Hierarchy and interaction of verbal categories: Research program and typological questionnaire.

The article presents a research program of the study of interaction of verbal categories couched in the tradition of St. Petersburg Typological School. The developed approach to syntagmatic interaction of verbal categories aims at integrating insights from the studies of typological markedness patterns with the work of V. S. Xrakovskij on dominant and recessive categories, as well as with Bybee’s conception of the hierarchy of verbal categories. The suggested approach seeks to constrain syntagmatic co-occurrence of grammatical categories in reliance to such functional factors as functional compatibility, relevance, economy and local markedness. The article also includes a questionnaire designed to guide a systematic investigation of interaction of verbal categories and their grammemes in the world’s languages.