Russian Nominal Semantics and Morphology

9. Numerals

CHAPTER 9 Numerals 9.0. Introduction In Modern Russian, numerals constitute a separate part of speech. However, how to delimit this part of speech can be seen as a question of interpretation. In most grammars, especially those with a pedagogical profile, the definition of numerals as a part of speech rests on purely semantic criteria. Numerals are said to denote the members of logical series of numbers, including the Russian equivalents of 'zero' (HyltbIHOltb), 'one-and-a-half' (noltmopa), '150' (noltmopacma) and sometimes even the nouns meaning 'a half' (nOlt06ul-W), 'a third' (mpemb), and 'a fourth' ('lem6epmb). From a broad perspective, numerals can be said to include at least the following subclasses: a. Cardinals b. Collectives c. Ordinals d. Fractions e. Decimals If one aims at describing the usage of numerical expressions in all contexts, including mathematical language, it is indeed necessary to present all these subclasses as well as words of the kind mentioned above. This is the background for the varying, but generally relatively broad delimitation of numerals in many Russian reference grammars (Svedova and Lopatin 1989: 245-58, Wade 1992: 193-227, Seljakin 2000: 92-107, Timberlake 2004: 185-204-on "quantifiers"). However, the present study aims at a linguistic description of numerals as a part of speech, and this leads to a more restricted view on what words should be considered. A linguistic definition of a part of speech should take its point of departure in both the morpho-syntactic and semantic properties of the words in question. I shall say that in order to qualify as a 304 RUSSIAN NOMINAL SEMANTICS AND MORPHOLOGY numeral, a word must have not only a numerical meaning but also certain morpho-syntactic features distinguishing it from other nominals such as nouns, adjectives, and pronouns. In other words, we shall restrict numerals as a part of speech to words combining specific formal features (d. section 9.2) with a specific meaning (d. section 9.1). A definition of this kind will exclude ordinals, fractions, and decimals from the numerals. Ordinals are relational adjectives derived from cardinals; they have adjectival declension and behave syntactically like other relational adjectives. This is confirmed by the formation of compound ordinals. Compound ordinals are formed by a series of undeclined cardinals terminating in a simple ordinal. Only this final ordinal is declined, d. (1). (1) TpM ThIOI'IM ABeCTM Il5IThAeOIT BTOPOH / BTOporo 'the 3252nd' (MASC.SG.NOM/GEN) ABeHaAl.\aTh ThIC5I'I Il5IThCOT CeMHaAl.\aTa5I / CeMHaAl.\aTOH 'the 12517th' (FEM.SG.NOM/GEN) That the "cardinals" are left undeclined indicates that the compound ordinal should be seen as a composite, i.e., as one lexeme, which-for reasons of length, intonation, and stress-happens to be fragmented in writing. Composites of this type are relational adjectives like simple ordinals. Fractions and decimals are noun phrases including numerals, e.g., u6e mpemu 'two thirds', u6eHauu.amb comblX 'twelve hundredths', 'Iemblpe I\eAbiX u mpu ueC51mblx '4.3', ceMb U.eAbix u ceMbUeC5lm 60ceMb comblX '7.78'. This leaves us with two subclasses of numerals proper: a. Cardinals b. Collectives These two classes will be the topic of the present chapter. I shall first consider the question how the cardinals should be delimited. From a formal point of view, the words for 'one', 'million', and 'billion' are not numerals. The word OUUH 'one' is a pronoun (d. Comrie 1992: 728and for a discussion Mel'cuk 1985: 217, Mel'cuk 1982 [1995]: 373-82). This appears from the fact that it has the special pronominal declension (Table 1 in section 8.1.1) and behaves syntactically like other ad- NUMERALS 305 jectival pronouns by agreeing with the head noun in gender, animacy, number, and case, d . (2). (2) O,ll,MH CTOJI (SG: NOM/ACC), O,ll,HOro CTOJIa (SG: GEN) 'one table' O,ll,MH MaJlh'-lMK (SG: NOM), O,ll,HOrO MaJlh'-lMKa (SG: ACC/GEN) 'one boy' O,ll,Ha KHMra (SG: NOM), O,ll,HOM KHMrM (SG: GEN) 'one book' O,ll,HO OKHO (SG: NOM/ACC), O,ll,HOrO OKHa (SG: GEN) 'one window ' O,ll,HM caHM (PL: NOM/ACC), O,ll,HMX caHeM (PL: GEN) 'one sleigh' (3) '-IeJlhIM MMJlJlMOH (SG: NOM) KHMr (PL: GEN) '-IeJloro MMJlJlMOHa (SG: GEN) KHMr (PL: GEN) 'a whole million books' (4) 60JlhIIIOe MHO)!(eCTBO (SG: NOM) KHMr (PL: GEN) 60JlhIIIOro MHO)!(eCTBa (SG: GEN) KHMr (PL: GEN) 'a large amount of books...