je, kako zadovoljivo pojasniti večfunkcijske afikse, tj. derivacijske afikse, ki imajo malo oz. nič nespremenljivega pomena in ki se lahko pojavljajo v različnih, na videz nepovezanih kontekstih, v katerih je njihov pomen obogaten. Projekt se osredotoča zlasti na slovenščino, pri čemer se naslanja na prve nastajajoče opise večfunkcijskosti, ki kažejo, da je slovenščina idealen vir podatkov za raziskavo tega pojava, saj se v tem jeziku večfunkcijski afiksi pojavljajo v vseh večjih besednih vrstah.

Preprost primer tovrstnega morfema je derivacijski morfem, ki je v slovenščini realiziran kot -in. Tega lahko najdemo, če naštejemo le nekaj kontekstov, v svojilnih pridevnikih, izpeljanih iz samostalnikov ženskega spola (sestra, sestr-in), v skupnih samostalnikih, kakršen je mlad-in-a (iz pridevnika mlad; -a je v tem primeru končnica za imenovalnik ednine), samostalnikih za poimenovanje tipa mesa, npr. goved-in-a (iz samostalnika goved-o), samostalnikih, ki poimenujejo osebo z določeno lastnostjo, npr. dolg-in (iz pridevnika dolg), pa tudi v primerih skupnih imen, v katerih se pojavi samostojno ali z drugim afiksom, kot je razvidno iz trojice vrb-in-a, vrb-in-je in vrb-je. Ti nosijo enak pomen – več vrb (pri tem sta vrbinje in vrbina redkejša). 

Projekt je sestavljen iz treh komponent. V okviru empirične komponente bodo izdelane označene baze struktur samostalnikov, pridevnikov in prislovov v slovenščini, medtem ko bo za namene projekta rabljena obstoječa baza glagolov WeSoSlaV (Arsenijević idr., v pripravi), ki bo dopolnjena z ustreznimi podatki. V okviru opisne komponente, ki bo temeljila na empirični komponenti, bo izvedena dopolnitev opisa besedotvorja slovenskega jezika (osrednji vprašanji sta, ali je treba določene elemente, ki so bili v preteklosti opisani kot en sam morfem, dodatno razdeliti in kateri elementi bi morali biti analizirani kot večfunkcijski). Osrednji del te komponente pa je določitev in opis večfunkcijskih afiksov, ki se v slovenščini pojavijo (a) znotraj ene besedne vrste, (b) v različnih besednih vrstah ter (c) v infleksiji in derivaciji. Osrednja komponenta projekta je teoretična. Da bi dosegli cilj splošne teorije večfunkcijskosti, je kot izhodišče projekta privzeta razpršena morfologija, hkrati pa projekt temelji na samih večfunkcijskih afiksih, ki jih lahko opažamo v slovenščini, in vplivu morfološke strukture na prozodijo tega jezika. Na osnovi teh sestavin in empirične podlage projekta je naš cilj osnovanje enotnega modela, ki bo pojasnil, kakšen tip elementov so večfunkcijski afiksi (delovna hipoteza je, da so prehodni koreni), kje so sestavljeni in kako so kategorizirani.

Projekt bo tako ključno doprinesel k trenutno odprtim jezikoslovnim vprašanjem (ob sami analizi večfunkcijskosti bo projekt namreč ponudil vpogled tudi v naravo korenov – kako so kategorizirani, ali lahko projicirajo, ali imajo selekcijske oznake itd.), obenem pa bo projekt pripravil podlago za primerjavo različnih teoretičnih pristopov na osnovi tega, kako dobro lahko pojasnijo osrednji pojav, določil najboljši pristop in zapolnil morebitne s temo tega projekta povezane vrzeli v teoriji.

The central question addressed by the Multifunctionality in Morphology project is how to adequately account for (derivational) affixes that can appear in different, seemingly unrelated contexts and that have little meaning of their own. The project focuses primarily on Slovenian, relying on the initial descriptions of multifunctionality, which show that Slovenian is an ideal source of data for researching this phenomenon, since in in Slovenian, multifunctional affixes can be found in all major categories (nouns, verbs and adjectives).

One simple example of this is Slovenian derivational morphemes realized as -in. To name a few representative contexts, -in can be found in possessive adjectives derived from feminine nouns (sestr-a, sestr-in ‘sister.f, sister’s’), in (feminine) collective nouns such as mlad-in-a ‘youth’ (from the adjective mlad ‘young’; here -a is the case/number ending for nom.sg) or nouns naming type of flesh, such as goved-in-a (from goved-o 'cattle.n’), nouns for property holder, as in dolg-in ‘tall man’ (from dolg ‘long.a’), and as a collective affix, alone or in combination with the more common collective affix -je as in the triplet vrb-in-a, vrb-in-je, vrb-je – all three items meaning several willow trees (vrba 'willow', note that vrbinje and vrbina are less common).

The project is separated into three components where the empirical component of the project will establish a new set of data that will serve as the basis for the descriptive and theoretical components. As part of the empirical component, annotated databases of nouns, adjectives and adverbs will be built, and an existing database of verbs WeSoSlaV (Arsenijević et al., in preparation) will be supplemented with additional material. In the descriptive component, we will first address an issue specific to Slovenian linguistics, i.e., shortcomings in the traditional descriptions of Slovenian. In doing so we will establish (i) which items treated as morphemes in traditional literature should be further decomposed and (ii) which affixes treated as separate (as cases of homonymy) in the traditional literature can be reanalyzed as multifunctional. More precisely we will, focusing primarily on suffixes, determine and account for affixes that exhibit (a) multifunctionality within a category, (b) multifunctionality between categories, and (c) maximal multifunctionality (i.e., affix can used between categories and inflection). The central component of the project is, however, theoretical. To formulate a unified account of multifunctional affixes, Distributed Morphology will be adopted as a starting point to focus on both the multifunctional affixes that can be observed in Slovenian. At the same time, we will consider the prosodic system of Slovenian which reflects differences in morphosyntactic structure.

These components serve towards a larger goal of the project – to build a unified model that will explain what type of elements multifunctional affixes are (the working hypothesis is that they are transitive roots), where they are merged and how they are categorized. By addressing these questions, the project will contribute towards resolving several open issues in the broader field of syntax-centric approaches to morphology (along with an account of multifunctionality, the project will also offer insight into the nature of roots - how they are categorized, whether they can project, whether they have selection markers, etc.). At the same time, the project will allow for a comparison of different theoretical approaches based on how well they can explain the central phenomenon and will help fill any gaps in theory related to multifunctionality.

Projektna skupina / Project group:

Petra Mišmaš (vodja / PI) – Univerza v Novi Gorici (sicris) (2023-)
Franc Marušič – Univerza v Novi Gorici (sicris) (2023-)
Rok Žaucer – Univerza v Novi Gorici (sicris) (2023-)
Guy Tabachnick – Univerza v Novi Gorici (sicris) (2024-)
Madeleine Butschety – Univerza v Novi Gorici (sicris) (2024-)

Projektna skupina na U. v Gradcu / Project group at U. of Graz:

Marko Simonović (vodja / PI) (2023-)
Boban Arsenijević (2023-)
Stefan Milosavljević (2024-)

Trajanje, tip, obseg, financiranje projekta / Duration, type, size, funding:

Trajanje projekta / Project duration: 1.5.2023–30.4.2026
Tip projekta / Project type: temeljni projekt – manjši / standard basic research project; kategorija B / category B
Partnerska ustanova / Partner institution: U. v Gradcu / U. of Graz
Financer / Funding agency: Javna agencija za raziskovalno dejavnost Republike Slovenije. For U. of Graz: Austrian Science Fund.
Obseg / Size: 2481 efektivnih ur letno (UNG) / 2481 effective hours per year (UNG)
ARRS koda projekta / Project code: J6-4614

Projekt v bazi Sicris / Project in Sicris database: Povezava/Link

Faze projekta / Phases of the project:

Projekt je razdeljen na 4 faze (oz. komponente), pri vseh sodelujejo raziskovalci obeh univerz. / The project is divided into 4 phases (or components). Researchers from both universities participate in all of them.

1. Empirična komponenta projekta (prvih 14 mesecev, z dopolnitvami do 27. meseca projekta). V okviru te komponente bodo zbrani podatki, ki bodo služili za izpolnitev opisne in teoretične komponente. / The empirical component of the project (first 14 months, with additional annotations up to the 27th month of the project). Within this component, data will be collected that will serve to fulfill the descriptive and theoretical component.
2. Opisna komponenta projekta (od 8. do 24. meseca projekta). V okviru te komponente bo projekt najprej naslovil  pomanjkljivosti v tradicionalnem opisu slovenske morfologije. Ugotovili bomo namreč (i) kateri elementi, ki so tradicionalno obravnavani kot morfemi, morajo biti nadalje razgrajeni in (ii) kateri afiksi, ki so obravnavani ločeno, bi morali biti obravnavani kot večfunkcijski (znotraj kategorij in med kategorijami). / Descriptive component of the project (from month 8 to the 24). Within this component, the project will first address the shortcomings in the traditional description of Slovenian morphology. Specifically, we will determine (i) which elements, traditionally treated as morphemes, should be further decomposed and (ii) which affixes, which are treated as individual morphemes, should be treated as multifunctional (within categories and between categories).
3. Teoretična komponenta (od 15. do 34. meseca projekta). V okviru te projekt oblikuje enotno razlago večfunkcijskih morfemov in naslavlja širša vprašanja, kot so npr. ustrezna analiza fonološko praznih kategorij in raziskovanje naglasa kot diagnostike za strukturo. / Theoretical component (from month 15 to the 34). Within this component, the project will propose a unified treatment of multifunctional morphemes and address broader questions, such as, for example, an adequate analysis of phonologically empty affixes and whether stress can be used as a diagnostic for structure.
4. Vodenje projekta (celotno trajanje) in diseminacija rezultatov (od 4. meseca do zaključka). / Project management (entire duration of the project) and dissemination (from the 4th month to the end of the project).

Članki (za skupino UNG) / Papers (for the UNG team):

Simonović, Marko and Petra Mišmaš. 2023. The Interaction Between Theme Vowels and Secondary Imperfectives in Slovenian: The Curious Case of ava and eva. Journal of Slavic Linguistics 31. FASL 30 issue. 1-21.  Povezava/Link

Predstavitve (za skupino UNG) / Talks (for the UNG team)

Petra Mišmaš.  Multifunctionality in Slovenian Morphology. Slavic Linguistics Webinars. University of Verona, Italy. January 25, 2024.  

Petra Mišmaš. Večfunkcijski morfemi in slovenščina. Philoslavica 2023.  11. Simpozij mladih slavistov.  Nova Gorica. 1. december 2023. 

Marko Simonović and Petra Mišmaš. 2023. Končnice pod drobnogledom dvojine – vsi dvojinski a-ji. Škrabčevi dnevi 13. Nova Gorica.  20. oktober 2023. 

Marko Simonović and Petra Mišmaš. 2023. Predictably Peculiar: Base Modifications in Slovenian Deverbal Nominalisations. Sinfonija 16. Brno, Czech Republic. September 21-23, 2023. 

Petra Mišmaš and Marko Simonović. 2023. Ov to the rescue. 18th Annual Meeting of the Slavic Linguistics Society (SLS-18). Bratislava, Slovakia, August 24-26 2023.

Petra Mišmaš. We need to talk about multifunctionality. Dokuz Eylül University. Izmir, Turkey (via Zoom).  April 17, 2023. 

Domača stran projekta / Project home page:

Povezava/Link (gl. tudi za rezultate / see also for output)