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[375]Hf,jnf эnf bynthtcytt, xtv rfrfz-kb,j lheufz.

This work is more interesting than any other [you might think of ].

[376]Z jnrfpfkcz xnj-kb,j gjtcnm.

I declined to eat anything whatsoever.

[377]Ghbynth C80 d ghjwtcct ecnfyjdrb yt cjplfk rfrb[-kb,j nhelyjcntq.

The C80 printer caused no problems of any sort in the process of installation.

In [377], -kb,j appears in a clause with a negated finite predicate, where yb- is more usual.

-Yb,elm and -kb,j, then, both invite one to think of a possible set of entities that might conceivably fit in the event. -Kb,j allows that there might be differences among entities, and it implies a process of sorting through possible entities to determine which might fit and which not. It is especially common in contexts of weak negation, when the possibility of differences is entertained and then rejected. -Yb,elm, in contrast, asserts from the outset that it is indifferent which individual is selected. Any is as good as the next, and all that matters is that there be at least one such entity that would fit.

4.8.6 Indefinites y†rjnjhsq, y†crjkmrj

Some interrogative pronouns combine with the negative prefix yt-, yielding lexicalized indefinites: wthrjdm, d rjnjhjq ytrjulf dtyxfkfcm ljxm Ifkzgbyf

‘a church, in which Shaliapin’s daughter once was married’. Y†rjnjhsq and y†crjkmrj are common. Y†rnj is archaic, typically used modifying a name with a touch of irony: ytrnj Bdfyjd ‘a certain somebody named Ivanov’. Y†rbq ‘a certain kind of ’ is likewise old-fashioned: Jyf jnghfdbkfcm r ytrjtve cdznjq ;bpyb cnfhwe ‘She set off for some saintly elder’.

4.8.7 Summary

Table 4.17 paraphrases the meaning of the two widely used existential pronominal compounds in -nj, -yb,elm, -kb,j, and rjt- and identifies preferred contexts. The meaning is given as a complex of different levels of reference: nature of reference (existential), the individual (in relation to other possible individuals), tense-aspect-modality, speaker perspective, and register.

4.8.8 Negative pronouns in yt-

The other series of negative pronouns uses the stressed prefix y†(-): y†rjve, y†xtuj, y†ult, y†rjulf, y†relf, y†jnrelf, . . . (unlikely: y†xtq, y†crjkmrj, y†rfrjq).

Y†(-) pronouns are negative modal existentials: they deny any possibility of an individual that might fit in the event. Denying possibility is a modal act, and

266 A Reference Grammar of Russian

Table 4.17 Properties of -nj, -yb,elm, -kb,j, rjt-

	description	natural contexts
-nj	indicates existence of at least	actual:
	one entity [existence of	nfv d rjhhbljht xnj-nj ckexfkjcm/ckexftncz
	essence] that is potentially	‘in the corridor something’s going on’
	unique [individual] in	potential modality if entity unique:
	situations understood as	rybue ,eltn gbcfnm rnj-nj lheujq ‘the book will
	actual [modality] from an	be written by someone else’
	internal perspective [speaker];	iterative if entity unique on each occasion:
	neutral [register]	rf;ljt enhj jy b[ relf-nj djlbk ‘each morning
		he took them somewhere’
-rjt	like -nj, but: entities viewed as	actual if some one way, some another:
	types, some might fit, some	rjt-rnj jcnfkcz ‘someone remained’
	might not [individual];
	informal [register]
-yb,elm indicates the mere fact of		epistemological uncertainty:
	existence [existence of	dthjznyj, xnj-yb,elm ckexbkjcm
	essence] of any entity fitting	‘probably something happened’
	the proposition [individual]	hypothetical (deontic, potential, counterfactual,
	that is hypothetical	imperative) modality:
	[modality], as viewed from an	tckb ,s xnj-yb,elm c lzltq Vbitq ckexbkjcm
	external perspective	‘if anything were to happen to Uncle Misha’
	[speaker]; neutral [register]	iterative conditional:
		tckb xnj-yb,elm ytghbznyjt ckexfkjcm ‘if
		something unpleasant happened’
-kb,j	like -yb,elm, but: entities	iterative, potential, if selection of some vs. others:
	viewed as types, some might	bkb rnj-kb,j bp ctcnth ‘or someone of the
	fit, some might not; bookish	sisters’
	[register]	implicit negation:
		jnrfpfkcz xnj-kb,j gjtcnm ‘refused to eat
		anything at all’

negative existentials are used with the special syntax of the free dative-with- infinitive construction (§5.10.5).

Many combinations have become elliptical and idiomatic: vyt ytrjulf ‘I don’t have the time to do it’; ytxtuj ltkfnm ‘nothing can be done’; ytxtuj ‘there’s no cause to’, as in Ytxtuj pfbvcndjdfnm nt[ybre c uybkjuj Pfgflf! ‘There’s no reason to borrow technology from the putrid West!’

4.8.9 Universal adjectives

The four adjectives dc†, dcz´rbq, rƒ;lsq, k/,j´q presume a set of entities and then assert that the activity or state could, in principle, extend to any or all

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elements in the set. These universal adjectives differ in how possible entities are selected and in the modality of events.77

With plural dc† ‘all’, the whole group is undifferentiated: the ships all have the same destination in [378]:

[378]Yt ,skj gfhj[jlf, rjnjhsq itk ,s dj Ahfywb/ bkb d Bnfkb/. Dct gfhj[jls ikb njkmrj lj Rjycnfynbyjgjkz.

There was no steamship that went to France or Italy. All steamships went only as far as Constantinople.

Dc† is natural in both general statements and unique past events ([378]).

In the singular, with a concrete noun, d†cm (fem dcz´, nt dc=) indicates that all parts of a whole are involved (xthtp dct rkfl,bot ‘through the whole cemetery’) or, with an abstract noun, that the quality is manifested in all respects, completely (dcz ,tpds[jlyjcnm cbnefwbb ‘the whole (utter, complete) inescapability of the dilemma’). Thus, d†cm is exhaustive and collective (non-individuating).

With rƒ;lsq, the elements of the set are thought of as distinct individuals, and every individual member of the set could participate in the predication. Rƒ;lsq is used in contexts of actual, multiple occasions with present or past imperfectives ([379]), occasionally on a single occasion with a past (realized, actual) perfective ([380]):

[379]Rf;ljt enhj Yfnfie {jndjlzn<if prs> jndjlbkb<if pst> } d ltncrbq cfl. Every morning [they] {take used to take} Natasha to kindergarten.

[380]Vfnm gjkj;bkf<pf> gthtl rf;lsv gj recre [kt,f. Mother set one piece of bread each in front of every person.

Rƒ;lsq is then exhaustive (distributive over all members), individuating, and actual.

K/,j´q selects one individual from the set who could participate in a potential activity. Only one member of the set -- it is indifferent which -- need be chosen. K/,j´q is then not concerned with multiple, actual situations, but with a single, potential situation. K/,j´q is naturally at home in statements of potential developments or conditions, expressed as an imperative ([381]), a perfective non-present ([382]), or a modal with an infinitive ([383]):

[381]-- Cghjcbnt<imv> k/,juj ijathf-ghjatccbjyfkf, rjuj jy ,jkmit dctuj ,jbncz, b ytghtvtyyj ecksibnt: cj,hfnmtd gj hf,jnt.

Just ask any professional driver, who he fears most, and you’ll hear without fail: the others in the trade.

77 Bogus awski and Karolak 1970:272--73, Ponomareff 1978, Fontaine 1983:232--37 (source of [379], [381], [382], [383], [387], sometimes modified).

268 A Reference Grammar of Russian

Table 4.18 Summary of d†cm (dc†), rƒ;lsq, dcz´rbq, k/,j´q

	d†cm (dc†)	rƒ;lsq	k/,j´q	dcz´rbq
sense of	bounded set	bounded set	bounded set	open set ( bp)
individual	(√ bp) of non-	(√ bp) of	(√ bp) of	of entities
entity	individuated	individuated	individuated	viewed as
	entities taken	entities, all of	entities, from	potentially
	as a whole	which actually	which a single	different types
		fit	representative
			entity is chosen
natural	actual, repetitive	actual, repetitive	potential	general, potential
aspectual-	imperfective;	imperfective	(perfective	situation
modal	single past		non-past	(imperfective)
context	perfective		modal
			imperative
			repetitive
			imperfective)

[382]Tckb dblbn, xnj vyt [jxtncz c ybv gj,jknfnm, jnkj;bn<pf prs> k/,e/ hf,jne. If he sees that I’d like to chat with him, he’ll put down any work.

[383]K/,e/ ckj;ye/ hf,jne vj;yj hfp,bnm<pf inf> yf ghjcntqibt jgthfwbb. Any difficult task can be broken down into simpler operations.

K/,j´q is individuating and representative rather than exhaustive of the set (unlike dc† or rƒ;lsq), and potential.

Dcz´rbq counters the lingering doubt that perhaps not all members of the set would participate: rather, any possible member of the set, with whatever properties one might choose to name, would be appropriate: ‘no matter which x is chosen, still <. . .>’. Dcz´rbq is unlikely to be used with bp, which restricts the set. Dcz´rbq often occurs with negation, actual or imputed: yt dczrbq gjregfntkm ‘not every customer’, ,tp dczrjuj juhfybxtybz ‘without any limit’, cdth[ dczrjq vths ‘without any limit’, dlfkb jn dczrjq wbdbkbpfwbb ‘far from any civilization’ ≈ ‘without any of the amenities of civilization’, c vtyz ,skb cyzns dczrbt gjljphtybz ‘all suspicions about me were removed’.

Dcz´rbq implies a static, unchanging situation. Used with imperfectives, it implies the same (negative) result over many occasions, whether actual ([384]) or potential ([385]):

[384]Dczre/ vsckm j yjdjq hf,jnt dcnhtxfk<if pst> c hfplhf;tybtv. He greeted any sort of thought of a new job with annoyance.

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[385]Wtypjhs gjkexbkb bycnherwb/ nofntkmyj dsxthrbdfnm<if inf> dczrjt egjvbyfybt j Ahtqlt.

Censors received instructions to meticulously cross out any sort of reference to Freud.

Used with a past perfective, dcz´rbq points to a resulting state -- in [386], the future absence of any contact with dangerous friends:

[386]Dkflbvbh ghtrhfnbk<pf pst> dczrbt cyjitybz c byjcnhfywfvb. Vladimir stopped all contacts with foreigners.

While each of these universal adjectives has its preferred context, there are contexts that allow more than one of the adjectives, though with different readings:

[387]Hf,jnfkb vjhzrb lhe;yj. Vjkjltymrbq ktqntyfyn cfv j[jnyj c,hfcsdfk<if> jabwthcrbq rbntkm b ,hfkcz<if> pf {rf;ljt k/,jt dczrjt} ltkj.

The sailors worked in a friendly fashion. The young lieutenant himself threw off his officer’s cape and would undertake {every any any manner} of task.

Most natural here is k/,j´t, since the context suggests a condition (‘if and when a task arose’). Dcz´rjt suggests the presumption that some tasks might not be performed (‘no matter how unpleasant the task’), and rƒ;ljt fits as a factual generalization about past behavior (‘this is what happened on every occasion when a task arose’).

The relationship of the four adjectives is summarized in Table 4.18.