Latvian reflexive and non-reflexive verbs and action nouns with paš- ‘self-’

Abstract

The author continues to address issues of Latvian reflexive and non-reflexive verbs compounded with paš- ‘self-’ and their action nouns. A mass media database search yielded 210 reflexive verbs and 39 non-reflexive verbs compounded with paš-, as well as 290 reflexive and 160 non-
reflexive action nouns compounded with paš-. The functionality of paš-compounded reflexive verbs and nouns is facilitated through the interaction of the reflexive and emphatic semantics delivered by both the reflexive marker and paš-. For the non-reflexive verbs and action nouns, it may convey the causative semantics “subject someone/something to the autonomous action named by the verbal base” or the exclusive semantics “by oneself”. Although verbal derivation with paš- is a peripheral phenomenon in Latvian, reflexive verbs and nouns compounded with paš- provide insights into the intersection of verbal and nominal derivations. Paš- does not function fully in verbal derivation because of the sparse distribution of compound verbs. Instead, it demonstrates activity in the nominal domain as an action noun. For 53.4 % of the reflexive action nouns and 74.3 % of the non-reflexive action nouns, corresponding reflexive and non-reflexive verbs are not attested in the mass media database, which suggests the backformation of some paš-verbs due to the paradigmatic nature of the derivation verb – action noun. Paš- demonstrates its derivational potential from the nominal domain to the verbal domain, and action nouns with -šan- can be regarded as derived via this route.