Problems of functional grammar: The use of prepositions with the reciprocal- reflexive pronoun in modern Russian

Abstract

The study elucidates the functional regularities of the reciprocal-reflexive pronoun “друг друга” (each other) with non-derivative and derivative words, including compounds and prepositions. The wide basis of the National Corpus of Russian is employed to evaluate the variant use possibilities of prepositions in pre-, inter- and post-position. We propose a theoretical substantiation of various cases of interaction between reciprocal pronouns and prepositions; the article actively involves collected statistical data on the frequency of use of various forms at different temporal stages. We outline two opposite trends in the sphere of reciprocal-reflexive pronouns with prepositions. The first trend, towards the interpositional use of derivative prepositions, is determined by the process of their reception by the language system and their convergence with non-derivative prepositions. The second trend, towards the pre-positional use of derivative prepositions, is conditioned by an awareness of the integrity of the pronoun “друг друга” (each other) and is supported by the mechanisms of spoken language. The first trend determined the functioning of prepositions with reciprocal reflexive pronouns throughout the 20th century. The second trend has been actively developing in the last two decades. First of all, it supports the variability of unsettled prepositional-case constructions. We predict further growth of prepositional variants of prepositional-case constructions with the pronoun “друг друга” (each other), especially in colloquial speech.