Cover not available
Article published In:
Languages in Contrast
Vol. 18:2 (2018) ► pp.252–282

The verbal prefix u- in Croatian and Bulgarian

| University of Oslo (Norway),
| Shumen University (Bulgaria),
This study compares the semantic networks of the verbal prefix u- in two South Slavic languages, Bulgarian (blg.) and Croatian (cro.), in a cognitive linguistics framework using two databases of prefixed verbs drawn from dictionaries and corpora. We point to similarities and overlapping categories in the semantic networks of u- in blg. and cro., as well as to differences. When accounting for the differences, we consider prefixes semantically similar to u- (within one language and in both languages) that combine with the same base verbs forming either prefixed near-synonyms (e.g., blg. uvehna, zavehna, izvehna ‘wither, fade’; cro. umastiti, omastiti, zamastiti ‘grease, stain’) or prefixed verbs that are only seemingly near-synonyms (e.g., blg. ukaža ‘indicate, show’, okaža se ‘turn out’; cro. ocrniti ‘denigrate, slander’, ucrniti (se) ‘color black, wear black’). We examine how the meaning networks of individual semantically related prefixes (e.g., u- and za-, iz-) overlap within one language and across the two languages, as well as how different construals of the same event affect the prefix choice.
Keywords: verbal prefixes, prefixal semantics, the prefix u-, Bulgarian / Croatian
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1The prefix u- in Slavic
    • 1.2 U- verbs and aspect
    • 1.3Data
  • 2.The semantic network of Bulgarian and Croatian u- verbs
    • 2.1 into schema
      • 2.1.1 move/put into
      • 2.1.2 move/put into a metaphorical container
      • 2.1.3 cover/wrap
      • 2.1.4 gain/save
      • 2.1.5 target/direct
      • 2.1.6 adjust
      • 2.1.7 Perceive
    • 2.2 Away schema
      • 2.2.1 Move away
      • 2.2.2 Metaphorical move away – reduce/disappear/lessen
      • 2.2.3 Move downwards
        • Harm (die, kill)
      • 2.2.4 Overdo / move away from a norm
      • 2.2.5 Catch
    • 2.3Abstract meanings linked to both into and away
      • 2.3.1 Affect
      • 2.3.2 Change of physical/emotional state
  • 3.Discussion
  • 4.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 4 December 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/lic.16015.sar
References (47)
References
Andrejčin, L. 1944. Osnovna bӑlgarska gramatika. Sofia: Hemus.Google Scholar
Belaj, B. 2008. Jezik, prostor i konceptualizacija: Shematična značenja hrvatskih glagolskih prefiksa. Osijek: Filozofski fakultet.Google Scholar
2011. Schematic Meaning of the Croatian Verbal Prefix iz-. In Cognitive Linguistics: Convergence and Expansion, M. Brdar, S. T. Gries and M. Žic Fuchs (eds), 115–150. Amsterdam: Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Brala-Vukanović, M. 2011. Where is ‘o’: Croatian Prepositions as Vectors. In Space and Time in Language, M. Brdar, M. Omazić, V. Pavičić Takač, T. Gradeček-Erdeljić and G. Buljan (eds), 91–112. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
Derksen, R. 2008. Etymological Dictionary of the Slavic Inherited Lexicon. Leiden: Brill.Google Scholar
Dickey, S. 1999. Expressing Ingressivity in Slavic: The Contextually-Conditioned Imperfective Past vs. the Phase Verb stat’ and Procedural za -. Journal of Slavic Linguistics 7(1): 11–44.Google Scholar
2001. Distributive Verbs in Serbian and Croatian. In Of All the Slavs My Favorites: In Honor of Howard I. Aronson, V. A. Friedman and D. L. Dyer (eds.), 103–115. Bloomington: Slavica.Google Scholar
2005. S-/Z- and the Grammaticalization of Aspect in Slavic. Slovenski jezik – Slovene Linguistic Studies 51: 3–55. Available at [URL] [last accessed 9 April 2016]
2011. The Varying Role of PO- in the Grammaticalization of Slavic Aspectual Systems: Sequences of Events, Delimitatives, and German Language Contact. Journal of Slavic Linguistics 19(2): 175–230. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2012. Orphan Prefixes and the Grammaticalization of Aspect in South Slavic. Jezikoslovlje 13(1): 71–105.Google Scholar
Hampe, B. 2002. Superlative Verbs. Tübingen: Gunter Narr.Google Scholar
Isačenko, A. V. 1960. Grammatičeskij stroj russkogo jazyka v sopostavlenii s slovackim. Morfologija. Part II. Vol. 21. Bratislava: Izdatel’stvo Slovackoj Akademii Nauk.Google Scholar
Ivanova, K. 1966. Desemantizacija na glagolnite predstavki v sӑvremennija bӑlgarski knižoven ezik. Sofia: Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.Google Scholar
Janda, L. A. 1986. A Semantic Analysis of the Russian Verbal Prefixes za-, pere-, do-, and ot. Munich: Otto Sagner. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2007. Aspectual Clusters of Russian Verbs. Studies in Language 31(3): 607–648. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Janda, L. A. and Nesset, T. 2010. Taking apart Russian raz -. Slavic and East European Journal 54(3): 476–501.Google Scholar
Janda, L. A. et al. 2013. Why Russian Aspectual Prefixes Aren’t Empty. Prefixes as Verb Classifiers. Bloomington, IN: Slavica.Google Scholar
Klenin, E. 1983. Verbs of Motion Prefixed in u- in Old and Modern Russian. In From Los Angeles to Kiev. Papers on the Occasion of the Ninth International Congress of Slavists, V. Markov and D. S. Worth (eds.), 155–168. Columbus, OH: Slavica.Google Scholar
Kostov, N. 1939. Bӑlgarska gramatika. Sofia.Google Scholar
Mitkovska, L. and Bužarovska, E. 2012. The Preposition and Prefix nad in South Slavic Languages with Emphasis on Macedonian. Jezikoslovlje 13(1): 107–150.Google Scholar
Naughton, J. D. 2005. Czech: An Essential Grammar. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Nedelcheva, S. 2008. Kognitivna semantična vrӑzka meždu anglijskite frazovi glagoli s OUT i bӑlgarskite glagoli s predstavka IZ -. Ljuboslovie 91: 176–188.Google Scholar
2010. On the Semantics of the Preposition ZA and the Prefix ZA- in Bulgarian. In Text Processing and Cognitive Technologies N19, Proceedings of the XIIth International Conference Cognitive Modeling in Linguistics, Dubrovnik, Croatia, V. Solovyev and V. Polyakov (eds), 144–148. Kazan: Kazan State University.Google Scholar
Nesset, T. 2010. Is the Choice of Prefix Arbitrary? Aspectual Prefixation and Russian Verbs of Perception. Slavic and East European Journal 54(4): 666–689.Google Scholar
Pashov, P. 1966. Bӑlgarskijat glagol. Sofia: Nauka i izkustvo.Google Scholar
Przybylska, R. 2006. Schematy wyobrażeniowe a semantyka polskich prefiksów czasownikowych do-, od-, prze-, roz-, u-. Kraków: Universitas.Google Scholar
Šarić, L. 2014. Prostor u jeziku i metafora. Zagreb: Naklada Jesenski i Turk.Google Scholar
Šarić, L. and Tchizmarova, I. 2013. Space and Metaphor in Verbs Prefixed with od-/ot- ‘from’ in Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian and Bulgarian. Oslo Studies in Language 5(1): 7–33. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Šarić, L. and Nedelcheva, S. 2015. The Verbal Prefix o(b)- in Croatian and Bulgarian: The Semantic Network and Challenges of a Corpus-Based Study. Suvremena lingvistika 401: 149–179.Google Scholar
Schooneveld, C. H. van. 1958. The So-Called ‘préverbes vides’ and Neutralization. Dutch Contributions to the Fourth International Congress of Slavists. Moscow, September 1958. La Haye. 159–161.Google Scholar
Słoński, S. 1937. Funkcje prefiksów werbalnych w języku starosłowiańskim (starobułgarskim). Warszawa: Nakładem Towarzystwa Naukowego Warszawskiego.Google Scholar
Sussex, R. and Cubberley, P. 2006. The Slavic Languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tabakowska, E. 2003. Space and Time in Polish: The Preposition za and the Verbal Prefix za . In Motivation in Language, H. Cuyckens, T. Berg, R. Dirven and K. U. Panther (eds), 153–177. Amsterdam: Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Townsend, C. E. 1978. A Semantic Profile of the Russian Preverb u -. Folia Slavica 2(1–3): 329–339.Google Scholar
1997. Semantics of the Preverb u- in Czech and Russian: Negative and Positive Modality. Die Welt der Slaven 421: 328–346.Google Scholar
Twardzisz, P. 1994. The Semantics of the Polish Verbal Prefix ob(e)-. A Prototype Approach. In Focus on Language: Papers from the 2nd Conference of the Polish Association for the Study of English, Kazimiez ’93, E. Gussmann and H. Kardela (eds.), 217–232. Lublin: Maria Curie-Skłodowska University Press.Google Scholar
Vey, M. 1952. Les préverbes ‘vides’ en tchéque moderne. Revue des études slaves 291: 82–107. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Corpora
[Last accessed 9 April 2016]
Bulgarian National Corpus. Available at: [URL]
Croatian Web Corpus. Available at [URL]
Hrvatska jezična riznica (Croatian Language Repository). Available at: [URL]
CNC = Hrvatski nacionalni korpus(Croatian National Corpus). Available at: [URL]
Dictionaries
Anić, V. 1998. Rječnik hrvatskoga jezika. Zagreb: Novi Liber.Google Scholar
Bujas, Ž. 2001. Veliki hrvatsko-engleski rječnik. Zagreb: Nakladni zavod Globus.Google Scholar
Bulgarian Dictionary(Rečnik na bӑlgarskija ezik). Available at: [URL] [last accessed 9 April 2016]
Eurodict – free online dictionary. Available at: [URL]
HJP = Hrvatski jezični portal(Croatian Language Portal). Available at: [URL] [last accessed 9 April 2016]
Skok, P. 1973. Etimologijski rječnik hrvatskoga ili srpskoga jezika. Zagreb: JAZU.Google Scholar
Cited by (1)

Cited by one other publication

Dickey, Stephen M.
2024. Russian aspect from a cognitive linguistic perspective. Russian Linguistics 48:1 DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 5 july 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.