On the Syntax and Semantics of kakoj and čto za in Russian

Abstract

This contribution deals with the attributive pronouns kakoj and èto za in interrogative and exclamative sentences of Russian. It is an investigation into the polyfunctionality of these expressions, their integration into the DP structure, and their interplay with sentence mood. The morphosyntactic and semantic properties of these lexical items will be considered within the framework of Chomsky’s Minimalist Program, taking into account their semantic form and conceptual structure.

What is for for?: Reconstructing the development of what for construction in russian

“…acc dog seen ‘What kind of dog did you see?’b.Čtozdes'otmečajutzajubilej!(R) what here celebrate for anniversary . acc ‘What kind of anniversary do they celebrate here!’((a) from Leu : 1, (1b); (b) modified from Zimmermann : 290, (2))…”

“…However, I believe that those ‘exceptional’ cases are not merely a new stylistic variety confined to online media, but even suggest that the Russian WFC is moving towards a Germanic type; Grammatika (1970: 572) prescribes the use of čto za only to the nominative case. Russkaja Grammatika , Podlesskaya () and Zimmermann () allow the accusative argument with WFC. And recently WFC is found in literature even with oblique cases, such as instrumental (18a) and genitive (18b).…”

“…Its patent semantics is ‘what kind of, which (German welcher , Russian kakoj )’, often imbued with some evaluative connotations such as surprise or defiance (cf. Zimmermann ).…”

“…Its patent semantics is 'what kind of, which (German welcher, Russian kakoj)', often imbued with some evaluative connotations such as surprise or defiance (cf. Zimmermann 2008). 1 This paper is an extensively revised version of one of the chapters in my doctoral dissertation.…”