| Abstrakt: |
Paucal constructions are unanimously considered one of the most puzzling areas of Russian grammar. The expressions containing lower numerals (dva/dve‘two’,tri‘three’,četyre‘four’, as well asoba/obe‘both’) display special morphosyntactic properties that have attracted the attention of many scholars. In this paper, we contribute to the debate on Russian paucal expressions in subject function by arguing that their historical development can clarify certain aspects of their synchronic pattern in the modern language. We review the diachronic process leading to the rise of paucal morphology in Russian and account for the morphologically heterogeneous nature of these expressions, coined in the language as a result of a series of historical accidents and adapted later to the language with relative success. In order to account for the synchronic disagreement patterns triggered by lower numerals in subject position (affecting unequally modifiers and verbs), we adopt an approach of featural decomposition and underspecification rules that renders the actual forms obtained in these paucal constructions. As a necessary part of the account, we also give some typological parallels, mainly from other unrelated languages. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER] |
