Introduction

The primary purpose of this chapter is to further illustrate the explanatory power of diathesis theory by applying it to the analysis of hybrid verbal categories, which I define as an [X-x]x, which is a productively derived composite head, where X is a lexical stem and -x is an affixal head, and X and -xbelong to different categories, i.e., have different sets of categorial features (cf. Grimshaw 2005: 2). [X-x]x is created by the composition of the diatheses of X and -x. For example, English [V-n]ngerundive nominals combine the properties of verbs and nouns. In contrast, the LF and SF of the adjective are homogeneous categories: both the lexical stem A in [A-a]a and the adjectival suffixes it composes with (-aSF or -aLF) have the same categorial features. It will be demonstrated below that the diathesis's 2×4 structure accounts for the unique set of morphosyntactic properties that characterize hybrid categories cross-linguistically.

Russian has two fully productive hybrid verbal categories, both of which are adjunct s-predicates:

1. Deverbal adverbials: [X-x]x = [V-g]g (see §2.16). The hybrid adverbial suffix -g has inherent adverbial features and it deletes V's external N1, creating an s-predicate hybrid category (see (8)/(9)).

2. Participles are deverbal adjectives, i.e., [X-x]x = [V-af]af, where -af- is the participle-forming suffix, which has adjectival features. Russian has three types of participle, each of which has radically different morphosyntactic properties: -en- participles (see §2.15) and -šč- participles are treated below; -em- participles, which combine the essential properties of the other two, are treated in §3.2.5. Each suffix has several exponents.