How Russian became Typologically Unusual: the History of Russian Temporal Adverbials with v ‘in(to)’

Abstract

The present study investigates the relationship between historical linguistics and language typology in Russian temporal adverbials. It is argued that temporal adverbials with v ‘in(to)’ are typologically unusual, since they are at variance with Leonard Talmy’s generalization that the semantics of closed-class elements tend to be magnitude-neutral (“topological”), rather than magnitude-sensitive (“Euclidean”). The study lends support to Alice Harris’ idea that typologically unusual constructions emerge via the interaction of usual historical processes.