CAUSAL ADVERBIAL CLAUSES WITH KAK(O)IN THE HISTORY OF THE RUSSIAN LANGUAGE

Abstract

The work is aimed at describing the steps of evolution of causal meaning of the Russian subordinator како/какъ. We claim that the causal use of како/какъgoes back to the question word како/какъthat could have a causal meaning as well, and this meaning raised from the manner meaning due to the metaphorical shift from manner to cause. We analyze finite clauses with какоand small clauses (appositions) separately. It is shown that какоwas used as a causal subordinator already in the early documents of the 12thcentury. Up to the 18thcentury it introduced embedded finite clauses with or without a correlate in the matrix clause. In the 18thcentury the constructions without a correlate decrease in frequency; the choice of correlates is very broad and includes both one-word deictics such as тоand такand combinations such as по тому, по сему, adverbs such as следовательно. In the 19thcentury these constructions gradually decrease in use and in the beginning of the 20thcentury they are completely lost. The causal construction with a small clause has another origin. We suggest that it is a result of an expansion of какоonto the contexts of the conjunction аки/акы. The increase of frequency of causal small clauses with какоis observed in parallel with the gradual decrease ofаки.