Bisubstantive Sentences with Semantics of External Characteristics and Object State in Russian

Abstract

The article examines bisubstantive sentences, whose grammatical subject is represented by a concrete-nominal noun, while the prepositional-case combinations of the noun in the copulative-substantive predicate represent the meanings of external characteristics and object state. The means of expressing the characteristics of color and shape of an object, the size of an object (dimensional meaning), the material from which an object is made (fabricative meaning), distinctive details of an object (their presence or absence), structural features of an object, patterns on the surface of an object, and external coating of an object are identified, systematized, and described. Two varieties of object state meaning are analyzed: external state and existential-functional state. It is emphasized that these meanings often turn out to be syncretic, indicating a change in the semantics of prepositional-case forms when they perform a predicative function and confirming the tendency to separate some of them from the system of grammatical forms of a noun.