392 A Reference Grammar of Russian

Table 6.1 Tense of imperfectives, simultaneous activity

condition	past tense	present tense
temporality of embedded	temporally restricted (to	temporally extended (the
history	specific moment; or over	quality of a specific activity;
	a durative interval)	universal truth)
quantification of	iteration of discrete	single continuous state or
embedded history	sub-events	activity
linkage of embedded	rfr (restricts activity to	xnj, indirect questions (free
history to internal	interval of observation)	temporal reference)
speech
temporality of internal	retrospective, displaced	on main narrative line
speech
linkage of internal speech	subject clause (more	object clause (more subjective)
to primary speech	factual)
linkage of internal speech	perspectives of two	perspectives of two speakers
to primary speech	speakers differentiated	not differentiated

makes clear the disjunction between speakers, and makes explicit that there is a complex linkage involving two distinct steps from the time of external speech event to internal speech event, and from there to the reported history.

By using the present imperfective (the more frequent choice with xnj), the speaker fails to differentiate the external here and now of speech and the timeworld of the internal event of speech.12 The external speaker may cede the point of view to the internal speaker, or the points of view of the two speakers, external and internal, may blend into one.

Table 6.2 gives a summary of some of the possibilities with standardized examples.

6.3.4 Shifts of perspective in tense: historical present

To narrate stories of events that have already occurred, speakers normally use the past tense. The past tense signals that the contextual occasions around which the events occurred lie in the past, and it establishes a link from the here and now of speech to those past contextual occasions. There is an alternative mode of narration, termed the h i s t o r i c a l p r e s e n t. Once the linkage from the here and now of speech to the contextual time-world has been established, the speaker can shift the perspective to the contextual time-world and use that time as if it were the here and now of speech, and from the perspective of that time, narrate events using present-tense imperfective verbs.

12 Barentsen (1996:43).

		Mood, tense, and aspect 393
Table 6.2 Tense in object argument clauses of speech
pattern	example	interpretation
pst xnj {pst pf}	Jy pfvtnbk, xnj jyf jgecnbkf<pf pst>	definitive change prior to
	ukfpf.	internal speech
pst xnj {pst if}	‘He noticed that she lowered her eyes.’
	Jy (byjulf) pfvtxfk, xnj jyf (d эnjn	activity (state) not
	vjvtyn) jgecrfkf<if pst> ukfpf.	extending beyond
	‘ He (often) noticed that (at that	internal speech
	moment) she lowered her eyes.’
pst xnj {prs if}	Jy pfvtnbk, xnj jyf jgecrftn<if prs>	activity (state) extending
	ukfpf.	beyond internal speech
	‘ He noticed that she was lowering her
	eyes.’
pst xnj {prs pf}	Jy gjlevfk, xnj jyf cjckfcbncz<pf prs> . definitive change after
	‘ He thought that she would agree.’	internal speech
pst xnj {fut if}	Jy gjlevfk, xnj ,elen<if fut>	event after internal speech
	nfywtdfnm.
	‘ He thought they would dance.’
pst rfr {pst pf}	Jy pfvtnbk, rfr jyf jgecnbkf<pf pst>	definitive change within
	ukfpf.	observation
pst rfr {pst if}	‘ He noticed how she lowered her eyes.’
	Jy (xfcnj) pfvtxfk, rfr jyf	incomplete (or repeated)
	jgecrfkf<if pst> ukfpf.	activity within
	‘ He (often) observed how she lowered	observation
	her eyes.’
pst rfr {prs if}	Jy pfvtnbk, rfr jyf jgecrftn<if prs>	incomplete activity
	ukfpf.	extending beyond
	‘ He noticed how she was lowering her	observation
	eyes.’

As an example, observe the alternation between past perfectives and present imperfectives in [98], where the narrator tells of forcing a train to make an emergency stop.

[98]Jlby hfp z lf;t pfnjhvjpbk<pf pst> tuj e Afylthakbnf// <. . .> Gjnjve xnj vyt crfpfk ukfdysq rjylernjh xnj jy jcnfyjdbncz / f jy yt jcnfyjdbkcz<pf pst> bltn<if prs> lfkmit / <. . .> z / nfr crfpfnm / tot . . . vj;yj crfpfnm . . .

cnjzk<if pst> e;t yf gjlyj;rt xnj,s ds[jlbnm / c[dfnbk<pf pst> эnjn njhvjp / lthyek<pf pst> / b levf/<if prs> xnj yfdthyj jy yt pfnjhvjpbn // <. . .> Jy nfr pfnjhvjpbk<pf pst> xnj dct gjktntkb<pf pst> c gjkjr / nfv <ju pyftn xnj / ,fuf; dtcm gjgflfk<if pst> b dct nfrjt // F z c[dfnbk<pf pst> cdjb dtobxrb / db;e<if prs> recns hzljv / crjhtq d recns // (cvt[) <. . .> Nfv ctk<pf pst> b cb;e<if prs>

394 A Reference Grammar of Russian

levf/<if prs> xnj ,eltn // Ye b djn ghj[jlbn<if prs> gjnjv эnjn j,thrjylernjh b vt[fybr // vt[fybr heuftncz<if prs> e;fcyj //

Once I actually stopped it at Fanderflit // <. . .> Because the head conductor had told me that he would stop / but he did not stop, keeps going / <. . .> I / so to say / well . . . you could say . . . was standing on the footboard in order to get out / grabbed that brake / jerked / and I’m thinking that it won’t brake // <. . .> It braked so hard that everything went flying from the shelves / and God knows what / the baggage went falling and everything // And I grabbed my things / I see some bushes nearby / as quickly as possible into the bushes // (laughter) <. . .> I sat down there and I’m sitting thinking what’s going to happen // Well then there goes by that head conductor and the mechanic // the mechanic is cursing

terribly //

Here past-tense verbs, almost all perfective, advance the narrative sequence, while present imperfective verbs convey the perceptions of an internal observer/speaker. Accordingly, the onset of the historical present is common when speech or perception is explicitly introduced (ctk b cb;e levf/ in [98]) or when an observer changes location (in [100]).

Stylistically, the historical present is versatile. Consistent with its name, it is used in popular writing about history, as in [99], perhaps more freely in Russian than in English.

[99]D ryz;tybt Fylhtz <jujk/,crjuj (1157--75) fh[bntrnehf gtht;bdftn<if prs> gthbjl zhrjuj b gkjljndjhyjuj gjl(tvf <. . .> Fylhtq gjhsdftn<if prs> c Rbtdjv <. . .> b e[jlbn<if prs> yf ctdth <. . .> Fylhtq <jujk/,crbq dscnegftn<if prs> rfr ytghbvbhbvsq b эythubxysq ,jhtw pf j,(tlbytybt Hecb gjl cbkmyjq ryz;tcrjq dkfcnm/ <. . .> Tve ghb[jlbncz<if prs> dcnegbnm d ythfdye/ ,jhm,e b c cfvjq Dbpfynbtq <. . .>

In the reign of Andrei Bogoliubsky (1157--75) architecture experiences a period of brilliant and fruitful development <. . .> Andrei breaks with Kiev <. . .> and goes to the North <. . .> Andrei Bogoliubsky acts as an uncompromising and energetic warrior for the unification of Rus under firm princely power <. . .> He is forced to enter into an unequal battle with Byzantium itself <. . .>

At the far end of the stylistic spectrum, the historical present is a mark of oral storytelling ([98] above). It is then used in fiction to imitate the narrative of the oral raconteur. Example [100] is set up with past events, but then shifts to the present when the new character appears:

[100]Rjyathtywbz cjcnjzkfcm d Gjkbnt[ybxtcrjv bycnbnent. Z nelf pft[fk<pf pst> , gj,tctljdfk<pf pst> . Xthtp gznm vbyen byajhvfwbz ,skf<pst> ujnjdf.

Jnlfk<pf pst> tt d ctrhtnfhbfn. Gjzdkztncz<if prs> htlfrnjh Nehjyjr <. . .> Yf

эnjn hfp djp,e;lty:

Mood, tense, and aspect 395

-- Ds ljgecnbkb uhe,e/ bltjkjubxtcre/ jib,re.

The conference took place in the Polytechnic Institute. I went there, talked a bit. In five minutes the notice was ready. I handed it over to the secretariat. The editor Turonok appears. <. . .> This time agitated.

-- You’ve made a crude ideological mistake.

The historical present has some properties that are different from ordinary present-tense imperfectives. For example, ghbtp;ƒnm<if> cannot ordinarily be used in the present tense to refer to an event of arriving actually in progress, but it can be used as a historical present:

[101]Rjulf vs ghbtp;ftv<if prs> , jrfpsdftncz, xnj yfc cbkmyj gjnhzckj. When we get there, it turns out that we have been thoroughly shaken up.

Also, lj´kuj ‘long time’ presumes that an activity has ceased (in order to ascertain that its duration was lengthy), yet it combines with the historical present:

[102]Vs jcnfyjdbkbcm yf vhfvjhyjv vjcnbrt. J,kjrjnzcm j ,fk/cnhfle, Njkcnjq dsxboftn<if prs> k/,bve/ nhe,re, ljkuj rjdshztn<if prs> d ytq.

We stopped on a marble bridge. Leaning on the balustrade, Tolstoy cleans his favorite pipe, digs in it for a long time.

Thus, the historical present is a shift of perspective, not just a substitution of verb forms, that narrates as if from the contextual occasion in the past, but at the same time takes for granted a linkage from the here and now to the past.

6.3.5 Shifts of perspective in tense: resultative

A very specific use of tense is to exhort the addressee to bring about the result of a past perfect verb: gjrfnƒkbcm! ‘let’s roll’; gjik∫! ‘let’s be off’.

6.3.6 Tense in participles

Tense in adjectival participles and adverbial participles (lttghbxfcnbz) is much less robust than in finite verbs. The distinction is still viable among imperfective participles. The present tense of imperfective participles presents situations as simultaneous with the time of the matrix clause; in [103], for example, ownership overlaps the act of arrival:

[103]Z erfnbkcz r ;bkboe, jnysyt vyt njkmrj ghbyflkt;fotve<prs pcl> .

I rushed off to the living space, from that point on belonging only to me.

Past-tense imperfective participles are used for events confined to the remote past ([104--5]):

396A Reference Grammar of Russian

[104]:bk jy d cnfhbyyjv jcj,yzrt, rjulf-nj ghbyflkt;fditv<pst pcl>

{jvzrjde.

He lived in an old single-family house that had once belonged to Khomiakov.

[105]Vfnm gjl,flhbdfkf jnwf, ghj[jlbdituj<pst pcl> eybpbntkmyst vtlbwbycrbt rjvbccbb.

Mother tried to keep father’s spirits up as he went through demeaning medical review boards.

Adverbial participles of imperfectives, however, are now only present: lévfz ‘thinking’, lévfd ‘having thought’; g∫if ‘writing’, gbcƒd ‘having written’.

Perfective adverbial participles no longer distinguish tense. For most verbs, the form is built on the past-imperfective stem (ending in a vowel), to which the formant {-v} is added (pfcnƒd ‘having found’, ghßuyed ‘having jumped’); dentalconsonant stems, whose past-infinitive stem does not end in a vowel, use present morphology (ghbytcz´ ‘having brought’). Perfective adverbial participles refer to events that are completed in the vicinity of the time of the main event, often before it ([106]), but occasionally at the same time ([107]):

[106]Jlyf;ls Cjyz, dthyedibcm<pf dee> bp ntfnhf, crfpfkf <. . .>

Once Sonia, on returning from the theater, said <. . .>

[107]Vs, djcgjkmpjdfdibcm<pf dee> ntvyjnjq phbntkmyjuj pfkf, gthtctkb yf lheubt vtcnf . . .

And we, by using the darkness of the hall, moved to other seats.

In a well-known and ever controversial proposal,13 Roman Jakobson claimed that adverbial participles distinguished three tense forms in each aspect: the

present, the usual past in {-v}, and a second past in {-vsi}. Examples were for-

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mulated and semantic distinctions were assigned to these variants, essentially as in Table 6.3.

This rich and symmetrical paradigm of possibilities is no longer productive. By now, the present perfective form dcnh†nz is rare (just 2 tokens on www.lib.ru in poetry, against 1330 tokens of dnch†nbd),14 as are the past imperfectives dcnhtxƒd (3 tokens against 881 dcnhtxƒz) and dcnhtxƒdib (no tokens!). There is more justifi-

cation for a distinction between {-v} and {-vsi} in perfective adverbial participles,

‹

a distinction which Jakobson claimed was current in “the Moscow speech of my

generation.” Although {-vsi} is not frequent (only 6 distinct tokens of dnch†nbdib

‹

against 1330 tokens of dnch†nbd), when it is used, it does suggest causality. In [108], she came to her understanding as a result of reflecting:

13Jakobson 1957[b]/1971[b]:140--41.

14<12.XII.01>. More tokens of dcnh†nz turned up on Google, including one from a contemporary chat room.