Pereltsvaig Asya. Copular Sentences in Russian: A Theory of Intra-Clausal Relations

Springer, 2007. — 170 p. — (Studies in Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 70). — ISBN 978-1-4020-5792-2; ISBN 978-1-4020-5793-9.This book provides a detailed study and a novel Minimalist account of copular sentences in Russian, focusing on case marking alternations (nominative vs. instrumental) and drawing a distinction between two types of copular sentences.On the assumption that Merge is defined in the simplest way possible, it is argued that not all syntactic structures are a(nti)symmetrical. One of the copular sentence types is analyzed as a poster child for symmetrical structures, while the other type is treated as asymmetrical. The originality of this study lies in treating the copula in the two types of copular sentences neither as completely identical nor as two distinct lexical items; instead, the two types of copula are derived through the process of semantic bleaching. Furthermore, it is argued that the two types of the copula need to combine with post-copular phrases of different categories. It is concluded that Russian draws a distinction between saturated DPs and unsaturated NPs, in spite of its renowned lack of overt articles.List of Tables
Abbreviations Used in the Examples
Copular Sentences in Russian: an overviewThe Scope of the Study
Approaches to Copular Sentences
Theoretical Framework
The Proposal
Organization of the Book
Nouns and Their Extended Projections
Lexical vs Functional Categories
The DP Hypothesis
The DP Hypothesis in Russian
The Locus of Referentiality
Post-Copular DPs and NPs in Russian
Cross-Linguistic EvidencePhrase Structural Relations And Merge: Symmetry Or Antisymmetry?
The Antisymmetry Hypothesis
Challenging the Antisymmetry Hypothesis
Merging Symmetrical Structures
Symmetrical Structures
Agreement in Symmetrical StructuresThematic Relations
Theta Theory: an Overview
A Richer Thematic Theory: Higginbotham () and Modifications
Interpretation of Copular Sentences with the nom-nom Pattern
Interpretation of Copular Sentences with the nom-instr Pattern
Adjectives and nouns as deficient -markers
Theta-role deconstruction and non-local theta-marking
Meaning Differences: a ReviewCase Relations
Case Theory
The Status of Nominative Case
Case Marking in Copular Sentences with the nom-nom Pattern
Case Marking in Copular Sentences with the nom-instr Pattern
Case marking on internal arguments of verbs
Inherent case marking in Russian
Case-Marking with Copula-Like Verbs in Russian
Case Marking on Depictives in RussianAcknowledgements
Notes