Daiktavardiškasis ir polinksniškasis labui dabartinėje lietuvių (rašto) kalboje
Substantival and postpositional labui in the modern (written) Lithuanian language

Summary/Abstract: This article deals with the word labui (Lith. ‘for the sake, good, benefit (of)’), which in modern(written) Lithuanian is used as a substantive form and a postposition. Reference is made to the material sampled in the Corpus of the Modern Lithuanian Language compiled by the Centre for Computer-assisted Linguistics of Vytautas Magnus University.The study has revealed that while the meaning dative meaning of the noun labas is transparent (tarnauti visuotiniam labui (Lith. ‘to serve the common good’); kartu veikia bendramvisų labui (Lith. ‘working together for the good of all’)) in some instances, in others it tends to be somewhat more obscure (siunčia man mano labui (Lith. ‘sending (smth.) to me, for my benefit’)).A similar situation has been observed with constructions of the postposition labui: in addition to the clear-cut cases (būtinas bendro gėrio labui (Lith. ‘necessary for the common good’)), there arethose where labui can be construed both as an abstract substantive form, and a postposition (visatai dariau tavo labui (Lith. ‘I did it all for your benefit’)).Relying on the transparent and recognising the less obvious (transitional) cases, the usage of the substantive and postpositional labui is grounded on a system of hierarchies, where the appointed member is represented by a clear substantive or postpositional labui.Analysis of the usage of labui (substantive resp. postpositional) has showed that it correlates with a hierarchy of grammatical functions: object > supplement (circumstance): dativus sympatheticus > dativus commodi > other circumstances (purposes, cause) > dativus ethicus. This mirrors the hierarchical differences of syntactic subordination (complement > modifier) as well.The hierarchical correlation of person > abstract thing and the substantive labui >postposition labui shows when labui acts as the object: the dative of the substantive labas typicallycontrols the genitive of a noun that denotes persons (or the substitute pronoun) (būtinasvisuomenės labui (Lith. ‘necessary for the good of the public’)), the postposition labui, the genitiveof abstract nouns (būtina bendro gėrio labui (Lith. ‘necessary for the sake of the common good’));galią naudoti bendros gerovės labui (Lith. ‘using power for the sake of common wellbeing’)). Eventhough there are more variations between the substantive and the postpositional labui, a similar correlation exists when labui is a circumstance: the substantive labui is typically used with the dative of a noun (or pronoun) that denotes persons (gyvenimą pašvęsti šeimos labui (Lith. ‘dedicateone’s life for the good of the family’); sukūrė savo ir tautos labui (Lith. ‘created (smth.) for the benefit of himself and his nation’)), while the subordinate of the dative of the postposition labui is usually expressed with an abstract noun (or pronoun in its stead) (kviečiami jų pačių šviesesnėsateities labui (Lith. ‘are being invited for the sake of their own bright future’); grožio labuiseptynžiedžius renka (Lith. ‘collecting seven-leafs for the sake of beauty’)), but thanks to syntacticalcondensation, the genitive can also stand to signify living things (atidavė mirčiai žmonių labui (Lith.‘gave up to die for the sake of the people’)) as well.The dative of the substantive labas that acts as an object mirrors the function of the beneficiary or finitivus; there are cases when it correlates with the patient or the contentive. The dative of the substantive labas that acts as a circumstance usually denotes the beneficiary, and sometimes, the method. Genitive constructions involving the postpositional labui that act as the object denote the finitivus or beneficiary, and those that act as a circumstance typically designate the purpose.Constructions of the postposition labui are synonymous with the dative and/or the constructions of the preposition dėl (būtinas bendro gėrio labui (plg. bendram gėriui) (Lith.‘necessaryfor the sake of common good’; cf.‘for common good’); aukoti tikslų labui (plg. tikslams, dėl tikslų(Lith.‘donate for the sake of purposes’; cf.‘for purposes’); darbuojasi reikalo labui (plg. dėl reikalo)(Lith.‘working for the sake of the cause’; cf.‘for the cause’). The substantive labui paired with the genitive of a noun denoting persons or a pronoun differs from the dative of the beneficiary: labui explicates the attribute of benefit, of doing good for a person (būtina visuomenės labui (plg.visuomenei) (Lith.‘necessary for the good of the public’; cf.‘for the public’); sukūrė kitų tautų labui(plg. kitoms tautoms) (Lith.‘created (smth.) for the good of other nations’; cf.‘for other nations’).The construction of the postposition labui involving a genitive has fewer meanings, is more transparent, and penetrates the expression of the dative of the object (the valence structure of the predicate – the nucleus of the sentence), pushing the dative of purpose acting as a circumstance,and altering constructions of the purpose preposition dėl due to their multi functional nature.

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