Derek Offord - Using Russian - A Guide to Contemporary Usage

Oбъeдинённых Ha´ций, United Nations Organisation ) (6.10).

animacy(одушeвлённость): grammatical category embracing nouns that denote living things; in Russian, inflection of the accusative

singular of most masculine nouns and of the accusative plural of

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nouns of all genders is determined by whether they are classified as animate or inanimate (see 11.1.3).

attributive adjective(aтрибути´вноe прилaгa´тeльноe): a descriptive adjective which qualifies a noun or noun-equivalent directly, e.g. the

newcar (9.3.1); cf. predicative adjective.

biaspectual verb(двувидово´й глaго´л): verb in which one form may function as either imperfective or perfective, e.g. вeлe´ть, рa´нить.

buffer vowel(бe´глоe о): vowel added for the sake of euphony in certain situations to some Russian prepositions and prefixes which

end in a consonant, e.g. в овнимa´ниe, пeрeд омно´й, с ожгу´.

calque(кa´лькa): a loan translation, i.e. a compound word or phrase that is a literal translation of a foreign expression, e.g. Eng motorway

from Ger Autobahn ; влия´ниe, influence .

cardinal numeral(коли´чeствeнноe числи´тeльноe): numeral

expressing how many , e.g. five (9.5, 11.4); cf. ordinal numeral.

case(пaдe´ж): morphological variant of a noun, pronoun, adjective, numeral or participle which expresses the relation of that word to

other words in the clause.

clause(прeдложe´ниe): word group containing a subject and predicate, e.g. I shall do it [main/principal clause] as soon as I can [subordinate clause]. (An overt subject, however, is not always present, e.g. in the imperative Do it! ) See also main clause, subordinate clause.

cognates(однокорeнныé/однокорнeвыé словa´): words that are

etymologically related or derived from the same root, e.g. Eng

mother , Fr mère , Ger Mutter , Russ мaть, Sp madre ; or, within Russian, стaри´к, стa´рость, стaру´хa, стa´рый, у стaрe´лый, etc.

colloquial(рaзгово´рный): informal or familiar style, expression or form widely used in everyday speech (1.3.1).

complement(дополнe´ниe): word or group of words that completes the meaning of an utterance, esp a noun or noun phrase that directly defines the subject, e.g. She is a teacher (11.1.10); see also object.

conditional mood(усло´вноe нaклонe´ниe): verbal form expressing condition or hypothesis, e.g. if it rains; if it were to rain (11.9).

conjugation(спряжe´ниe): system of verb inflections expressing tense, mood, voice, person and number.

conjunction(сою´з): word used to connect words, groups of words or sentences, indicating the relationship of the connected elements,

e.g. dogs andcats (coordinating conjunction); I had supper afterthey had gone (subordinating temporal conjunction); I like curry although

it’s hot (subordinating concessive conjunction); She drank some water

becauseshe was thirsty (subordinating causal conjunction)

(11.12.1–11.12.3).

consonant(соглa´сный): any speech sound other than a vowel, i.e.

sound produced by some obstruction of the airstream (see also

affricate, fricative, plosive); also any letter representing such a sound.

coordinating conjunction(сочини´тeльный сою´з): a conjunction connecting two words, groups of words or sentences and indicating

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Glossary of linguistic terms

that both are independent and have the same function and

importance, e.g. and (11.12.1).

dative case(дa´тeльный пaдe´ж): the case used to denote the indirect object of a verb, e.g. I gave it to my father ; Oнa´ послa´лa мнeписьмо´, She sent the letter to me (see 9.1.2, 9.1.8, 10.1.4, 10.3.3,

11.1.7–11.1.8).

declension(склонe´ниe): system of inflections of noun, pronoun, adjective, numeral or participle expressing gender, case and number.

defective verb(нeдостa´точный глaго´л): verb which for some reason lacks some personal form or forms, e.g. побeди´тьwhich has no first-person-singular form.

denominal preposition(отымённый прeдло´г): preposition derived from a noun, e.g. по отношe´нию к, with regard to (10.2).

devoicing(дeвокaлизa´ция, оглушe´ниe): transformation of a voiced consonantinto a voiceless consonant(q.v.), e.g. pronunciation of final b of рaб as p .

dialect(диaлe´кт): a variety of language distinguished from others by features of its sound system, vocabulary, morphology and syntax.

Dialects may be geographic (i.e. spoken by people of the same

territory) or social (i.e. spoken by people of the same class, social or occupational group). In Russian the term нaрe´чиedesignates a regional dialect spoken over a very wide area, whilst the term го´вор

designates a local dialect confined to a much smaller area (1.5).

direct object(прямоé дополнe´ниe): the thing on which the action denoted by a transitive verb is directed, e.g. I broke a window; She bought a newspaper (11.1.2–11.1.3, 11.1.6).

disjunctive conjunction(рaздeли´тeльный сою´з): conjunction

which unites clauses or sentences but separates meanings, e.g. or .

dual number(дво´йствeнноe число´): a grammatical form indicating duality; the form is obsolete in Russian but remnants of it survive, e.g. in plurals such as глaзa´and у´шиand in the use of genitive singular forms of nouns after the numerals 2, 3 and 4 .

ellipsis(э´ллипсис): omission of a word or words whose meaning will be understood by the listener or reader, e.g. after all [ that has been

said] ; Bы мeня ´[ спрa´шивaeтe]? [ Are ] you [ asking ] me? (11.13).

ending(окончa´ниe): in Russian, inflectional suffix added to a word to indicate its case, number, tense, mood, etc. in a particular