Arguments 163

The teaching staff of the gymnasium in [6] and [8] was de facto primarily women, but the masculine form is used because the sense of ‘teacher’ is essential: it is anyone who instantiated the essence of being a teacher. The fact that the masculine noun can be used to refer to groups or tokens of classes that include or might include females is one reason why masculine gender is said to be unmarked -- that is, less narrowly defined, since it does not insist that the referent is male.

Second, when an individual woman is introduced into the discourse, the feminine form characterizes her permanent identity. The masculine defines a societal role (in [9], she is ‘the person fulfilling the role of supervisor’):

[9]Yf cfvjv ltkt Cjamz Dtybfvbyjdyf, utjuhfabxrf, yfi rkfccysq herjdjlbntkm. As a matter of fact, Sofia Veniaminovna, a geographer, is our class supervisor.

And third, when these paired nouns refer to an individual whose identity is already established, the feminine derivative is used ([10--11]):

[10]Exbntkmybwf gjcnfdbkf kfvge yf cnjk, xbhryekf cgbxrjq, pf;ukf cdtxre. The teacher put a lamp on the table, struck a match, and lit a candle.

[11]Jy lfk vyt pfgbcre rkfccyjq herjdjlbntkmybws vjbv hjlbntkzv. He gave me a note from the class supervisor to my parents.

Thus, when paired, stylistically neutral forms exist, the feminine derivative is used when it is clear that one specific woman is discussed as an individual.

When there is a noun in Declension<Ia> that names a profession and there is no corresponding feminine derivative in Declension<II> (or no neutral form), the sole masculine form is used in reference to women. For example, in the index of a book on ballet, women are identified by feminine nouns when such exist, gbcƒntkmybwf ‘writer’, nfywj´dobwf ‘dancer’, exƒcnybwf (héccrb[ ctpj´yjd) ‘participant (of the Russian troupes)’, cjk∫cnrf ‘soloist’, gtd∫wf ‘singer’, [elj´;ybwf ‘artist’. The women who are identified in this way have often served in other roles, which are described by nouns of Declension<Ia>: as ht;bcc=h ‘director’, [jhtj´uhfa ‘choreographer’, gtlfuj´u ‘ballet teacher’, dbwtghtpbl†yn ‘vice president’, or ntjh†nbr nƒywf ‘theoretician of dance’.

4.1.4 Gender: unpaired ‘‘masculine” nouns

Historically, when nouns like dhƒx were used in reference to women, they evoked masculine agreement in both adjectives and predicates, but this has been changing. Using feminine agreement in the predicate in reference to a woman doctor has become permissible and frequent (reported in 1976 as over 50% in the cohort born between 1940--49):3

3 Kitaigorodskaia 1976; discussion in Rothstein 1971.

164 A Reference Grammar of Russian

[12] Dhfx {htrjvtyljdfk<msc> htrjvtyljdfkf<fem> } juhfybxbnm gjkjde/ ;bpym. The doctor recommended limiting sexual activity.

Feminine agreement is expected when a name marks the individual as female:

[13] Dhfx J. ?. <tcgfkjdf nj;t {bcgeufkfcm<fem> / bcgeufkcz<msc> }. The doctor J. Iu. Bespalova was also alarmed.

Adjectives make the picture more complex. In the conservative norm, masculine agreement is used in adjectives and predicates ([14](a)). In less conservative usage, now tolerated as normative, the predicate has feminine agreement, adjectives -- masculine agreement ([14](b)).

[14](a) D rjvyfne djitk<msc> yjdsq<msc> dhfx. oldest, formal

(b)D rjvyfne djikf<fem> yjdsq<msc> dhfx. newer, informal, now standard

(c)D rjvyfne djikf<fem> yjdfz<fem> dhfx. newest, not normative

(d)D rjvyfne djitk<msc> yjdfz<fem> dhfx. systemically outlawed Into the room entered the new doctor.

As a very new option, the adjective may also adopt feminine agreement ([14](c)); though not normative, feminine agreement in (e yfc) [jhjifz<fem> ,e[ufkmnth<\msc> ‘(we have) a good bookkeeper’ was offered by 39 percent of workers from the cohort of 1940--49.4 Feminine is possible only with descriptive or deictic adjectives and only in the nominative, as in [15]:

[15]<. . .> rfr htrjvtyljdfkf<fem> yfif<fem> k/,bvfz<fem> dhfx.

<. . .> as our beloved doctor recommended.

Adjectives such as hfqj´yysq ‘regional’, ctv†qysq ‘family’, rj´;ysq ‘skin’ that are part of the definition of the profession are masculine ([16]):

[16]<. . .> rfr htrjvtyljdfkf<fem> cnfhibq<msc> dhfx cnfywbb ≤Crjhjq gjvjob≥ Vjcrds.

<. . .> as the senior doctor of Moscow emergency care recommended.

The fourth hypothetical possibility above ([14](d)), the combination of a feminine adjective and masculine gender in the predicate, violates a general principle governing agreement: the more closely bound the constituent, the more agreement will be based on morphological gender; the less closely bound the constituent, the more agreement will be based on referential gender.5 The principle shows up further in relative clauses and the use of (third-person) pronouns, which choose syntactic gender on the basis of the reference of the noun. For example ([17]), in a discussion of Cj´amz Uhbuj´hmtdyf, who has the responsibility

4 Kitaigorodskaia 1976:152.

5 Corbett 1979[b].

Arguments 165

of being hfqj´yysq<msc> cfybnƒhysq<msc> dhƒx, the predicate could use either gender, but the pronouns rjnj´hfz and t= appear as feminine:

[17]Jxtym [jhjij rj vyt {jnyjcbkfcm<fem> jnyjcbkcz<msc> } hfqjyysq cfybnfhysq dhfx, {rjnjhfz<fem> rjnjhsq<msc> } b pfxfcne/ vtyz rjhvbkf. F z lkz {tt<fem> tuj<msc> } ve;f ljcnfdfk d ,b,kbjntrf[ ye;yst lkz tuj

kbnthfnehys[ bccktljdfybq cdtltybz.

The regional sanitation officer, who sometimes would feed me, treated me well. And for her husband I used to get information from the library needed for his literary studies.

4.1.5 Gender: common gender

There is another group of nouns that do not have distinct masculine and feminine forms but can be used regularly in reference to either males or females. It is the large, open-ended set of nouns of c o m m o n g e n d e r (epicenes), nouns belonging to Declension<II>, often morphologically derived, that describe people in terms of some prominent quality or behavior: gkƒrcf ‘crybaby’, cjvyƒv,ekf ‘sleepwalker’, dsgbdj´[f ‘boozer’, ktdiƒ ‘lefty’, cbhjnƒ ‘orphan’. Adjectives and verbs agree with the referential gender of the noun: masculine gender is used in reference to a man ([18--19]), feminine in reference to a woman ([20--21]):6

[18]Vfnm d ltncndt ghbdzpsdfkf tuj r cneke --- jy ,sk cnhfiysq<msc> ytgjctlf, ---

xnj,s jy pfybvfkcz vepsrjq.

His mother used to tie him to a chair --- he was a terrible fidget --- so he would practice his music.

[19]<tlysq<msc> cbhjnf vtxnfk<msc> cke;bnm dj ahfywepcrjv ktubjyt, xnj,s regbnm ct,t ljv d Gjknfdt.

The poor orphan dreamed of serving in the French Foreign Legion, in order to buy himself a home in Poltava.

[20]Tq e;t 8 vtczwtd. Jyf cnhfiyfz<fem> ytgjctlf b jxtym eks,xbdfz. She’s eight months old. She’s a terrible fidget and loves to smile a lot.

[21]<tlyfz<fem> cbhjnf ljk;yf<fem> ,skf<fem> cfvf<fem> ct,t ghj,bdfnm ljhjue. The poor orphan had to make her own way in the world.

4.1.6 Morphological categories of nouns: animacy

Nouns that refer to animate beings indicate the animacy of the referent by using the genitive form in syntactic contexts that demand an accusative, whether as the object of a verb ([22]) or the complement of a preposition ([23]):

6It is said that when such a noun refers to a male, the adjective can have feminine agreement, and the stylistic effect is strongly pejorative. In practice, this option is rarely invoked.

166A Reference Grammar of Russian

[22]Vfnm vjz yfvyjuj gtht;bkf jnwf<acc=gen> . My mother outlived my father by a lot.

[23]Vjq ,hfn Dkflbvbh ujhlbkcz, xnj ,sk gj[j; yf yfitujacc=gen> jnwf<acc=gen> . My brother Vladimir was proud that he was similar to our father.

In the singular, use of this a n i m a t e a c c u s a t i v e or “acc=gen” is restricted to nouns that satisfy two conditions.7 (a) Animacy is expressed only by nouns that otherwise would merge nominative and accusative, hence not nouns like msc Nj´kz and msc celmz´ ‘judge’, which are masculine but belong to Declension<II> and have distinct cases forms for the two cases: nom celmz´ = acc celm/´.

[24]Aen,jkmyjuj<msc acc=gen> celm/<acc=nom> bp,bkb d gjl(tplt cj,cndtyyjuj ljvf. They killed the soccer judge at the entrance to his own building.

(b) Animacy is expressed only by nouns that condition masculine syntactic gender, hence not by lj´xm<\fem nom=acc> ‘daughter’, vƒnm<\fem nom=acc> ‘mother’, lbnz´<\nt nom=acc> ‘child’, which do merge nominative and accusative but are not masculine:

[25]Jyf exbkf {vfnm<nom=acc> vfnthb<acc=gen> } cfgj;yjve htvtcke. She taught mother shoemaking.

[26]K/,bnm {lbnz<acc=nom> rhfcbdjt<nt acc=nom> , evyjt<nt acc=nom> lbnznb<gen> rhfcbdjuj<nt acc=gen> , evyjuj<nt acc=gen> } -- kturj.

To love a child [who is] beautiful, intelligent is easy.

Although the expression of animacy is restricted to masculine nouns in the singular, all animate nouns in the plural express animacy, including feminine and neuter animates:

[27]Jy k/,bn cdjb[<acc=gen> vbks[<acc=gen> {,hfnmtd<acc=gen> ctcnth<acc=gen>

ltntq<acc=gen> }.

He loves his nice {brothers sisters children}.

Adjectives express animacy in the singular if the modified noun is masculine and animate: [23] yƒituj. In this way adjectives modifying masculine animate nouns of Declension<II> express animacy, though the nouns themselves do not: [24] aen,j´kmyjuj<msc acc=gen> celm/´<\msc nom=acc>. Plural adjectives, which do not in any event distinguish gender, express animacy if they modify an animate noun of any gender: [27] cdj∫[<pl acc=gen> v∫ks[<pl acc=gen>. Adjectives also express animacy when they are used without an explicit noun, as a predicative referring to an object ([28]) or as a nominalized adjective ([29]):

7 Zalizniak 1964, Bondarko 1977, Corbett 1980, Klenin 1983.

Arguments 167

[28]Ve;xby<acc=gen> gjujyzkb ujkjlys[<acc=gen> . The men were sent off hungry.

[29]Cfvs[<acc=gen> nheljk/,bds[<acc=gen> fhtcnjdsdfkb, ccskfkb c ctvmzvb. They arrested and exiled the most hardworking [peasants] with their families.

Personal pronouns use the genitive form for the accusative: acc=gen vtyz´, nt,z´, yƒc, ct,z´. Third-person anaphoric pronouns use the animate accusative even when they refer to inanimate entities:

[30]Kj;rf lj cb[ gjh e vtyz [hfybncz . . . B dct hfdyj z tt<acc=gen> [=kj;re] ,thtue. I still have that spoon . . . And come what may I treasure it [lit., her].

[31]Lzlz Ktd yfxfk bpujnjdkznm ,evf;ybrb, cj,bhfzcm b[<acc=gen> [=,evf;ybrb] vtyznm yf ghjlerns.

Uncle Lev began to make wallets, intending to exchange them for food.

For the most part, there is little variation in the expression of animacy. There are only two areas in which there is variation: first, certain pronominal adjectives modifying pronouns, and second, nouns that, in semantic terms, are not unambiguously animate.

Cƒv ‘self ’ is one of the few adjectives that can be combined with anaphoric pronouns. It adopts the genitive form when it modifies a masculine or neuter singular (tuj´<acc=gen>) or plural pronoun (∫[<acc=gen>), even when the referent is inanimate ([32--33]):

[32]Kexibq genm bp;bnm cgtrekzwb/ ltabwbnjv --- kbrdblbhjdfnm tuj<acc=gen> cfvjuj<acc=gen> [= ltabwbn].

In order to do away with speculation in a deficit, the best method is to liquidate it itself [= deficit].

[33]Tcntcndtyyj, [jxtncz “gjoegfnm” b[<acc=gen> cfvb[<acc=gen> [= rdfhrb]. Naturally, one would like to “feel” them themselves [= quarks].

Modifying a feminine pronoun, even one with animate reference, cƒv uses a distinct accusative form, older cfvj= or contemporary cfvé:

[34]Cfve<acc> tt<acc=gen> fhtcnjdfnm yt gjcvtkb. They didn’t dare arrest her herself.

A true genitive would be cfvj´q t= (cfvj´q t= y†n ‘she herself is not here’). Modifying a personal or reflexive pronoun, cƒv adopts the acc=gen form with a masculine singular or plural referent: msc vtyz´ cfvjuj´<acc=gen> ‘me myself ’, cfvjuj´ ct,z´ ‘himself ’, pl yƒc cfv∫[ ‘us ourselves’, but fem vtyz´ cfvé<acc=gen> jnd†hukb ‘they rejected me myself ’.

When d†cm ‘all’ modifies a singular third-person masculine or neuter pronoun, it adopts the acc=gen: dctuj´ tuj´, even if the referent is not animate. With

168A Reference Grammar of Russian

a feminine referent (even an animate referent), it uses the distinct accusative form dc/´ ([35]):

[35]Z tt<acc=gen> dc/<acc=gen> [=gnbwe] hfccvjnhtk. I examined her all [= the bird].

In the plural this combination expresses animacy: ∫[ dc†[ (dc†[ ∫[) is used for animates, ∫[ dc† (dc† ∫[), rarely dc†[ ∫[, for inanimates:8

[36]B {dct<nom=acc> b[<acc=gen> ?dct[<acc=gen> b[<acc=gen> } [=cjyfns] jy hfp,bhfk ---

rfr cnhjrb hbave/ncz, rjulf ye;ys hbavs ;tycrbt, rjulf ve;crbt. And all these [=sonnets] he analyzed -- how the lines rhymed, when feminine rhymes were necessary, when masculine.

There are some lexical questions of animacy. Some nouns have two different senses, one animate, one inanimate, and such nouns use either acc=gen or acc=nom, depending on which sense is intended. Jhbubyƒk ‘original’ can be an original thing (inanimate) or an eccentric person (animate). Xk†y ‘member’ is animate in reference to a human participant of an institution, inanimate in reference to an inanimate part of a machine or structure. These are instances in which there are sharp distinctions between two senses of one noun.

With some nouns usage is less rigid. Names of sea animals are likely to behave as animate when they refer to the entities as animals in their habitat, kjd∫nm rhƒ,jd<acc=gen> ‘catch crabs’.9 As foodstuff, they may be inanimate or animate:10

[37]Vs ljdjkmyj xfcnj tkb {rhf,s<acc=nom> rhf,jd<acc=gen> }. We ate crabs rather often.

In the singular, they are animate (that is, merge accusative and genitive) even as foodstuff:

[38]Z ;t jcnfkcz jlby yf [jpzqcndt. Cdfhbk b c(tk rhf,f<acc=gen> .

I had to deal with the housekeeping alone. I cooked and ate a crab.

There is variation in nouns whose motivation is historically figurative. Names of planets (?g∫nth) are becoming inanimate. Names of playing cards and chess figures are animate.

Some nouns that refer to classes of animate beings show variation in the use of the acc=gen. Jcj´,f ‘person’ and kbwj´ ‘person’ are animate in the plural. (They are disqualified in the singular because they do not belong to Declension<Ia>.)

8 Blazhev 1962.

9 On the web <19.X.02>: {kjdbk kjdbkb kjdbnm} rhf,s 0xx, . . . rhf,jd 205xx. 10 On the web: {tk tkb tcnm} rhf,s 34xx, . . . rhf,jd 105xx.

Arguments 169

[39]Pfrjy gj ceotcnde kbibn kbw<acc=gen> lheub[ yfwbjyfkmyjcntq, gkj[j dkflt/ob[<acc=gen> эcnjycrbv zpsrjv, djpvj;yjcnb frnbdyj exfcndjdfnm d j,otcndtyyjq ;bpyb htcge,kbrb.

This law in essence will deprive people of other nationalities who speak Estonian poorly of the possibility of participating actively in the public life of the republic.

(Kbwj´ also has the inanimate sense, ‘face, visage’.) Gthcjyƒ; ‘character’ is (usually) inanimate in the singular and (almost always) animate in the plural.11 Nominalized neuter adjectives that classify living beings -- ;bdj´nyjt ‘animal’, gfhyjrjgßnyjt ‘split-hoofed animal’, yfctrj´vjt ‘insect’ -- generally do not use the animate accusative in the singular ([40]) but do so in the plural ([41--42]):

[40]{gjqvfnm ;bdjnyjt<acc=nom> gj[j;tt yf ;bdjnyjt<acc=nom> } {to catch an animal similar to an animal}

[41]{c gfcnm,s gthtdjlbnm rjhvbnm k/,bnm} ;bdjnys[<acc=gen>

{from pasture move feed love} animals

[42]Cj[hfyztv b hfpvyj;ftv gjktpys[<acc=gen> yfctrjvs[<acc=gen> . We preserve and multiply useful insects.

Ceotcndj´ ‘creature, being’ is listed as variably animate or inanimate in the plural.

[43]Jyb gj[jlbkb yf {rfrbt-nj crfpjxyst ceotcndf<acc=nom> rfrb[-nj crfpjxys[ ceotcnd<acc=gen> }.

They were similar to some sort of fabulous beings.

The tendency is to extend animacy for such category nouns.12

Animacy fades out with lower orders of animals. A sampling is listed in Table 4.1.13 In texts, the boundary between animate and inanimate is sharper than Table 4.1 might suggest. Insects and small vermin (the first group) always use the acc=gen:

[44]Dct[<acc=gen> rjpzdjr<acc=gen> , ,kjitr<acc=gen> , vjitr<acc=gen> b

vehfdmbitr<acc=gen> nfv evjhbkb.

[The birds] devastated all the gnats, fleas, midges, and ants there.

Ué,rf ‘sponge’, listed as preferably animate, is used consistently with acc=gen in technical literature, even in contexts in which sponges are mere passive objects of investigation:

[45]Xfcnj ue,jr<acc=gen> c,kb;f/n c bcnbyysvb vyjujrktnjxysvb. [They] often compare sponges to true multi-cell creatures.

11 Panfilov 1966.

12 Exemplification and discussion in Itskovich 1980.

13 Based on Zalizniak 1977[a].

170 A Reference Grammar of Russian

Table 4.1 Animacy of lower-order animals

animacy	nouns
animate	uéctybwf ‘caterpillar’, vtlépf ‘jellyfish’, itkrjghz´l ‘bombyx’,
	x†hdm ‘worm’, vjkk/´ cr ‘mollusk’, ;ér ‘beetle’, vehfd†q ‘ant’,
	gbz´drf ‘leech’
animate	ué,rf ‘sponge’
( ±inanimate)	kbx∫yrf ‘larva’, ,frn†hbz ‘bacterium’, ,fw∫kkf ‘bacillus’, vbrhj´,
inanimate
( ±animate)	‘microbe’
inanimate	jhufy∫pv ‘organism’, njrc∫y ‘toxin’, rjhƒkk ‘coral’, d∫hec ‘virus’,
	gkfyrnj´y ‘plankton’

In contrast, nouns of the third group in Table 4.1 use inanimate morphology consistently in texts, whether as objects of investigation (jy lfdyj bpexftn ,fwbkks<acc=nom> ‘he has long studied bacilli’), as entities asserted to exist (cjlth;fobq ,frnthbb<acc=nom> ‘containing bacteria’), or as patients of some agent’s predatory activity ([46]):

[46]D yjhvt pfobnyst vt[fybpvs byfrnbdbhe/n nfrbt vbrhj,s<acc=nom> . In the normal course of events, defense mechanisms render such microbes inactive.

Animacy is expressed only when the microbes are thought of as potential agents, as in [47] (unique in a sample of two dozen examples from technical literature):

[47]Gjct/n d gbnfntkmye/ chtle vbrhj,jd<acc=gen> , jyb hfcnen, gjnjv b[ jn gbnfntkmyjq chtls jnltkz/n.

[They] put the microbes into the medium, they grow, and then they are separated from the medium.

One might entertain the thought that the animate accusative is a rule on the level of syntax -- that the genitive case is assigned to the whole argument phrase in place of the accusative case. Arguing against this interpretation are several considerations: the modifier and the head in dct<nom=acc> b[<acc=gen> and vjtuj<acc=gen> ltleire<acc=nom> ‘my grandfather’ differ in the expression of animacy; animate accusative-genitives can be conjoined with unambiguous accusatives:

[48]Dsrktdsdf/n jyb xthdtq<acc=gen> b kbxbyrb<acc=nom> . They peck out worms and larvae.

On the assumption that case is uniform across all constituents and conjuncts of an argument phrase, then animate accusatives must be syntactic accusatives.