Arguments 205

4.4 Internal arguments and modifiers

4.4.1 General

Nouns by themselves can function as arguments, but nouns can also form larger phrases by combining with dependent constituents, either arguments or modifiers (adjectives, participles, relative clauses).

4.4.2 Possessors

Most nouns can be possessed. Possessors that are nouns are expressed in the genitive, and are placed after the possessed noun (twice in [127]). Possessors that are first-person, second-person, or reflexive pronouns are expressed as possessive adjectives vj´q yƒi, ndj´q dƒi, cdj´q. Possessive adjectives usually come before the possessed noun ([128]). As a stylistic variant, they can occur after the noun to remind the addressee of a known relationship of possession ([129]). The thirdperson forms ∫[, t=, tuj´ are historically genitive-case forms. In synchronic terms, they are used in the same way as the possessive adjectives ([128--29]). Accordingly, it is reasonable to refer to them now as possessives, though they do not inflect like vj´q or ndj´q.

[127]Yf cfqnt hfcgjkj;tys ntrcns gtcty<gen> hfpys[ bcgjkybntkmytq b uhegg<gen> . On the site are made available texts of songs of various performers and groups.

[128]Yf cfqnt hfcgjkj;tys ntrcns {vjb[ b[ tt dfib[} gtcty.

On the site are made available texts of {my their her your} songs.

[129]Ntrcns gtcty {vjb[ tt} dgjkyt vjuen cjqnb b pf cnb[b.

The texts of those songs of {mine hers} could easily count as poems.

Firstand second-person possessive adjectives can be expanded with comitative phrases, and interpreted the same way as firstand second-person argument pronouns. Thus r yfitve c Rjycnfynbyjv leэne ‘to my and Constantine’s duet’ contains the possessive corresponding to vs c Rjycnfynbyjv, and both can be interpreted as a dual, the speaker and Constantine. (Such phrases can also be interpreted as plurals: dybvfybt!!!! yfitve c dfvb cfqne chjxyj nht,etncz weblbpfqyth ‘attention!!!! your and our site urgently needs a web-designer’.) Genitive possessors can sometimes be conjoined with, or placed in apposition to, possessive adjectives ([130--31]), demonstrating that genitives of nouns and possessive forms of pronouns have analogous functions.40

[130]Jy yt pfybvfkcz yfibv (vjbv<pss> b ,hfnf<gen> ) djcgbnfybtv wtktyfghfdktyyj.

He did not concern himself in a systematic fashion with our (mine and my brother’s) upbringing.

40 Note also: pf yfibv b lzlb Cfibysv akbutkzvb ‘behind our and Uncle Sasha’s wings’, where the genitive lzlb is associated with the base noun of the adjective Cfiby.

206 A Reference Grammar of Russian

[131]<. . .> csyf Cfie -- yfituj<pss> , njulf tot vjkjls[ gbcfntktq<gen> , njdfhbof

<. . .> of his son Sasha -- the comrade of us, then still young, writers

As has long been observed, possession should be understood very broadly, to mean not only the relationship of, for example, a person to a pencil, but all manner of relations of association between two entities, in which one entity -- the possessed entity -- is defined in terms of another -- the possessor. Possession can mean ownership, relationship (of kinship), synecdoche, and so on. Many nouns -- e v e n t nouns -- are related to verbs and take arguments like verbs. One argument, which may correspond to the subject or to the object, is genitive or possessive, and so is a possessor in an extended sense of the term: ghbcgjcj,k†ybt jhufy∫pvf ‘the adaptation of the organism’. Paradoxically, it is the possessed item that has the privilege of functioning as the argument phrase of the predicate, and the possessor is presented as ancillary.

4.4.3 Possessive adjectives of unique nouns

A very old option for expressing possession for nouns that specify unique people -- first names or nouns identifying familial roles -- is possessive adjectives formed by adding a suffix to the noun.41 These adjectives have a “mixed” declension (§3.5.3). Nouns that belong to Declension<Ia> once could use the suffix {-ov}, such as jnwj´d ‘father’s’, but this formation is little used in contemporary Russian; to express possession with such nouns, the genitive case is now used. Nouns belonging to Declension<II>, masculine as well as feminine, use the suffix {-in}. These possessive adjectives have a domestic, intimate ring to them, and are freely used in speech and in certain written genres, for example, memoirs: ,f,eirbyf<pss> ctcnhf ‘grandma’s sister’, dwtgbkfcm d Vfibye<pss> here ‘she latched onto Masha’s hand’, Rfnby<pss> xtvjlfy ‘Katia’s suitcase’. The difference between a genitive and a possessive adjective, then, is in part a stylistic difference of formal as opposed to domestic.

In addition, a possessive adjective presumes or imputes some connection between the possessor and thing possessed that is characteristic and previously known, as in ,f,eirbyf<pss> hs,f ‘grandma’s fish [fish the way grandma prepared it]’. With event nominals, a possessive adjective suggests that the event is already known and viewed as characteristic of the possessor ([132--33]):

[132]Djn jn эnjuj b ikj Iehrbyj<pss> jndhfotybt r ghjatccbb. And that is where Shurka’s revulsion to the profession came from.

[133]Ghb Vbnbyjv<pss> fhtcnt e ytuj yt dpzkb pfgbcye/ ryb;re cj dctvb ntktajyfvb b flhtcfvb lheptq.

At Mitia’s arrest they did not take from him his notebook with all the telephone numbers and addresses of friends.

41 Comments in Corbett 1987, with extensive bibliography.

Arguments 207

In contrast, the genitive, which is more formal, less intimate, defines the essence of something in relation to its possessor, such as the painting and its painter in [134] or an event and its agent in [135]; the addressee has no prior knowledge of the possessor and possessed item:

[134]Cj[hfybkfcm frdfhtkm ,f,eirb<gen> .

There is preserved [that which could be defined as] a watercolor painting of grandma’s.

[135]:lfkb djpdhfotybz gfgs<gen> .

We were waiting for [the event that would amount to] the return of Papa.

4.4.4 Agreement of adjectives and participles

Modifiers -- adjectives, participles, demonstratives, possessive adjectives -- combine with nouns to form more complex argument phrases.42 Modifiers reflect the gender--number and case of the noun with which they combine: in

dj dctq<fem loc sg> эnjq<fem loc sg> yfxbyf/otqcz<fem loc sg> vbhjdjq<fem loc sg>

djqyt<\fem loc sg> ‘in all this beginning world war’, all four modifiers are locative feminine singular, in agreement with djqy†.

Agreement (or concord) within argument phrases is largely unproblematic in Russian. Complications arise only with conjoined nouns or multiple adjectives.

Multiple adjectives modifying a single plural noun will ordinarily be plural, unless there are distinct individuals or distinct types of individuals, each defined by a different adjective. In [136], both of the hands are ours (hence plural yƒib) but the two hands are distinct:

[136]D pthrfkt yfib<pl> ghfdfz<fem sg> b ktdfz<fem sg> herb<\fem pl> gjvtyz/ncz vtcnfvb.

In a mirror our right and left hands change places.

Mass nouns avoid being used in the plural ([137--38]), even when there is plural agreement in adjectives or verbs applying to the distinct sorts ([138]):

[137]heccrfz<fem sg> rhfcyfz<fem sg> b xthyfz<fem sg> brhf<\fem sg> , cthdbhjdfyyfz<fem sg> cj cvtnfyjq

Russian red and black caviar, served with sour cream

[138]Ghtlkfuf/ncz<pl> dscjrjrfxtcndtyyst<pl> rhfcyfz<fem sg> b xthyfz<fem sg> brhf<\fem sg> c Lfkmytuj Djcnjrf.

There is offered high-quality red and black caviar from the Far East.

In argument phrases that include conjoined nouns, modifiers are plural if one of the nouns is plural. If the nouns are singular and a modifier is understood to modify only one of those nouns, the modifier is singular and expresses the

42 Crockett 1976, Corbett 1983[b].

208A Reference Grammar of Russian

gender of the noun it modifies: yfif<fem> cnhfyf<\fem> b jcnfkmyjq<msc> vbh<\msc> ‘our country and the remaining world’.

Complications arise with singular nouns modified by adjectives that are understood to apply to both nouns. In principle, the modifier can be either singular, reflecting the gender of the nearest noun, or plural: j {,jkmyjv<msc sg loc>

,jkmys[<pl loc>} csyt<\msc sg loc> b ljxthb<\fem sg loc> ‘about the ailing son and

daughter’. In the colloquial register, plural agreement is not usual. In written Russian, either singular or plural occurs.

The overriding condition is the sense of the nouns in context. Plural means the entities are understood as independent and parallel individuals, each of which can be evaluated separately as having the property. In [139], the speaker does not resemble either of two individuals, her brother or, separately, her sister.

[139]Z yt gj[j;f yf cdjb[<pl> ,hfnf b ctcnhe. I am not similar to my brother and sister.

In [141], two distinct well-known individuals were present:

[140]Chtlb uheggs jrfpfkbcm yfib<pl> F,le;fgfhjd b Ntnth/r. Among the group were our Abduzhaparov and Teteriuk.

Singular, in contrast, is appropriate if the entities to which the nouns refer are not conceptualized as distinct individuals, in any of a number of ways. The two nouns may be synonymous: jcj,jt<nt sg> pyfxtybt<\nt sg> b cvsck<\msc sg> ‘special meaning and sense’. They may be specific instances of a higher-order category; for example, in cnhernehf cjdtncrjuj<msc sg> эrcgjhnf<\msc sg> b bvgjhnf<\msc sg> ‘the structure of Soviet export and import’, both entities are types of trade; and in (yfikb) ctht,hzyye/<fem sg> kj;re<\fem sg> b dbkre<\fem sg>

‘(we found) a silver spoon and fork’, both entities are utensils. Or the two together form a unit. In [141], the addressee failed by not thinking about the family as a unit:

[141]Ns yt gjlevfk ghj cdjtuj<sg> ,hfnf b ctcnhe, ntv ,jktt ghj ,f,eire. You didn’t think about your brother and sister, and worse, about your grandmother.

The connective b is likely to condition plural agreement. The folkloric connective lf is asymmetric, and the properties of the first element generally dominate. The disjunctive connective bkb generally takes singular agreement.

4.4.5 Relative clauses

Relative pronouns make it possible to present a predication as a modifier of a noun and still remain finite.43 The head of a relative clause -- the noun or

43 Comrie 1986[c].

Arguments 209

pronoun that is modified -- is explicit in Russian; Russian does not have “headless relatives.” Most interrogative pronouns can function as relatives. By far the most widely used pronoun is rjnj´hsq ‘which’, and it is used for persons as well as for inanimates.

[142]Ckeifqnt, z dxthf ≤Dhtvtxrj≥ cvjnhtkf, nfv djghjcs ,skb, ye, rjnjhst lf/ncz, ns pdjybim gj ntktajye, rjnjhsq lftncz, b nfv dsotkrbdftncz rjkbxtcndj k/ltq, rjnjhst pdjybkb.

Listen, yesterday I was watching “Time,” they had questions, which, well, were given, you call the number, which is given, and there they click off the number of people who have called.

As a relative, rjnj´hsq has no trace of the restriction to a delimited set that is characteristic of its use as an interrogative. Russian does not distinguish between restrictive and non-restrictive relative clauses, whether by the choice of pronoun or intonation or punctuation.

Rnj´ ‘who’ can be used as a relative under special conditions. Rnj´ defines membership in a set of possible individuals. Rnj´ fits when the head is the demonstrative nj´n (or plural n†) without a noun. The intended referents must be human and, as a rule, include males (exceptionally, [145]). Agreement with rnj´ is masculine singular if the relative proposition is true of each individual separately ([143]), but plural is possible for group activities ([144]):

[143]Hfccnhtkzkb dct[ nt[, rnj pyfk<msc sg> j pfujdjht, yj yt ljytc<msc sg> . They shot all those who knew about the conspiracy but did not report it.

[144]F nt, rnj cnjzkb<pl> cpflb, jrfpfkbcm d cfvjv dsujlyjv gjkj;tybb.

And those who were standing at the back turned out to have the best position.

[145]Bp dct[ nt[, rjuj tve ghjxbkb d ytdtcns, jy tt cxbnfk yf,jktt gjl[jlzotq. Of all those whom they were proposing to him as a bride, he thought she was the most suitable.

The construction nj´n, rnj´ . . . defines an implicit condition: if a person has such and such a property (the rnj´ clause), then here is what can be said about such a person (the nj´n clause). The condition then becomes a prescription for how to treat a person who acts in a certain way. And, in fact, the nj´n, rnj´ . . . construction was a formula in medieval legal language, when the defining property (rnj´) was put at the front of the clause and separated from the consequence (nj´n). A memorable modern token is Lenin’s phrase: rnj yt c yfvb, njn ghjnbd yfc ‘whosoever is not with us, that one is against us’.

The construction n†, rnj´ contrasts with n†, rjnj´hst, which occurs as well. N†, rnj´ refers to possible individuals (in [146], any possible individual who might have knowledge of the affair), while n†, rjnj´hst refers to real individuals (in [146], the actual culprits):

210 A Reference Grammar of Russian

[146]Jy yt [jntk dcnhtxfnmcz yt njkmrj c ntvb, rjnjhst ghbybvfkb exfcnbt d e,bqcndt Hfcgenbyf, yj b c ntvb, rnj yfgjvbyfk tuj j ghjbcitlitv. He avoided meeting not only those who had taken part in the murder of Rasputin, but even those who might remind him of what had happened.

Thus using rnj´ as a relative requires a concept of a set and a process of defining the membership in a set. The requisite set can be established by any quantifying adjective -- dc† ‘all’, rƒ;lsq ‘each’, y†rjnjhst ‘several’, ybrnj´ ‘no one’:

[147]Jgbie ytrjnjhs[, rjuj pfgjvybk. I’ll describe some whom I remember.

[148]Z yt dbltkf ybrjuj djrheu ct,z, r rjve z vjukf ,s j,hfnbnmcz. I didn’t see anyone around to whom I could turn.

Rnj´ can also be used with demonstratives and overt head nouns if the nouns have general reference ([149]). In the exceptional case, a simple noun without a demonstrative can be the head, if something evokes a set (in [150], d xbck†):

[149]Ubnkth ljujdjhbkcz cj Cnfkbysv, xnj dct nt nfvjiybt ;bntkb, e rjuj d ;bkf[ ntxtn ytvtwrfz rhjdm, vjuen et[fnm d Uthvfyb/.

Hitler made an agreement with Stalin that all of the local residents who had any German blood could leave for Germany.

[150]D xbckt ujcntq, rnj r yfv gjcnjzyyj tplbk, ,skb nhb ,hfnf Hftdcrb[. Among the guests who came to us regularly were the three Raevsky brothers.

Inanimate xnj´ ‘what’ can be used as a relative under certain conditions. It can be attached to the demonstrative nj´ or other pronouns such as dc= and then used in any case.

[151]Vj;tn ,snm, nj, j xtv ctqxfc ,ele hfccrfpsdfnm, ghjbc[jlbkj lj fhtcnf. Possibly what I’m just to tell about happened before my arrest.

[152]Ds[jl yf cwtye ,sk jceotcndktybtv dctuj, xnj lhtvfkj dj vyt. Going on stage was the realization of everything that lay dormant in me.

In the colloquial register, xnj´ can be attached to a noun if it is used in the direct case form -- nominative (animate or inanimate) or accusative (but then only inanimate). If it is the subject, the verb agrees with the gender--number features of the head (in [153], rƒhnf ‘map’):

[153]Vs bpexfkb rfhne<\fem> hfqjyf, xnj kt;fkf<fem> gthtl yfvb yf cnjkt. We studied a map of the region, which lay before us on the table.

Adverbial pronouns ul† ‘where’, relƒ ‘to what place’, rjulƒ ‘when’, rƒr ‘how’ can be used as relative pronouns when they are attached to appropriate sites -- to demonstrative pronouns such as nƒv ‘there’, nelƒ ‘to that place’, njulƒ ‘then’, nƒr ‘thus’ or simply to nouns with the meaning of location, time, or manner.

Arguments 211

[154]<skj xtnsht bycnfywbb, relf gjkfufkjcm gjlfdfnm pfzdktybz. There were four levels to which one could make application.

Rfrj´q, an adjective, can be used if the matrix context focuses on the properties of the entity, as do nfrj´q ‘that kind’ ([155]), the quantifier cnj´km ‘to such an extent’ ([156]), or a superlative adjective ([157]):

[155]Veybwbgfkmyfz cbcntvf jcnfkfcm nfrjq, rfrjq djpybrkf dj dhtvtyf Dtkbrjq ahfywepcrjq htdjk/wbb.

The municipal system has remained such as it was when it arose during the era of the French Revolution.

[156]<. . .> cnjkm ;t эythubxyjq lfvt, rfrjq ,skf jyf cfvf.

<. . .> to a woman just as energetic as she was herself

[157]<. . .> jlby bp cfvs[ xtcnytqib[ k/ltq, rfrb[ z pyfk

<. . .> one of the most honest people such as I have ever known

As a relativizer, the possessive x†q is bookish.

[158]<fdsrbys lhe;bkb c ctvtqcndjv Njvktyjds[, xtq jntw cke;bk ;tktpyjljhj;ybrjv dvtcnt c Vb[fbkjv Dfcbkmtdbxtv.

The Bavykins were on friendly terms with the Tomlenov family, whose father worked on the railroad along with Mikhail Vasilevich.

X†q suggests an intrinsic connection between the possessor and its possessed object; for example, in [158], there is a presumption that each family unit would have its own head. Rj´q is archaic (d htcnjhfy, [jpzqrjq rjtuj zdbkfcm yfif cjctlrf ‘into a restaurant, the proprietor of which turned out to be our neighbor’).

A favorite concern of linguistic investigations of the past few decades has been to determine constraints on which arguments are accessible to relativization. Russian allows relativization of all argument positions within finite clauses -- subjects, objects, possessors, adverbial arguments. It can relativize object arguments of non-finite verbs -- of infinitives ([159]) or of adverbial participles ([160]).

[159]Pltcm vs cnfkrbdftvcz c nfrbvb njyrjcnzvb, dszdbnm b gjyznm rjnjhst cevtkf kbim cnjkm vjoyfz jnhfckm cjdhtvtyyjq yferb, rfr rdfynjdfz ntjhbz.

Here we run up against subtleties, to make explicit and understand which only such a powerful branch of contemporary science as quantum theory has managed.

[160]<. . .> c ibhjrbv kbwjv, dcnhtnbd rjnjhjt lf;t ult-yb,elm d Fdcnhfkbb bkb Yjdjq Ptkfylbb vj;yj ,tp jgfcrb pfujdfhbdfnm gj-heccrb.

<. . .> with a broad face, on meeting which even anywhere in Australia or New Zealand one can without hesitation address in Russian.