Primary and Secondary Predication in Russian and the SLP: ILP Distinction Revisited
Anton Zimmerling
April 2024 

This paper addresses the distribution of Russian constructions expressing SLP semantics and introduces a distinction of internal SLP (SLP-INT) vs external SLP (SLP-INT). The semantics of SLP-INT is expressed in Russian by a large class of lexical predicatives selecting a dative subject and by a different class of indeclinable predicatives selecting a nominative animate subject. DPS predicatives lack agreement, while NOM predicatives are adjectivelike elements with defective morphology. Russian predicatives do not produce ILP sentences. The semantics of SLP-EXT is expressed in Russian in two different ways: 1) by a class of predicatives that neither license dative nor nominative subjects; 2) by agreeing nominal elements (nouns, full and short adjectives) in the position of the primary and secondary predicate. The distribution of short and full adjectives is no longer triggered by semantics, while the assignment of the instrumental case to the predicative complement is a marker of SLP-EXT. There is a correlation between the INSTR marking on the predicate and the SLP-EXT meaning. However, the absence of INSTR does not necessarily signal the ILP meaning.

Format:	[ pdf ]
Reference:	lingbuzz/008055 (please use that when you cite this article)
Published in:	Warditz V. (ed.): Russian Grammar: System - Usus – Variation (= Linguistica Philologica 1). Berlin et al: Peter Lang, 2021, 543 — 560.
keywords:	stage-level predicates, individual-level predicates, events, davidsonian states, secondary predicates, syntax-semantics interface, russian, semantics, morphology, syntax
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