Russian Grammar Research Articles

Russian grammar as a constructicon: beyond a list

While linguistics traditionally keeps lexicon separate from grammar, Construction Grammar takes the grammatical construction as the basic unit of language. A grammatical construction integrates the roles of lexemes with their typical grammatical contexts, suggesting the advantages of a comprehensive approach. Furthermore, according to Construction Grammar, grammatical constructions comprise a system in which constructions mutually reinforce each other. We reveal the complex connections among Russian grammatical constructions that emerge from the Russian Constructicon, a resource with over 2200 annotated constructions. We achieve this by focusing on a single semantic subclass of 110 constructions labeled Sets and elements. Our analysis follows the connections among constructions through two domains: semantics and syntax. We find that all constructions fit into groupings at various levels of semantic schematicity, as well as presenting various syntactic dimensions. A given construction has affinities both to constructions with similar meanings and with similar form, and any given construction may have multiple affinities in either or both of these domains. Through our focus on multiword grammatical constructions, we reach beyond traditional approaches that separate words from grammar, instead viewing words in their grammatical context and grammar in its lexical context.

J.A. HEIM‘S TEXTBOOK “ RUSSISCHE SPRACHLEHRE FüR DEUTSCHE”: METATEXTUAL PRINCIPLES OF DESCRIPTION

The article is devoted to the period of the origin of Russian textbook studies in foreign languages, a significant contribution to the formation of which was made by Professor of Imperial Moscow University Ivan Andreevich Нeim (1759–1821), an encyclopedic scholar, teacher, and public figure. The article provides a brief description of the professional scientific and pedagogical biography of I.A. Нeim, who was at different periods of his academic activity not only a professor, but also the first Dean of the Faculty of Philology and the Rector of the University. Special attention is paid to the analysis of the structural and substantive characteristics of the first edition of the textbook by I.A. Heim “Russian Grammar for Germans” in 1789 (German: “Russische Sprachlehre für Deutsche”). Variant features of the metalanguage of the book in the field of translation of terms, as well as units at the graphical, orthographic, morphological and lexical levels are revealed. The content of the book, on the one hand, includes a theoretical description of the structure of the Russian language (in German), on the other hand, it is practical in nature, which is manifested in the absence of a large number of definitions, the presence of sections on teaching phonetics, a mini-dictionary and bilingual dialogues on everyday topics. The analysis of the textbook provides us with insights into the formation of textbook studies at the end of the 18th century and enables us to discuss the creation and development of prototypes of a modern tutorial book and phrase book of foreign languages.

The Role of Gender in Learning the Russian Language in Iranian Audiences

The article is devoted to the consideration of the role of gender in the study of the Russian language in Iranian audiences. The goal is to identify the role of gender in the success of Persian-speaking students studying the Russian language in all types of speech activity and in various academic disciplines, such as studying Russian grammar, translation accuracy, learning vocabulary, etc. The novelty of the work lies in the fact that for the first time the role of gender is considered Persian-speaking students to study Russian. In terms of methodology, the present study is a descriptive study conducted using a comprehensive approach. The statistical population of this study included male and female students of all stages of Russian language education at Allameh Tabatabai University. We examined and analyzed the language behavior and exam scores of 87 Iranian students studying Russian at Allameh Tabatabaei University over two academic years. Among them are 60 female students and 17 female students. According to the results of this study, female students studying Russian in an Iranian classroom are more successful in written forms of work, and male students cope better with oral forms of work. The reason is that girls experience discomfort during oral work. Most girls’ fear of making a mistake and being ridiculed as a result keeps them silent during oral classes. The use of group free work, humor and role-playing games helps reduce the fear of making mistakes among female students.

On the question of levels of adaptation of polonism in Russian language

The problem of loanword is one of the traditional ones in linguistic science. In the process of loanword, Polonisms were subject to adaptation at all levels of the language system. Phonetic adaptation of Polonisms involves their adaptation to the norms and laws of phonetics of the Russian language. Becoming the property of the Russian language, Polonisms acquire a Russian graphic appearance. Polonisms have undergone such semantic adaptation as narrowing, expanding and changing meanings. With grammatical adaptation, Polonisms adapt to the rules of Russian grammar and take on the grammatical meaning and grammatical features of the Russian language. As for stylistic adaptation, changes in emotional and expressive coloring and the functional consolidation of words, they are also determined by a number of extralinguistic factors: the status of the source language, established relations in the history of peoples, the perception of cultural values and their hierarchy in the system of others. The work uses a descriptive method in interpreting the material with the involvement of lexicographic sources of different genres.

Russian Grammar Framework

This article provides an overview of the early stages in the development of children’s speech system. Its main features (specific ways of gender identification, simplified inflectional rules, and free derivation) constitute the backbone of Russian grammar, which in turn defines the functioning of the entire mechanism of the Russian language. These are the underlying linguistic patterns and the most general rules. Children learn them at the earliest stage of language acquisition and then modify them using more intricate and complex patterns as they continue to develop their language system. Based on the results obtained, the structure of the Russian grammar framework, an artificial model that summarizes the tendencies inherent in children’s speech at different stages of language acquisition and brings them to a logical conclusion, is outlined. When young children follow the rules of this framework, they sometimes create unique speech products that deviate substantially from the norm. However, they rely on the fixed, albeit simplified, rules and thus master the tricky issues of the grammatical system of the Russian language. Therefore, the framework of Russian grammar, or the core of the Russian language system, should be taken into account in diagnosing the level of speech development, learning Russian as a foreign language, and working with bilingual children.

Рецензия на монографию: Власов С. В., Московкин Л. В. Первый в России печатный учебник русского языка как иностранного: исследование и текст. СПб.: Изд-во С.-Петерб. ун-та, 2023. 196 с.

The monograph under review is devoted to the first tutorial of Russian as a foreign language that was actually printed in Russia, “French and Russian Grammar”, published by the Imperial Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, in 1730. This anonymous tutorial, composed and compiled as a French-Russian phrasebook, was for a long time regarded as a tutorial of French for Russian speakers and was, therefore, poorly studied. The authors of the book conduct a detailed investigation of the history of the tutorial’s creation, its linguistic and pedagogical peculiarities; they also define its prototype and its sources and put forward a version of its authorship, engaging extensive archival, memoir and historical-scientific data. The full text of “French and Russian Grammar” is given with detailed comments.

The interconnection between syntax and the theory of eloquence in the Russian linguistic tradition: rhetorical devices in grammars of the 18th–19th centuries

The idea that until the beginning of the nineteenth century the sentence theory was considered in writings about the theory of eloquence has long been a locus communis in works on the history of Russian linguistics. Russian grammars contained «slovosochinenie» (i. e. syntax) as a syntactic section which stated the rules for connecting different parts of speech into combinations built according to the type of agreement and government. This «commonplace» of syntax historiography deserves a new addition. It is necessary to study the reverse influence issue and answer the question what role the first Russian grammars played in the development of rhetorical theory. The article analyses eighteenth- and nineteenth-century grammatical writings using the methods of extracting, commenting on, and interpreting fragments concerning rhetorical devices. As a result, the study has revealed a close connection between the Russian grammars by M. V. Lomonosov, A. A. Barsov, N. I. Grech, F. I. Buslaev and the theory of elocution. It is particularly true in terms of considering figures of speech, as well as in the sections on the rhetorical period types and the sequence order of the sentence parts. For instance, M. V. Lomonosov in his «Russian Grammar» analyses the examples of «transfer» and «omission», that is, inversion and ellipsis (omission) of sentence «parts». A. A. Barsov, who lists and defines nine «syntactic figures», developed this tradition further. N. I. Grech in his «Practical Russian Grammar» considers reverse word order, ellipsis, «tozhdeslovie» / tautology (intensifying lexical repetition) and «deviation» from strict grammatical agreement of names and verb forms (syllepsis). F. I. Buslaev, enlarging the syntactic section in his «Experience of Historical Grammar» with lexicological topics, gives close attention to tropes that demonstrate different ways of meaning transfer, i. e. metaphor and metonymy (for instance, synecdoche). The paper concludes that Russian linguists of the mid-tolate eighteenth and mid-nineteenth centuries aspired to add a section on the expressive use of grammatical language resources to the syntactic theory.

Platʼe tsveta moloko (A milk-coloured dress): on one stable grammatical variation type

The article considers reasons and conditions for the spread of a new syntactic colour designation pattern, i. e. an attributive phrase with a colour identifier and a noun in the nominative case (X tsveta moloko / milk-coloured X, X tsveta baklazhan / aubergine-coloured X). The new model (X tsveta moloka / milk-coloured X, X tsveta baklazhana / aubergine-coloured X), which is inconsistent with Russian grammar, coexists in modern speech with the normative pattern. The study aims to determine the route of dynamic changes in this language area subject to variation. Using contexts extracted from the Russian National Corpus (the main and newspaper sub-corpora), the research identifies all grammatical variants of compound colour names and their qualitative and quantitative correlation. As a result, the body of colour terms having no codified variant is established. At the next stage, the research employed the "Media Archive" service (since 1996) of the electronic media bank "Integrum" as a source. Based on its materials and using a hypothetically specified search, the study has specified the composition of grammatically varying composite colour terms, as well as the composition of colouronyms that have no variants (tsveta diplomat / diplomat-coloured, tsveta kardinal / cardinal-coloured, and so on). The reasons for actualising the new analytical colour designation pattern include the novelty factor (tsveta cosmos / space-coloured, tsveta "beeline" / "beeline"-coloured) which is supported in writing by quotation marks and/or in the case of borrowings by writing in the original script. Other factors are the influence of a similar analytical pattern with an unchangeable adjective (tsveta electric / electric blue), regular use of a nomenclatural name (in advertising texts, in merchandise catalogues, and the like), and the tendency towards analyticity. The results of the research can be used in the practice of teaching Russian at school when studying the styles of the Russian literary language and their differences. In addition, they are relevant to lexicography when compiling specialised linguistic dictionaries, especially those that codify new colour terms in the Russian language.

Russian literature in teaching Russian as a foreign language

The promotion of the Russian language in the world is one of the main goals of the modern Russian education strategy. An important part of this problem is teaching Russian to foreigners in Russian universities. The current problem of modern Russian studies is the search for the most effective forms, methods and means of Russian language learning. Teaching Russian to foreigners should be built on an interdisciplinary basis. The most important component of teaching Russian to foreign students is literature. Turning to it, foreigners get acquainted with the history, culture and traditions of Russia from different eras. Russian literature is very popular in different countries. The works of Russian writers are studied in schools and universities in China.The article presents the authorial method of teaching the Russian language to Chinese bachelors and masters based on a graphical and symbolic analysis of Russian literature. Our methodology uses the practice-oriented traditions of semiotics, mnemonics and ergonomics. When studying Ivan Turgenev’s story “Bezhin Meadow”, we focus on the features of its analysis in the Chinese audience. This lesson is preceded by a historical-literary and cultural commentary of the teacher who uses various multimedia tools. An integral part of our methodology is the creation of an adapted educational text with marked stresses, vocabulary work and various types of retelling, grammar tasks and a graphic drawing of the analyzed text. With this approach to the educational process, foreign students develop visual memory, better understand Russian grammar and improve oral coherent speech, which contributes to a deeper and more meaningful interest in the Russian language. The use of modern technologies, while working on a literary text, helps foreign students to better understand the national flavor of Russian literature. The study has led to the need to implement new approaches to teaching the Russian language to Chinese students at the North-Eastern Federal University named after M.K. Ammosov.

Динамические изменения в русской грамматике

The article is devoted to the evolutionary processes in Russian grammar at the end of the 20th century and at present. Article deals with 1) the cases of gradual change of noun case forms: kupit’ khleba I moloka – kupit’ khleb I moloko, dogovory - dogovora; 2) with cardinal numbers case forms changes: dvukhsot - dvukhsta; 3) with a sharp increase in the trend towards immutability of new borrowings; 4) with substitution of a particle NI for a particle NE in subordinate clause, and at least, 5) with the influence of feminism on the restructuring of professional names: rezhissior - rezhissiorka.

Теория эллиптических предложений в отечественной русистике: систематический обзор

The aim of the review is to summarise scientific knowledge on the theory of elliptic sentences in Russian grammar. At the same time, the author identifies two main areas in the study of elliptic sentences based on the degree of their independence as syntactic forms. The paper examines the main problems of the theory of incompleteness and ellipticity in linguistics from its inception to the present, analyses the scientific and educational literature on this issue, assesses the current state and current issues of the theory of ellipsis. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the fact that the conducted review systematises research on the problem from a new perspective and also determines the current state of the issue. As a result of examining the evolution of Russian linguists’ views on the problem of syntactic incompleteness, relevant structural and semantic features of an elliptic sentence were identified. The review shows that modern linguistics has developed an understanding, on the one hand, of the semantic and structural self-sufficiency of an elliptic sentence and, on the other hand, of its fundamental difference from incomplete speech forms.

Aspect and tense forms of the Russian verb in describing the kinesic behaviour of the characters in A.P. Chekhov’s stories

Non-verbal semiotics is one of the leading areas of modern communication research. The study is devoted to the topical interdisciplinary issue - the relationship between non-verbal semiotics and Russian grammar. The aim of the research is to characterize the representation of the temporal forms of the Russian verb in describing the kinesic behaviour of literary characters. The elements of nonverbal semiotics were analysed in the stories by A.P. Chekhov “Death of an Official”, “Chameleon”, “Thick and Thin”, “Horse Name”, “Surgery”. The following methods were used as the main ones: descriptive, semantic explication, differential, analytical. The methodological foundations of kinesics as an integrative science were considered, the correlation between the verbal realization of kinema and the temporal forms of the Russian verb was revealed. It has been proved that the most recurrent manifestations of non-verbal semiotics in Chekhov's stories are communicative emblems (in particular, etiquette and ritual), symptomatic emblems and dynamic descriptors, nominated with the help of aspect and tense forms of the Russian verb. Emblems-illustrators are quantitatively less represented in the analyzed stories. They are prospective for further research on the example of Russian literary classics.

Approach to assessing the level of intelligence of an information system

Based on the analysis of the definitions of natural and artificial intelligence (AI), basic functions are proposed that reflect the cognitive activity of the brain. Their interpretation in a broad sense, using the rules of Russian grammar, made it possible to describe the entire range of concepts used in AI. The possibility of expressing basic functions in terms of simpler ones and combining them into more complex ones is shown. The completeness, consistency and non-redundancy of the basis of the cognitive functions of the brain are substantiated. The 14 basic functions are divided into 4 groups, reflecting different aspects of working with knowledge. This made it possible to consider the AI system as a specialized information processing system. For a sign that distinguishes the AI subsystem in the information system, a simulation approach to modeling the functions of the human brain is adopted. The level of intelligence of an information system is characterized by indicators of the share of hardware and software required for the implementation of AI models in the total amount of hardware and software of the information system. An example of assessing the level of intelligence of an information system of an unmanned aerial vehicle is given.

Creating a database of Modern Russian clause linkers: principles, problems, results

This paper presents a project on creating a database of Russian connectives (clause linkers), which are linguistic units that connect clauses in polypredicative constructions. This functional class includes conjunctions, particles, prepositional phrases, adverbs, and parenthetical words and phrases. The inventory of connectives was extracted from volume 2 of the “Russkaya Grammatika” (1982), explanatory dictionaries, and dictionaries of functional words. All connectives were manually tagged for various syntactic and semantic parameters, such as their position in a sentence, the relative positioning of the main and subordinate clause, the number of connective components, and the possibility to expand them by adding modifiers (e. g., по той причине что — по той простой причине что). Additionally, all connectives were categorized based on the semantic zone they belong to, such as condition, time, cause, etc. The systematic tagging of connectives allowed for the discovery of several new semantic zones, meanings, varieties of meaning combinations, and new valency structures. Furthermore, problematic connectives were delimited, such as those posing issues regarding their part of speech or their treatment as a collocation (в тот момент, когда; в тех целях чтобы, etc.). This article is based on a paper presented at the 7th International Research Symposium “Russian Grammar: Constants, Contexts, Perspectives” (October 10–14, 2023, Tyumen, Russia).

Nominalization and pronominal constructions in Russian

This paper presents a study on nominalized adjectives and participles denoting a person. It distinguishes between occasional nominalizations, usual nominalizations (chuzhoi ‘alien’, postoronnii ‘outsider’, mestnyi ‘local’, prisutstvuyushchii ‘present’, zhelayushchii ‘willing’, otdykhayushchii ‘resting’) , and dictionary nominalizations (veruyushchii ‘believer’, voennyi ‘military’, podchinennyi ‘subordinate’, sluzhashchii ‘employee’). The paper discusses the specific usage of adjectives and participles from the usual group in constructions with the pronouns nikto ‘nobody’, kto-to ‘someone’, kto-nibud’ ‘anyone’: kto-to neznakomyi ‘someone unfamiliar’. Additionally, it examines the variability of number forms, for example nikogo znakomogo — nikogo znakomykh (no one familiar sg. — no one familiar pl.). The article is based on a paper presented at the 7th International Research Symposium “Russian Grammar: Constants, Contexts, Perspectives” (October 10–14, 2023, Tyumen).

The verb form “poluchayetsya” on the dynamic scale of transitability (“point” study)

The article deals with the dynamic transformations of the verb form poluchaetsya, which, as a result of the action of active processes of oral communication, has passed the way from a finite verb (u menya vs’o poluchayetsya, risunok poluchayetsya krasivym) to a pragmatic marker (tam eto/ poluchayetsya vot eta vot nicheynaya doroga). The study was carried out on the material of the oral subcorpus of NCRL, using the scaling technique. 7 points are marked on the proposed transition scale. At the starting point of the scale (1), the form poluchaetsya appears as an ordinary finite verb (V), in personal (1a) or impersonal (1b) use. At point (2) there is a copula-verb in the structure of a compound nominal predicate in a two-part sentence (the result of the first grammaticalization GRAM1: V → Cop); at points (3)–(4) — a form with an unsubstituted syntactic position in the structure of a complex or union-free complex sentence, the verb here approaches the meaning of the introductory word, which can be considered the result of the ~ GRAM2 (V →~ IntrW); at point (5) poluchaetsya appears already as a full-fledged introductory word (also a GRAM2) (V → IntrW); at point (6), the role of the introductory word is supplemented by the function of a pragmatic delimiter marker, resulting from the pragmaticalization process (there is polyfunctionality) (GRAM2 + PRAGM); finally, at point (7) poluchaetsya completely loses its lexical and grammatical meaning and functions as a hesitative marker (also pragmaticalization) (PRAGM) (V → IntrW → PM). This article is based on a paper presented at the 7th International Research Symposium “Russian Grammar: Constants, Contexts, Perspectives” (October 10–14, 2023, Tyumen, Russia).

The term tire (dash) in historical-linguistic and lexicographic retrospective

The article is devoted to the study of the Russian term tire (‘dash’) and its parallel names in historiographical, etymological, semantic, functional and lexicographic aspects. The research is based on textual and lexicographic sources dating from the 18th to the 20th century, that allow us to establish the chronology of the term semantics and appearance of its parallel names. The purpose of the article is to clarify and systematize historiographical and etymological information about the term tire, to perform the historical-linguistic analysis of its semantics and functions, starting with the appearance of the first Russian grammars containing elements of a scientific approach to the coverage of linguistic facts. The article uses methods of historical-linguistic, definitional, etymological, semantic and lexicographic analysis. The dash in the function of the sign replacing the omitted parts of the utterance is found in Russian grammatical sources as early as the mid-1840s, but this sign itself does not yet have a name in this period. The terminological nomination tire, which is understood as a punctuation mark, presumably appears for the first time in 1802 in A German Grammar of I. Geym. The first lexicographic recording of the term is fixed in A Pocket book for lovers of reading Russian books… by I. Renovans and is dated 1837, however, in this case it is only about fixing the plan of term expression, but not the plan of its content, since Renovans understands the hyphen as a dash. The plan of term expression and the plan of its content begin to be unambiguously correlated in lexicographic sources, apparently, only in 1863, when in the dictionaries of K. Reif and V. Dahl, the dash in the functional-semantic aspect ceases to be associated with the outwardly similar hyphen. In scientific and theoretical sources, however, confusion continues to take place. The synonymous series including various names of the dash (molchanka as a silence sign, small line, stop sign, line, thought-separating sign) is formed in the period from 1786 to 1831. The term dvoynoye tire (‘double dash’), judging by the results of the study, first occurs in 1902 in the work by A. Pridik, and not in 1955, as previously thought.

Adjectival predicate “bad/good” with the pronoun I

This article explores one type of construction in the Russian language, specifically the “I + adjectival predicate” structure. The adjectival predicate in this construction reflects the instability of self-identification and self-presentation. The composition of adjectives in this construction provides valuable insights into historical changes in self-perception. Using the examples “I am good” and “I am bad”, we examine the possibility of removing the restriction on negative self-characterization. Both adjectives can convey positive or negative evaluations of oneself, and these evaluations can be used for manipulative purposes. Through corpus data analysis, we uncover the cyclical nature of filling the frame of autocharacterization with evaluative adjectives. The dynamics of each variant of filling the frame is complex and follows a non-linear curve. This article is based on a paper presented at the 7th International Research Symposium “Russian Grammar: Constants, Contexts, Perspectives” (October 10–14, 2023, Tyumen, Russia).

The Pragmatic Principles in the Grammar Descriptions

The text of the article is dedicated to the development of means of describing grammatical categories. In the first place, attention is paid to categories that are capable of conveying nominative, or lexical, meaning, such as the category of number which conveys the opposition of meanings "one" and "many". In Russian grammar, the rules for the use of the grammatical category of verb aspect are considered the most complex case. The semantic component of this category is contradictory and requires a large conceptual apparatus. However, even in this case, not all cases of real use of aspectual forms receive a consistent interpretation. Many "difficult cases" can be reinterpreted with the help of new concepts related to modeling speech activity. The article demonstrates the possibility of using pragmatic tools, in particular Grice's postulates and the principle of relevance, to describe the most complex fragments of the language system. An attempt is made to analyze the most complex cases of the use of Russian verb aspect, which is not always reduced to the opposition of completed and incomplete action. Cases of competition - context in which the choice of aspect is not related to the main aspectual meanings, causing difficulties in learning Russian - are meant. Examples are described where the choice of aspect can be explained by the speaker's desire for clarity and comprehensibility in accordance with pragmatic principles. This approach - interactive, i.e. considering the interaction between speaker and listener - allows not only to formulate rules for choosing aspect in cases noted in practical textbooks, but also to explain why the rules from textbooks may not work, not predict the real correct use of aspectual forms.

Predicative Adverbs in Russian and Modern Greek Languages: Linguodidactic Approach

The article deals with Russian predicative adverbs in comparison with their Modern Greek correlates. Methodological basis of the research is functional communicative grammar. The authors consider the interrelations between the notions of traditional formal descriptive grammar such as “the category of state”, “modal words”, “predicative”, “predicative adverbs”. Authors’ vision of word classes is based on multiple-factor analysis: the word belongs to a particular category (part of speech), if it is characterized by a set of morphological and syntactic features. The novelty of the research lies in the fact that it made a first attempt to describe Russian predicative adverbs in comparison with Modern Greek ones in a systematic way and presented the fragment of linguodidactic model of Russian grammar on an example of adverbs vidno (it is seen) and vidimo (apparently). The authors have used as study materials the information from dictionaries, handbooks and manuals, Russian National Corpus as well as errors made by Greek learners while using Russian adverbial lexemes in their oral and written speech. The language units are being analyzed on the level of their lexicosemantic variants. The purpose of the work is to bring to the fore the relevant in terms of teaching Russian as a foreign language morphological, syntactic, stylistic, syntagmatic, discursive characteristics of the specified predicative adverbs and to develop an appropriate set of tasks and exercises which will answer students’ communicative needs. The explanations and exercises are focused primarily on Greek learners but can be also applied while teaching the speakers of other languages. Nationally-oriented teaching Russian language, multiple-factor model of description of lexical units allows the authors to arrange the study process in the most efficient way and facilitate the building of stable communicative skills.