- •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
216 A Reference Grammar of Russian
4.4.8 Event nouns: introduction
Many nouns have something of the flavor of predicates. As nouns, they refer or point to something, but what they refer to is an event or part of an event. Such e v e n t nouns often have arguments analogous to the arguments of verbs. The most transparent of these nouns are derived by suffixation of verbal roots; they are neuter nouns of Declension<Ib> formed with an augment {-ij-} added to what looks like the passive participle: ceotcndjdfybt (ghjnbdjhtxbq) ‘existence (of contradictions)’, cjcnjzybt (,fyrjdcrjuj ctrnjhf) ‘condition (of banking)’, cjdthitycndjdfybt ‘perfection’, cjhtdyjdfybt (jgthfwbjyys[ cbcntv) ‘competition (of operating systems)’, jnhbwfybt (yfituj ds,jhf) ‘rejection (of our choice)’, gthtdjcgbnfybt (kbw, cjdthibdib[ ghtcnegktybz) ‘re-education (of people who have committed crimes)’, j,kflfybt (bcnbyjq) ‘possession (of truth)’, nht,jdfybt (r jxbcnrt ufpjd) ‘demand (for cleaning of gases)’, (b[) jge,kbrjdfybt
‘(their) publication’. Abstract nouns related to adjectives, such as ytj,[jlbvjcnm ‘necessity’, pfrjyjvthyjcnb ‘regularities’, can also be considered event nouns referring to a static event.
Other nouns not formed with productive suffixes can also evoke events and have arguments: k/,jdm r hjlbyt ‘love for the fatherland’, kjdkz ,f,jxtr ‘butterfly hunting’, ub,tkm wfhz ‘the demise of the czar’, hfpujdjhs dphjcks[ vt;le cj,jq j, buhf[ d rfhns ‘the conversations of grownups among themselves about card games’. The ability of nouns to evoke events is so pervasive that one can see an event lurking in ljhjuf d Neke cyt;ysvb gjkzvb ‘[a journey on] the road to Tula through snow-covered fields’.
Event nouns, even the most event-like, stop short of being verbs. They do not distinguish verbal categories. The reflexive affix -cz cannot be used with nouns, even if the corresponding verb is necessarily reflexive: jnxfzybt ‘despair’, related to jnxfznmcz ‘despair’. Because nouns do not allow the reflexive affix, many event nouns are associated both with transitive verbs and with reflexive intransitive verbs: jnlfktybt ‘departure, removal’, related to both transitive jnlfkbnm ‘remove’ and reflexive jnlfkbnmcz ‘remove oneself, depart’. Aspect is not distinguished. As a rule, only one nominal is formed, in some instances like the perfective (gthtdjcgbnfybt ‘re-education’, yfrfpfybt ‘punishment’), in others like a secondary imperfective (ds,hfcsdfybt ‘tossing out’, dscrfpsdfybt ‘utterance’, dcfcsdfybt ‘sucking into’). Dual forms are rare: usual bp,hfybt ‘election’ (bp,hfnm<pf>), unusual bp,bhfybt ‘the process of selecting’ (bp,bhfnm<if>).
Using event nouns and abstract nouns extensively is characteristic of scientific and publicistic style: ytj,[jlbvjcnm ,jktt lbaathtywbhjdfyyjuj gjl[jlf r yfpyfxtyb/ eujkjdyjuj yfrfpfybz ‘the necessity of a more differentiated approach to the designation of criminal punishment’.
Arguments 217
4.4.9 Semantics of event nouns
Event nouns have different senses in contexts, along two parameters.
One parameter is the reference of the event. An event noun often has essential reference -- it establishes the fact of the existence of an event of a certain type ([189--90]) -- but can also refer to a specific event ([191]):
[189]E yb[ e;t yt [dfnfkj dhtvtyb yf xntybt.
They already were short of time for [any activity that would qualify as] reading.
[190]Jy ghbvbhbkcz, jy djj,ot yt dthbk d cdjt jcdj,j;ltybt.
He was resigned, he did not believe in [the possibility of ] his being freed at all.
[191]Ghtlctlfntkm pfrfikzkcz, yt chfpe cvju ghjljk;bnm xntybt.
The chairman began to cough, and could not continue [the current act of ] reading right away.
Also, an event noun can refer to the whole event (as above) or to some part or aspect of the event: the manner in which the event progresses ([192]) or the results of an event ([193]):
[192]Tuj yjdjt ceotcndjdfybt c ;tyjq b ltnmvb ,skj yfcnjkmrj lkz ytuj lhfujwtyyj, xnj ghbphfrb ,skjuj yt ljgecrfkbcm c/lf.
His new existence with wife and children was so valuable to him that no phantoms from the past were permitted.
[193]Jn hfljcnb z pf,sk pf[dfnbnm cdjb ghbcgjcj,ktybz lkz kjdkb ,f,jxtr.
I was so enthused I forgot to grab with me my instruments for butterfly hunting.
The result reading, especially, is frequent. A gjvtotybt is just as likely to be a location as an act of locating; ghbcgjcj,ktybt in the sense of a result of devising -- a device, as in [193] -- is as common as the pure event sense of the process of adaptation ([194]):
[194]Ecnfyjdktys pfrjyjvthyjcnb ghbcgjcj,ktybz jhufybpvf r eckjdbzv ytdtcjvjcnb.
The regularities of the adaptation of the organism to the condition of weightlessness were determined.
4.4.10 Arguments of event nouns
Event nouns have arguments corresponding to predicate arguments.45 It is useful to distinguish the equivalent of intransitive verbs, which have one major argument, and the equivalent of transitive verbs, which may have two arguments.
45 On valence in event nouns, see: Veyrenc 1972, 1974, Revzin 1973[a], Comrie 1980[a], Rappaport 1992, Fowler 1998, and especially Paducheva 1984. To judge by the typological literature on event nouns, Russian is not unusual in its valence patterns or semantics or restrictions on verbal categories (Comrie 1976[a], Comrie and Thompson 1985, Koptjevskaja-Tamm 1993, with bibliography).
218 A Reference Grammar of Russian
An argument analogous to the subject of an intransitive is expressed in the genitive if it is a noun ([195]), as a possessive adjective if it is a pronoun ([196--97]):
[195]{ghb[jl djqcr<gen> ghjktnfhcrjt ghjbc[j;ltybt hfp,bdfntktq<gen> dfujyjd
gjcnegktybt ghjlernjd<gen> }
{arrival of the troops the proletarian origins of the destroyers of the wagons the arrival of products}
[196]{ ghb[jl vtyz<gen> } {{vjq<pss> cdjq<pss> b[<pss> } ghb[jl} { arrival of me} {{my one’s own their} arrival}
[197]{ jnxfzybt ct,z<gen> } {cdjt<pss> jnxfzybt} { despair of self} {one’s own despair}
As above (§4.4.2), the third-person forms behave in a manner parallel to possessive adjectives, in that the unmarked position is before the event noun: tuj ghb[jl ‘his arrival’, parallel to vjq ghb[jl, in contrast to ghbtpl ghtpbltynf ‘the arrival of the president’; similarly, ndjz htibntkmyjcnm ‘your decisiveness’, tt htibntkmyjcnm ‘her decisiveness’, but htibntkmyjcnm ujcelfhcndf ‘the decisiveness of the government’.
If an event noun corresponds to a transitive predicate, there are three possibilities for expressing both arguments: (a) the subject analog is instrumental, the object analog is a possessive ([198]); (b) the subject analog is instrumental, the object analog is genitive ([199--200]); (c) or the subject analog is possessive, the object analog is genitive ([201--2]):
[198]Cnfkby dct-nfrb evth tcntcndtyyjq cvthnm/ (tckb yt ghbybvfnm dj dybvfybt ytj,jcyjdfyye/ dthcb/ j tuj<pss> zrj,s e,bqcndt <thbtq<ins> ).
Stalin, nevertheless, died a natural death (assuming one does not consider the unsubstantiated version about his supposed murder by Beria).
[199]xntybt Regthf<gen> extybrjv<ins> the reading of Cooper by the pupil
[200]Jy ujdjhbk j e,bqcndt Cnfkbysv<ins> tuj ;tys<gen> . He spoke about the murder by Stalin of his wife.
[201]{vjt<pss> tuj<pss> } xntybt Regthf<gen>
{my his} reading of Cooper
[202]Dfkz gjghjcbkf pfgbcfnm yf vfuybnjajy tt<pss> b vjt<pss> xntybt jnltkmys[ ahfp<gen> .
Valia asked to have her and my reading of some individual phrases tape-recorded.
The possibilities for arguments in event nouns are schematized in Table 4.10. As is evident from Table 4.10, instrumental case and genitive case are used for complementary arguments. It is impossible to have two genitives, one the analog of a transitive subject, the other the object analog, in a single nominal. The versatile possessives fit in all three positions.
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Arguments 219 |
Table 4.10 Arguments in event nouns |
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argument |
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analog |
instrumental |
possessive pronoun |
genitive |
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TRANSITIVE |
xntybt Kynepa |
{tt<pss> vjt<pss> } xntybt |
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SUBJECT |
extybrjv<ins> |
jnltkmys[ ahfp |
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‘reading of Cooper |
‘{her my} reading of |
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by the pupil’ |
individual phrases’ |
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INTRANSITIVE |
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{ndjq<pss> tt<pss> } ghb[jl |
ghb[jl djqcr<gen> |
SUBJECT |
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‘{your her} arrival’ |
‘arrival of troops’ |
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[pronoun] |
[noun] |
TRANSITIVE |
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{tuj<pss> vjt<pss> } |
yfpyfxtybt vtyz<gen> |
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OBJECT |
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yfpyfxtybt |
‘appointment of me’ |
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‘{his my} appointment’ |
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Table 4.10 gives the maximal possibilities, when all arguments are expressed. In practice, arguments of event nouns, especially those corresponding to agents of transitives, are often left out, to be interpreted, depending on context, as referring to any person’s participation or to some specific individual’s participation:
[203]Эnjve ubvyfpbcne elfkjcm crhsnmcz, yj dtlencz tuj gjbcrb.
That gymnasium student managed to slip away, but his search [the search for him] is underway.
[204]gthtdzprf dtys b tt elfktybt
binding of the vein and its removal |
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[205] U: E vtyz fggtnbn ghj,e;lftncz gjckt |
My appetite kicks in after arrival at |
ghb[jlf yf hf,jne. |
work. |
B: Ye c ghb[jljv yf hf,jne lf, e yfc |
Well with respect to arrival at work -- |
эnj ; ghjwtcc djn ghbqnb yf hf,jne, |
that process of arriving at work, that |
djn xfcf gjknjhf pfybvftn. |
takes an hour and a half. |
As in Table 4.10, pronominal arguments corresponding to objects can be expressed in principle in two ways: as genitives or as possessives.46 Genitives -- the more general option -- focus on the fact that an event, viewed as a whole fact (essential reference), occurs at all, as is appropriate when the event is still virtual ([206--8]):
[206]Djghjc j yfpyfxtybb tuj<gen> yf jndtncndtyysq gjcn djn-djn ljk;ty ,sk htibnmcz.
46 Paducheva 1984.