Distribution of Russian telic-extent adverbials with the prepositions v and za in the 18–20th centuries

This article analyzes diachronic and synchronous aspects of distribution of the prepositions v ‘in’ and za ‘during’ in the Russian telic-extent adverbials in the 18–20th centuries. After discussing main tendencies in the distribution of the prepositions in combination with various semantic types of noun phrases with the meaning ‘time interval’, the conclusion is drawn that, while in the 18–19th centuries constructions with v prevailed, modern usage shows greater prevalence of za. In addition, the work suggests, on the basis of the linguistic metaphor “space–time”, possible grounds for emergent tendencies of the discussed prepositions to combine with lexical contexts of particular types.