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of fellow neuters of Declension<Ib>. The final consonant of the stem expansion in {-Vn-} is palatalized in the singular {-Vn˛-} and unpalatalized in the plural {-Vn-}. Normally that vowel is unstressed; it becomes stressed only in the endingless genitive plural, when the end of the stem is normally {-m˛on-}: bv=y. Two nouns take gen pl {-m˛an-}: ctvz´y, cnhtvz´y. The archaic noun lbnz´ ‘child, offspring’ belongs in Declension<III>, by virtue of merging the three oblique cases (lbnz´nb<gen=dat=loc>); the instrumental is lbnz´ntq. The lone masculine génm ‘road’ follows Declension<IIIa> except in the instrumental singular.

3.6.8 Declension and gender of gradation

As emerged from the earlier exposition, gender and declension class are largely stable and fixed. A given noun is assigned to one and only one declension class. With the exception of nouns referring to human beings, syntactic gender can be predicted from morphological gender. As a rule, Declension<Ia> is masculine, Declension<Ib> neuter, and Declension<II> and Declension<III> mostly feminine. In ordinary instances, diminutives are transparent; the derived noun is assigned to one of the three productive declensional patterns and maintains its ancestral gender -- the gender of the base noun. Thus the masculine suffix {-k-} and

its expansions ({-ik-}, {-cik-}, {-ck-}) take masculine nouns from Declension<Ia>

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or Declension<II> and assign them to Declension<Ia>; masculine gender is preserved. The corresponding feminine versions of these suffixes assign nouns from Declension<II> and Declension<IIIa> to Declension<II>, and the neuter versions assign nouns to Declension<Ib>.

The only problematic cases involve gradated derivatives. Pejorative diminutives of the type msc ljv∫irj ‘house’ and nt jrj´irj ‘window’ belong to Declension<Ib>, though they have nom pl {-i}, more like Declension<Ia> than Declension<Ib>, with the expected gen pl ending {--º}: nom pl ljv∫irb, jrj´irb, gen pl ljv∫itr, jrj´itr. Phonetically, the final vowel of [d m˛íˇskə] could easily be construed as the nominative singular of Declension<II>. And in fact, in less-than-standard register these nouns can take the singular oblique cases from Declension<II> (gen sg ljv∫irb, dat sg=loc sg ljv∫irt, ins sg ljv∫irjq). The accusative is still ljv∫ire, not ljv∫irj.

Another problematic declension is diminutives in {-in-(a)} from masculines (lj;l∫yf < lj´;lm ‘rain’, [jkjl∫yf < [j´kjl ‘cold’, ljv∫yf < lj´v ‘building’), which decline like members of Declension<II>: nom sg ljv∫yf, acc sg ljv∫ye, gen sg ljv∫ys, dat sg=loc sg ljv∫yt, ins sg ljv∫yjq, nom pl ljv∫ys, gen pl ljv∫y. The syntactic gender for these nouns, however, vacillates between feminine, appropriate for Declension<II>, and masculine, which is the ancestral gender. Both agreement variants are said to be stylistically neutral, hence both …nf ljv∫yf, which would be like a true feminine (though it contradicts

146A Reference Grammar of Russian

the ancestral gender), and …njn ljv∫yf, which would be like a masculine member of Declension<II> (though masculines in Declension<II> are otherwise only animate). In the accusative, the feminine pattern prevails ([14]):

[14]Pfujy/ эne ljvbye ( эnjn ljvbye) pf 150 nsczxb ,frcjd b djpmve d Vjcrdt [jhjie/ rdfhnbhe.

I’ll get rid of this house for 150 thousand bucks and get a good apartment in Moscow.

A third set of problems arises with the suffix {-is…˛-}. The feminine augmenta-

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tive assigns nouns to Declension<II>, as in uhzp∫of < uhz´pm ‘dirt’, ,ƒ,bof < ,ƒ,f ‘old woman’. With neuter nouns, the derivative behaves like a standard member of Declension<Ib>: ctk∫ot < ctkj´ ‘village’. What appears to be the same suffix can be applied to masculine nouns and yield neuter derivatives which have a metonymic meaning: njgj´h ‘ax’ > njgjh∫ot ‘ax handle’; rjcn=h ‘bonfire’ > rjcnh∫ot ‘site of bonfire’. This suffix also forms derivatives of verbal roots -- e,†;bot ‘refuge’, ;bk∫ot ‘dwelling’. These derivatives are unproblematic neuter nouns with the endings characteristic of Declension<Ib>: nom pl {-a} -- ctk∫of, rjcnh∫of, e,†;bof -- and gen pl {--º} -- ctk∫o, rjcnh∫o, e,†;bo.

This suffix, applied to masculine (Declension<Ia>) nouns in the strictly augmentative sense, yields derivatives whose nominative singular would put them in Declension<Ib>: lj´v > ljv∫ot ‘big house’, njgj´h > njgjh∫ot ‘big ax’, uj´hjl > ujhjl∫ot ‘big city’, fv,ƒh > fv,ƒhbot ‘big barn’. In the plural, these derivatives use gen pl {--º}, while the nominative plural varies between {-a} (from Declension<Ib>) and {-i} (from Declension<Ia>): ljv∫ot, nom pl ljv∫of ljv∫ob, gen pl ljv∫o; njgjh∫ot, nom pl njgjh∫of njgjh∫ob, gen pl njgjh∫o; ujhjl∫ot, nom pl ujhjl∫of ujhjl∫ob, gen pl ujhjl∫o. A minority of these nouns take {-i} exclusively: k,∫ot ‘forehead’, nom pl k,∫ob, gen pl k,∫o; cfgj;∫ot ‘boot’, nom pl cfgj;∫ob, gen pl cfgj;∫o. This is usual for animates: lhe;∫ot ‘friend’, nom pl lhe;∫ob, gen pl lhe;∫o; gfhy∫ot ‘fellow’, nom pl gfhy∫ob, gen pl gfhy∫o; djkx∫ot ‘wolf ’, nom pl djkx∫ob, gen pl djkx∫o.

The patterns of nominative plurals can be summarized in tabular form (Table 3.35).

Animate augmentatives like djkx∫ot can adopt the morphology of Declension<II> in the less-than-standard register. Use of the genitive {-i}, dative and locative {-e}, and instrumental {-oj} (orthographic ≤-tq≥) is substandard, but use of the accusative in {-u} is only less literary: nfrj´uj djkx∫oe (Njkmrj xnj dbltkf pljhjdtyyjuj nfrjuj djkxboe ‘I just saw such a healthy wolf ’), which is analogous to vjtuj´ lz´l/.

In general, these derived forms are subject to two pressures. On the one hand, they should inherit the gender of the ancestral noun. On the other, the suffixes push the derivatives towards specific declension classes. From this tension results

Inf lectional morphology 147

Table 3.35 Nominative plural of {-is…˛-e}

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gender			semantic type	nom pl
msc animate	>	msc ,sx∫ot	augmentative	{-i}
msc inanimate	>	msc k,∫ot	augmentative	{-i}
msc inanimate	>	msc ujhjl∫ot	augmentative	{-i} {-a}
msc	>	nt njgjh∫ot	metonymic	{-a}
nt	>	nt jry∫ot	augmentative	{-a}
---	>	nt e,t;∫ot	abstract deverbal	{-a}

an unstable declension affiliation. It is interesting that the accusative singular in {-u} stands out; it is the most characteristic feature of feminine nouns of Declension<II>.

3.6.9 Accentual paradigms

Nouns have six patterns of accentuation, which are available to all declensions, but are attested with different numbers of nouns in different declensions (Table 3.36).

If the stress patterns and declension classes are arranged in a particular order, some generalizations about stress paradigms and declension classes emerge.28

Those patterns in Table 3.36 in which stress falls consistently in the same place in both singular and plural, either root {Rsg : Rpl} or ending {Esg : Epl}, are evidently the most frequent patterns, and occur with the largest number of declension classes. Restricted are patterns in which there is a shift within one number, such as a shift between the nominative plural and the oblique plural, {Rsg : Epl(Rnom)} and {Esg : Epl(Rnom)}. (The pattern in which there is alternation within the singular is the most archaic and restricted pattern of all.) Intermediate are alternations between the whole singular paradigm and the whole plural paradigm, the pattern {Rsg : Epl} and its converse {Esg : Rpl}.

If Table 3.36 is viewed from the perspective of the declension classes, we observe that Declension<IIIa>, at one end, basically holds stress on the root; it allows only limited end stress, when stress shifts to the end in the oblique plural ({Rsg: Epl(Rnom)}). At the opposite end of the spectrum, Declension<ii> has shifting stress only when stress is basically on the end in the singular (archaic {Esg (Racc): Epl(Rnom)} or newer {Esg: Epl(Rnom)}). Declension<II> is the most tolerant of end stress and of variable stress. Declension<Ia> and Declension<Ib> are intermediate, with Declension<Ia> more similar to Declension<IIIa> and Declension<Ib> more similar to Declension<II>.

28 Following Brown et al. 1996.