Distributed by Slavica Publishers

Mark T. Hooker
(mthooker@indiana.edu)
Implied, but not Stated: Condensation in Colloquial Russian
ISBN: 1-58112-776-6, paper, 290 pages, 1999, $25.95

The approach used in this course is predicated on the perception that non-native students normally begin their studies of the language with Codified Standard Russian (CSR) [i.e. the way that Russians write, not the way they talk]. Therefore, Colloquial Russian (CR) is presented as a modification of CSR with which the student is already familiar. The course shows how CSR constructions are changed into colloquial constructions by the "omission" of elements from the CSR constructions. To a native speaker the omitted elements are implied by the remaining portion of the construction, but to a non-native student of the language these "missing" elements are a great source of confusion. The course presents a series of models to help the non-native student "reconstruct" more familiar CSR constructions from condensed colloquial variants.

The models rely on the concept of syntactic zero (Ø). It is used in the models just like zero is used in mathematics, as a place holder. It marks the place of the omitted part of a large linguistic unit that has been condensed. The use of syntactic zero (Ø) is most easily demonstrated in a term, a large linguistic unit that conforms to the model [modifier + noun]. In CSR both elements of the model are necessary to carry the meaning of the term, but in CR it is possible to reduce one of the elements to Ø, leaving the other to carry the full meaning of the term. In CR the modifier [(modifier > Ø) + noun] or the noun [modifier + (noun > Ø)] can be reduced to syntactic zero to form a condensed term. For example: the CSR complex term saxarnyj pesok 'granulated sugar' can be reduced to the CR condensed term [Ø pesok], or the CSR complex term sbornaja komanda 'all-star team' can be reduced to the CR condensed term [sbornaja Ø], or the CSR complex term Literaturnaja gazeta 'Literary Gazette' can be reduced to the CR condensed term [Literaturka Ø], or the CSR complex term nochnaja lampochka 'night light' can be reduced to the CR condensed term [nochnik Ø].

The course begins with a study of the terms from which one or more elements have been "omitted" and progresses to the omission of elements from verb frames and fixed expressions, concluding with a survey of asyndetic constructions and contractions.

The extensive index to condensates (pp. 259-275) makes the book useful as a reference work. The keys to the exercises (pp. 223-258) make it possible to use the book for self-study.

View first 25 pages in .pdf format

Mark T. Hooker served as a linguist and area specialist with the U.S. Armed Forces and as a Department of Defense civilian. Retired, he is presently a Visiting Scholar at Indiana University. He is the author of The Military Uses of Literature: Fiction and the Armed Forces in the Soviet Union, Prager, 1996.