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The aim is to explore the different meanings of the verb močʹ and how these affect its grammatical forms.

March 2, 2026

Impact of the meanings of the verb močʹ on its ability to form past tense and perfective

Key Points

The aim is to explore the different meanings of the verb močʹ and how these affect its grammatical forms.
Analyzed traditional categorization of meanings for the verb močʹ.
Identified seven distinct meanings through semantic and prosodic evaluation.
Assessed the ability to form past tense and perfective based on these meanings.
Identified seven meanings: internal ability, permissive, epistemic, warning, perceived right, permission to begin, and external possibility.
Demonstrated that these meanings impact the verb's grammatical structure.

Abstract

It has long been noted that močʹ – smočʹ ‘can, be able to, may’ is an unusual aspectual pair, yet močʹ has been commonly treated as having three meanings: alethic, deontic and epistemic. The article abandons this traditional treatment and identifies seven distinct meanings of the verb močʹ: internal ability, permissive, epistemic, warning, perceived right, permission to begin, and external possibility. Their distinctions are not only semantic but also prosodic and in their ability to have a past tense form and/or to form a perfective based on smočʹ.

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Alina Israeli (Wed,) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/69a52d9af1e85e5c73bf09fa — DOI: https://doi.org/10.31261/neo.2025.37.10

Impact of the meanings of the verb močʹ on its ability to form past tense and perfective

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