- •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
220 A Reference Grammar of Russian
The question of assigning him [= whether to assign him] to an important position
was to be decided any day now.
[207]Jy ,sk ghjnbd ghtdhfotybz vtyz<gen> d gthtdjlxbrf.
He was opposed to [the possibility of] converting me into a translator.
[208]Jyf yt gjljphtdfkf j { ndjtv ghtcktljdfybb ghtcktljdfybb nt,z}.
She had no suspicion of the persecution of you [= of the fact that persecution of you was occurring].
Using a possessive is appropriate if the event is actual and is characteristic of, or of interest to, that specific possessor ([209--11]):
[209]Yt cjdctv gjybvf/ ghbxbye vjtuj<pss> yfpyfxtybz.
I don’t entirely understand the reason for my appointment.
[210]Jy yt cjxedcndjdfk vjtve<pss> ghtdhfotyb/ d gthtdjlxbrf. He was not sympathetic to my conversion to a translator.
[211]Z ,ele ghjcbnm, xnj,s cel gjnht,jdfk jn heccrb[ dkfcntq ghtrhfnbnm vjt<pss> ghtcktljdfybt.
I will ask that the court demand of the Russian authorities that they cease my persecution.
Arguments of event nouns corresponding to arguments other than subject or object usually have the same cases as they would with the corresponding verb. For example, djpdhfotybt ‘return’, related to djpdhfnbnm/djpdhfofnm ‘return’, allows sources (gjckt djpdhfotybz bp Rbnfz ‘after the return from China’) or goals (djpdhfotybt b[ yf rjhf,km ‘returning them to the ship’); the verb (edktxmcz/edktrfnmcz rjvgm/nthfvb ‘be fascinated with computers’) and the event noun (edktxtybt rjvgm/nthfvb ‘fascination with computers’) govern the instrumental.
An exception to this rule is the set of nouns that refer to static attitudes. The goal of the attitude is expressed by the preposition r with the dative even when the corresponding verb does not use this preposition: edf;tybt r cj,tctlybre ‘respect for one’s interlocutor’, ghtphtybt r nfrbv k/lzv ‘scorn for such people’ (edf;fnm ‘respect’, ghtpbhfnm ‘scorn’ take the accusative); ghtyt,ht;tybt r wtyyjcnzv ‘inattention to valuables’ (ghtyt,htxm wtyyjcnzvb<ins> ‘treat valuables inattentively’); jndhfotybt r irjkt ‘disgust for school’ (compare jndhfnbnmcz/jndhfofnmcz jn irjks ‘feel repulsed from school’).
4.5 Reference in text: nouns, pronouns, and ellipsis
4.5.1 Basics
As speakers talk about the |
entities in the world, they use one or another |
r e f e r e n t i a l e x p o n e n t |
to name or refer to the entities. Referential |
Arguments 221
exponents are the following: bare nouns; nouns with adjectives; nouns with demonstrative pronouns; demonstrative pronouns used as nouns (without nouns); pronouns; ellipsis, or “zero pronouns” (absence of any overt argument where one might be expected); and reflexive pronouns. Many referential exponents have a similar function. Pronouns, reflexive pronouns (§4.7), zero pronouns, and sometimes bare nouns can all point to known individuals whose existence and relevance have been established. The various exponents differ in how they instruct the addressee to look for information about the individual. Exponents can be more or less local. Third-person (non-reflexive) pronouns instruct the addressee to look for a source of information about the individual currently under discussion somewhere else, over a boundary, over a barrier, and integrate the current information with the inherited understanding of the individual.47
4.5.2 Common nouns in text
Nouns establish the existence of some entity and categorize it: they state what category (type, class, essence) the entity belongs to, and thereby indicate what some of its properties are.
Russian is famous for the fact that it does not have articles. (And, unlike Czech, it does not use demonstratives with any special frequency.) As a consequence, a bare noun or a noun with an adjective does not by itself indicate whether the entity is a specific individual known to the addressee or not. On first mention, a noun establishes that there is an entity that belongs to a certain class. What the noun refers to may or may not have any particular significance as an individual. In [212], for example, all that is known about the entities being carried is that they have the essence of backpacks (h/rpfrb), and they will not be relevant further. In contrast, the legendary helmet girl reappears.
[212]F vs jcnfdbkb h/rpfrb yf gjkgenb // Yfc dcnhtnbkf ltdbwf d iktvt / djn эnf ltdbwf d iktvt yfc ghtcktljdfkf // Nfrfz ktutylfhyfz // E ytt ,sk rfrjq-nj ytdthjznysq rjvgfc
So we left our backpacks along the way // We were met by a girl in a helmet / well that helmet girl persecuted us // positively legendary // she had some amazing compass
Bare nouns can be used not only to establish new entities. They can also refer to entities that have already been established as individuals. For example, in the abridged text in [213], the memoirist first mentions a unique lake (jpthj Cdtnkjzh) where he once went with a friend to observe the festival of the Holy Mother of Vladimir before such rituals were suppressed.
47 That is, identity need not remain constant across times and worlds, pace Fauconnier 1985.
222A Reference Grammar of Russian
[213]Nfv ytdlfktrt yf[jlbkjcm jpthj Cdtnkjzh -- vjz lfdybiyzz uhtpf. Vs gjgflfkb nelf yfrfyeyt ghtcnjkmyjuj ghfplybrf Dkflbvbhcrjq <j;mtq Vfnthb, rjulf ghfdtlyst k/lb eljcnfbdf/ncz kbwtphtnm yf lyt jpthf cdzotyysq uhfl Rbnt; . . .
Djrheu cnjzkb k/lb, ckeifkb . . .
Gjcnjzkb b vs, gjnjv cgecnbkbcm r jpthe . . . Dct cnjzkb r jpthe kbwjv . . .
Vs gjljikb r cfvjq djlt b nen edbltkb cjdthityyj ytdthjznyjt. Jn gjdth[yjcnb jpthf itk ckf,sq
cdtn . . .
Z ecsifk ijhj[ d rfvsif[, dcvjnhtkcz b edbltk cnfhe[e. Jyf gjkpkf yf kjrnz[ . . . Pf yt/ gjkpkb lheufz, nhtnmz . . . Jyb lfkb j,tn ghjgjkpnb djrheu dctuj jpthf!
Not far from there was located Lake Svetloiar -- my longstanding dream. We arrived on the evening of the holiday of the Mother of God of Vladimir, when the devout are vouchsafed a vision of the sacred city of Kitezh on the bottom of the lake . . .
People were standing around, listening . . . We stood a while as well, then went down to the lake . . .
Everyone stood facing the lake . . . We went up to the water and there saw something completely unbelievable. Off the surface of the lake came a faint glow . . .
I heard a rustling in the reeds, looked there and saw an old woman. She was crawling on her elbows . . . Behind her was crawling a second, and a third . . .
They had vowed to crawl around the whole lake!
After the first mention, that unique lake is referred to by means of a bare noun. (A third-person pronoun would conflict with the speaker’s companion.) Similarly in [214], one clause first establishes the existence of an entity that qualifies as a ‘plateau’. After that, the entity is known as a unique individual, and it is referred to by the bare noun.
[214]djn d ujhe gjlyzkbcm / b эnj e;t ,skj gkfnj // Djn // Pyfxbn z uekzkf gj gkfne
// Gkfnj yfpsdftncz Zqkf, xnj km? . . . nfr ghtlcnfdkzkf ct,t / <. . .> / gkfnj
jxtym ,jkmijt //
so we climbed up the mountain / and there was a plateau // So // I mean I walked on the plateau // The plateau is called Iaila or something . . . that’s what I thought / <. . .> / the plateau is quite large //
Nouns, then, at first mention introduce and categorize an entity (essential reference); in context, nouns can point to an already known, individuated entity.
4.5.3 Third-person pronouns
A third-person pronoun is the neutral exponent for keeping track of an entity that is established as a distinct individual.48 Normally a pronoun is used
48 On anaphoric pronouns in Russian, see Paducheva 1985.
Arguments 223
throughout a series of predicates that form a coherent block of text, so long as the text has no boundaries: there are no competing referents of the same gender--number, the time-worlds are the same, and the unit of text (the episode) is the same. In [215], the individual is identified by a noun at the beginnings of episodes, and pronouns are used within the episodes.
[215]Dct gjcktlytt dhtvz gfgf cj,bhfkcz d Rfbh, yf rjyuhtcc fh[tjkjujd. Yfcnfk ltym jn(tplf. Vs ghjdj;fkb tuj yf djrpfk, ytkjdrj njkrkbcm hzljv c ybv yf gthhjyt, ;fktz tuj pf nfrb[ ytcrkflys[ ltntq, yf ytuj yt gj[j;b[ . . .
Gfgf ckfk yfv gbcmvf c genb, bp Faby b bp dct[ ujhjljd, xthtp rjnjhst t[fk
<. . .> Xeltcyst gbcmvf! <. . .> Yj gjxtve-nj jy yt gjkexfk yfib[ jndtnys[ gbctv.
Vs e;t ;lfkb crjhjuj djpdhfotybz gfgs.
All this time papa was getting ready to go to Cairo, to a meeting of archeologists. The day of departure came. We took him to the station, awkwardly hanging around the platform with him, pitying him for such useless children, so unlike him . . .
Papa sent us a letter from Athens and from all the cities he traveled through
<. . .> Wonderful letters! <. . .> For some reason he didn’t receive our answers. We were already expecting papa’s return any moment.
Anaphoric pronouns usually refer to well-established individuals with distinct properties. But in Russian anaphoric pronouns can also refer back to essential descriptions, where in English some other pronominal form (one, etc.) would be required.49
[216]-- B c nfrbvb pyfvtybnsvb ghtlrfvb b yt ,snm vjyfh[bcnjv! -- dcrhbxfk cktljdfntkm.
--Ybrjulf bv yt ,sk!
--And with such notable ancestors not to be a monarchist! -- exclaimed the interrogator.
--I was never one.
4.5.4 Ellipsis (‘‘zero” pronouns)
As a rule, Russian uses an overt phrase -- a noun or a pronoun -- for its subject argument and, when the verb is transitive, for the object argument. In this respect, Russian is not what has come to be called “a pro-drop language.”50
49Channon 1983:61.
50It is a question whether “pro-drop language” is a unitary concept. Discussing Russian, Franks (1995:317, passim) distinguishes two senses of the term: Russian is like English and French in retaining subject pronouns (thus all three are positive for the parameter “+Overt Subject Param-
eter”), but Russian is unlike English or French in not requiring dummy subjects (Russian has a negative value for “Overt Expletive Subject Parameter”: эnj [jkjlyj). Moreover, null (elliptical) subjects are said to be licensed by discourse, and Russian is said to be more discourse-oriented
224 A Reference Grammar of Russian
Yet there are contexts when Russian indulges in ellipsis -- when it does without overt subject argument phrases or (less commonly) object argument phrases when those would be expected. (Below, “º” marks the absence of an expected argument in Russian.) Ellipsis depends on register and mode of language and on systemic factors.
Speech uses ellipsis liberally. Ellipsis is possible in dialogue when the identities of the participants are predictable, as in sequences of question and answer. Often, the question, being more open-ended, contains an overt pronoun, while a direct response to the question lacks a subject, as happens more than once in [217] (1V/2K, 12K/13V, 16K/17V).
[217] 1 |
V: F jy gjckt hf,jns ghbltn / lf? |
He’s coming after work / right? |
2 |
K: Lf-f/ º cj,bhfkcz // Jy [jxtn / e |
Yes / [he] meant to // He wants / His |
|
ytuj xfcs dcnfkb // B jy [j . . . |
watch stopped // And he wants to |
|
[jxtn b[ jnlfnm d htvjyn/ |
take it to be fixed/ |
11 |
V: Djn ctujlyz z gjtle // <. . .> |
So today I will go// <. . .> |
12 |
K: F dj crjkmrj ns gjtltim? |
At what time are you going to go? |
13 |
V: Ye º djn ghzvj ctqxfc yfdthyj |
Well [I] will go probably right away. // |
|
gjtle // |
|
14 |
K: F-f / ye ns dthytimcz r dtxthe / |
Aha / but you’ll return by evening / |
|
lf? |
yes? |
15 |
V: Ye z levf/ xnj xfcjd d |
Well I think at six or seven I’ll be |
|
itcnm-ctvm z ,ele // |
here // |
16 |
K: Nfr xnj ns Gtn/-nj edblbim // |
So then you’ll see Petya // |
17 |
V: º Edb;e º levftim / lf? Ye z |
[I] will see him, [you] think so / yes? |
|
crf;e vfvt xnj,s jy vtyz |
Well I’ll tell mama to have him wait |
|
gjlj;lfk // |
for me. // |
Pronouns are used when the predicate does more than simply respond to the previous question (2K, 17V). Parenthetical phrases that relate to the fact of dialogue lack pronouns, phrases such as: yt cksie ‘[I] can’t hear you’, pyftim ‘[you] know’, gjybvftim ‘[you] understand’, but ,hjcm ns ‘come off it!’.
In speech that is narrative, argument phrases can be omitted if the individual is understood to be the same in all respects: the same individual with the same properties; continuous text type (narrative or commentary or dialogue); same time-world; and same perspective of the speaker. An overt argument phrase signals a shift or discontinuity. In [218], the overt pronoun restarts the narrative after the commentary (ye;yj ,skj nelf blnb), after which pronouns are omitted in the two subsequent events of the brief episode of the first day:
than English (307), suggesting yet a third typological parameter. The task here is to characterize the conditions and effect of invoking discourse-licensed ellipsis. See: Nichols 1985, Koktovƒ 1992, Kresin 1994.
Arguments 225
[218]Ye;yj ,skj nelf blnb / b djn vs ikb-ikb-ikb / gjrf . . .
(jnrfikbdftncz) yt yfxfkj ntvytnm / xfcjd lj gznb / gjnjv º hfp,bkb gfkfnrb b jcnfyjdbkbcm // f yf cktle/obq ltym º e;t djikb d yfcnjzobq rfymjy // B djn xnj эnj nfrjt / эnj rhfcjnf / ytdblfyyfz //
[We] had to go there / and so we walked and walked and walked / until . . . [coughing] it started to get
dark / around five / then [we] broke out the tents and stopped // and on the next day [we] entered into a real canyon // what can you say / that’s beauty / unprecedented //
In written Russian, argument phrases are omitted less frequently, but ellipsis does occur. Ellipsis is common in finite subordinate clauses. Ellipsis is usual in adverbial clauses which share the subject with the main clause, as in [219].
[219]Z tplbkf nelf yt njkmrj d nt lyb, rjulf º nfywtdfkf. I went there not only on the days when [I] danced.
In a modest sample with first-singular subjects and subordinate clauses introduced by rjulƒ (in either order), the pronoun was omitted in the second clause 89 percent of the time (25xx of 28xx).51 Overt pronouns appear in subordinate clauses if there is an intervening subject:
[220]Ntgthm, rjulf z db;e /yjitq b ltdeitr, rjnjhst gj jrjyxfybb irjks yt [jnzn exbnmcz lfkmit, z dctulf dcgjvbyf/ cdj/ /yjcnm.
Now, when I see young fellows and girls, who finish school but do not want to study further, I always remember my youth.
Ellipsis is usual in clauses expressing the content of verbs of speech or thought when the subjects are identical, depending on the type of predicate. Ellipsis is close to obligatory with verbs ([221]), less regular with adjectives ([222]), which in turn tolerate ellipsis more than predicate nominals or prepositional phrases ([223]):
[221]Z gjxedcndjdfkf, xnj {?z º} pfdkfltkf vjcrjdcrjq ge,kbrjq. I felt that I had conquered the Moscow audience.
[222]Dbrnjh ghbpyfkcz vjtq vfnthb, xnj {±jy º} cxfcnkbd ,tpvthyj, xnj {±jy
º} dk/,kty, rfr gskrbq /yjif.
Viktor confessed to my mother that [he was] completely happy, that [he was] in love, like a passionate young man.
[223]Jy crfpfk, xnj {jy ?º} csy gjvtobrf, xnj {jy ?º} nj;t bp nt[ vtcn. He said that [he was] the son of a landowner, that [he was] also from that area.
Operations on the predicate like the question kb or questions require a subject pronoun:
51 Based on S. Golitsyn, Zapiski utselevshego (Moscow, 1990).
226A Reference Grammar of Russian
[224]Z yt pyfkf, pfdkfltkf kb {z º} vjcrjdcrjq ge,kbrjq.
I was not sure whether I had conquered the Moscow audience.
[225]Vs hfccrfpfkb, rnj {vs º}. We told who we were.
Thus, dependent clauses in written Russian often use ellipsis.
From one independent clause to the next, subject pronouns are generally maintained in written Russian, but ellipsis occurs in written Russian that has the flavor of speech (interior monologue, for example). A subject argument can be omitted if the types of events or properties are related and continuous; if the time-world is the same; and if the individuals are being discussed by the same speaker and addressee. For example, in the following passage, all predicates report on the same theme of the author’s biography. After the initial pronoun, no subject pronouns are used until the predicate which starts a new paragraph and brings us out of reminiscence back to the main narrative.
[226]Yj ujyjhfh z ecgtk gjkexbnm. Pfntv º gbcfk dyenhtyybt htwtypbb lkz ;ehyfkjd. Fyjybvyj º cjnhelybxfk yf ntktdbltybb. Rjhjxt, º ghtdhfnbkcz d cdj,jlyjuj [elj;ybrf. B yfrjytw pfytckj vtyz d Nfkkbyy.
Jrjkj vfufpbyf cedtybhjd z pfvtnbk ntktajyye/ ,elre.
But I still managed to get paid. Then [I] wrote internal reviews for journals. [I] anonymously worked in television. In short, [I] turned into a free-lance artist. And now here fate had dumped me in Tallinn.
Next to a souvenir store I noticed a telephone booth.
Ellipsis of object arguments is possible, if the subjects are the same, the objects are the same, and the second event is closely related to the first, by being part of a series of events ([227]) or an elaboration or explication of the first ([228]):52
[227]Freithrf c[dfnbkf vtyz<j> pf yj;rb, gthtdthyekf º<j> ddth[ ujkjdjq b iktgyekf º<j> gj ujkjq gjgrt.
The midwife grabbed me by my legs, turned [me] upside down, and slapped [me] on my naked behind.
[228]D njn ltym jyf ghjlfkf cdjt tlbycndtyyjt ghbkbxyjt gkfnmt<j> . Ghjlfkf º<j> ltitdj, gjnjve xnj nfrb[ gkfnmtd ,skj vyjuj d vfufpbyf[.
That day she sold her only decent dress. [She] sold [it] cheap, because there were many such dresses in the shops.
Ellipsis does not occur when the events are understood as separate events for which it is necessary to restate the participants: if the second event requires the completion of the first ([229]) or if attention is focused on what eventually happens to the object ([230]):
52 McShane 1999.