ПРОСТРАНСТВЕННАЯ ПАДЕЖНАЯ ГРАММАТИКА: «НЕТИПИЧНО ИНСТРУМЕНТАЛЬНЫЕ» КОНСТРУКЦИИ В РУССКОМ ЯЗЫКЕ

The methodological shift that began in linguistics in the second half of the 20th century directed research interest to "deep structures". This led to the rapid development of linguistic semantics and pragmatics, as well as the modern theory of grammaticalisation

[5, P. 5]

. We are particularly interested in the essence of grammatical abstraction as a mechanism of grammaticalisation of specific meanings. We believe that grammatical abstraction is the result of a metaphorical reinterpretation of spatial relations

[3]

,

[4]

,

[5]

,

[6]

and that “the primitive spatial meanings ("IN" ~ "OUT") play a role of "embryo", out of which the different configurations of the noun–verb system develop gradually becoming overgrown with new, more differential shades of meaning. And the concept 'BORDER' is a criterion of differentiation of the meanings”

[7, P. 136]

,

[14, P. 20]

(see Figure 1).

Figure 1 - Primitive spatial meanings

DOI:10.18454/RULB.2023.38.1.1

The syntax of the simple sentence (the organization of nominal and verbal syntagmas) goes back largely to the case syntax

It is known that for identical names of cases which go back to the tradition of ancient grammars, non-identical semantic-grammatical entities are hidden in different Indo-European languages. According to B. Delbrück

[12, P. 75]

, the instrumental case is presented in its pure meaning only in Slavonic languages (see Figure 2).

Figure 2 - Preservation of pure case meanings in Indo-European languages (according to B. Delbrück 1867)

DOI:10.18454/RULB.2023.38.1.2

K. Aksakov stated that "cases have their own independent meaning, which is revealed in any case by their different sides"

The article presents the results of a structural approach to the semantics of the instrumental case in Russian. The principal methods are introspection and componential analysis. It is essential for the adequate research of the Russian case to examine the case usage relating to the different levels of sentence semantic structure – internal /central/ syntax (“basis”) and external /peripherical/ syntax (“superstructure”) – separately since the basic idea of the case is represented in different ways in these two levels

We believe that the case-form (at whatever syntax level it works) is able to unambiguously participate in the generation of a certain meaning by our consciousness, since behind the form there is a spatial representation intuitively grasped by native speakers

The instrumental semantic structure is based on an abstract primary meaning perceived by the Russian consciousness regardless of the nature of the surface of the object being crossed (unlike, for example, prepositions in English, chosen depending on the shape of the object: across the road – 'через дорогу'', over the fence – ‘через забор’, through the window – ‘через окно’). Abstract spatial model of instrumental construction schematically

[8]

can be represented as follows: [...→●→...]. It shows that the instrumental designates an object as a locus (●) THROUGH which a moving substance passes (→). The verbal description of the basic (prototypical) situation corresponding to this spatial image schema can be presented like this: X goes (in any way) through Y (without Y, movement of X is impossible), Y represents the concept of PATH, trajectory of movement of X, where X is a moving body, Y is a body (or surface) facilitating the movement of X. In accordance with structural semantics (for differential semantic features in the case structure, see

[14]

) the instrumental case denotes the internal (in relation to the predicative attribute), contact (in relation to both the subject and the object

[13]

,

[16]

), and intermediate BETWEEN A (start, point of departure, source) and B (finish, point of arrival, goal, etc.) locus-object (see Figure 3). The possibilities and variety of specific speech implementations of this abstract spatial image schema of the relationship between a predicative feature and an object depend on the syntactic position of the case-form and the lexical meaning of the syntagma components.

Figure 3 - PATH is a basic idea of the instrumental case (spatial image schema)

DOI:10.18454/RULB.2023.38.1.3

All the variety of predicative instrumental, limiting instrumental, qualificative instrumental, instrumental of comparison in the Russian language can be reduced to two types, reflecting an elementary (primitive) situation (1) and a semantically more complex situation (2), including an elementary (primitive) one.

(1) ‘X goes THROUGH Y’: [○→●→...].

Figure 4 - The situation (1) which the instrumental case can reflect

DOI:10.18454/RULB.2023.38.1.4

We believe that the PHENOMENON of properties, qualities and states is represented as their MOVEMENT (cf. in English go red) from the hidden, potential (internal) to the open, actual (external): становиться таким-то (cf. in English become = be + come), i.e. ‘X manifests themselves (X's energy, activity, properties and qualities) THROUGH Y’, and the manifestation of X without Y is impossible’ (see Figure 4).

Let us consider the speech implementations of this spatial image schema using specific examples. Moving along the path of life, everyone at each certain period of lifetime reveals themselves (their qualities) to the world THROUGH one or another visible image. Russians call this image a mask, a disguise, a guise, a social role, status, profession, position (English speakers prefer to say that a person "wears different hats"):

… состоять чиновником средней руки на хлебной должности...

(О.Г. Чухонцев. Песни из поднебесной, 2, 2016)

Он войдет, сказавшись однополчанином,

муж, неузнанный в рубище, гость нечаемый, ―

вот и свиделись, ― скажет, ― присевши с краешка, ―

я такой тебя и представлял, хозяюшка.

 (О.Г. Чухонцев. «А не поскрести ли пером по сусекам...», 2016)

During their life, everyone manages to play different social and professional roles, changing their hats daily and even hourly (see Figure 5).

Figure 5 - ESSENCE and PHENOMENA

DOI:10.18454/RULB.2023.38.1.5

For instance, at home a woman is the hostess (cooks breakfast, cleans), at work she is an employee (salesperson, cashier, nurse, etc.), in relationships with other people she can be a colleague, girlfriend, sister, wife, etc.:

Страшное дело быть сыном какого-то веда,

в гости к которому шастают бородачи,

курят и спорят, и вот уже через соседа

кто-то кому-то в карман опускает ключи.

 (О.Г. Чухонцев. «А не поскрести ли пером по сусекам...», 2016)

What the feature can manifest itself through depends on its peculiarity. As an object THROUGH which the feature of the subject manifests itself, a part of the body can be (Кругла, красна лицом она (А.С. Пушкин. Евгений Онегин)

Не потому, что дни его незлобивей,

чем у других, а ночи, быть может, злей,

не потому, что духом своим бедней,

а ремеслом да промыслом нерадивей...

 (О.Г. Чухонцев. «А не поскрести ли пером по сусекам...», 2016)

L. Yanda interprets this use of the instrumental case (Она была бледна лицом) as "a container for the state" or "a stationary path" since "paleness extends along the face just as movement extends along a path"

It is essential that predicative instrumental (работать врачом) and instrumental of transformation (обернуться волком), instrumental of comparison (смотреть волком), in fact, are very similar. Their differences, according to A. Potebnya

и в этом смешенье вер

и обычаев, языков и преданий, не без претензии

на универсальность, все претворяется в музыку сфер

и притворяется ― уже дома ― горшком голубой гортензии…

(О.Г. Чухонцев. «Приятно, однако, побыть наедине с собой...» [Юга, 4], 2016)

может быть, он, когда выйдет его черед

перед лицом Творца оправдаться в судьях

хоть бы за то, что прожил верблюдом в людях,

в Царство Небесное как человек войдет.

(О. Г. Чухонцев. «Во как! -- потом сказал, помолчал чуток...», 1997–2016)

Ты видел, с какою надсадой

в базальт ударяет волна

и с шумом валун волосатый

медузой всплывает со дна?

(О. Г. Чухонцев. «Ты видел, с какою надсадой...», 2016)

(2) ‘X goes TROUGH Y not by themselves’: [○=>●→...○].

Figure 6 - The situation (2) which the instrumental case can reflect

DOI:10.18454/RULB.2023.38.1.6

‘X does not manifest themselves TROUGH Y': Z contributes to this manifestation (see Figure 6):

― А в награду мы сделаем тебя полноправным кардиналом.

(Еремей Парнов. Александрийская гемма, 1990)

Thus, the predicative instrumental, limiting instrumental, qualificative instrumental, instrumental of comparison come from the same spatial image as the instrumental proper, not to mention the specific meanings of the instrumental of time and instrumental of itinerary, gravitating towards adverbial formations, and this image is based on the spatial primitive TROUGH and the idea (concept) of PATH.

Main problems of this research on the instrumental case in Russian were discussed at 46th and 47th International philological conferences at St. Petersburg State University in 2017 and 2018.

Taking everything into account, we can conclude that the instrumental case generally indicates an object THROUGH which movement is carried out or a predicative feature is manifested. The spatial primitive THROUGH, on which all the instrumental patterns in Russian are based, represents the image schema PATH. This confirms the well-known thesis that the PATH is one of the prototypical image schemas in cognitive semantics.