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Inflectional morphology

3.1 Introduction

Much of the work of Russian grammar is done by inflectional morphology: a given word has a basic shape that is relatively stable, while the end of the word varies, resulting in different forms of one word that are used with different functions or in different contexts. Nouns and verbs differ somewhat from each other in their strategies of inflection.

Nouns present a pleasingly geometric paradigm: to use a noun, a speaker chooses one of about a dozen distinct forms expressing one of six cases and, simultaneously, one of two numbers. Nouns are partitioned into three declension classes. With few exceptions, the stems of nouns remain the same, or nearly the same, in all cases and numbers. Thus rj´cnm ‘bone’ (from Declension<IIIa>) uses a stem {kost˛-} in all forms (nom sg rj´cnm, dat sg rj´cnb), while l†kj ‘deed, matter’ (of a different declension class, Declension<Ib>) uses the same stem {d˛el-} in almost all forms (nom sg l†kj, dat sg l†ke, ins pl ltkƒvb, though loc sg l†kt implies a slightly different stem, {d˛el˛-}). Though the stems are stable, the endings differ depending on the declension class, as is evident from the difference in (for example) dat sg rj´cnb as opposed to dat sg l†ke. Nouns are also partitioned into one of three syntactic genders reflected in patterns of agreement in adjectives and verbs; the partition into syntactic genders is closely correlated with (though it is not identical to) the partition into declension classes. A noun belongs to a single gender. Adjectives, unlike nouns, vary in their shape according to the case, number, and gender, in agreement with the noun with which they are associated. Adjectives and verbs distinguish gender in the singular but not in the plural. Accordingly, it is possible to speak of a distinction of four gender-- number forms: the three singular genders and the plural. Personal pronouns (first-person, second-person, reflexive) distinguish case and number but not gender. Third-person pronouns distinguish gender in the singular, as well as case and number.

Verbs differ from nouns in various respects. While singular nouns have different endings depending on the declension class, verbs have more uniform

grammatical endings. For example, {-s} marks the second-person singular of

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