STUDIES ON PREDICATION IN RUSSIAN-I. Predicative Case, Short Form Adjectives and Predicatives

摘要

Linguists have in recent years given renewed attention to the short form adjectives of CSR. Members of the glossematic school have suggested that a separate predicative case be set up in Russian on the basis of the exclusive predlcatl use of the short adjectival forms. In this paper the validity of such a new case, as distinct from the nominative, is discussed and eventually rejected on the grounds that the predicative case-function is not restricted to the traditional nominative (from which the "predicative" would have to be separated out), but also embraces the instrumental, and that in certain (active/passive) trans formations the alleged "predicative" cannot be retained to denote predicative function and must be replaced by the instrumental. At the same time, it is suggested to add to the negative criteria (as formulated by R. Jakobson) connecting the nominative and the instrumental (neither quantifiers nor directional cases, i.e., indefinite cases), the positive feature of being predicative cases (the corresponding secondary function of the genitive here is negligible).