Verbalization and non-canonical case marking of some irregular verbs in *-ē- in Baltic and Russian

Abstract

The paper deals with some morphologically irregular verbs derived with the suffix *-ē- in Baltic and Russian such as Lithuanian skaudėti ‘to ache’, reikėti ‘have to, need’, gailėti ‘to pity’, Russian bolet’ ‘to ache’, etc. These morphological irregularities appear primarily in the present tense of the Baltic verbs under investigation. We claim that these verbs are denominal in their origin. We assume that there is a recurrent development found with these verbs: they rise as adverb-like or noun predicatives and, then, gradually acquire verbal properties. Their denominal origin furthermore explains the non-canonical alignment of the arguments of these verbs. We argue that this alignment represents a residue of a former nominal alignment. This explanation not only straightforwardly explains the quirky case-assignments, but also the morphological irregularities found in the present stem.