Understanding Temporal Expressions in Russian: A Study of “в” (v) and “на” (na)

doi:10.18627/jslg.40.2.202408.167

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2024 Vol.40, Issue 2 Preview Page Next Page

Research Article

Understanding Temporal Expressions in Russian: A Study of “в” (v) and “на” (na): Chon, Ekaterina^1*; ¹Mokpo National University

31 August 2024. pp. 167-190

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Abstract

This study investigates the temporal uses of the Russian prepositions “в” (in) and “на” (on) and their interaction with the accusative and locative cases. Drawing on the TIME IS SPACE metaphor, which suggests that our understanding of time is grounded in spatial experiences, this paper explores how these prepositions are employed to convey temporal meanings. Despite extensive research on the spatial uses of these prepositions, there is a paucity of studies comparing their temporal applications, particularly regarding case selection. Using a corpus analysis, we examine the frequency and context of “в” and “на” in temporal expressions, aiming to uncover patterns that shed light on the cognitive motivations behind their usage. Our findings contribute to a deeper understanding of the complex interplay between spatial and temporal language in Russian, offering insights into both theoretical linguistics and language learning.

Keywords

Russian language

Russian National Corpus

Russian prepositions

prepositions of time

TIME metaphor

References

Azarova, I. and Zakharov, V. 2018. Temporal Aspects Expressed by Russian Prepositional Phrases. International Multidisciplinary Scientific Conference on Social Sciences & Arts SGEM 5, 571-577. 10.5593/sgemsocial2018/3.6/S14.074
Boroditsky, L. 2000. Metaphoric Structuring: Understanding Time Through Spatial Metaphors. Cognition 75.1, 1-28. 10.1016/S0010-0277(99)00073-6 10815775
Boroditsky, L. 2018. Language and the Construction of Time through Space. Trends in Neurosciences 41.10, 651-653. 10.1016/j.tins.2018.08.004 30274600
Cappelle, B. 2009. The Time is Space Metaphor: Some Linguistic Evidence that Its End Is Near. Faits de Langues 34.1, 53-61. 10.1163/19589514-034-01-900000005
Eom, S.-C. 2014. The Semantic Analysis of the Russian Spatial Movement Preposition Na at the Lexical and Syntactic Levels. East European & Balkan Studies 38.6, 3-38.
Eom, S.-C. 2015. The Historical Changes of Russian Prepositions and an Analysis of Their Semantic System. The Journal of Humanities 36.1, 149-178.
Evans, V. 2004. How We Conceptualise Time: Language, Meaning and Temporal Cognition. Essays in Arts and Sciences XIII, 733-765.
Evans, V. 2013. Temporal Frames of Reference. Cognitive Linguistics 24.3, 393-435. 10.1515/cog-2013-0016
Gawrońska, B., Nikolaenkova, O., and Erlendsson, B. 2006. A Corpus Based Analysis of English, Swedish, Polish, and Russian Prepositions. In Antonis Botinis (ed.) Proceedings of ISCA Tutorial and Research Workshop on Experimental Linguistics, 28-30 August 2006, Athens, Greece, 137-140.
Haspelmath, M. 1997. From Space to Time: Temporal Adverbials in the World’s Languages. München – Newcastle: LINCOM EUROPA.
Hendricks, R. and Boroditsky, L. 2015. Constructing Mental Time Without Visual Experience. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 19.8, 429-430. 10.1016/j.tics.2015.06.011 26165184
Janda, L. 2013. Time and Space in Parallel Streams: In Place of an Introduction. Russian Linguistics 37.3, 219-228. 10.1007/s11185-013-9119-5
Kuznetsova, J., Plungian, V., and Rakhilina, E. 2013. Time as Secondary to Space: Russian Pod ‘Under’ and Iz-Pod ‘From-Under’ in Temporal Constructions. Russian Linguistics 37.3, 293-316. 10.1007/s11185-013-9116-8
Lakoff, G. and Johnson, M. 1980. Metaphors We Live by. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Levin, M. 1992. Time Expressions in Russian: The Prepositions В and На. Russian Language Journal 46.153/155, 51-56.
Lim, S. 2022. Metaphorical Extensions of The Concept of Spatial Orientation in Russian: Focused on The Spatial Preposition POD. Korean Journal of Russian Language and Literature 34.1, 3-36. 10.38077/KJRLL.2022.3.34.1.3
Makarova, A. and Nesset, T. 2013. Space-Time Asymmetries: Russian v ‘In(to)’ and the North Slavic Temporal Adverbial Continuum. Russian Linguistics 37.3, 317-345. 10.1007/s11185-013-9115-9
Nuñez, R., Motz, B., and Teuscher, U. 2006. Time After Time: The Psychological Reality of the Ego- and Time-Reference- Point Distinction in Metaphorical Construals of Time. Metaphor and Symbol 21.3, 133-146. 10.1207/s15327868ms2103_1
Radden, G. 2015. The Metaphor TIME IS SPACE Across Languages. Zeitschrift für Interkulturellen Fremdsprachenunterricht 8.2, 226-239.
Rakhilina, E. and Plungian, V. 2013. Temporal Meanings of Russian Prepositions: The Limits of Metaphorization. Русский язык в научном освещении 1.25, 5-20.
Rinaldi, L., Vecchi, T., Fantino, M., Merabet, L., and Cattaneo, Z. 2018. The Ego-Moving Metaphor of Time Relies on Visual Experience: No Representation of Time Along the Sagittal Space in the Blind. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 147.3, 444-450. 10.1037/xge0000373 29154613
Talmy, L. 2000. Toward a Cognitive Semantics: Concept Structuring Systems, Vol. 1. Cambridge MA: MIT Press. 10.7551/mitpress/6847.001.0001
Zakharov, V. and Azarova, I. 2019. Semantic Structure of Russian Prepositional Constructions. In Ekštein, K. Text, Speech, and Dialogue (1st ed.) Cham, Switzerland: Springer. 10.1007/978-3-030-27947-9_19
Институт русского языка им. В.В. Виноградова РАН. 2003. Russian National Corpus. Москва, Россия. Web. Accessed on 2024.08.19.
Рахилина, Е. and Плунгян, В. (Rakhilina, E. and Plungian, V.) 2014. Семантико-синтаксические свойства русских конструкций с предлогом ПОД: прямые (пространственные) и переносные (временные) употребления. Die Welt der Slaven LIX, 22-56.

Information

Publisher :The Modern Linguistic Society of Korea
Publisher(Ko) :한국현대언어학회
Journal Title :The Journal of Studies in Language
Journal Title(Ko) :언어연구
Volume : 40
No :2
Pages :167-190
DOI :https://doi.org/10.18627/jslg.40.2.202408.167

[1] Azarova, I. and Zakharov, V. 2018. Temporal Aspects Expressed by Russian Prepositional Phrases. International Multidisciplinary Scientific Conference on Social Sciences & Arts SGEM 5, 571-577. 10.5593/sgemsocial2018/3.6/S14.074

[2] Boroditsky, L. 2000. Metaphoric Structuring: Understanding Time Through Spatial Metaphors. Cognition 75.1, 1-28. 10.1016/S0010-0277(99)00073-6 10815775

[3] Boroditsky, L. 2018. Language and the Construction of Time through Space. Trends in Neurosciences 41.10, 651-653. 10.1016/j.tins.2018.08.004 30274600

[4] Cappelle, B. 2009. The Time is Space Metaphor: Some Linguistic Evidence that Its End Is Near. Faits de Langues 34.1, 53-61. 10.1163/19589514-034-01-900000005

[5] Eom, S.-C. 2014. The Semantic Analysis of the Russian Spatial Movement Preposition Na at the Lexical and Syntactic Levels. East European & Balkan Studies 38.6, 3-38.

[6] Eom, S.-C. 2015. The Historical Changes of Russian Prepositions and an Analysis of Their Semantic System. The Journal of Humanities 36.1, 149-178.

[7] Evans, V. 2004. How We Conceptualise Time: Language, Meaning and Temporal Cognition. Essays in Arts and Sciences XIII, 733-765.

[8] Evans, V. 2013. Temporal Frames of Reference. Cognitive Linguistics 24.3, 393-435. 10.1515/cog-2013-0016

[9] Gawrońska, B., Nikolaenkova, O., and Erlendsson, B. 2006. A Corpus Based Analysis of English, Swedish, Polish, and Russian Prepositions. In Antonis Botinis (ed.) Proceedings of ISCA Tutorial and Research Workshop on Experimental Linguistics, 28-30 August 2006, Athens, Greece, 137-140.

[10] Haspelmath, M. 1997. From Space to Time: Temporal Adverbials in the World’s Languages. München – Newcastle: LINCOM EUROPA.

[11] Hendricks, R. and Boroditsky, L. 2015. Constructing Mental Time Without Visual Experience. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 19.8, 429-430. 10.1016/j.tics.2015.06.011 26165184

[12] Janda, L. 2013. Time and Space in Parallel Streams: In Place of an Introduction. Russian Linguistics 37.3, 219-228. 10.1007/s11185-013-9119-5

[13] Kuznetsova, J., Plungian, V., and Rakhilina, E. 2013. Time as Secondary to Space: Russian Pod ‘Under’ and Iz-Pod ‘From-Under’ in Temporal Constructions. Russian Linguistics 37.3, 293-316. 10.1007/s11185-013-9116-8

[14] Lakoff, G. and Johnson, M. 1980. Metaphors We Live by. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

[15] Levin, M. 1992. Time Expressions in Russian: The Prepositions В and На. Russian Language Journal 46.153/155, 51-56.

[16] Lim, S. 2022. Metaphorical Extensions of The Concept of Spatial Orientation in Russian: Focused on The Spatial Preposition POD. Korean Journal of Russian Language and Literature 34.1, 3-36. 10.38077/KJRLL.2022.3.34.1.3

[17] Makarova, A. and Nesset, T. 2013. Space-Time Asymmetries: Russian v ‘In(to)’ and the North Slavic Temporal Adverbial Continuum. Russian Linguistics 37.3, 317-345. 10.1007/s11185-013-9115-9

[18] Nuñez, R., Motz, B., and Teuscher, U. 2006. Time After Time: The Psychological Reality of the Ego- and Time-Reference- Point Distinction in Metaphorical Construals of Time. Metaphor and Symbol 21.3, 133-146. 10.1207/s15327868ms2103_1

[19] Radden, G. 2015. The Metaphor TIME IS SPACE Across Languages. Zeitschrift für Interkulturellen Fremdsprachenunterricht 8.2, 226-239.

[20] Rakhilina, E. and Plungian, V. 2013. Temporal Meanings of Russian Prepositions: The Limits of Metaphorization. Русский язык в научном освещении 1.25, 5-20.

[21] Rinaldi, L., Vecchi, T., Fantino, M., Merabet, L., and Cattaneo, Z. 2018. The Ego-Moving Metaphor of Time Relies on Visual Experience: No Representation of Time Along the Sagittal Space in the Blind. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 147.3, 444-450. 10.1037/xge0000373 29154613

[22] Talmy, L. 2000. Toward a Cognitive Semantics: Concept Structuring Systems, Vol. 1. Cambridge MA: MIT Press. 10.7551/mitpress/6847.001.0001

[23] Zakharov, V. and Azarova, I. 2019. Semantic Structure of Russian Prepositional Constructions. In Ekštein, K. Text, Speech, and Dialogue (1st ed.) Cham, Switzerland: Springer. 10.1007/978-3-030-27947-9_19

[24] Институт русского языка им. В.В. Виноградова РАН. 2003. Russian National Corpus. Москва, Россия. Web. Accessed on 2024.08.19.

[25] Рахилина, Е. and Плунгян, В. (Rakhilina, E. and Plungian, V.) 2014. Семантико-синтаксические свойства русских конструкций с предлогом ПОД: прямые (пространственные) и переносные (временные) употребления. Die Welt der Slaven LIX, 22-56.

The Journal of Studies in Language ISSN:1225-4770(Print) 2671-6151(Online) 언어연구

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