Russian Possessive Constructions

[Sta09b] [Nic86] [Hei97]

Russian derives its primary have-construction from the Location Schema ("Y is located at X" → "X has Y"). The construction consists of:

1. Preposition u 'at, by' + possessor in genitive case
2. Possessum in nominative (= grammatical subject)
3. Copula est' 'is' (often omitted in present tense)

The possessor is an oblique locative adjunct; the possessee is the grammatical subject. This matches [Hei97]'s prediction: Location Schema encodes the possessee as subject.

Russian also has a secondary, less common Action Schema construction using imet' 'to have' (< *em- 'take'), where the possessor is subject.

Per-language possession defs for Russian (ISO rus). Substrate enums live in Linglib/Features/Possession.lean. Heine 1997 prediction verification for Russian lives in Studies/Heine1997.lean.

Examples

• U menja (est') kniga. 'I have a book.' (at me is book)
• U menja net deneg. 'I have no money.' (at me not-is money.GEN)
• On imeet pravo. 'He has a right.' (he has.3SG right; Action Schema)

def Russian.Possession.sourceSchema : Possession.Source

Russian's primary possessive construction uses the Location Schema.

Equations

• Russian.Possession.sourceSchema = Possession.Source.location

def Russian.Possession.predicativeStrategy : Possession.PredicativeStrategy

Russian's predicative strategy is locational/existential.

Equations

• Russian.Possession.predicativeStrategy = Possession.PredicativeStrategy.locational

theorem Russian.Possession.strategy_matches_schema : Possession.predicativeSource predicativeStrategy = sourceSchema

The strategy matches the schema via predicativeSource.

structure Russian.Possession.RuPossessive : Type

Components of the Russian possessive construction.

• preposition : String

  The preposition u 'at, by' — etymologically locative.

• possessorCase : String

  Possessor case: genitive (following u).

• possesseeCase : String

  Possessee case: nominative (grammatical subject).

• copula : String

  Copula est' — often dropped in present tense affirmative.

• negForm : String

  Negative existential net + genitive (replaces est' + NOM).

@[implicit_reducible]

instance Russian.Possession.instDecidableEqRuPossessive : DecidableEq RuPossessive

Equations

• Russian.Possession.instDecidableEqRuPossessive = Russian.Possession.instDecidableEqRuPossessive.decEq

def Russian.Possession.instDecidableEqRuPossessive.decEq (x✝ x✝¹ : RuPossessive) : Decidable (x✝ = x✝¹)

Equations

• One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.

@[implicit_reducible]

instance Russian.Possession.instReprRuPossessive : Repr RuPossessive

Equations

• Russian.Possession.instReprRuPossessive = { reprPrec := Russian.Possession.instReprRuPossessive.repr }

def Russian.Possession.instReprRuPossessive.repr : RuPossessive → Nat → Std.Format

Equations

• One or more equations did not get rendered due to their size.

def Russian.Possession.primaryConstruction : RuPossessive

Equations

• Russian.Possession.primaryConstruction = { }

def Russian.Possession.secondarySchema : Possession.Source

Russian has a secondary Action Schema construction using imet' 'to have' (< Proto-Slavic *jьmati, related to *em- 'take, seize'). This is restricted to formal/abstract possession and is much less common than the u + GEN construction.

Equations

• Russian.Possession.secondarySchema = Possession.Source.action

def Russian.Possession.imetPossessorIsSubject : Bool

imet' is transitive: possessor = subject, possessee = object. This matches [Hei97]'s prediction for the Action Schema.

Equations

• Russian.Possession.imetPossessorIsSubject = true

def Russian.Possession.uGenNotions : List Possession.Notion

The u + GEN construction covers most possessive notions in Russian. However, physical/temporary possession is its prototypical use (matching Location Schema predictions), and abstract possession often prefers imet' (Action Schema).

Equations

• Russian.Possession.uGenNotions = [Possession.Notion.physical, Possession.Notion.temporary, Possession.Notion.permanent, Possession.Notion.inalienable]

def Russian.Possession.imetNotions : List Possession.Notion

Equations

• Russian.Possession.imetNotions = [Possession.Notion.abstract, Possession.Notion.permanent]

def Russian.Possession.obligatoryPossession : Possession.Obligatoriness

Equations

• Russian.Possession.obligatoryPossession = Possession.Obligatoriness.noObligatory

def Russian.Possession.possessiveClassification : Possession.Classification

Equations

• Russian.Possession.possessiveClassification = Possession.Classification.noClassification

def Russian.Possession.adnominalStrategy : Possession.AdnominalMarking

Adnominal NP-GEN (kniga Ivana): dependent-marking.

Equations

• Russian.Possession.adnominalStrategy = Possession.AdnominalMarking.dependentMarking

def Russian.Possession.affixPosition : Option Possession.AffixPosition

Equations

• Russian.Possession.affixPosition = some Possession.AffixPosition.noAffix