Modal Predicates in Constructions with an Infinitive Clause in Russian Writing of the 15 th – 17 th Centuries: Semantics and Distribution

Abstract

The paper is dedicated to the analysis of competition between modal predicates in constructions with an infinitive clause in Middle Russian writing. The focus is on the constructions with modal predicates (verbs, nouns, adjectives, predicatives) podobati, nadlezhati, nalezhati, dolzhenstvovati, iměti, dolzhenъ, dolzhno, nadobě, nadobětь, nadobno, nado, nuzhno, nuzha, nuzhda, combined with an infinitive. The data were collected from the Middle Russian Subcorpus of the Russian National Corpus, from the 15 th – 17 th century sources. Frequency, se- mantics, distribution in various writing genres, and dynamics of change are studied. It is shown that the systems of modal predicates in higher and lower code writing were significantly different, the literary language had a broader system, while in lower code writing the predicates of the group nadobě, nadobětь, nadobno were predominantly used, and the predicate dolzhen was employed occasionally. At the same time, the group nadobě, nadobětь, nadobno does not have a clear semantic specialization and is quite often used to express different types of necessity, while constructions with podobati show deontic necessity, and constructions with iměti express ontological necessity. In the late Middle Russian period, the process of gradual restructuring of the Middle Russian system of modal predicates begins: new types of predicates emerge and start to compete with the old ones.

Keywords

• modality
• modal predicate
• semantics
• middle russian writing
• historical lexicology
• history of russian language