Russian Declension and Conjugation

Chapter 3: Noun Declension

Non-sexist language??

• What kinds of nouns are– Non-feminine?– Non-neuter?– Feminine?

• What does the double arrow mean?

Non-sexist language??

• What kinds of nouns are– Non-feminine?

• Masculine nouns ending in a consonant and all neuter nouns

– Non-neuter?• Feminine and masculine nouns ending in –а or –я

(note that ALL of these masculine nouns are virile!)

– Feminine?• Feminine nouns ending in -ь

At both ends…

• What does the double arrow mean?

At both ends…

• What does the double arrow mean?– The ending depends on whether you have an

animate or inanimate noun

Just FYI…

• Note that there are NO gender distinctions in the plural in Russian (the sentence at the top of p. 27 is a bit misleading).

• Note that whether or not the stressed –a NApl ending is “growing” for masculine nouns now is not certain. It was highly productive in the middle ages.

Q&A

• What is strange about the distribution of Gpl endings?

Q&A

• What is strange about the distribution of Gpl endings?– Well, j is classed among the HARD

consonants…

Q&A

• What is similar about the two Gpl endings –ej and –ov?

Q&A

• What is similar about the two Gpl endings –ej and –ov? – They both contain a mid vowel followed by a

glide, and the front mid vowel goes with the front glide, while the back mid vowel goes with the back glide

Q&A

• Describe the relationship between the Gpl and Nsg endings.

Q&A

• Describe the relationship between the Gpl and Nsg endings.– This is called an alpha-switching rule. Let’s

talk about it.

The Fill Vowel

• The presence of a fill vowel is not otherwise predictable, so it must be indicated in the base form

• When is the fill vowel inserted?

The Fill Vowel

• The presence of a fill vowel is not otherwise predictable, so it must be indicated in the base form

• When is the fill vowel inserted?– Before a nonvocalic ending

• Remember to assign stress BEFORE inserting the fill vowel!!!!

What Fill Vowel do you get?

• Can you formulate a rule?

What Fill Vowel do you get?

• Here’s a rule:

–You get e if –K _ C’ or c (сердец)

–You get i if _ j (-stress) (поверий)

–You get o everywhere else (орёл)

When do you get softening before a fill vowel?

• Gimme another rule!

When do you get softening before a fill vowel?

• Here’s a rule:

– Any consonant that can soften will soften before fill vowels e and i (овец)

– You usually get softening before o (сестёр), except:

• If the fill vowel is followed by k (досок)

• If the fill vowel is in a root ending in a hard consonant (рот)

Deviants!

• Look at the exceptions on pp. 35-36– Are there any patterns to these deviations?

Deviants!

• Look at the exceptions on pp. 35-36– Are there any patterns to these deviations?– Yes!

• All involve either Gpl or Nsg• All the feminine and neuter nouns have shifting

stress on ending• The masculines that have this deviation in Nsg

have fixed ending stress and mostly begin in ug- and uz-

Identify the Symbols

| [<-]

X [a]

\ [/]

/ [m]

Ø [f]

Identify the Symbols

| - fixed stress [<-] – u-retraction

X – shifting stress [a] – Npl in –á

\ - anomalous stress [/] – stress on fill vowel in wrong place

/ - fill vowel [m] – masculine noun ending in -a

Ø – zero ending [f] – feminine noun ending in –Ø

Homework

• Let’s do it!