Case Choice in Russian Genitive/Nominative Absence Constructions

Abstract

Negated be with an animate referential subject have two morphological realizations in Modern Russian. The more statistically frequent construction has a referential subject of the clause in the genitive case: SUBJgen + не было -flocus: Мамы не было на работе. In the less common construction the subject of the clause appears in the nominative case: SUBJnOm + не был/а -f locus: Мама не была на работе. A question to ask then is, how does the speaker make the choice between these two constructions, and what are the factors influencing the choice. First of all, this choice is only possible for an animated referential subject; non-animated subjects in be clauses are always marked genitive: Дома не было молока. Thus, the discussion of choice in be clauses will necessarily involve at least one individual. I label the be clauses with an animated subject ABSENCE clauses, to distinguish them from other be clauses that do not allow the choice of case. The choice between the genitive/nominative absence clauses is usually discussed in the larger context of verbs that allow a choice between genitive and nominative marking for the referential subject under negation. There exists a large body of literature debating the differences between the choice of genitive and the nominative, and the terminology in which to discuss them.1 In some studies, primary importance is assigned to distinguishing existential clauses versus other types of clauses. Babby (1980), for example, introduced the terms negated declarative sentences for the nominative construction, and negated existential sentences for the genitive construction. Babby proposed that the scope of negation is different for declarative versus existential constructions: in existential sentences, both the subject and the verb fall under the scope of negation; in declarative constructions, the subject is outside the scope of negation. Babby describes of the type Мамы не было на работе as locative, a subtype of a declarative sentence, and not existential, since, unlike the existential sentences, this type of sentence allows for a definite subject.