VERBAL SYSTEMS OF THE LEZGIN LANGUAGES: THE STRUCTURE, SEMANTICS AND WAYS OF DEVELOPMENT OF PERFECTIVE FORMS
The paper deals with the structure and semantics of finite perfective forms with past time reference in Lezgic languages. The three main periphrastic patterns have been identified: perfective converb + copula, perfective converb + auxiliary ‘to be inside’, perfective participle + copula; additionally, there are synthetic forms identical to a converb or participle. The paths of semantic evolution of the source models have been traced, following the grammaticalization typology in the tense and aspect domain.