Project MUSE®: Journal of Slavic Linguistics - Latest Articles
https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/406
Project MUSE®: Latest articles in Journal of Slavic Linguistics.daily12026-05-15T00:00:00-05:00text/htmlen-USVol. 16 (2008) through current issueLatest Articles: Journal of Slavic LinguisticsTWOProject MUSE®Journal of Slavic Linguistics1543-03911068-2090Latest articles in Journal of Slavic Linguistics. Feed provided by Project MUSE®On licensing NCIs in Russian
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/969996
<p></p>
Russian is a strict negative concord language. Negative concord items (NCIs) such as ničego 'nothing', nikogo 'nobody' as in (1-a) or negative adverbs, like nikogda 'never' as in (1-b) are always licensed by the clausemate negation marker ne, irrespective of their position inside the clause.(1) A general assumption is that NCIs require sentential negation to be licensed and must be local. This means that non-local negation will not be acceptable, as in (2).(2) In more recent work, Rožnova (2009) and Baykov (2022) have identified additional restrictions on typical clause-level locality for NCI licensing: "NCIs may be licensed by verbal negation ne across a DP or an AP boundary iff this constituent (a DP or an AdjP
... <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/970008">Read More</a>
Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-15T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/406/image/coversmallOn licensing NCIs in Russian2025-09-25text/htmlen-USOn licensing NCIs in Russian2025-09-252025TWOProject MUSE®559822026-05-15T00:00:00-05:002025-09-25Object drop in imperatives and the status of imperative subjects
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/969997
<p></p>
This article examines object drop in a particular type of imperatives, the starting point being such object drop in English imperatives (though the discussion will include a number of Slavic, Romance, and Germanic languages, as well as Hungarian). A major concern during the discussion will be what this object drop can tell us about the position of imperative subjects. While imperatives typically have a null subject, as in (1), the subject can be overtly realized, as in (2).(1) Buy yourself a nice present!(2) You buy yourself a nice present!Object drop in imperatives is illustrated by (3-a). Previous literature has observed that object drop in imperatives is blocked when the imperative subject is overtly realized
... <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/970008">Read More</a>
Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-15T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/406/image/coversmallObject drop in imperatives and the status of imperative subjects2025-09-25text/htmlen-USObject drop in imperatives and the status of imperative subjects2025-09-252025TWOProject MUSE®712522026-05-15T00:00:00-05:002025-09-25Listener-Driven Sound Change in Exemplar Theory
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/969998
<p></p>
This paper presents a formal model for deriving categorical innovation in listener-driven sound change, a process wherein listener errors bring about novel forms (Ohala 1981, 1989, 2012). Although formal models of sound change often lack implementation of listener behavior, Burns (2022a) highlighted the importance of doing so for certain types of innovation. Using data from Slavic (South Slavic and West Slavic), I show that the same phonetic environment can trigger seemingly opposing innovations, a behavior characteristic of listener-driven sound change.In order to formally account for the facts of Slavic, I modify the gradient Harmonic Grammar (HG) framework (Burns 2022a), a fully gradient constraint-based
... <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/970008">Read More</a>
Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-15T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/406/image/coversmallListener-Driven Sound Change in Exemplar Theory2025-09-25text/htmlen-USListener-Driven Sound Change in Exemplar Theory2025-09-252025TWOProject MUSE®879902026-05-15T00:00:00-05:002025-09-25Coordinated wh-questions: A response to Bošković (2022)
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/969999
<p></p>
In this paper, we contrast two accounts of wh-questions with coordinated wh-phrases in Slavic languages: Citko & Gračanin-Yuksek (2013) and Bošković (2022). For the sake of brevity, we will refer to such questions, illustrated in (1), as coordinated wh-questions (CWHs):(1) The main difference between the two accounts concerns the relationship between multiple wh-fronting (MWF) and mono-clausal CWHs. In Citko & Gračanin-Yuksek (2013) (henceforth CGY 2013), we link the availability of mono-clausal CWHs to the availability of MWF. Here, we extend this proposal to account for the presence of mono-clausal CWHs in wh-in-situ languages. First, however, we summarize our 2013 account (§2), in which the mono-clausal
... <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/970008">Read More</a>
Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-15T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/406/image/coversmallCoordinated wh-questions: A response to Bošković (2022)2025-09-25text/htmlen-USCoordinated wh-questions: A response to Bošković (2022)2025-09-252025TWOProject MUSE®820442026-05-15T00:00:00-05:002025-09-25On the structure of doublecoordinator constructions
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/970000
<p></p>
According to Principle A of Binding Theory (Chomsky 1981), two conditions need to be met for an anaphor to be properly bound. An anaphor needs to be co-indexed with its binder and it needs to be c-commanded by its binder (inside their local domain). Principle A is seen at work in (1) and (2): In (1), Peter c-commands the co-indexed reflexive pronoun himself, so the sentence is good; in (2) Peter does not c-command the co-indexed reflexive, hence the *.(1) Peter1 saw himself1 in the mirror. (2) *Peter1's friend saw himself1 in the mirror. Principle A is also at work in simplex coordination, that is, when the subject is coordinated with only one conjunction marker, as in examples (3). Only the entire coordination can
... <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/970008">Read More</a>
Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-15T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/406/image/coversmallOn the structure of doublecoordinator constructions2025-09-25text/htmlen-USOn the structure of doublecoordinator constructions2025-09-252025TWOProject MUSE®693962026-05-15T00:00:00-05:002025-09-25There is more about existentials: Agreement and case assignment in Serbian and Lithuanian
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/970001
<p></p>
This paper examines the properties of existential constructions in Serbian and Lithuanian. The extensive literature on existential constructions (Bentley et al. 2015, Francez 2007, McCloskey 2014, McNally 2011, Moro 1997) showed that they do not display a uniform syntactic behavior cross-linguistically: there are language-specific patterns with respect to agreement, case assignment and copula uses. Existential constructions share a number of interpretive properties with locative constructions. In particular, both existential and locative constructions express a proposition about the existence or the presence of someone or something in a context.We discuss a well-known cluster of properties, found in several
... <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/970008">Read More</a>
Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-15T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/406/image/coversmallThere is more about existentials: Agreement and case assignment in Serbian and Lithuanian2025-09-25text/htmlen-USThere is more about existentials: Agreement and case assignment in Serbian and Lithuanian2025-09-252025TWOProject MUSE®829932026-05-15T00:00:00-05:002025-09-25Masculine animate as a subgender of masculine in Polish: Evidence from psycholinguistics
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/970002
<p></p>
Slavic languages have grammatical gender, a system of noun categorization that interacts with agreement patterns in the language (Stankiewicz 1986, Corbett 1991); the relevant categories are labeled masculine, feminine, and neuter. Which gender category a noun belongs to can sometimes be determined based on real-world properties of the referent (ex. Polish kura 'chicken(f)', kogut 'rooster(m)'), but for most inanimate nouns this categorization is largely arbitrary. Nevertheless, this category information is important to the grammar, as a noun's category information interacts with the syntax in determining agreement morphology on other elements in the clause, both in the nominal domain (demonstratives, adjectives)
... <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/970008">Read More</a>
Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-15T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/406/image/coversmallMasculine animate as a subgender of masculine in Polish: Evidence from psycholinguistics2025-09-25text/htmlen-USMasculine animate as a subgender of masculine in Polish: Evidence from psycholinguistics2025-09-252025TWOProject MUSE®700432026-05-15T00:00:00-05:002025-09-25Microvariation in the Slavic secondary imperfective
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/970003
<p></p>
The status of aspectual morphemes in Slavic is a topic of ongoing debate in the literature. Almost all verbs (including infinitives) in Slavic are either perfective or imperfective and most verbs have both perfective and imperfective variants, e.g., pisać.ipfv – napisać.pfv 'to write'.1Concerning the organization of aspectual morphemes within a verb, the least morphologically complex aspectual forms are primary imperfectives (bare, i.e., "unprefixed'' verbs), e.g., pis-a-ć 'to write' (root + theme vowel + infinitive). Primary imperfective forms can be perfectivized by means of a prefix e.g., na-pis-a-ć 'to write down' (prefix + root + theme vowel + infinitive). A verbal stem may combine with different aspectual
... <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/970008">Read More</a>
Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-15T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/406/image/coversmallMicrovariation in the Slavic secondary imperfective2025-09-25text/htmlen-USMicrovariation in the Slavic secondary imperfective2025-09-252025TWOProject MUSE®1182752026-05-15T00:00:00-05:002025-09-25Russian E-verbs and thematic vowel change
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/970004
<p></p>
This paper is dedicated to the phonology of the thematic vowel in the second verbal conjugation of Russian. The thematic vowel (boldface in examples (1-a)-(4-a)) is a vowel of an uncertain (or varying) morphosyntactic status appearing in most Russian verbs between the verbal stem and the past-tense suffix -l-; the choice of the vowel is determined by the verbal root or by the outermost verbal suffix.1(1) (2) (3) (4) The two Russian conjugation classes are defined by the vowel appearing between the verbal stem and the agreement suffix in the present tense (examples (1-b)-(4-b)). The forms in (1-b) and (2-b) illustrate the present tense of the first conjugation, where this vowel is -e- (turning into [ʲo] under
... <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/970008">Read More</a>
Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-15T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/406/image/coversmallRussian E-verbs and thematic vowel change2025-09-25text/htmlen-USRussian E-verbs and thematic vowel change2025-09-252025TWOProject MUSE®1188072026-05-15T00:00:00-05:002025-09-25Same or different? Infinitival and subjunctive complementation vs. verb serialization in Bosnian/Croatian/Montenegrin/Serbian
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/970005
<p></p>
The main focus of our paper is the multi-verb construction found in Bosnian/Croatian/Montenegrin/Serbian (BCMS) of the type exemplified below:(1) The clauses in (1) feature two finite verbs inflected for imperative. They are representative of a construction type that we argue should be analyzed as a Serial Verb Construction (SVC), even though BCMS has not typically been included within a cross-linguistic typology of languages containing SVCs.1 There is no universally agreed-upon definition of SVCs that would apply on a cross-linguistic basis, but these constructions have been shown to exhibit a certain cluster of properties across languages, which we show to be at play in BCMS as well, thus justifying the use of
... <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/970008">Read More</a>
Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-15T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/406/image/coversmallSame or different? Infinitival and subjunctive complementation vs. verb serialization in Bosnian/Croatian/Montenegrin/Serbian2025-09-25text/htmlen-USSame or different? Infinitival and subjunctive complementation vs. verb serialization in Bosnian/Croatian/Montenegrin/Serbian2025-09-252025TWOProject MUSE®801192026-05-15T00:00:00-05:002025-09-25Negation in Czech polar questions
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/970006
<p></p>
A polar question (PQ) asks whether its prejacent p holds or not, which, in turn, corresponds to the two possible answers: 'yes' and 'no'. For example, the meaning of the PQ Is John cooking? in (1-a) can be captured by a set containing both its possible answers, as in (l-b) (Hamblin 1973; see also Karttunen 1977, Groenendijk & Stokhof 1984).(1)a. Is John cooking?b. π = {p, ¬p} = {〚John is cooking〛, 〚John is not cooking〛}Negation in PQs, such as in (2), has been the point of interest for a long time now, mainly its status on the syntactic, semantic and pragmatic levels (e.g. Ladd 1981, Büring & Gunlogson 2000, Romero & Han 2004:a.o.).(2) It has been noticed that PQs like in (2) receive different interpretations based
... <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/970008">Read More</a>
Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-15T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/406/image/coversmallNegation in Czech polar questions2025-09-25text/htmlen-USNegation in Czech polar questions2025-09-252025TWOProject MUSE®927342026-05-15T00:00:00-05:002025-09-25Expletive Negation revisited: On some properties of negative polar interrogatives in Russian
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/970007
<p></p>
Under scrutiny are Russian polar interrogatives like (1), formed by fronting the Neg+V complex before the enclitic YN marker li. Superficially, (1) resembles (2-a), a construction occupying a prominent spotlight in the theoretical literature (Büring & Gunlogson 2000, Giannakidou & Mari 2019, Goodhue 2018, Krifka 2015, Repp 2013, Romero & Han 2004, a.o.), whose core function is to convey epistemic bias. Hence, by uttering (2-a), the speaker imparts their belief that John's current beverage of choice is coffee and seeks to verify this conviction. Bulgarian (2-b) reportedly incorporates the same type of biased inference (Romero & Han 2004).(1) (2) Although in syntax Russian (3) appears to mimic its South Slavic cousin
... <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/970008">Read More</a>
Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-15T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/406/image/coversmallExpletive Negation revisited: On some properties of negative polar interrogatives in Russian2025-09-25text/htmlen-USExpletive Negation revisited: On some properties of negative polar interrogatives in Russian2025-09-252025TWOProject MUSE®1205162026-05-15T00:00:00-05:002025-09-25Beyond the Suffix: Examining Imperfectivization strategies in L2 and Heritage BCMS in Italy
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/970008
<p></p>
The aspectual distinction between perfective and imperfective extends throughout the entire verbal system and is applicable across the complete verbal paradigm of Slavic languages (Fortuin & Kamphuis 2015). Dickey (2000) suggests that Slavic languages can be grouped into two main categories when it comes to how they encode the meaning of aspect: Eastern (including Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, and Bulgarian) and Western (including Czech, Slovak, Slovenian and Sorbian). In the context of perfective aspect, Dickey (2000) introduces the concept of temporal definiteness, intended as a complete whole which has the condition of uniqueness,1 for the Eastern group and totality or an indivisible whole, for the Western
... <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/970008">Read More</a>
Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-15T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/406/image/coversmallBeyond the Suffix: Examining Imperfectivization strategies in L2 and Heritage BCMS in Italy2025-09-25text/htmlen-USBeyond the Suffix: Examining Imperfectivization strategies in L2 and Heritage BCMS in Italy2025-09-252025TWOProject MUSE®1119582026-05-15T00:00:00-05:002025-09-25