The derivative preposition "in the account": the specifics of functioning

Chzhan QIAOHUA Postgraduate student, Department of Russian Language and Literature, Far Eastern Federal University 690922, Russia, Primorsky Krai, Vladivostok, Russian Island str., Ayaks, 7.1 qiaohua@mail.ru

Sheremeteva Elena Sergeevna ORCID: 0000-0003-1154-1091 Doctor of Philology Professor, Department of the Department of Russian Language and Literature, Far Eastern Federal University 690922, Russia, Primorsky Krai, Vladivostok, Russian Island str., Ayaks, 20 sheremeteva.es@dvfu.ru

Issues related to the process of acquiring preposition functions by significant words have been discussed in Russian studies since the middle of the 20th century. The fundamental work in these years was the monograph by E. T. Cherkasova ^[21], in which the conditions for the transition of significant words into prepositions were formulated. At the beginning of the XXI century, the attention of researchers to this process increased. The reason for this attention was the active involvement of significant words in the sphere of official ones, in particular, the development of prepositional functions in nouns. As a result, the main scientific directions and schools have been formed, within the framework of which this phenomenon is being studied.

From the standpoint of the theory of phraseologization, this process is presented in the monograph by G. A. Shiganova ^[24], in the dissertation study by I. M. Poperina ^[13], representing the Chelyabinsk phraseological school. The terms "lexical" and "phraseological prepositions" have entered scientific usage, reflecting the different nature of the "definition" of significant words.

The fact of a significant increase in units performing a prepositional function has led to the need to solve the problem of qualification of these units. As one of the possible solutions to this issue, the idea of expanding the very concept of "preposition" was proposed. This idea was promoted in the works of M. V. Vsevolodova (Lomonosov Moscow State University) ^[4] and M. I. Konyushkevich (Grodno University, Belarus) ^[9], along with other researchers who worked within the framework of the international project "Slavic Prepositions in synchrony and diachrony: morphology and syntax", the ideological inspiration of which was M. V. Vsevolodova. As a result, the system of prepositions and prepositional formations of various types was presented as a field structure ^{[5, pp. 75-78]}.

E. S. Sheremetyeva, a representative of the Far Eastern Syntactic School, exploring the nominative prepositional neoplasms, on the contrary, suggests not expanding the concept of "preposition", but defining all units that perform the function of a preposition as a functional, not a partial class. In relation to the nominative formations of the prepositional type, E. S. Sheremetyeva uses the term "nominative relatives" ^[22]. This term covers both derived units that arose on the basis of nouns that have already received the status of a preposition, and new formations that are at different stages of grammaticalization

From what has been said, it can be seen that the last two directions, in essence, develop the same scientific problem: how to most accurately represent in the system all the variety of units performing a prepositional function.

Since a preposition is a morphological and syntactic means of communication, in order to establish the specifics of each prepositional unit, both having the status of a preposition and being at the stage of transition to a preposition, the primary and mandatory step is to identify the morphological, syntactic and semantic properties of those components that the preposition connects. In ^[22], the concept of "syntagmatic properties" of nominal relatives is used, with the help of which the compatibility of each prepositional unit is described, their specificity is revealed. Taking into account the methodology developed in ^[22] for studying and describing prepositional units, a number of studies of derivative prepositions and prepositional neoplasms have been performed ^{[1],[6],[7],[8],[23]}.

E. T. Cherkasova calls the main condition for the transition of forms of significant words into prepositions the loss of the categorical meaning of the corresponding part by these forms and the development of their "categorical meaning of connecting words – the meaning of relativity" ^{[21, p. 12]}. Such a transformation of a significant word into a service word is defined as grammaticalization.

The works of E. N. Vinogradova ^[3], who consistently develops the theoretical positions of M. V. Vsevolodova, are devoted to the issues of grammaticalization of prepositional neoplasms, in particular, somatisms.

As a result of the grammaticalization process, not only the preposition class is expanded, but also other classes of service units. Grammaticalization mechanisms are common to units of all classes, replenished by significant words, they operate in different languages (see, for example, ^[10],[25]). E.N. Vinogradova, based on the analysis of theoretical works on grammaticalization, clarifies the essence of these mechanisms in relation to prepositional neoplasms, highlighting the following factors that allow us to judge the degree of grammaticalization of units in this area: (1) semantic (desemanization), (2) syntactic (generalization of contexts), (3) morphological (decategorization, falling out of the morphological paradigm), (4) phonetic (phonetic simplification) ^{[3, pp. 32-34]}.

Checking each prepositional unit for the presence / absence of these signs allows us to conclude about the stage at which this unit is located in terms of the level of its transition to the preposition class.

Results and discussion

Let's turn to the object of our research – the word form in the account.

Lexicographic data

The prepositional-case word form for (what) in explanatory dictionaries is presented in the dictionary entry of the noun account ^{[2],[12],[19]}, It has an independent dictionary entry in aspect dictionaries ^[11],[14].

In all these dictionaries, the word form in the account is qualified as a preposition with the genitive case ^{[11],[12],[14],[19]} or in the meaning of the preposition ^[2].

However, the difference in the interpretations of this unit is noteworthy.

In explanatory dictionaries: 1. Including in what-L., referring to what-L. Bonus on account of the director's fund / Advance payment on account of salary; 2. To cover, to compensate for what-L. Work on account of the fourth quarter. ^{[2, p. 1297]}; ^{[19, p. 772]}.

In aspect dictionaries: it is used when indicating "1.0. for a financial transaction, accounting item, etc., to which income or expense belongs. 1.1. for the time period to which the results of any activity relate, something is attributed" ^{[11, p. 79]}; it is used when indicating "1. for the source of expenditure of funds or income; 2. for a period, the time period to which the action is attributed" ^{[14, p. 123]}.

As can be seen from the above interpretations, aspect dictionaries give a more specific formulation of the meaning of the preposition, taking into account the contextual environment, and more precisely, the left and right compatibility of the word form in the account.

In explanatory dictionaries, the wording of the meaning is more abstract, which is more consistent with the recognition that the word form in the account is a preposition.

It should be noted that in earlier explanatory dictionaries, such as the dictionary edited by D. N. Ushakov and the Small Academic Dictionary, the word form was not qualified as a preposition, but was given after the "rhombus" as a stable combination.

The dictionary, edited by D. N. Ushakov (1940), offers only one meaning: "Due to what (to give, receive, etc.; kant.) — referring the expense to some a certain article. To give out, to receive money on account of the fee, on account of the salary" ^[20]. In the Small Academic Dictionary (1961), three meanings are proposed: "At the expense of which – 1) (buhg.) using funds from some source, from some source. expense items. The award is on account of the director's fund; 2) according to some plan, obligations. Deliveries on account of credit agreements; 3) according to plans, obligations of some time. The foundry worker Afinogenov was already working on account of next year" ^[17]

It can be seen that the interpretation of the first meaning in the aspect dictionaries is very close to the interpretations given in the dictionaries of D. N. Ushakov and the Small Academic Dictionary.

The analysis of dictionary definitions suggests that the word form generally functions in fairly limited types of contexts. The question arises, what signs of grammaticalization does this word form possess, which makes it possible to qualify it as a derivative preposition.

In order to determine which of the above features of grammaticalization a word form has in the account, it is necessary to analyze its lexical and semantic compatibility, determine the types of contexts in which it functions.

The prepositional structure, in addition to the preposition, includes two more components, one of which, the noun in the indirect case, always occupies a position to the right of the preposition. Therefore, when describing a prepositional structure, the term "right component" is used in relation to it. The main word in the prepositional construction, with which the connection of the prepositional noun is formed with the help of a preposition, takes a position to the left of the preposition in a neutral word order. Accordingly, the term "left component" is used in relation to it.

When collecting material in the National Corpus of the Russian Language (NCRR), the option "lexico-grammatical search" was used, search parameters were set: in the account, at a distance from 1 to 1 from the Word 1 S & gen, at a distance from 1 to 2 from the Word 2. The material collected in this way was analyzed from the point of view of what vocabulary occupies the positions of the right and left components of the construction formed by the word form "counting", which performs prepositional functions.

The typical lexico-semantic compatibility of a word form counts

Russians Russian Semantic Dictionary under the general editorship of N. Y. Shvedova ^[15],[16], as well as explanatory dictionaries of the Russian language ^[2],[19] were used in the classification of typical vocabulary that interacts with the word form in the account.

The right component

The vocabulary characteristic of the position of the right component of the word form in the account is combined into several thematic groups.

The thematic group "finance" includes:

1. Substantive phrases naming various kinds of processes related to the financial activities of the state and the person as a subject of this activity. The main component in such phrases are verbal nouns:

compensation (harm/damage/loss/costs/expenses, etc.), compensation (costs/ expenses, etc.), payment (shares/bills/supplies/services, etc.), repayment (debt/debt/ loan/ interest/loss, etc.), payment (debts/taxes, etc.), purchase (apartments/ land, etc.), execution (of the contract / obligations, etc.), fulfillment (of obligations / contracts and sub.), collateral (claims/ loans and sub.), service (debt).

Examples:

Manufacturers operating far from the main consumer cities will be forced to raise prices, at least by the amount of the damage compensation fee, for their products to compensate for the additional costs of transport services. (Parliamentary Newspaper, 2014.11.19). This money was transferred to our company to reimburse the cost of compensation payments. (RBC Daily, 2006.10.23). However, at the time of signing the number, no money had been deposited into the car buyback account (Ogonek, 2015). According to him, starting on Monday, part of the current payments for fuel consumed will be counted against the debt of the air carrier (RBC Daily, 08/08/15). The most paradoxical thing is to receive government rubles against the obligations of the SBS–Agro bank, defrauded depositors come to another structure of Mr. Smolensky (Arguments and Facts, 2001.10.31). <...> the delivered goods must be counted towards the fulfillment of the contract specified by the supplier during delivery or without delay after delivery (Civil Code of the Russian Federation. Part Two).

2. Verbal noun payment, in the vast majority of cases with adjectival distributors (future / mortgage / tax / planned).

Examples: <...> the commission for attracting new customers in this case is not paid in money, but is credited to future rental payments of the very company that "brought a friend" to Avilon Plaza (Izvestia, 2015.12.22). <...> the resulting overpayment of VAT is credited to future tax payments ("Business-magazine", 2004.03.03).

3. Nouns calling:

(a) various kinds of financial payments or obligations: advance payment, alimony, fee, salary, salary, pension, debt (public debt), debt, loan;

(b) phenomena and conditions related to the need for monetary payments: rent, shares, reparations, losses, as well as the noun value (of something) in the meaning of "the amount of costs for something" ^{[2, p.1297]} and a number of others.

It can be seen that the nouns that we have allocated to group (3) are either part of phrases (see group 1), or are combined with the word form into an account independently. In this case, we can talk about the elimination of the component of the phrase naming the financial process and, consequently, embedding the semantics of the eliminated components into the semantics of their predicate actants: on account of the advance = on account of the advance payment; on account of the lease = on account of the payment of rent (rent), on account of debt = on account of debt repayment, etc. 

Examples:

The acceptance of works under the contract is carried out monthly both on account of the advance payment and for the actual payment, he said (NEWSru.com , 08/23/2016). The general's wife Nasedkina herself lowered seven pounds of her weight down the ladder, bought a hat with pansies for a hanger-on and ordered her to write it down, on account of the rent for the premises for the next year (And. Evdokimov. 1925). Everything is arranged: she owed money for the apartment, but the landlady, a kind woman, willingly agreed to wait, and then, when Elizabeth Nikolaevna painted her portrait, she accepted it as a debt (V. Kaverin. In front of the mirror).

The thematic group "time interval" includes:

1. The nominations of a particular year, for example: on account of 1950.

Such combinations reflect the situation that existed in the production sector of the USSR, related to planned economy and the ability to fulfill the established production plan for something in a shorter time. This situation is well represented in the following example: That's how the initiative was born: a five—day assignment in four days, a five—year assignment in four years. Soon the whole factory joined the competition. Now fifteen people work at the plant on account of 1975, more than 300 — on account of 1974, and about 10 thousand workers in the region (Ogonek, 1973).

2. Noun vacation, sometimes with distributors (future / regular / paid).

Introduction

Examples: In this case, you can write an application for the provision of the required number of working days for future leave (Labor-7. 2008.09.02.). It is noted that the innovation will affect Russians aged 40 and over — they will be able to undergo medical examinations annually on account of paid leave (Business.  2019.05.16.)

The left component

The vocabulary of the left component is predetermined by the lexico-semantic type of the right component.

1. If the vocabulary of the thematic group "Finance" is used in the position on the right, the left component is verbs belonging to the lexico-semantic class "Acquisition Verbs" ^[18], as well as verbal nouns – derivatives of verbs of this semantic class.

Typical verbal vocabulary:

Verbs of receipt ^{[18, p. 568]}: take, choose / choose, take / charge, borrow / borrow (loan), receive / receive, acquire / acquire

Examples:

The Samara regional administration received 1.5 million shares of the enterprise on account of the debt of Samaraneftegaz JSC to the regional budget (Delo (Samara), 05/26/2002). The store director even called Paris, asked if he could take a check from the Lyon Credit Bank as payment. (V. Mikhalsky. It takes two to be happy).  

Verbs of object transfer ^{[18, p. 587]}: give, transfer (transfer), sell / sell, hand over / hand over, make / contribute (contributions), give / give out (issue); pay (payment), pay / pay (payment), pay (payment), pay; lend /to borrow; to provide / provide (provision); to set off, enroll, set off / set off(s); to deduct / deduct (deduction), transfer / transfer, supply / deliver (delivery), release and a number of others.

Examples: The administration of the Samara region suggests that the plant transfer cars to the local budget as a debt (Top secret. 06.02.2003.). This indicated that the bonds were always extinguished (replicated) in the amount of urgent payments received to repay loans issued by the company (Finance and Credit. 04/21/2003.). This amount <...> should be paid to compensate for the costs of conducting phonoscopic examinations and the cost of tickets for witnesses who were summoned to court from afar (Newspaper, 05.01.2003.)

Verbs of compensated acquisition ^{[18, p. 567]}: buy, purchase / purchase

Example: In Narasino, we bought iconographic material at our own expense, and in other places I bought it at the expense of donations from Russia for the needs of prisoners of war (Archbishop Nikolai of Japan (Kasatkin). Diary, 1905)

In addition, compatibility with verbs to spend is typical (verbs of deprivation

^{[18, p. 584]}), confiscate (alienation verbs ^{[18, p. 573]}).

 Examples: They began to look for capitalists again, and in anticipation of them - to spend money on account of future income. (K.S. Stanislavsky. My life in art). Noga is filing lawsuits around the world, including the United States, trying to confiscate assets against debt (NEWSru.com , 2005.11.17).

2. If the vocabulary of the thematic group "time interval" occupies the position of the right component of the word form in the account, the left component is either the verbs to work, to work (to work on account of 1950 / next year), or the verbs to take / take, give, count (take time off on account of vacation; count the time worked on account vacations).

Thus, the word form in the account has a typical compatibility, which is limited, highly specialized.

Signs of grammaticalization of the word form in the account

Let us now consider the signs of grammaticalization, on the basis of which it is possible to judge the transition of a word form into a preposition class.

1. Falling out of the morphological paradigm (decategorization) The data presented above, obtained as a result of the analysis of contexts and the compatibility of the word form in the account, indicate the loss of the paradigmatic properties of the noun "account" as a part of speech by the word form, cf.:

advance payment on account of salary, but: *salary account /salary account; payments on account of damages, but: *damage compensation account / damage compensation account; release goods on account of future deliveries, but: * account / account of future deliveries; work on account of next year, but: *account of next year /next year's bill; take time off for vacation, but: vacation bill, etc.

It can be assumed that it was this feature that made it possible to determine the score as a stable combination, which was reflected in explanatory dictionaries in its place in the dictionary entry – behind the diamond (in the Small Academic Dictionary and the dictionary edited by D. N. Ushakov).

2. Context expansion, change in compatibility on the right

This feature is manifested in the unit in the account as follows:

2.1. For contexts with the word form in the account, the elimination of the component naming the purchase and sale processes is characteristic. Such a reduction leads to a metonymic transfer, for example: 

We had dinner in the kibbutz dining room, which was large and luxurious, and I took a box of paints from I.A. for my paintings, which their kibbutz produces (M. Ya. Grobman. Diary (1971)) — on account of the sale / purchase of the painting – on account of the painting.

When Ford switched to the Model A and he did not have cash, he turned to each of these dealers with a request to give him a thousand dollars on account of the manufactured cars (B. A. Pilnyak. Okay. American novel) — elimination of the "sale" component (due to the sale of manufactured cars).

All this was taken from the prince at the expense of future works on his future magazine: Lidinka took on account of her future translations, Anthographs on account of future proofs, the rest on account of future articles, etc. (V. V. Krestovsky. Panurgovo herd (Part 3-4)).            

2.2. Combinations with nouns with a temporal meaning are typical, the future lexeme is the most frequent. In such contexts, the connections of the word form in the account with the semantic field "finance" disappear or fade into the background. For example:

Kostya dreamed of a camera, and Grandma Anya gave him a gift. More precisely, Kostya begged for this gift. On account of a future birthday. It was three months before the birthday (M.C. Aromshtam. The Furry Child (2010))

2.3. Combinations with the words norm and quota are typical. In such contexts, the general idea of quantity remains, but the semantic component of "finance" is missing.

Examples: After tedious negotiations at the highest level with the EU, the Europeans agreed to put the goods accumulated at customs on account of quotas for 2006 (RIA Novosti, 04/06/11).

The Executive Committee of the Leningrad City Council of Workers' Deputies allowed the sale to the population on November ration cards at the expense of monthly norms: on November 3, 1942, Rice — at the expense of grain norms <...>. On November 4, 1942, Confectionery products — at the expense of sugar norms <...> (A. Boldyrev. Siege record (blockade diary))

Such contexts allow us to give a broad, abstract interpretation to the unit of account, which does not include this "finance", in the explanatory dictionaries of Ozhegov-Shvedova and the "Great Explanatory Dictionary" of A. S. Kuznetsov (see value 1 in ^[2],[12]).

2.4. Rare uses with abstract nouns that do not even have an implicit connection with the semantics of "money, finance" are recorded.

Examples: To admit, today's dinner at the DO is due to the hopes of restoring the coupon balance with the upcoming half–cut (A.Boldyrev. Siege record (blockade diary)). He brought red fish to the Forest — fish from inexpensive, but weakly salted, delicious and clearly at the expense of former acquaintances (V. Makanin. The underground, or the hero of our time)

3. Expanding left and right compatibility in the same context

Examples: This is what they do with small children, encouraging their insignificant efforts at the expense of future victories (Novaya Gazeta, 01/23/2003). I sketched something about the future novel — a general plot, some characters (Work-7, 08/06/2005). However, following the habit of hatred, Vekshin wanted to listen to the voice of the traitor again and again, delve into the intonation of treason, pretend to be ignorant, amuse himself at the expense of future exposure (L. M. Leonov. Thief. Part 3 (1927-1959)). I felt sorry for Valera not only because of what happened, but also for the future – the customs drew up an act on the transportation of pornography, copies of the act will be sent to the Writers' Union, to the Leningrad branch of the KGB, to the Literary Institute where Valera studied, and to the party organization where he was a candidate, joined the party shortly before trips. (Vladimir Solovyov. Three Jews, or Consolation in tears. A novel with epigraphs). I tried to sleep off last night while Shura was away, but I can't sleep during the day (V. N. Gelfand. Diaries of 1944-1946).

In relation to facts of this type, it is possible to talk about the generalization of contexts, since both the left and right components from a lexico-semantic point of view do not relate to the typical compatibility of the word form in the account.

The expansion of compatibility, generalization of contexts leads to semantic changes in the word form itself. In contexts such as those given in paragraph 3, the connection with the semantics of the account, with the verb to count, the derivative of which is the noun account, is lost. It is precisely such contexts that allow us to give interpretations similar to those in the "Great Explanatory Dictionary" by A. S. Kuznetsov and in the dictionary of N. Y. Shvedova: To cover, to compensate for what-L. ^[2],[19].

Conclusion

The analysis of the compatibility of the word form in the account showed that the typical and quantitatively predominant context of the word form is the context associated with the thematic group "Finance". Such a highly specialized context indicates that the word form in the account still retains a semantic connection with the noun account. However, for derived prepositions, such a connection always remains, exceptions are very rare (for example, prepositions during, in continuation, which have developed a temporary meaning). The word form has all the signs of grammaticalization: decategorization, generalization of contexts, desemanization.  In addition, an important feature is the presence of two meanings, of which only the first is directly related to the producing noun "account". The presence of these features makes it possible to attribute the word form to the class of derived prepositions.