- •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
Predicates and arguments 349
some uniformity, there is considerable lexical diversity among reflexive verbs. There are recognizable groups that have distinct meanings and properties and different degrees of productivity (compare the productive intransitives such as ecgjrj´bnmcz/ecgjrƒbdfnmcz ‘calm down’ with the residual true reflexives vs´ nmcz or the restricted reflexive of proclivity cj,ƒrf recƒtncz).
5.8.4 Present passive participles
A present-tense passive participle is formed from the present stem of imperfective transitive verbs with the formant {-m-}, to which are added adjectival endings. These passives in {-m-} can be used as attributive modifiers (,jkmibycndj ghjbpdtltybq, njulf ,tpelth;yj hfc[dfkbdftvs[ ‘the majority of works, praised at that time without restraint’) or as predicatives, as in [300], which conjoins a present participle with a past passive participle:
[300]{hjvjcjvs vjuen ,snm xtnrj bylbdblefkbpbhjdfys b jgjpyfdftvs<prs psv> c gjvjom/ ljcnfnjxyj ghjcns[ vtnjljd.
Chromosomes can be clearly differentiated and recognized through rather simple methods.
This construction belongs to technical, journalistic, or bureaucratic styles.
The suffix {-m-} forms derivatives that are used as ordinary adjectives, with a modal connotation of possibility or proclivity to be involved in an activity: ytevjk∫vsq ‘implacable’ describes an individual who cannot be mollified; thus also k/,∫vsq ‘beloved’, ytdjj,hfp∫vsq ‘unimaginable’, ytbcghfd∫vsq (jgnbv∫cn) ‘incorrigible (optimist)’, ytekjd∫vsq ‘ineluctable’, ytpf,sdƒtvsq ‘unforgettable’. These derivatives can be formed from perfectives as well as imperfectives: ytdjpven∫vsq ‘imperturbable’ from djpven∫nm<pf> ‘bother, perturb’.
5.8.5 Past passive participles
Past passive participles, or simply passive participles, are formed from the pastinfinitive stem of perfective verbs by means of a formant ({-n-} or {-ón ìn} or {-t-}), to which adjectival endings are added. As a verbal adjective, the passive participle can be used in the positions in which one expects to find adjectives: as a preposed attributive modifier ([301]), as a postposed modifier ([302]), or as a predicative in a transitive construction ([303]):
[301]<. . .> d cnhjuj htukfvtynbhjdfyyjv<psv> j,(tvt
<. . .> in a strictly regimented volume
[302]<. . .> cj cdjbvb ldevz ,hfnmzvb, nj;t jce;ltyysvb<psv> gj njve ;t ltke
<. . .> with his two brothers, who were also sentenced in the same matter
[303]Gj gthhjye tuj ghjdtkb crjdfyysv<psv> yfhexybrfvb c j[hfyybrjv. They led him along the platform bound with handcuffs with a guard.
350A Reference Grammar of Russian
But above all, the passive participle is used as a predicative with be. The participle is the predicating element, and it agrees with the subject (ry∫uf in [304]):
[304]Rybuf<\fem sg> ≤Hswfhb Rheukjuj cnjkf≥ jcnfdktyf<psv fem sg> d Vjcrdt. The book Knights of the Round Table got left in Moscow.
As in other predicative constructions (§5.2), the participial passive distinguishes three tenses; no overt forms of be are used in the present. Because perfectives have only two tenses but predicative constructions distinguish three, the participial passive cannot be derived simply by transforming an active sentence structure into a passive one.60
In some respects the predicative construction with a passive participle is not entirely analogous to a predicative construction with an adjective. The sole argument of a passive participle can be affected by quantifying operations, such as the genitive of negation ([305]) or approximate quantification ([306]):61
[305]Yfv j,(zdbkb, xnj ybrfrb[ gjktds[ yfuhepjr<gen> yt gjkj;tyj<psv> .
We were informed that no extra pay for being in the field had been established.
[306]<skj hfccnhtkzyj<psv> xtkjdtr cjhjr.
There were shot some forty people or so.
Such constructions with adjectives are inconceivable ( ybrfrb[ gjktds[ yfuhepjr yt dscjrj [as if: ‘no field salary was high’]; ,skj ;bdj b pljhjdj xtkjdtr cjhjr
[as if: ‘were hale and hearty some forty people’]. Unlike predicative adjectives, then, passive participles tolerate quantification, and the subject of a passive is not necessarily individuated.
When is the predicative construction with a passive participle used? Passive participles describe states that characteristically result from prior perfective events. In context, the idea that a specific event is the source of the current state can be more or less prominent. Often, in descriptions of scenes, no specific event is understood to be the source for the state, though the subject has a property that characteristically arises from an event ([307]). Sometimes, however, the state can be understood to derive from a specific event ([308]):
[307]Ptvkz, djple[, vtczw, pdtpls crjdfys<psv> dvtcnt, crktgfys<psv> vjhjpjv . . .
The earth, air, moon are forged together, riveted by frost . . .
[308]Dct dsikb ghjdjlbnm tuj d ghb[j;e/, gjwtkjdfkbcm. Jy eitk. Yf lheujq ltym C. Rjdfktd ,sk fhtcnjdfy<psv> .
We all accompanied him out, took leave. He left. On the next day S. Kovalev was arrested.
60See Babby and Brecht 1975, further Brecht and Levine 1984, Babby and Franks 1998.
61Lobanova 1975.