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[46]Z yt gjvy/, xnj,s yfi cfl ,sk rjulf-yb,elm gj cfljdjlxtcrbv ghfdbkfv e[j;ty.

I don’t recall that our garden was ever tended according to the rules of horticulture.

The special properties of negation derive from the fact that negation is an operator that proposes alternatives, thereby raising the question of which alternatives are to be considered; even as negation proposes one thing, it implies the imminent possibility of the opposite.

7.5 Questions

7.5.1 Preliminaries

Questions, along with imperatives, are the most overt form of interaction between the partners of the speech dyad.16 It is reasonable to distinguish between content questions and polarity questions. Just as some assertions can be taken as commands or requests, some assertions have the force of questions.

7.5.2 Content questions

Content questions are formed with one of the interrogative-indefinite pronouns, rnj´ ‘who’, xnj´ ‘what’, rjulƒ ‘when’, and so on.

[47]Jnrelf dtpkb? xnj dtpkb? relf dtpkb? rjve dtpkb?

From where were they carrying them? What were they carrying? To where? To whom?

While rjnj´hsq has become the most general relative pronoun, as an interrogative it is still restricted to selecting out one individual from a pair or limited set:

[48]Yf hjkm ,skj ldt rfylblfnrb -- Cjyz b lheufz ltdeirf. Rjnjhfz kexit? There were two candidates for the role -- Sonya and another girl. Which was better?

Usually the question word comes at the front of the clause ([49]), but it need not, if the question can be anticipated -- for example, as part of an exam or interview ([50]). As an echo or confirmation question, the question word can come last ([50]):

[49]Ult ds exbkbcm? Where did you study?

[50]Ds ult exbkbcm? Where was it you studied?

[51]Ds exbkbcm ult? Where did you say you studied?

16 Restan 1972, recently Comrie 1984; on negation and questions, see Brown 1999[b].

462 A Reference Grammar of Russian

It is possible, more easily in Russian than English, to use two interrogative pronouns in one sentence ([52--53]):17

[52]Rnj b rjulf bpj,htk rjvgm/nthye/ vsim? Who invented the computer mouse and when?

[53]“changed”: Erfpfybt, rnj b rjulf gjcktlybq hfp vtyzk lfyye/ fyrtne. “changed”: an indication of who made the last change in the form, and when.

Multiple questions can be understood to have a single answer (as in [52], where the perfective bpj,htk<pf> implies a single event) or a distributive set of answers (in [53], the imperfective vtyzk<if> implies iteration, hence one person for each occasion). Both question words can be positioned at the front of the clause ([52--53] above) or one can be left internal to the clause ([54--55]):

[54] Rnj bpj,htk b rjulf	Who was it, and when, that invented the
rjvgm/nthye/ vsim?	computer mouse?

[55]Rnj bpj,htk rjvgm/nthye/ Who was it that invented the computer

vsim b rjulf?

mouse, and when?

7.5.3 Polarity questions and answers

Yes--no, or polarity, questions in spoken Russian are formed by preserving the word order expected for an assertion while using question intonation, normally IC3, focused on one constituent. Focused on the verb, IC3 questions the verb or the whole situation ([56]):

[56]T3cnm gfgrb tot?

Are there any more folders?

[57]Jy nfv cdjtq vfibys yt bvt3 tn? Doesn’t he have his own car there?

If the focal syllable is another constituent, the question focuses on that constituent:

[58] F:	Эnj ndjt3 ifvgfycrjt?	Is that your champagne?
V:	Ytn, vjt d [jkjlbkmybrt.	No, mine’s in the refrigerator.

In written Russian, polarity questions can be constructed as in spoken Russian, by presuming the intonation contour that would be used in speech. Polarity

17 Multiple questions in Slavic have attracted attention for some time (Rudin 1988), in large part because they seem to violate the long-standing assumption in formal syntax that question words must be placed in a unique, privileged (structurally defined) position at the front of the clause. The tradition has since come to the view that the initial position of the question word is motivated not by notational necessity, but (in effect) by discourse (Strahov 2001).

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questions can also be marked with the particle kb in written (or bookish oral) Russian. The particle is placed after the constituent that is questioned, which occurs at the beginning of the clause. After a verb, kb questions whether the event or state as a whole occurs or exists:

[59]K/,bkf kb jyf vtyz? Rf;tncz, nj;t k/,bkf. Did she love me? It seemed she loved me too.

After another part of speech, kb questions whether that particular part of the information is correct -- the time frame in [60], the cause in [61], the quantifier in [62]:

[60]Crf;bnt, f lfdyj kb ds pfve;tv?

Tell me, is it a long time you have been married?

[61]Vs epyfkb, xnj tuj gjcflbkb. Pf xnj? Yt pf hfcghjcnhfytybt kb cnb[jd Uevbktdf?

We learned that he had been sent to prison. For what? Was it not for distributing the poems of Gumilev?

[62]Vyjuj kb xtkjdtre ye;yj?

Is it much that a person needs?

The particle kb makes indirect questions that can be used as arguments; for example, the question clause is the subject of a predicative in [63]:

[63]<elen kb hfccnhtkbdfnm pfkj;ybrjd bkb ytn -- jcnfdfkjcm ytbpdtcnysv. Whether they would shoot the hostages or not remained uncertain.

Answers to polarity questions vary in length and explicitness. The response can be minimal, consisting of just a polarity word, lf ‘yes’ or ytn ‘no’. Or the focal word that is questioned can be repeated,

[64]V: Nf,ktnrb c/lf, lf? Fktyf? Should the tablets go here, yes? Alena?

F:	F? Nf,ktnrb lf.	Hm? The tablets yes.
[65] Y:	Z yt vjue tt rhfcbnm. Djn wdtn	I can’t paint it. The color I cannot
	z gjvtyznm yt vjue.	change.
B	Эnj d ljdthtyyjcnb jujdjhtyj?	Is that stipulated in the permit?
Y:	Lf, jujdjhtyj.	Yes, stipulated.

Or much of the syntax of the question can be repeated, with or without a polarity word:

[66] K:	E dfc exfcnjr tcnm nfv, lf?	You have a plot there, yes?
F:	Tcnm exfcnjr. Hfcntn xnj-nj d There is a plot. Something’s growing there.
	ytv. Vfnm pfybvftncz . . .	Mother tends it.
K: Gjvbljhs e;t tcnm?		Are there tomatoes already?
F:	B gjvbljhs e;t tcnm.	And there are already tomatoes.

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Negation interacts with questions in a subtle fashion. In asking a positive question, the speaker makes no presumption about the answer. But in asking a question using a negated verb, the speaker indicates that the positive situation is expected, or hoped for, or imagined, despite the real possibility that the negative situation obtains. Thus yt elfkjcm kb rjve-yb,elm epyfnm ‘has no one succeeded in finding out’ suggests that the speaker suspects the situation might be true -- that someone has learned the answer. In response to such negated questions, speakers usually respond to the positive sense that the question would have without negation. Thus a positive answer means the situation under discussion is true, confirming the underlying positive possibility (in [67], yes, consistent with your suspicion, there will be isolation), and a negative answer means that the situation is not true (in [68], no, contrary to your suspicion, service will not go bad):

[67]-- Yt gjkexbncz kb nfr, xnj dfif ahfrwbz jcnfytncz d jlbyjxtcndt, f эnjn cj/p dc= hfdyj cjcnjbncz?

--Lf, эnj djpvj;yj.

--Will it not happen that your party will remain isolated, but the union will take place anyway?

--Yes, this is possible.

[68]-- Yt e[elibncz kb rfxtcndj ntktajyyjq cdzpb gjckt ecnfyjdrb ghjuhfvvs?

--Ytn, yt e[elibncz.

--Will not the quality of the telephone connection deteriorate after installation of the program?

--No, it will not.

Sometimes, however, negation seems genuine, as can be indicated by phrases such as yfd†hyjt ‘most likely’, rjy†xyj ‘of course’. The speaker wants to confirm that the negative situation holds. Then the addressee responds with lf and a negative verb to confirm the first speaker’s negative prediction -- ‘yes, as you say, it is true that not ’ ([69]):

[69]-- Ns rjytxyj d chjr ybrfr -- You of course will never finish by the

e;t yt rjyxbim?	deadline?
-- Lf, yfdthyj yt rjyxe.	--Yes, no doubt I won’t finish.

To dispute the speaker’s negative prediction, the second speaker responds with ytn and a verb of positive polarity, with the sense of ‘no, au contraire, it is true that ’ ([70--71]).18

18 Discussion: Zemskaia 1973:364 ([70]).