- •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
212A Reference Grammar of Russian
Relativizing to a site in a finite clause, marked “º,” is possible (though not frequent) provided the intervening syntax is relatively transparent:44
[161]Ryzpm gj ghbdsxrt ujdjhbk dtob, rjnjhsv jy b yt [jntk, xnj,s dthbkb º. The prince by habit said things that he did not even expect people to believe.
[162]E vtyz tcnm rybuf, rjnjhe/ z [jxe, xnj,s ns ghjxkf º. I have a book that I would like for you to read.
[163]? E vtyz tcnm rybuf, rjnjhe/ z lthpf/ yfltznmcz, xnj ns ghjxntim º. I have a book that I dare to hope you might read.
Such sentences are rare in texts, Tolstoy’s [161] notwithstanding.
4.4.6 Participles
Active participles, unlike adjectives and passive participles, do not form short forms; they are rarely used with copular predicates (§5.2.1). Some active participles can be used as nouns, in reference to people ([164]) or events ([165]):
[164]Nfre/ ,evf;re gjlgbcsdfk rf;lsq gjcnegf/obq yf cnhjbntkmcndj. Such a document was signed by every [person] beginning work at the construction site.
[165]D cnjkbwt yt pyfkb j cjdthibditvcz.
In the capital, they did not know about what had occurred.
Active participles are used freely as attributive modifiers. Used attributively, a participle agrees in gender--number and case with the noun it modifies, which is interpreted as the subject of the participle. Participles, like verbs, have arguments. Participles are in general a bookish construction. (On tense and aspect in participles, see §6.3.5.) Attributive participles can be preposed to the noun, and integrated prosodically with other modifiers, ;bdie/ nfv ljxm ‘his living-there daughter’, or they can be postposed, separated in writing by a comma and in speech by an intonation break, jnwf, ghj[jlbdituj rjvbccbb ‘father, who was going through review boards’.
Participles, like relative clauses, convert what could be independent predications into attributes of nouns. Aside from the obvious fact that a participle can only be used if the head noun would be the subject of the participle, it is an elusive (and still not investigated) question when participles as opposed to relative clauses are used. A relative clause with rjnj´hsq can be used either to define an individual in essential terms (in [166], ‘whatsoever family used to live there’) or to add new information about a known individual ([167]):
44 |
Zalizniak and Paducheva 1979 ([161] -- from Tolstoy, [162]), |
◦ |
|
also Comrie 1980[b]:105. Ruˇziˇcka |
1988:409 terms the awkwardness of such relatives “a problem of performance.”
Arguments 213
[166]Z cghjcbk tt, gjvybn kb jyf ne ctvm/, rjnjhfz rjulf-nj ;bkf nen d ntxtybt nht[ ktn. Jyf jnhbwfntkmyj gjrfxfkf ujkjdjq.
I asked her if she remembered that family which at one point had lived there for a period of three years. She shook her head no.
[167]Z yt vjue yt dcgjvybnm c uke,jrjq ,kfujlfhyjcnm/ Fyye Rfqpth, rjnjhfz cnfhfkfcm jrfpsdfnm vyt dczxtcre/ gjllth;re.
I cannot fail to remember with deep gratitude Anna Kaiser, who tried to help me in all possible ways.
Relative clauses, then, state what properties individuals have, but it is not an issue whether the individual is known or defined on the spot.
Participles, in contrast, focus on the way the entity is relevant; they present the individual in some capacity, qua a certain property. In [168], the participle not only defines individuals but it explains what makes the friendship possible; the subject knew them qua housemates.
[168]Z gjlhe;bkcz cj cneltynfvb, ;bdibvb d yfitq rdfhnbht. I became friends with the students living in our apartment.
In [169], the memory does not concern all properties of Sophia Loren, but concerns Sophia Loren specifically qua her descent down a staircase in Cannes.
[169]Dcgjvbyftncz vjkjlfz Cjabz Kjhty, cgecrf/ofzcz gj pyfvtybnjq ktcnybwt Ldjhwf atcnbdfktq d jcktgbntkmyjv nefktnt c vfccbdysv rjkmt bp ,hbkkbfynjd b bpevheljd yf itt b nfrbvb ;t cthmufvb d eif[.
What also comes to mind was the young Sophia Loren, descending the famous staircase of the Palace of the Festival in a blinding outfit with an enormous necklace of diamonds and emeralds and corresponding earrings.
A relative clause in [169] would not tie this descent to the act of memory.
Both participles and relative clauses are at home in written language. Spoken language rarely uses participles, sometimes uses relative clauses ([142]), but is most likely to string together clauses paratactically ([170]) when the written language would call for a relative clause or participle ([171]):
[170]B jn Ybrbncrjuj / ljt[fkb lj Zkns yf fdnj,ect // Ye nfv gjpfdnhfrfkb / b ctkb yf fdnj,ec ,f[xbcfhfqcrbq // Jy bltn lj <f[xbcfhfz
From Nikitskoe / we went to Yalta on the bus // Well and had breakfast there / and got on the Bakhchisarai bus // It goes to Bakhchisarai
[171]<. . .> ctkb yf fdnj,ec, {bleobq rjnjhsq bltn} lj <f[xbcfhfz.
<. . .> we got on a bus headed for Bakhchisarai.
214 A Reference Grammar of Russian
4.4.7 Comparatives
Comparison of adjectives is expressed by synthetic comparatives (z´hxt ‘brighter’, ljcnégytt ‘more accessible’) or analytic comparatives (,j´ktt ljcnégyj ‘more accessible’). To a large extent the two forms of comparatives are used in complementary contexts.
Analytic comparatives occur if the adjective is attributive and describes a known individual ([172]). The analytic form is virtually required in oblique cases ([173]):
[172]Ghjytccz cke[, xnj jyf exbn b[ nfywtdfnm yt njkmrj ajrcnhjn, yj tot ,jktt hfpdhfnysq xfhkmcnjy.
A rumor started that she was teaching them to dance not only the foxtrot, but the even more degenerate Charleston.
[173]Gjknjhf ujlf cgecnz z cnjzk d jxthtlb tot ,jktt lkbyyjq.
A year and a half later I had occasion to stand in an even longer line.
The synthetic form can be a predicate ([174]) or a predicative adjective ([175--76]):
[174]Cgjrjqytt ,skj yf ,thtue Xthyjuj vjhz.
It was more peaceful on the shore of the Black Sea.
[175]Dctdjkjl {,sk rfpfkcz jrfpfkcz} evytt yfc dct[.
Vsevolod {was seemed turned out to be} smarter than us all.
[176]Tuj cxbnfkb evytt yfc dct[.
[They] thought him smarter than us all.
Postposed, the synthetic form defines a type of individual (essential reference):
[177]Z gjghjcbk tuj ghbytcnb vyt lheue/ --- gjnjkot, gjcthmtpytt b gjbynthtcytt. Then I asked him to bring me another one [book], [one that would fit the definition of being] thicker, more serious, and more interesting.
In the function of adverbs, the synthetic form is used for irregular comparatives:
[178]Vs yfxfkb ,ehbnm uke,;t, lj cnf vtnhjd.
We began to drill deeper, up to a hundred meters.
With other lexemes, both forms are possible:
[179]Gjcntgtyyj vjb hjlbntkb yfxfkb dct ,jktt ,kfujcrkjyyj jnyjcbnmcz r Rkfdlbb.
Gradually my parents began to treat Claudia ever more graciously.
[180]Vfif cnfkf jnyjcbnmcz r ytve ,kfujcrkjyytt b dj dhtvz jxthtlyjq ghjuekrb lfkf tve cdjt cjukfcbt.
Masha began to treat him more graciously and once on a walk she gave him her consent.
Arguments 215
A comparative implies comparison to some other individual or situation --- that is, to a s t a n da r d . Often the standard is left implicit, to be understood from context. The standard can be expressed in the genitive: evy†t tuj´ ‘smarter than him’ ([181]). Or the standard can be made explicit with a conjunction, neutral xtv or old-fashioned y†;tkb. The standard of comparison can be an individual ([181]) or a place ([182]) or an occasion ([183]):
[181]Rjcnz ,sk cnfhit yfc ujlf yf nhb b dsukzltk ,jktt cjkblyj, yt;tkb jcnfkmyst.
Kostia was older than us by three years and looked more solid than the rest of us.
[182]E cfvjuj d[jlf d ,fyr ;vtncz r cntyrt ytrnj b yf kjvfyjv fyukbqcrjv zpsrt itgjnjv lftn pf dfk/ne d gznm hfp ljhj;t, xtv d ,fyrt.
At the entrance someone clings to the wall and offers in whispered, broken English to exchange currency for a rate five times higher than in the bank.
[183]B dct[ nt[ ,jufncnd ,skj njulf vyjuj ,jkmit, xtv ntgthm. And of those riches there were then many more than now.
The standard usually has the same role in the predicate as the entity that is compared, and hence has the same case as the compared entity: nominative ([184]), dative ([185]), possessive genitive ([186]), accusative ([187]):
[184]Z<nom> vjue ,tufnm ,scnhtt, xtv jntw<nom> . I can run faster than father.
[185]Cgtwbfkbcnfv<dat> vs gkfnbv vtymit, xtv uhjvflyjq vfcct<dat> hf,jnybrjd c ,jktt ybprjq rdfkbabrfwbtq.
To specialists we pay less than to the great mass of workers with lower qualifications.
[186]Ghjlernbdyjcnm Fpjdcrjuj vjhz<gen> d nj dhtvz ,skf d 1,5 hfpf ,jkmit, xtv Ctdthyjuj<gen> .
The productivity of the Sea of Azov was at that time one and a half times greater than that of the North Sea.
[187]Эnj e;t cltkfkj hflbjfcnhjyjvb/<acc> ,jktt ≤pjhrjq≥, xtv j,sxye/ jgnbxtcre/<acc> .
That has already made radio astronomy more insightful than ordinary optical [astronomy].
When the standard is the implicit subject of the comparison, the nominative is used. In [188], the father is an implicit subject by virtue of belonging to the class of energetic workers:
[188]Z yt pyfk, lf b ntgthm yt pyf/ ,jktt ltzntkmyjuj b ecthlyjuj hf,jnybrf, xtv vjq jntw<nom> .
I did not know, and I still don’t know today any more effective and energetic worker than my father [is].