ИСТИНА

The current paper addresses verbal circumfixal derivation patterns in modern Russian. The discussion is focused on a series of circumfixes which trigger the intensified usage of the basic verb (~’keep doing P too much’). Derivatives built up by adding a prefix and a reflexive -ся to an imperfective verb are examined. Although each prefix adds specific shades of meaning to the verb, such patterns are, however, claimed to share common features at different levels of linguistic analysis, such as morphology, syntax, and semantics. Furthermore, such patterns are highly productive in modern language; once certain constraints are fulfilled, an intensified derivative can be formed from any imperfective verb. This fact, along with them sharing certain common features, allow us to argue that the patterns in question can be considered inflectional, rather than derivational.