the term conative

[Hannu Tommola]

Sorry,

I didn't mention that my example was from Russian, and that the verbs  
or verb forms are past imperfective (ubezhda-l) and past perfective  
(ubedi-l).

Hannu

Quoting Hannu Tommola <Hannu.Tommola at uta.fi>:

> Dear Nigel and all,
>
> in Slavic aspectology 'conative' is used as a term referring to one  
> use or one interpretation of the imperfective aspect, especially in  
> the case of achievement verbs like ipf. ubedit'/ pf. ubezhdat'  
> 'convince', e.g.:
>
> Ja dolgo ubezhdal     ego, no  ne  ubedil
> I  long  convince.ipf him  but NEG convince.pf.
> 'I tried to convince him, but did not success'
>
> Best,
> Hannu
>
> Quoting Nigel Vincent <nigel.vincent at MANCHESTER.AC.UK>:
>
>> Dear Colleagues,
>> I'm interested in uses of the term 'conative'. I have seen it used  
>> to describe case alternations equivalent to the difference in  
>> English between 'he shot the bear' and 'he shot at the bear', for  
>> example in languages like Warlpiri, and Kiparsky has suggested an  
>> affinity between the Warlpiri pattern and the alternation between  
>> accusative and partitive objects in Finnish. The latter are also  
>> sometimes called irresultative. What I am finding it harder to get  
>> examples of are instances of conative as a label for verb  
>> inflections or periphrases. Matthews' Oxford Concise Dictionary of  
>> Linguistics says the term can be used for verb inflections with the  
>> meaning 'try to' but he doesn't cite any languages which have this  
>> phenomenon. I'd be grateful therefore for any other languages that  
>> colleagues can point me to which exhibit a conative construction in  
>> this second sense. Aikhenvald's grammar of Tariana identifies a  
>> complex predicate construction which she calls 'irresultative' and  
>> which comes close: as she says such complex predicates 'describe  
>> actions or states which do not quite amount to what they ought to',  
>> though in her examples there doesn't seem to be any necessary  
>> implication of trying.
>> Thanks,
>> Nigel
>> P.S. I'm assuming that Jakobson's use of the term 'conative' to  
>> describe one of the functions of language is something altogether  
>> different.
>>
>>
>> Professor Nigel Vincent, FBA
>> Professor Emeritus of General & Romance Linguistics
>> The University of Manchester
>>
>> Vice-President for Research & HE Policy, The British Academy
>>
>> Linguistics & English Language
>> School of Arts, Languages and Cultures
>> The University of Manchester
>> Manchester M13 9PL
>> UK
>>
>>
>>
>> http://www.llc.manchester.ac.uk/subjects/lel/staff/nigel-vincent/
>>
>
>
>
> -- 
> Hannu Tommola, Professor of Russian Language (Translation Theory and  
> Practice)
> School of Language, Translation and Literary Studies
> FIN-33014 University of Tampere, Finland
> Phone: +358-(0)3-3551 6102
> www.uta.fi/~trhato
>



-- 
Hannu Tommola, Professor of Russian Language (Translation Theory and Practice)
School of Language, Translation and Literary Studies
FIN-33014 University of Tampere, Finland
Phone: +358-(0)3-3551 6102
www.uta.fi/~trhato