- •Contents
- •1 Russian
- •1.1 The Russian language
- •1.1.1 Russian then and now
- •1.1.2 Levels of language
- •1.2 Describing Russian grammar
- •1.2.1 Conventions of notation
- •1.2.2 Abbreviations
- •1.2.3 Dictionaries and grammars
- •1.2.4 Statistics and corpora
- •1.2.5 Strategies of describing Russian grammar
- •1.2.6 Two fundamental concepts of (Russian) grammar
- •1.3 Writing Russian
- •1.3.1 The Russian Cyrillic alphabet
- •1.3.2 A brief history of the Cyrillic alphabet
- •1.3.3 Etymology of letters
- •1.3.4 How the Cyrillic alphabet works (basics)
- •1.3.5 How the Cyrillic alphabet works (refinements)
- •1.3.6 How the Cyrillic alphabet works (lexical idiosyncrasies)
- •1.3.7 Transliteration
- •2 Sounds
- •2.1 Sounds
- •2.2 Vowels
- •2.2.1 Stressed vowels
- •2.2.3 Vowel duration
- •2.2.4 Unstressed vowels
- •2.2.5 Unpaired consonants [ˇs ˇz c] and unstressed vocalism
- •2.2.6 Post-tonic soft vocalism
- •2.2.7 Unstressed vowels in sequence
- •2.2.8 Unstressed vowels in borrowings
- •2.3 Consonants
- •2.3.1 Classification of consonants
- •2.3.2 Palatalization of consonants
- •2.3.3 The distribution of palatalized consonants
- •2.3.4 Palatalization assimilation
- •2.3.5 The glide [j]
- •2.3.6 Affricates
- •2.3.7 Soft palatal fricatives
- •2.3.8 Geminate consonants
- •2.3.9 Voicing of consonants
- •2.4 Phonological variation
- •2.4.1 General
- •2.4.2 Phonological variation: idiomaticity
- •2.4.3 Phonological variation: systemic factors
- •2.4.4 Phonological variation: phonostylistics and Old Muscovite pronunciation
- •2.5 Morpholexical alternations
- •2.5.1 Preliminaries
- •2.5.2 Consonant grades
- •2.5.3 Types of softness
- •2.5.4 Vowel grades
- •2.5.5 Morphophonemic {o}
- •3 Inflectional morphology
- •3.1 Introduction
- •3.2 Conjugation of verbs
- •3.2.1 Verbal categories
- •3.2.2 Conjugation classes
- •3.2.3 Stress patterns
- •3.2.4 Conjugation classes: I-Conjugation
- •3.2.5 Conjugation classes: suffixed E-Conjugation
- •3.2.6 Conjugation classes: quasisuffixed E-Conjugation
- •3.2.7 Stress in verbs: retrospective
- •3.2.8 Irregularities in conjugation
- •3.2.9 Secondary imperfectivization
- •3.3 Declension of pronouns
- •3.3.1 Personal pronouns
- •3.3.2 Third-person pronouns
- •3.3.3 Determiners (demonstrative, possessive, adjectival pronouns)
- •3.4 Quantifiers
- •3.5 Adjectives
- •3.5.1 Adjectives
- •3.5.2 Predicative (‘‘short”) adjectives
- •3.5.3 Mixed adjectives and surnames
- •3.5.4 Comparatives and superlatives
- •3.6 Declension of nouns
- •3.6.1 Categories and declension classes of nouns
- •3.6.2 Hard, soft, and unpaired declensions
- •3.6.3 Accentual patterns
- •3.6.8 Declension and gender of gradation
- •3.6.9 Accentual paradigms
- •3.7 Complications in declension
- •3.7.1 Indeclinable common nouns
- •3.7.2 Acronyms
- •3.7.3 Compounds
- •3.7.4 Appositives
- •3.7.5 Names
- •4 Arguments
- •4.1 Argument phrases
- •4.1.1 Basics
- •4.1.2 Reference of arguments
- •4.1.3 Morphological categories of nouns: gender
- •4.1.4 Gender: unpaired ‘‘masculine” nouns
- •4.1.5 Gender: common gender
- •4.1.6 Morphological categories of nouns: animacy
- •4.1.7 Morphological categories of nouns: number
- •4.1.8 Number: pluralia tantum, singularia tantum
- •4.1.9 Number: figurative uses of number
- •4.1.10 Morphological categories of nouns: case
- •4.2 Prepositions
- •4.2.1 Preliminaries
- •4.2.2 Ligature {o}
- •4.2.3 Case government
- •4.3 Quantifiers
- •4.3.1 Preliminaries
- •4.3.2 General numerals
- •4.3.3 Paucal numerals
- •4.3.5 Preposed quantified noun
- •4.3.6 Complex numerals
- •4.3.7 Fractions
- •4.3.8 Collectives
- •4.3.9 Approximates
- •4.3.10 Numerative (counting) forms of selected nouns
- •4.3.12 Quantifier (numeral) cline
- •4.4 Internal arguments and modifiers
- •4.4.1 General
- •4.4.2 Possessors
- •4.4.3 Possessive adjectives of unique nouns
- •4.4.4 Agreement of adjectives and participles
- •4.4.5 Relative clauses
- •4.4.6 Participles
- •4.4.7 Comparatives
- •4.4.8 Event nouns: introduction
- •4.4.9 Semantics of event nouns
- •4.4.10 Arguments of event nouns
- •4.5 Reference in text: nouns, pronouns, and ellipsis
- •4.5.1 Basics
- •4.5.2 Common nouns in text
- •4.5.3 Third-person pronouns
- •4.5.4 Ellipsis (‘‘zero” pronouns)
- •4.5.5 Second-person pronouns and address
- •4.5.6 Names
- •4.6 Demonstrative pronouns
- •4.7 Reflexive pronouns
- •4.7.1 Basics
- •4.7.2 Autonomous arguments
- •4.7.3 Non-immediate sites
- •4.7.4 Special predicate--argument relations: existential, quantifying, modal, experiential predicates
- •4.7.5 Unattached reflexives
- •4.7.6 Special predicate--argument relations: direct objects
- •4.7.7 Special predicate--argument relations: passives
- •4.7.8 Autonomous domains: event argument phrases
- •4.7.9 Autonomous domains: non-finite verbs
- •4.7.12 Retrospective on reflexives
- •4.8 Quantifying pronouns and adjectives
- •4.8.1 Preliminaries: interrogatives as indefinite pronouns
- •4.8.7 Summary
- •4.8.9 Universal adjectives
- •5 Predicates and arguments
- •5.1 Predicates and arguments
- •5.1.1 Predicates and arguments, in general
- •5.1.2 Predicate aspectuality and modality
- •5.1.3 Aspectuality and modality in context
- •5.1.4 Predicate information structure
- •5.1.5 Information structure in context
- •5.1.6 The concept of subject and the concept of object
- •5.1.7 Typology of predicates
- •5.2 Predicative adjectives and nouns
- •5.2.1 General
- •5.2.2 Modal co-predicates
- •5.2.3 Aspectual co-predicates
- •5.2.4 Aspectual and modal copular predicatives
- •5.2.5 Copular constructions: instrumental
- •5.2.6 Copular adjectives: predicative (short) form vs. nominative (long) form
- •5.2.9 Predicatives in non-finite clauses
- •5.2.10 Summary: case usage in predicatives
- •5.3 Quantifying predicates and genitive subjects
- •5.3.1 Basics
- •5.3.2 Clausal quantifiers and subject quantifying genitive
- •5.3.3 Subject quantifying genitive without quantifiers
- •5.3.4 Existential predication and the subject genitive of negation: basic paradigm
- •5.3.5 Existential predication and the subject genitive of negation: predicates
- •5.3.6 Existential predication and the subject genitive of negation: reference
- •5.3.8 Existential predication and the subject genitive of negation: predicates and reference
- •5.3.9 Existential predication and the subject genitive of negation: context
- •5.3.10 Existential predication and the subject genitive of negation: summary
- •5.4 Quantified (genitive) objects
- •5.4.1 Basics
- •5.4.2 Governed genitive
- •5.4.3 Partitive and metric genitive
- •5.4.4 Object genitive of negation
- •5.4.5 Genitive objects: summary
- •5.5 Secondary genitives and secondary locatives
- •5.5.1 Basics
- •5.5.2 Secondary genitive
- •5.5.3 Secondary locative
- •5.6 Instrumental case
- •5.6.1 Basics
- •5.6.2 Modal instrumentals
- •5.6.3 Aspectual instrumentals
- •5.6.4 Agentive instrumentals
- •5.6.5 Summary
- •5.7 Case: context and variants
- •5.7.1 Jakobson’s case system: general
- •5.7.2 Jakobson’s case system: the analysis
- •5.7.3 Syncretism
- •5.7.4 Secondary genitive and secondary locative as cases?
- •5.8 Voice: reflexive verbs, passive participles
- •5.8.1 Basics
- •5.8.2 Functional equivalents of passive
- •5.8.3 Reflexive verbs
- •5.8.4 Present passive participles
- •5.8.5 Past passive participles
- •5.8.6 Passives and near-passives
- •5.9 Agreement
- •5.9.1 Basics
- •5.9.2 Agreement with implicit arguments, complications
- •5.9.3 Agreement with overt arguments: special contexts
- •5.9.4 Agreement with conjoined nouns
- •5.9.5 Agreement with comitative phrases
- •5.9.6 Agreement with quantifier phrases
- •5.10 Subordinate clauses and infinitives
- •5.10.1 Basics
- •5.10.2 Finite clauses
- •5.10.4 The free infinitive construction (without overt modal)
- •5.10.5 The free infinitive construction (with negative existential pronouns)
- •5.10.6 The dative-with-infinitive construction (overt modal)
- •5.10.7 Infinitives with modal hosts (nominative subject)
- •5.10.8 Infinitives with hosts of intentional modality (nominative subject)
- •5.10.9 Infinitives with aspectual hosts (nominative subject)
- •5.10.10 Infinitives with hosts of imposed modality (accusative or dative object)
- •5.10.11 Final constructions
- •5.10.12 Summary of infinitive constructions
- •6 Mood, tense, and aspect
- •6.1 States and change, times, alternatives
- •6.2 Mood
- •6.2.1 Modality in general
- •6.2.2 Mands and the imperative
- •6.2.3 Conditional constructions
- •6.2.4 Dependent irrealis mood: possibility, volitive, optative
- •6.2.5 Dependent irrealis mood: epistemology
- •6.2.6 Dependent irrealis mood: reference
- •6.2.7 Independent irrealis moods
- •6.2.8 Syntax and semantics of modal predicates
- •6.3 Tense
- •6.3.1 Predicates and times, in general
- •6.3.2 Tense in finite adjectival and adverbial clauses
- •6.3.3 Tense in argument clauses
- •6.3.4 Shifts of perspective in tense: historical present
- •6.3.5 Shifts of perspective in tense: resultative
- •6.3.6 Tense in participles
- •6.3.7 Aspectual-temporal-modal particles
- •6.4 Aspect and lexicon
- •6.4.1 Aspect made simple
- •6.4.2 Tests for aspect membership
- •6.4.3 Aspect and morphology: the core strategy
- •6.4.4 Aspect and morphology: other strategies and groups
- •6.4.5 Aspect pairs
- •6.4.6 Intrinsic lexical aspect
- •6.4.7 Verbs of motion
- •6.5 Aspect and context
- •6.5.1 Preliminaries
- •6.5.2 Past ‘‘aoristic” narrative: perfective
- •6.5.3 Retrospective (‘‘perfect”) contexts: perfective and imperfective
- •6.5.4 The essentialist context: imperfective
- •6.5.5 Progressive context: imperfective
- •6.5.6 Durative context: imperfective
- •6.5.7 Iterative context: imperfective
- •6.5.8 The future context: perfective and imperfective
- •6.5.9 Exemplary potential context: perfective
- •6.5.10 Infinitive contexts: perfective and imperfective
- •6.5.11 Retrospective on aspect
- •6.6 Temporal adverbs
- •6.6.1 Temporal adverbs
- •6.6.2 Measured intervals
- •6.6.3 Time units
- •6.6.4 Time units: variations on the basic patterns
- •6.6.14 Frequency
- •6.6.15 Some lexical adverbs
- •6.6.16 Conjunctions
- •6.6.17 Summary
- •7 The presentation of information
- •7.1 Basics
- •7.2 Intonation
- •7.2.1 Basics
- •7.2.2 Intonation contours
- •7.3 Word order
- •7.3.1 General
- •7.3.6 Word order without subjects
- •7.3.7 Summary of word-order patterns of predicates and arguments
- •7.3.8 Emphatic stress and word order
- •7.3.9 Word order within argument phrases
- •7.3.10 Word order in speech
- •7.4 Negation
- •7.4.1 Preliminaries
- •7.4.2 Distribution and scope of negation
- •7.4.3 Negation and other phenomena
- •7.5 Questions
- •7.5.1 Preliminaries
- •7.5.2 Content questions
- •7.5.3 Polarity questions and answers
- •7.6 Lexical information operators
- •7.6.1 Conjunctions
- •7.6.2 Contrastive conjunctions
- •Bibliography
- •Index
Arguments 191
b c nsczxm/ nthpfybq. It is not clear whether there is a systematic semantic or stylistic difference. Compare cdzpfys nsczxm/ ybntq<gen> ‘bound by a thousand ties’, but cdzpfys nsczxm/ dblbvsvb b ytdblbvsvb ybnzvb<ins> ‘bound by a thousand visible and invisible ties’, or Xtkjdtr c nsczxm/ kbw<gen> -- the name for the movie starring Lon Cheney and the novel by Alfred van Vogt -- but Joseph Campbell’s book Uthjq c nsczxm/ kbwfvb<ins>.
The oblique plural forms of nßczxf in earlier Russian combined with oblique nouns, as in Derzhavin’s Xnj,s nsczxfv ltdjxrfv / Yf vjb[ cbltnm dtndz[
‘In order that thousands of girls / On my branches might rest’, but now the genitive plural is used: yf gznyflwfnb nsczxf[<loc> rdflhfnys[ rbkjvtnhjd<gen>
‘on fifteen thousand square kilometers’. Overall, nßczxf is coming to behave more like mille numerals than general numerals.
Mille numerals do not express animacy themselves or in demonstratives ([85]):
[85]Cgtwbfkmyjt pfctlfybt Gjkbn,/hj WR htibkj эne ghj,ktve byfxt: gecnbnm rjhf,km c ptrfvb yf lyj. Yt jngecrfnm эnb<nom=acc> ldt<nom=acc> nsczxb<nom=acc> rfnjh;fy d Cjtlbytyyst Infns!
In a special meeting, the Politburo resolved the problem in another way: to sink the ship to the bottom with the prisoners. Never to allow these two thousand prisoners into the USA!
4.3.5 Preposed quantified noun
While quantifiers ordinarily precede the nouns that are quantified, there is an alternative construction in which the noun comes before the numeral and, if there is one, a preposition; the construction indicates that the quantity is not precise:
[86]Xfcƒ xthtp nhb-xtnsht vs edblfkb ujhjl. After three to four hours or so, we saw the city.
[87]Ghbt[fkb ytltkm yf itcnm. They’ve come for six weeks or so.
The noun retains the same morphological properties it would have in the position after the quantifier -- for example, the genitive singular with a paucal in [86] (and numerative stress xfcƒ). The numeral and the preposed noun take the case governed by the preposition: dthcnf[<loc> d lde[<loc> jn ctkf ‘at a place two versts or so from the village’, xfcjd<gen> lj xtnsht[<loc> ‘up until about four’.
4.3.6 Complex numerals
In c o m p l e x numerals -- combinations of numerals -- there is a significant difference between the most careful written register and less formal registers.
192 A Reference Grammar of Russian
In the formal register, if the quantifier phrase is oblique, all components of the complex numeral are in the oblique case, and the noun and modifiers are plural.
[88]Xbckj ;thnd d ltcznb<loc> nhb,eyfkf[<loc> hfdyztncz d эnjv ujle nsczxt<dat> xtnshtvcnfv<dat> ldflwfnb<dat> (xtnshtv<dat> ) xtkjdtrfv<dat> cj;;tyysv ;bdmtv.
The number of victims in ten tribunals in that year amounts to one thousand four hundred twenty (-four) people burned alive.
In a direct case, all components of the complex numeral are in the direct case. The last component determines the case and number of nouns and modifiers. They are genitive plural when the last component is not a paucal ([89]):
[89]Xtnshtcnf<nom=acc> ltcznm<nom=acc> nhb,eyfkjd<gen pl> ghjbpjikj d эnjv ujle. Four hundred ten tribunals took place in this year.
If the last component is a paucal, the noun is genitive singular, as is usual with a paucal numeral; adjectives are plural, genitive with masculine or neuter nouns ([90]), nominative or accusative with feminine nouns ([91]).
[90]Z yfcxbnfk ldflwfnm<nom=acc> ldf<nom=acc> vjkjls[<acc=gen pl> yfwbcnf<gen sg> . I counted twenty-two young Nazis.
[91]Rjvbntn yfyzk nsczxe<acc> ldtcnb<nom=acc> gznmltczn<nom=acc> nhb<nom=acc> jgsnyst<nom=acc pl> exbntkmybws<gen sg> .
The commission hired one thousand two hundred fifty-three experienced teachers.
However, as in [90--91], paucals in complex numerals do not express animacy. The acc=gen is said to be outmoded, but still occurs, even on recent websites.28 If the paucal does express animacy, the noun and any modifiers become genitive plural.
[92]Kfuthm “Gfnhbjn” ghbyzk yf jnls[ (b djcgbnfybt) gznmltczn<nom=acc> xtnsht[<acc=gen> nhelys[<acc=gen> gjlhjcnrjd<acc=gen> .
Camp Patriot has accepted for recreation (and training) fifty-four troubled adolescents.
In a complex numeral that ends in jl∫y ‘one’, the noun is singular, and jl∫y agrees with the noun.
28 The use |
of |
the acc=gen has attracted the attention of grammarians for |
popular au- |
diences: |
D. |
È. Rozental (http://www.spelling.spb.ru/rosenthal/alpha/r151.htm), V. |
I. Novikova |
(http://www.gramota.ru/monitor.html?mid=13). An example (because it is an internal quotation?), in reference to the three loves of Maiakovsky: Z levf/, Vfzrjdcrbq k/,bk dct[ nht[ --- b tot nhblwfnm nht[ d ghblfxe ‘I think Maiakovsky loved all three -- and another thirty-three to boot’.
Arguments 193
[93]Z exfcndjdfkf d ldflwfnb lde[ ,fktnf[ b ldflwfnb jlyjq<fem loc sg>
jgtht<\fem loc sg> .
I took part in twenty-two ballets and twenty-one operas.
If the numeral is subject, the predicate agrees with the singular number of jl∫y ([94]):
[94]Nhtvz djkjujlcrbvb ltgenfnfvb d ,/l;tn 2002 ujlf dytctyf<fem nom sg> cnj gznmltczn jlyf<fem nom sg> gjghfdrf<\fem nom sg> .
By three delegates from Vologda were introduced into the 2002 budget one hundred fifty-one changes.
[95]Gecrfq gkfnbn cnj nhblwfnm jlye<fem acc sg> pjkjne/ kbhe<\fem acc sg> . Let her pay one hundred thirty-one golden liras.
[96]Ybrjkfq Gthdsq jnghfdbk d ccskre cnj ldflwfnm jlyjuj<msc acc=gen sg>
xtkjdtrf<\msc acc=gen sg> .
Nikolai I sent into exile one hundred twenty-one persons.
[97]Ctcnhs hjlbkb --- yb vyjuj yb vfkj --- ldflwfnm jlyjuj<msc acc=gen sg>
ht,tyrf<\msc acc=gen sg> .
The sisters gave birth to no more, no less than twenty-one babies.
Animacy is expressed by jl∫y when the noun is masculine and animate ([96--97]). In the informal register, when a complex numeral should be in an oblique case, there is a tendency to avoid declining all components and to use the direct case form of numerals instead. How far this breakdown in the expression of case has progressed is difficult to determine. Nevertheless some general principles can be sketched. At the left margin, numerals of the mille group maintain declension
when other numerals in the phrase may not be declined.
[98]Ajyl jrfpfk rdfkbabwbhjdfyye/ /hblbxtcre/ gjvjom ,jktt xtv nhtv<dat> nsczxfv<dat> ldtcnb<nom=acc> {ldflwfnb<gen> ?ldflwfnm<nom=acc> } ctvmzv gjub,ib[ djtyyjcke;fob[.
The fund has rendered qualified legal aid to more than three thousand two hundred twenty families of deceased servicemen.
On the right margin of a complex numeral, the last numeral, especially if it is a paucal, tends to decline, but the preceding decades and especially hundreds often do not:
[99]Fktrcfylh Fkt[by vju lfdfnm ctfycs jlyjdhtvtyyjq buhs gj if[vfnfv dcktge/ yf nhblwfnm<nom=acc> lde[<loc> ljcrf[<loc> jlyjdhtvtyyj. Alexander Alekhin used to give demonstrations of simultaneous chess games played blindfolded on thirty-two boards simultaneously.
194A Reference Grammar of Russian
[100]Cnhtkrf rjkt,fkfcm vt;le cnj<nom=acc> gznm/<ins> b cnj<nom=acc> ltcznm/<ins> rbkjvtnhfvb d xfc.
The speedometer hovered between one hundred five and one hundred ten kilometers per hour.
[101]Jkz --- dscjrfz ltdeirf ldflwfnm<nom=acc> gznb<gen> ktn. Olia is a tall girl of twenty-five years.
Thus the informal register is developing a template, according to which numerals on margins are likely to be declined and numerals internal to the phrase need not be.
4.3.7 Fractions
Gjkjd∫yf ‘half ’, x†ndthnm ‘quarter’, nh†nm ‘third’ are lexical fractions which, like paucal numerals, take the genitive singular of the noun: gjkjdbyf rjvyfns ‘a half of the room’, ldt nhtnb verb ‘two thirds of the flour’. Fractions now condition feminine agreement: jcnfkfcm<fem sg> lj,hfz<fem sg> xtndthnm xfcf lj jn[jlf gjtplf ‘there remained a good quarter of an hour until the train’s departure’.29
Other fractions are formed using a nominalized ordinal for the denominator and the (feminine) cardinal in the numerator. When the numerator is ‘one’, the expression is feminine singular, in memory of the noun xfcnm ‘part’: jlyf djcmvfz ‘1/8’. With other numerators, the denominator is plural and genitive in direct cases in formal Russian. The noun remains in the genitive singular: ldt ltczns[ ‘two-tenths’ (informally, ldt ltcznst or msc ldf ltcznst), (jcnfdfkjcm) nhb djcmvs[ uhfvvf ‘(there remained) three-eighths of a gram’, nhb nhblwfnm djcmvs[ ‘three thirty-eighths’, itcnm ldtcnb cjhjr ctlmvs[ rjvyfns ‘6/247’. When the quantifier phrase is oblique, the oblique case is imposed on the cardinal in the numerator and the ordinal of the denominator (on the last, adjectival part); the noun is genitive singular: c nhtvz djcmvsvb vtnhf ‘with three-eighths of a meter’, r itcnb ldtcnb cjhjr ctlmvsv rjvyfns ‘to six two hundred fortysevenths of the room’.
Mixed numbers are formed as follows. The integer, expressed by a cardinal numeral and optionally the nominalized adjective wtkfz ‘a whole’, has the same case as the fraction. The fractional portion is conjoined with the integer. (The lexical fractions are combined through the comitative preposition c.) The noun remains in the genitive singular, in honor of the most immediate constituent, the fraction: (jcnfdfkjcm) itcnm (wtks[) b nhb djcmvs[ uhfvvf<gen sg> ‘(there remained) six (wholes) and three-eighths grams’; c nhtvz (wtksvb) b nhtvz djcmvsvb vtnhf<gen sg> ‘with three (wholes) and three-eighths meters’; r nhtv
29 Though Vinogradov 1947:294 had neuter singular.