Modal specificity of Russian verbs of "thinking" and "to think" with the prefix y-

Bavula Yuliya Ivanovna Lecturer of the Russian language, Admiral F. F. Ushakov Baltic Higher Naval School 82 Sovetsky Prospekt str., Kaliningrad, Kaliningrad region, 236022, Russia bavula07@mail.ru Other publications by this author

The universal category of modality "as one of the key semantic (conceptual) categories that ensure a living connection of an utterance with a non-linguistic reality and establish its communicative potential" ^{[7, p. 4]}, is interpreted by modern linguists as a "unique mental", "global scientific" ^{[26, p. 46]}, "cognitive" category, considered in the context of the "inseparable connection of language and thinking" ^{[13, p. 4]} as "a special stage in the process of reflection of objective reality by consciousness" ^{[31, p. 318]}. The phenomenon of linguistic modality has been at the center of interdisciplinary scientific thought for more than seventy years. Scientists have quite fully established a plan for its content and expression in dynamics (V. V. Vinogradov, Sh. Bally, G. A. Zolotova, A.V. Bondarko, S. S. Vaulina, G. P. Nemets, L. P. Dronova, I. R. Galperin, G. Ya. Solganik, T. V. Romanova, Z. Ya. Turaeva, M. V. Lyapon, B. V. Hrychikov, O. N. Solovyova, I. Y. Kuksa, H. Brinkmann, J. Buscha, G. Diewald, J. Erben, T. Fritz, M. Hanowell, G. Helbig, M. Krifka, G. Ohlschlager, F. Palmer, K. Sommerfeldt), etc.). However, S. S. Vaulina notes a "peculiar paradox", which consists "in not weakening, but rather increasing interest in this category" ^{[6, pp. 3-4]}. The explanation for this is the emergence and unresolved nature of a number of issues. For example, the definition of the specifics of the cognitive projection of modal meanings, linguistic forms of their expression, the study of the modal specificity of verbs included in the structure of the field of thought, the implementation of modal meaning by word-forming formants, as well as the discussion of some aspects of the functioning of the category of modality. Linguists debate the correctness of the use of the term "word-formation category of modality" (Vaulina 2021; Shapovalenko 2021), introduced by I. G. Kudryavtseva (Kudryavtseva 2008). The appearance of the term is probably due to the tendency of modern linguistics of the newest period to extrapolate modal meanings to a word-formation unit (derivator), including a verbal prefix.

Philologists have drawn attention to the very significant role of the prefix in the formation of "modal semantics in words (including verbs of thought), directly or indirectly expressing certain types of modal meanings" ^[35]. The above determines the relevance of this work, the object of study of which were the verbs of the field of thinking to think, to think and their derivatives with the prefix y-. The subject of the study, which determines the novelty of the work, is the modal specificity of the verbs of thinking with the formant u-. The validity of studying "fundamental lexical units of the Russian language (including their derivatives), covering a wide range of designations of various kinds of mental actions and states" ^{[10, p. 47]}, related to the semantic field of thinking, is beyond doubt.

The first scientific studies aimed at studying the verbs of thinking, their prefixal derivatives in terms of modality belong to S. S. Vaulina (Vaulina 1988, 2008), as well as S. V. Chernova (1996, 2008), L. M. Vasiliev (2006), partly L. P. Dronova (Dronova 2006), A. P. Moroslin (Moroslin 2001), Yu. I. Bavule (Bavula 2022, 2023), etc. As a result of the analysis of the evolution of the means of expressing the category of modality of the XI – XVII centuries, S. S. Vaulina came to the conclusion that verbs forming the semantic field of thought are part of the lexical means of expressing the meanings of situational modality – one of two layers of propositional modality expressing the relationship between the subject of action (the bearer of the attribute) and the prerequisites of action (predicative a sign). Such relationships are based on internal (subjective) reasons. Verbs of thought in combination with a dependent infinitive, S. S. Vaulina notes, "are able to act in a modal function" ^{[5, p. 76]}, i.e., to realize, in accordance with the specifics of their semantics, the invariant meaning of desirability (variant – intention, attempt, aspiration) (Vaulina 1988, 1993, 2008).

L. M. Vasiliev's theory does not contradict the scientist's point of view, according to which the verbs of thinking (evaluative, motivational, intentional) "can be qualified as modal" ^{[4, p. 394]}. It is interesting to note that the source of the modal functioning of the verbs considered in the article is the history of their origin. According to etymological dictionaries, the verb "think" is formed from the prasl. *mysl, which goes back to the I.E. root *men-, related to the Lithuanian maudziu, "to yearn, to long" ^[37]. Also, the dictionaries record the common Slavic origin of the Old Russian verb dumati, the probability of its formation from the common Slavic entity is noted.  *duma "thought, reflection, reflection" ^[40], one of the meanings of which indicates the meaning of "intention" ^[38]. The data of historical and etymological dictionaries convince us that the semantic meaning of the Old Russian verbs think, think contains the seme of desirability. This seme is contained in similar verbs of the modern Russian language, which "preserve and accumulate historically formed modal potential" ^{[1, p. 35]}.

Russian Russian is confirmed by the modal functioning of the corresponding verbs both in ancient Russian monuments and in the modern Russian language in the Corpus of the National Russian Language (hereinafter referred to as the NKRR). The texts of ancient Russian monuments of various genres, texts from the NKRJ (Main building, Newspaper building) served as practical language material. The volume of selected material for the study is about 1 thousand examples, of which 152 examples were selected from the monuments of ancient Russian literature, a total of 8 lexical units were studied: think, udumati, think, think, think, think. 

 St. Ignatius, Bishop of myshlish, created the church of Kamen (The Life of Avr. Small.); ...Tsar Basil and Dumasha crossed the river to go, willing, like a hare in tianyat, yati Devgeny (Devg. acts.).

Sr.: However, there is absolutely nothing to continue, as if everything that was still tremulously thinking of saying had also suddenly shifted... (V. Volodin. A vain funeral, a vain dead man (the blunder of death) // "Volga", 2010); So he decided to fill up the whole earth with snow – not only a man, but also a fox can not get through ... (E. Bogdanov "Blizzard")  ^[23].

 Based on the position that the content plan of the verbs of thinking (as well as the verb as a whole) represents "a polysituative, polysubstantial, polypropositional complex reflecting, as N. B. Lebedeva notes, the vision of a dynamic fragment of the world as a change of situations" ^{[19, pp. 22-23]}, it becomes possible to consider the verbs of thinking as a kind of "connection" in the speech-thinking activity of a person performing communicative, cognitive and expressive functions. This is due to the fact that in their semantic meaning, according to A. P. Moroslin, the expression "diverse angles and connections of actions denoted by verbs" is reflected ^{[22, p. 107]}. Linguists agree that the verbs of thought included in the structure of the semantic field of human mental activity are characterized by "extreme complexity" ^{[3, p. 5]} (Vasiliev 1970, 1981; Moroslin 2001; Glinka 2003; Gudnov 2013, etc.), especially affixally complicated formations (in other terminology, "asymmetric structures" ^{[9, p. 54]}. In the system of word formation of the Russian language, characterized by "root symmetry and asymmetry of affixes" ^{[9, p. 54]}, as V. A. Karpov notes, asymmetric structures prevail ^{[15, p. 205]}. They allow you to diversify and increase the amount of information as much as possible, as well as convey subtle shades of meanings, including modal ones. At the same time, it should be borne in mind that the prefix has "greater (than the suffix) independence as a significant part of the word" ^{[39, p. 99]}. The word-making arsenal of native speakers of the Russian language contains an extensive layer of derivatives from the root bases, including the basics of the verbs of thinking, for example, to think, to think; to conceive, to conceive; to think, to think; to think, to think, to think, etc.).

The prefix, constructing the value of the derivative, including the modal one, nominates a certain situation of action. In the process of intuitive or conscious word-making in the native language, according to linguists, the fixed results of the cognitive, mental experience of the speaker, his linguistic thinking, socially conditioned attitude to what is happening, anthropocentricity of views, which is expressed, as O. Y. Kryuchkova notes, "in the increasing role of the subject observing and evaluating the world" ^{[18, p. 6]}. The speaker selects one or another linguistic means, in this case a prefix, depending on the modal-communicative task and the perspective of the utterance, based on the linguistic knowledge common to the communication participants. The semantic meaning of the prefix, in the words of R. M. Gaisina, "seems to be superimposed on the denotative meaning of the verb, enters into its semantics on an autonomous basis" ^{[8, p. 15]}. As I. S. Ulukhanov notes, prefixes in derivatives "characterize from different sides the action called the motivating verb"^{[36, p. 53]}, "most often, according to N. M. Shansky, they turn out not to be neoplasms from the corresponding non-prefix verbs, but existing independent (albeit related) verbs, reproduced as integral meaningful units" ^{[39, p. 104]}, capable of transmitting an additional shade of semantic, modal meanings.

Today, the elements of a nominatively independent morphological level are actively studied by linguists in a modal way (L. G. Yatskevich 2006; I. G. Kudryavtseva 2008; V. V. Khimik 2010; E. I. Timoshenko 2013; L. V. Ratsiburskaya 2016, 2021, 2023; E. V. Shapovalenko 2021; Yu. I. Bavula 2023, etc.). However, the issue of the specifics of the modal functioning of the verbal prefix, in particular the formant y-, its modal potential as part of the verbs of thinking as a means of expressing the meanings of situational modality, the definition of its role in the formation of the modal meaning of the derivative remains poorly studied.

Derivatologists have sufficiently studied and described the functioning of the prefix u- (RG – 80; I. S. Ulukhanov 2017; O. I. Dmitrieva 2021, etc.).  They identified a number of meanings realized by him, identified common semes of derivatives with the formant in question: an action called a motivating verb, duration, intensity, state as a result of the named action, saturation; described cases associated with the absence of "rigid boundaries between word-formation, grammatical and lexical groupings in the language system and the graduated nature of the criteria of consistency", recorded "the implicit nature of the derivational semantics of verbs with the prefix u-", as well as the absence of "the typical character of the evaluative proposition in the polysituative semantic structure of derivatives of this word-formation type" (hereinafter CT), revealed "pronounced negative expressivity"  derivatives with the prefix y-, "the tendency to "negatize" this word-formation model, used as a means of interpreting the phenomena of the surrounding reality" ^{[17, p. 182]}, determined the scope of their functioning. Morphemic (word-forming or formative) connections of the prefix u- were established, seven lexico-semantic classes were identified, which include motivating verbs of the ST studied in the article, which include verbs of moving an object (rolling), verbs of cooking (cooking), verbs of physical impact on an object (trampling), verbs of speech impact (to speak), verbs of physiological influence (to stuff), verbs of movement (to ride), verbs of active influence on an object with harm to it (to torment) ^{[17, p. 184]}. The absence of verbs of the class of thinking in the motivating verbs ST with the prefix u indicates the expediency of studying this formant in terms of its "coupling" with the latter, as well as in terms of the modal, modal-evaluative meanings realized by it.

The first scientific work devoted, among other things, to the issue considered in the article belongs to S. S. Vaulina. Exploring the evolution of the means of the category of modality, the scientist drew attention to the fact that "the Old Russian verb think and its derivatives in combination with the subjective infinitive realize the meaning of desirability, however, mainly associated with the "unkind" intentions of the subject, which contradict the laws of accepted morality" ^{[5, p. 77]}. Cf.: and on all day long, I hear how the king thinks about me (Sin. pat.); The same thing happens to me, like killing a mind (Gal.-Vol. years). A similar modal functioning of the verb think and its derivatives is activated in the language of Old Russian writing: and do not always send them, afraid, because of everything people are indignant about his principality, but also at the samovo myslyakh (go / remove) (Repeat about the blindness of you. II). The realization of the negative meaning of desirability, S. S. Vaulina notes, "is especially consistently traced by the example of the derivative of intent" ^{[5, p. 126]}. Cf.: wanting the Grand Duke to see and intend to give him a mortal ulcer, like killing = they want to give a mortal ulcer (Pov. about Temir Aksak); And if the brother is planning to leave the monastery, he.... denounce his thought and comfort his brother = wanted to escape from the monastery (Kiev.-Pech. pat.).

The identical functioning of synonymous verbs of thought (and their derivatives with the prefix y-) can be traced in modern Russian. We find confirmation of this in the NKRJ: Cf.: ...forests just don't stand like that ... sometimes spontaneously cutting down, burning down in the heat of strange reasons – they probably think of planting you or ordering you to free up a place for themselves to prey under the sun and become sanctuaries themselves under the guise (V. Volodin. The Tale of bygone years // "Volga", 2011);I know people who only think about how to bite an apple, but I am calm towards them (Yu. Koval. Orphan winter) ^[23].

In modern Russian, the verb to think and its derivatives with the prefix y-, realizing the modal meaning of desirability, in some cases desirability as a condition of possibility, are more frequent compared to the synonymous verb to think (to conceive). According to dictionaries, the verbs to think – to conceive are outdated and little used ^{[31, 32]}. However, the low-frequency use of the verb to think is "largely " compensated by the "active functioning of the corresponding verbal noun intent" ^{[1, p. 39]}, the suffering participle intentional, in the meaning of the adjective intentional, which are widely used mainly in the legal field, as well as in the field of journalism. At the same time, the noun intent has the dictionary meaning of "premeditated secret intention (mainly reprehensible)" ^{[31, p. 496]}, "malicious intent", i.e., an action according to the verb to intend, one of the particular meanings of which is "what, on whom, to encroach, to plot, to conceive harm, evil, sedition" ^{[11, pp. 454-455]}. Cf.: In my opinion, we have proposed effective measures to reduce the consumption of counterfeit alcohol made in violation of technology, and sometimes maliciously, which will become a significant obstacle to the penetration of a surrogate on the shelves (The fight against tobacco counterfeiting can be beneficial for the regions // Parliamentary Gazette, 2021.01.06); For intentional non-presentation or distortion of information, you will have to pay 100 thousand rubles for each fact (Banks will be fined for concealing information about non-resident clients // Parliamentary Gazette, 2021.11.19) ^[23].

Derivatives of thinking verbs with the formant y- realize, as noted above, the modal meaning of desirability, mainly associated with a negative meaning.  This state of affairs, according to S. S. Vaulina, "is connected with the meaning of the prefix u-" ^{[5, p. 126]}. Confirmation of this is found in the Explanatory Dictionary of word–formation units of the Russian language by T. F. Efremova, RG-80, which indicates one of the particular meanings of the prefix u – - "bringing to an undesirable state with the help of an action called a motivating word (to leave, rock, teach, etc.) ^{[14, 25]}. The negative functioning of the formant in question is explained, among other things, by its etymology. In the Historical and Etymological Dictionary of the modern Russian language, P. Ya. Chernykh recorded a number of meanings of the prefix y-: "in the past, the initial y is a prefix that strengthens the negative meaning of a word and limited or weakened the meaning of a word when it was not negative," as well as one of its particular meanings – "aside, away, out (leave)", there are cases with the initial y- "in such (single) words as fragile and some others" ^{[38, p. 279]}. In M. Fasmer's etymological dictionary, the verb prefix u- (to remove, decrease, run away) is fixed, its kinship with ltsh. aumanis "out of his mind" is noted ^[37]. An indirect confirmation that the formant y- "builds" a negative meaning on the basis of a motivating verb can be a dictionary explanation of the meaning of y through the interjection alas: alas – "an exclamation expressing grief" ^[33], only Russian.- Tslav. Oh, art.-slav. Oh, bolg. y is an "exclamation of surprise and horror", as well as through the meaning of already, already, folk. so – "... as a threat" ^[37]. An early case of the realization of the concept of "bad" by means of a prefix is described in L. P. Dronova's monograph "The formation and evolution of the modal-evaluative vocabulary of the Russian language: an ethnolinguistic aspect". We are talking about the Sanskrit prefix ku- (consonant with Russian): ku-karman "bad deed", ku-cara "vicious, immoral", etc. As L. P. Dronova notes, this prefix is "among similar formations in Indo-Aryan and Slavic languages (in the form of *ka-, *ko- *ki-, *sa-, *ce-) is considered as a prepositive component of complex words, which are emotionally colored names, less often verbs, sometimes with a pejorative meaning or including an element of surprise, allegory, taboo in their circle of meanings ^{[12, pp. 25-26]}.

The data from various dictionaries convince us that the prefix u- considered in the article as part of the derived verbs of thinking (to think, to think) not only implements, but also strengthens the predominantly negative (negative) meaning on an autonomous basis, i.e. as an independent significant unit. The results of this study confirm this fact, complementing it with the fact that the word-formation formant y- contains an evaluative component in its meaning (positive or negative, depending on the context). Confirmation of this is found in the Dictionary of the Russian language of the XI – XVII centuries, in which it is recorded that the prefix u- is used, among other things, "to express moral participation or assessment: at (someone): How will you leave them, unless the Lord helps! Ab. Zh., 147 (~ 1672)" ^{[30, pp. 303-307]}.

The expression of moral participation implies the content of an evaluative seme in the meaning of the word, in this case the pejorative seme "to commit something bad, criminal, reprehensible (to the detriment of someone)" ^{[2, p. 390]}, which is "a reflector of the national idea of immoral and antisocial behavior of members of society" intened to didnot t^{[20, p. 11Let's illustrate with examples from the NKRJ. Sr.: But he had the guts to contradict the captain, and now he intended to do this (to disobey), the soul turns over – the order is not fulfilled! Yes, who? The commander of the unit himself (V. Kondratiev. Sashka (1979); The owner, a psycho, locked a dog in the car, he did not have money for an alarm system, so he decided, the bastard, to turn the animal into a highway (The daughter settled the mother with the dog in rusty Zhiguli and left for work from Tver to Moscow // Komsomolskaya Pravda, 11/14/2012) [23]}.

In the meaning of the verbs of thinking to think, to conceive, the inseparable connection of the evaluative and modal components becomes quite obvious, i.e. the "dual nature" of the derivatives of the utterance, namely, "a statement about something and at the same time an assessment" ^{[16, p. 91]}.

The basis of the modal functioning of the verbal prefix y is one of its lexical meanings (as a reflection of the linguistic knowledge (intuition) of a native speaker) - "bringing to an undesirable state (to extreme fatigue, impotence, exhaustion) with the help of an action called a motivating word" ^{[14, 21, 25]}. In the above definition of the prefix y, the semes of desirability and possibilities associated with bad intentions are expressed. Cf.: the groom sees the bride for the first time on the wedding day, when they lead from the table "to his wife in bed, where he sees her by candlelight close. And to live with her for a century!" "If life does not work out," Kotoshikhin explained, "he intends to do something to her so that she goes to a monastery, beats and torments in every possible way..." (A. Savinov. "Dating in the garden and the laws of Peter the Great" // "Knowledge is power", 2012);Realizing that while she was ill and lying in bed, the daughter and son ordered to take care of the funeral. Grabbing the edges of the coffin, she dragged him to the exit, saying:  "Well, what they decided to do is bury alive in a grave..." (S. Romanov. Parliament (2000) ^[23].  

It should be noted a number of meanings of the prefix y-, in which the semes of desirability and possibility are expressed implicitly: "remove, remove or force to remove from-L. with the help of an action called a motivating word, detachment"; "completely cover or cover with something-L. with the help of an action called a motivating word"; "reduce or decrease in in size, in volume with the help of an action called a motivating word"; "exhaustive completeness of the action", "bringing the action called a motivating infinitive to the norm – in word formation – and to effective completion – in shaping"; "to fit something-L. in any space, within any limits, volume"; "to stay in the state that is called a motivating word or performing an action in spite of something, despite difficulties, obstacles, etc." ^{[11, 14, 21, 25, 31]}; " acquisition of a new quality or enhancement qualities as a result of action" ^[31]; "destroy, use up something. with the help of an action called a motivating verb" ^{[25, p. 371]}; "to preserve the state that is called a motivating verb, to get used to", "to preserve the feature that is called a motivating verb ^{[21, p. 235]}.

As a result of the study, the modal potential of the verbs of thinking was revealed to think, to think with the prefix y-, realizing in combination with the dependent infinitive the meanings of situational modality – the meanings of desirability, possibilities associated mainly with intentions and intentions that conflict with moral, ethical, and social norms. The specificity of such modal functioning of the verbs to conceive, to think is explained by their syntactic position in the sentence structure, the lexical meaning of the prefix y - "bringing to an undesirable state with the help of an action called a motivating word" ^{[14, 25]}, the presence of a pejorative seme "to do something bad, criminal, reprehensible (to the detriment of someone)" ^{[2, p. 390]}, indicating "the expression of moral participation or appreciation" ^{[30, p. 303-307]}. This position finds support in the etymology of the Old Russian verbs think, think, as well as in the historical and etymological origin of the prefix u-, in which the seme of desirability is explicitly and implicitly expressed as a component of possibility, as well as the seme of pejorativeness.

Considering the above, it can be concluded that the prefix u-, traditionally considered as an element of a nominatively independent level, is capable of performing a modal function no less significant than the root morpheme, as well as "superstructure" and strengthen the predominantly negative semantics of the verbs of thinking to think, to think on an autonomous basis.

 In the course of the study, it was found that the verb to think and its prefixal derivative to think are the most frequent modal modifiers that realize the invariant meaning of desirability, as well as the meaning of opportunity, mainly associated with the intentions of the subject, contrary to the moral and ethical norms of society, accepting, as S. V. Leskina notes, the status of the law ^{[20, p. 11]}. The following spheres of functioning of the udumat derivative were established: artistic, journalistic, mainly colloquial speech and vernacular.

There are also isolated cases of the functioning of the obsolete verb to think and its prefixal derivative to think in a similar modal function, which are "only rarely used in literary speech" ^{[31, 32]}. The low frequency of verbs that have practically fallen out of use is compensated for by the very active use of the verbal noun intent, the passive participle intentional, etc. in the field of jurisprudence, as well as in colloquial speech.

The author of the article comes to the conclusion that native speakers easily differentiate the meanings of the prefix u- as part of the motivating verb of thinking structurally and semantically, using it mainly in colloquial (colloquial), legal, and journalistic spheres. "The vivid meaning of the prefix, according to Yu. A. Sukhorukova, correlates with a certain thematic and functional orientation of the text," i.e. it is "responsible" for the choice of the speech sphere" ^{[34, p. 38]}.

It is important to pay attention to the fact that the Dictionary of Russian Folk Dialects records the meanings of verbs of thinking with the prefix u- (to think – to think, to think – to think), as well as related derivatives that do not contain this "to commit something bad, criminal, reprehensible (to the detriment of someone)." On the contrary, their semantics are distinguished by the presence of a reclamation component. For example, the word intent has the meanings "mind, common sense", "God's providence"; intent – "design, intent"; deliberate – "well–made, convenient"; to conceive – to conceive - "1. To invent, to conceive something. 2. To guess something, to understand something. 3. Remember something. 4. Decide to do something" ^{[29, p. 209]}; to think - to think – "1. Decide. 2. Guess something. 3. Remember something. 4. With the inf. decide to do something. 5. Start doing something with the inf." ^{[28, p. 316]}. However, a negative seme is present in the meanings of the verb to think – "1. To conduct inappropriate reasoning, to be clever. 2. To contrive, to contrive" ^{[27, p. 62]}. The above allows us to conclude that the action called derivatives of the type in question can be interpreted as negative, positive, neutral, and also agree with the opinion of modern derivatologists that "the nature of the assessment of the condition expressed by derivatives of this type is not set by the derivation system, it is clarified every time in discourse" ^{[17, p. 182]}.