Scalarity in the domain of verbal prefixes
This paper puts forward a formal analysis of the semantics of Russian verbal prefixes that is formulated within the framework of degree semantics. Prefixes are analyzed as degree modifiers. The paper demonstrates how this analysis captures the properties of pere-, one of the most complex and challenging verbal prefixes in Russian. It is proposed that spatial, temporal, excessive, comparative, and iterative uses of this prefix can all be unified under a scalar approach. The distinctions observed between these uses are largely restricted to the types of scale and comparative standard that are involved in the semantics of the verbal phrase.
scalarity verbal prefixes degree semantics slavic standard of comparison