Independent partitive genitive in Russian,
North Russian and Lithuanian
Ilja A. Seržant
(University of Bergen)
Abstract: The present paper aims at describing the distribution, semantics and some formal properties of the independent or bare partitive genitive (IPG) in Standard Russian, North Russian and Lithuanian. The IPG is a multi-faceted category that applies in the domain of quantification, definiteness or referentiality and discursive prominence. I assume that these three facets are interrelated semantically and are linked etymologically as well as in terms of a prototype via the decreased referentiality function (term introduced in several papers by V. Borschev and B. Partee).
The implicit quantifier of the IPG has emancipated having extended its domain of operation from a constituent-internal quantifier into a clause-internal quantifer (cf. the quantifier “a lot” in I saw a lot of cats -> I saw cats a lot). It shows quite remarkable new functions interacting with aspect and actionality. Thus, it can not only quantify over or measure activities or accomplishments but also achievments.
I argue that the IPG encodes an indefinite but specific quantification which explains why its interrelations with the aspect in Russian and Baltic are so different from the partitive case in the Finnic languages. Thus, while the IPG is only compatible with the perfective aspect, i.e., bounded predicates in terms of Kiparsky (1998) in Russian, it invokes, in contrary, the unbounded reading of the predicate in the Finnic languages.
Beside different functional properties of the IPG that are not typical of a Case, several striking formal properties of the IPG have been detected that also suggest its not-like-a-case nature.
Time and Place: HF-217, 14.15-16.00, March 2