Sussex R., Cubberley P. The Slavic Languages

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place in the language. One of the signs of the acceptance of a word in a Slavic

language (apart from Bulgarian and Macedonian) is its development of a full set of

case forms, as well as derivational morphology.

Significant syncretism of case forms is evident within a number of Slavic para-

digms. In tables 5.1–5.9, examples of paradigms with significant levels of non-

distinctiveness of forms include the singular of the i-declension, especially feminine,

and the dual of all nouns (in which there is always syncretism of nominative and

accusative, genitive and dative, and locative and instrumental).

The extreme cases, as we saw above, are Bulgarian and Macedonian, which have

eradicated all but a skeleton of their original case systems. This has brought about

a fundamental change in the means of expression of grammatical relationships,

and has made the nominal systems of these languages, and the grammatical

constructions in which they are engaged, more analytic. We take up the role of

prepositions and other phenomena, including clitic object-marking in Bulgarian

and Macedonian, in chapter 6 (6.1.2.4). Bulgarian and Macedonian make up for

their lack of cases principally by using either simple apposition:

Table 5.1. Proto-Slavic o/jo-stems: raby ‘slave’, kon{ ‘horse’ [Masc]’; m

esto

‘place’, pole ‘field’ [Neut]

o Masc jo Masc o Neut jo Neut

Singular Nom rab-y kon-{ m

est-o pol-e

Voc rab-e kon-ju ¼ NOM ¼ NOM

Acc ¼ NOM ¼ NOM ¼ NOM ¼ NOM

Gen rab-a kon-ja ¼ MASC ¼ MASC

Dat rab-u kon-ju ¼ MASC ¼ MASC

Instr rab-om{/rab-ym{ kon-em{ ¼ MASC ¼ MASC

Loc rab-

e kon-i ¼ MASC ¼ MASC

Dual Nom rab-a kon-ja m

est-

e pol-i

Voc ¼ NOM ¼ NOM ¼ NOM ¼ NOM

Acc ¼ NOM ¼ NOM ¼ NOM ¼ NOM

Gen rab-u kon-ju m

est-u pol-ju

Dat rab-oma kon-ema m

est-oma pol-ema

Instr ¼ DAT ¼ DAT ¼ DAT ¼ DAT

Loc ¼ GEN ¼ GEN ¼ GEN ¼ GEN

Plural Nom rab-i kon-i m

est-a pol-ja

Voc ¼ NOM ¼ NOM ¼ NOM ¼ NOM

Acc rab-y kon-i ¼ NOM ¼ NOM

Gen rab-y kon-{ ¼ MASC ¼ MASC

Dat rab-omy kon-emy ¼ MASC ¼ MASC

Instr rab-y kon-i ¼ MASC ¼ MASC

Loc rab-

exy kon-ixy ¼ MASC ¼ MASC

5.4 Inflexional categories 229

(22) ‘a litre of milk’: Blg lı

ta˘ r mlja

ko; cf. Rus lı

tr moloka

[GenSg]

or by transferring the meaning of the case to appropriate prepositions, which

therefore function in these languages more like the prepositions of English and

modern Romance languages:

Table 5.2. The o/jo declension in the modern languages, using PSl gordy ‘town’, mu ˇz{

‘man, husband’, m

esto ‘place’, sr

d{ce ‘heart’. Modern meanings are not given, but

they have often changed. Neuter forms are given only where different from masculine.

Other forms, including variants and other languages, are added as extra lines as

necessary: Rus sad ‘garden’, sa

xar ‘sugar’, p

ole ‘field’; Cz chlap ‘fellow’

B/C/S Russian Czech

SgNom Masc gra

d-ø mu`` zˇ-ø g

orod-ø mu

ˇz-ø hrad-ø mu ˇz-ø

Neut me%st-o sr

c-e me

st-o se

rdc-e m

est-o srdc-e

Voc Masc gra

d-e mu

ˇz-u ¼ NOM ¼ NOM hrad-e mu- ˇzi

Neut ¼ NOM ¼ NOM ¼ NOM ¼ NOM ¼ NOM ¼ NOM

Acc ¼ NOM ¼ GEN ¼ NOM ¼ GEN ¼ NOM ¼ GEN

Gen gra

d-a mu

z-a g

orod-a mu

z-a hrad-a mu

z-a

xar-u

Dat gra

d-u mu

ˇz-u g

orod-u mu

ˇz-u hrad-u mu ˇz-i

chlap-ovi mu ˇz-ovi

Instr gra

d-om mu

ˇz-em g

orod-om mu

ˇz-em hrad-em mu ˇz-em

Loc gra

d-u ¼ DAT g

orod-e mu

ˇz-e hrad-

emuˇz-i,

sad-u

mu ˇz-ovi

PlNom Masc gra`` d-ovi mu``

z-evi gorod-a

-ja

hrad-y mu

z-i

sad-y

chlap-i

Neut me`` st-a sr``c-a mest-a

rdca m

est-a srdc-e

Voc ¼ NOM ¼ NOM ¼ NOM ¼ NOM ¼ NOM ¼ NOM

Acc Masc gra`` d-ove mu`` ˇz-eve ¼ NOM ¼ GEN ¼ NOM mu ˇz-e

chlap-y

Neut ¼ NOM ¼ NOM ¼ NOM ¼ NOM ¼ NOM ¼ NOM

Gen Masc gra`` d-



amu`` ˇz-



a gorod-

ov mu ˇz-e

j hrad-

umuˇz-

Neut me%st-



asr``c-



ame

st-ø serde

c-ø m

est-ø srdc-ı

pol-e

Dat Masc gra`` d-ovima mu`` ˇz-evima gorod-a

mmuˇz

-ja

m hrad-

um mu ˇz-

Sorb -am

Neut me%st-ima sr``c-ima se

rdc-am srdc-ı

Instr ¼ DAT ¼ DAT gorod-a

mi mu ˇz

-ja

mi hrad-y mu ˇz-i

Pol Sorb -ami

Loc ¼ DAT ¼ DAT gorod-a

xmuˇz

-ja

x hrad-ech mu ˇz-ı

Pol Sorb -ach

230 5. Morphology: inflexion

(23) ‘mother is proud of her work’

Rus ma

gordı

tsja svoı

m trud

om [InstrSg]

Blg ma

jka se gorde

e s

as sv

oja tru

d (lit. ‘with ...’)

The case decline of Bulgarian and Macedonian is dramatic. But it is nonetheless

across paradigms that the most striking changes in Slavic have taken place,

Table 5.3. Proto-Slavic u

-stems: syny ‘son’

Sing Du Pl

Nom syny syny synove

Gen synu synovu synovy

Dat synovi synyma synymy

Acc ¼ NOM ¼ NOM syny

Instr synym{ ¼ DAT synymi

Loc synu ¼ GEN synyxy

Voc synu ¼ NOM ¼ NOM

Table 5.4. PSl a/ja-stems: ˇzena ‘woman, wife’, du

sa ‘soul’, so˛ d{ja ‘judge’ [Masc]

aja

Singular Nom ˇzena du

sa so˛ d{ja

Voc ˇzeno du

se so˛ d{je

Acc ˇzeno˛ du

so˛ so˛ d{jo˛

Gen ˇzeny du

e/du

se˛ so˛ d{j

e/so˛ d{je˛

Dat ˇzen

edu

si so˛ d{ji

Instr ˇzenojo˛ du

sejo˛ so˛ d{jejo˛

Loc ˇzen

edu

si so˛ d{ji

Dual Nom ˇzen

edu

si so˛ d{ji

Voc ¼ NOM ¼ NOM ¼ NOM

Acc ¼ NOM ¼ NOM ¼ NOM

Gen ˇzenu du

su so˛ d{ju

Dat ˇzenama du

sama so˛ d{jama

Instr ¼ DAT ¼ DAT ¼ DAT

Loc ¼ GEN ¼ GEN ¼ GEN

Plural Nom ˇzeny du

e/du

se˛ so˛ d{j

e/so˛ d{je˛

Voc ¼ NOM ¼ NOM ¼ NOM

Acc ¼ NOM ¼ NOM ¼ NOM

Gen ˇzeny du

s{ so˛ d{j{

Dat ˇzenamy du

samy so˛ d{jamy

Instr ˇzenami du

sami so˛ d{jami

Loc ˇzenaxy du

saxy so˛ d{jaxy

Note on variants: endings in

e/e˛ are early North vs South developments (1.4.1).

5.4 Inflexional categories 231

Table 5.5. a/ja declension in modern languages: PSl ˇzena ‘woman’, du

sa ‘soul’

B/C/S Russian Czech

Sing Nom ˇze

n-a du

´ˇ

s-a ˇzen-a

s-a

ˇzen-a du

s-e

Voc ˇze%n-o duˆ

s-o ¼ NOM ¼ NOM ˇzen-o ¼ NOM

Acc ˇze

n-u duˆ

s-u ˇzen-u

´ˇ

s-u ˇzen-u ¼ DAT

Gen ˇze



edu

´ˇ



eˇzen-y

s-ı

ˇzen-y ¼ NOM

Dat ˇze

n-i du

´ˇ

s-i ˇzen-e

s-e

ˇzen-

edu

s-i

Instr ˇze



om du

´ˇ



om ˇzen-

oj du

oj ˇzen-ou du

s-ı

Loc ¼ DAT ¼ DAT ¼ DAT ¼ DAT ¼ DAT ¼ DAT

Plur Nom ˇze

n-e du

s-e ˇz

en-y du

´ˇ

s-i ˇzen-y du

s-e

Voc ¼ NOM du

s-e ¼ NOM ¼ NOM ¼ NOM ¼ NOM

ˇze%n-e

Acc ¼ NOM ¼ NOM ¼ GEN ¼ NOM ¼ NOM ¼ NOM

Gen ˇze



adu

´ˇ



aˇz

en-ø du

´ˇ

s-ø ˇzen-ø du

s-ı

Dat ˇze

n-ama du

´ˇ

s-ama ˇz

en-am du

´ˇ

s-am ˇzen-a

mdu

s-ı

Instr ¼ DAT ¼ DAT ˇz

en-ami du

´ˇ

s-ami ˇzen-ami du

s-emi

Loc ¼ DAT ¼ DAT ˇz

en-ax du

´ˇ

s-ax ˇzen-a

ch du

s-ı

Table 5.6. Proto-Slavic

ı-stems: kost{ ‘bone’, gost{ ‘guest’

Fem Masc

Singular Nom kost-{ gost-{

Voc kost-i gost-i

Acc ¼ NOM ¼ NOM

Gen kost-i gost-i

Dat ¼ GEN ¼ GEN

Instr kost-{jo˛ gost-{m{

Loc ¼ GEN ¼ GEN

Dual Nom kost-i gost-i

Voc ¼ NOM ¼ NOM

Acc ¼ NOM ¼ NOM

Gen kost-{ju gost-{ju

Dat ¼ GEN ¼ GEN

Instr kost-{ma gost-{ma

Loc ¼ INSTR ¼ INSTR

Plural Nom kost-i gost-{je

Voc ¼ NOM ¼ ACC

Acc ¼ NOM gost-i

Gen kost-{j{ gost-{j{

Dat kost-{my gost-{my

Instr kost-

{mi gost-{mi

Loc kost-{xy gost-{xy

232 5. Morphology: inflexion

since they affect so many of the languages, in some cases across the board. The

richness of Proto-Slavic has given way to a significantly simplified set of

paradigms, where Czech remains on the conservative side. Of the six original

declensional paradigms of Proto-Slavic (5.5.1.1–6), only three – the i, a/ja

and o/jo-declensions – survive as vital components of the modern systems.

The consonant-declension, including



u/v (see below), is restricted, and the

Table 5.7. i-declension in modern languages: PSl kost{ ‘bone’, gost{ ‘guest’

B/C/S Russian Czech

Sing Nom ko

st-ø go

st-ø k

ost

-ø g

ost

-ø kost-ø host-ø

Voc ¼ GEN go%st-e ¼ NOM ¼ NOM kost-i host-e

Acc ¼ NOM ¼ GEN ¼ NOM ¼ GEN ¼ NOM ¼ GEN

Gen ko%st-i go%st-a k

ost-i g

ost-ja kost-i host-a

Dat ¼ GEN go%st-u ¼ GEN g

ost-ju ¼ GEN host-u

Instr ¼ GEN go%st-om k

ost-

ju g

ost-em kost-ı

host-em

ko%

-u

Loc ko

st-i go

st-u ¼ GEN

gost-e ¼ GEN ¼ DAT

Plur Nom ko%st-i go%st-i k

ost-i g

ost-i kost-i host-i

host-e

Voc ¼ NOM ¼ NOM ¼ NOM ¼ NOM ¼ NOM ¼ NOM

Acc ¼ NOM go%st-e ¼ NOM ¼ GEN ¼ NOM host-y

Gen ko

st-



i go

st-iju kost-e

j gost-e

j kost-ı

host-

st-ij



ugo

st-



i host-ı

Dat ko

st-ima go

st-ima kost-ja

m gost-ja

m kost-em host-

Instr ¼ DAT ¼ DAT kost-ja

mi gost-ja

mi kost-mi host-y

Loc ¼ DAT ¼ DAT kost-ja

x gost-ja

x kost-ech host-ech

Table 5.8. Proto-Slavic



u-stems: cr

ky ‘church’

Sing Du Plur

PSl Cz PSl PSl Cz

Nom cr

k-y cı

rkev-ø cr

kyv-i cr

kyv-i cı

rkv-e

Gen cr

kyv-e cı

rkv-e cr

kyv-u cr

kyv-y cı

rkv-ı

Dat cr

kyv-i cı

rkv-i cr

kyv-{ma cr

kyv-amy cı

rkv-ı

Acc cr

kyv-{ ¼ NOM ¼ NOM ¼ NOM ¼ NOM

Instr cr

kyv-{jo˛ cı

rkv-ı

¼ DAT cr

kyv-ami cı

rkv-emi

Loc cr

kyv-e ¼ DAT ¼ GEN cr

kyv-axy cı

rkv-ı

Voc ¼ NOM ¼ GEN ¼ NOM ¼ NOM ¼ NOM

5.4 Inflexional categories 233

-declension has largely been absorbed into o/jo, though with several of its

distinctive inflexions retained to a greater or lesser extent. In contrast, the

pronoun system’s expression of case has been kept fairly well. Indeed, by

adding clitic pronominal endings to adjectives, some of the Slavic and Baltic

languages have created new (‘‘long’’ and/or ‘‘definite’’) paradigms (5.5.2). Taken

as a whole, Slavic has been conservative in its retention of case systems, and

stands with the Baltic languages against, say, Romance and Germanic. But it

has been reformist in its approach to the management of paradigms in which

case-based distinctiveness can be expressed.

A great deal of attention has been paid in Slavic linguistics not only to the

evolution and distinctiveness of the various case forms but also to the meanings

of the cases. Since these issues have to do with the ways in which morphological

constituents and material combine with other elements above the level of the word,

we shall leave this discussion to chapters 6–7, together with the question of the

syntactic uses and semantic properties of cases.

Table 5.9. Proto-Slavic consonant-stems: kamy ‘stone’ (n) [Masc], ime˛ ‘name’ (n)

[Neut], mat{ ‘mother’ (r) [Fem], slovo ‘word’ (s) [Neut], tele˛ ‘calf’ (nt) [Neut]

nrsnt

Sg Nom kam-y im-e˛ mat-i slov-o tel-e˛

Voc ¼ NOM ¼ NOM ¼ NOM ¼ NOM ¼ NOM

Acc kamen-{ ¼ NOM mater-{ ¼ NOM ¼ NOM

Gen kamen-e imen-e mater-e sloves-e tele˛t-e

Dat kamen-i imen-i mater-i sloves-i tele˛t-i

Instr kamen-{m{ imen-{m{ mater-{jo˛ sloves-{m{ tele˛t-{m{

Loc kamen-e imen-e mater-e sloves-e tele˛t-e

Du Nom kamen-i imen-

e mater-i sloves-

e tele˛t-

Voc ¼ NOM ¼ NOM ¼ NOM ¼ NOM ¼ NOM

Acc ¼ NOM ¼ NOM ¼ NOM ¼ NOM ¼ NOM

Gen kamen-u imen-u mater-u sloves-u tele˛t-u

Dat kamen-{ma imen-{ma mater-{ma sloves-{ma tele˛t-{ma

Instr ¼ DAT ¼ DAT ¼ DAT ¼ DAT ¼ DAT

Loc ¼ GEN ¼ GEN ¼ GEN ¼ GEN ¼ GEN

Pl Nom kamen-e imen-a mater-i sloves-a tele˛t-a

Voc ¼ NOM ¼ NOM ¼ NOM ¼ NOM ¼ NOM

Acc kamen-i ¼ NOM ¼ NOM ¼ NOM ¼ NOM

Gen kamen-y imen-y mater-y sloves-y tele˛t-y

Dat kamen-{my imen-{my mater-{my sloves-{my tele˛t-{my

Instr kamen-{mi imen-y mater-{mi sloves-y tele˛t-y

Loc kamen-{xy imen-{xy mater-{xy sloves-{xy tele˛t-{xy

234 5. Morphology: inflexion

5.4.3 Definiteness and deixis

The category of definiteness is expressed in Bulgarian and Macedonian by a post-

posed definite article (originally a Proto-Slavic demonstrative/deictic pronoun)

(Blg zemja

‘earth’, zemja

ta ‘the earth’), a typically Balkan phenomenon found

also in Romanian and Albanian. The Bulgarian and Macedonian article is a suffix

which follows whatever inflexion is present in the noun or adjective. However, since

the articles also inflect, we shall discuss them under the heading of inflexion. The

definite marker is affixed to the leftmost inflecting member of a noun phrase. An

unmodified noun takes the definite suffix itself (24b), but when there is a modifying

adjective, the definite suffix attaches itself to the leftmost adjective (24c):

(24) Bulgarian post-posed article

(24a) Blg vı

zˇdam k

on/k

onja ‘I see a horse/the horse’

(24b) Blg k

onjat vı

zˇda ca

rja ‘the horse sees the Tsar’

(24c) Blg xu

bavata i plodor

odna zemja

‘the beautiful and fertile land’

In Macedonian there is not only a definite article suffix, but also two deictic suffixes

for ‘‘this’’ [Proximate] and ‘‘that’’ [Non-proximate]:

(25) Macedonian post-posed definite and deictic suffixes

Mac zˇena ‘woman’

zˇenata ‘the woman’

zˇenava ‘this woman’

zˇenana ‘that woman’

For details of the articles, see 5.5.1. Other Slavic languages have no articles, though

some use the numeral ‘1’ for indefinites (e.g. Bulgarian: Scatton, 1984: 41), and

determiners like ‘this’ for definiteness (11.3); such usages are often not recognized

by the official grammars. Dialectal North Russian has a post-posed article like that

of Bulgarian and Macedonian, but this phenomenon is not found in the standard

language (10.3.3).

Slavic languages lacking articles handle definiteness through lexical deictics and

the manipulation of word order (7.4), aspect (5.4.7) and Functional Sentence

Perspective (7.5).

5.4.4 Gender

Gender is an inherent property of nouns, nominalized forms and some personal

pronouns. It is also marked, by concord and agreement, on adjectives, participles,

5.4 Inflexional categories 235

ordinal numerals, determiners, concording quantifiers, some cardinal numbers, the

l-participle forms of verbs and Czech gerunds.

Proto-Slavic possessed the three genders of Indo-European: masculine, feminine

and neuter, which have passed into all the modern Slavic languages as the ‘‘primary’’

genders:

(26) Ukr Masculine: vin ‘he, it’; kit ‘cat’; ku

xar ‘cook’

Feminine: vona

‘she, it’; bezzˇa

listnist

‘ruthlessness’; bloxa

‘flea’

Neuter: von

o ‘it’; dno ‘bottom’; m

ore ‘sea’; obnima

nnja

‘embrace’

In general, the genders of nouns are correlated with the final sound of the citation

form (nominative singular):

Masculine: hard consonant; some soft consonants (if present in the language)

Feminine: -a, -ja; some soft consonants (if present in the language)

Neuter: -o, -e

The modern Slavic languages also have words of common gender (‘‘epicenes’’),

nouns which are masculine or feminine according to the entity they refer to

(cf. Fr enfant):

(27a) Pol ten biedny [Masc]/ta biedna [Fem] kaleka nie mo

ze chodzic

‘this poor cripple cannot walk’

(27b) Rus

ma posla

l [Masc]/posla

la [Fem] s

‘the rogue sent a bill’

Across the languages a number of such nouns in -a are epicenes.

The presence of a cognate root in two languages is no guarantee that the words

will have the same primary gender. Differences of gender in certain cognate words,

in fact, are one of the cues which distinguish nouns in closely related languages

(whether in native (28a) or borrowed (28b) lexical items):

(28a) Serb sve%ska [Fem], Cr sve%zak ‘a volume’ [Masc]

(28b) ‘system’: Rus, Blg siste

ma, Ukr syste

ma, Bel siste

ma [Fem];

Sorb, Pol system, Cz, Slk syste

m, B/C/S sı



em, Sln siste

Mac sistem [Masc]

Primary grammatical gender is closely related to sex in those instances where the

reference is to biological gender. Masculine nouns may designate referents of either

sex, though they usually refer to male or asexual (animate or inanimate) entities:

(29a) Rus sekreta

‘secretary’, d

oktor/vra

c ‘doctor’ [Masc/Fem]

236 5. Morphology: inflexion

(29b) Ukr ku

xar ‘cook’, xl

opec

‘lad’, mysly

vec

‘hunter’ [Masc]

(29c) Ukr dub ‘oak’, mist ‘bridge’, m

ozok ‘brain’, velosype

d ‘bicycle’

[Masc]

Feminine nouns (a/ja or i ) as a rule do not refer to male humans, with a few

exceptions, especially for honorifics and insults, usually through reference to an

animal (30c); most are common gender:

(30a) Ukr hoduva

nycja ‘wet-nurse’ Sln ta

jnica ‘secretary’

Rus vlady

ka ‘bishop’, sud

‘judge’, kolle

ga ‘colleague’

(30b) Slk osoba, osobnost’ ‘person’, Veli

cina ‘eminence’, Vysost’ ‘excellency’

(30c) Rus Iva

n? E

ta svin

... ‘Ivan? That pig ...’

Feminine or masculine names of animals may refer to either males or females (that

is, the non-specific, generic name):

(31) Generic animal names

(31a) Rus obez

na ‘monkey’, vy

dra ‘otter’ [Fem]

(31b) Rus volk ‘wolf’, medve

‘bear’ [Masc]

In the latter case, the female is normally marked by an added suffix:

(31c) Rus vol

c-ı

c-a/vol

c-ı

x-a ‘she-wolf’, medve

d-ic-a ‘she-bear’

Neuters may exceptionally refer to humans, notably in diminutives and augmenta-

tives, and in honorifics:

(32) Rus Va

e Prevosxodı

tel

stvo ‘Your Excellency’

But neuters usually refer to inanimates or abstracts:

(33) Bel akn

o ‘window’, bezrab

occe ‘idleness, being out of work’

or to young animals or children:

(34) Cz dı

‘child Ukr telja

‘calf’, porosja

‘piglet’

Abstracts may occur in any primary gender.

Proportions of the genders differ somewhat across the languages, but the ratio of

masculine : feminine : neuter is about 3 : 2 : 1 (Schupbach, 1984; Corbett, 1991).

There is an interesting relationship between gender and word-formational suffixes

(8.2.2). New words in Slavic are predominantly masculine or feminine, with

5.4 Inflexional categories 237

productivity in the neuters being restricted, apart from deverbal abstract action

nominals. As a result, the neuter is falling further behind the feminine, which

is, in turn, falling somewhat behind the masculine in the overall development

of nouns.

Modern Slavic also has a system of ‘‘secondary gender’’, involving the features

[Animate], [Personal] (i.e. referring to humans) and [Masculine Personal]. The

secondary genders affect only the nominative plural and the accusative (and

marginally the genitive singular – see below), and then not in all the numbers and

not in all the languages. In the singular, [Animate] affects the accusative of mas-

culine nouns: animates take the form of the genitive in all but Bulgarian and

Macedonian (no cases), and the Kajkavian variant of B/C/S, to express the

accusative:

(35a) Sln pozna

mta

gla

s ‘I know that voice’ [MascInan]

(35b) Sln pozna

mte

ga fa

nta ‘I know that boy’ [MascAnim]

Grammatical animacy is not the same as physical animacy. There are some

‘‘honorary animates’’ in a small number of semantic classes, which act as if they

were animate in the masculine singular, and in the nominative-accusative plural:

(36) ‘corpse’: Rus trup, Pol nieboszczyk ‘cadaver’, Rus mertve

‘dead man’

mushrooms: Sorb prawak, bre

zak, kozak (all designating types

of mushrooms; but hrib ‘mushroom’ is a regular

inanimate)

playing cards

and game pieces: Pol pionek ‘pawn’, kon

‘knight’, Rus tuz ‘ace’

dances: Pol mazurek ‘mazurka’ Rus gopa

k ‘gopak’

games: Pol tenis ‘tennis’ (grac

w tenisa ‘to play tennis’)

cars: Pol Fiat ‘Fiat car’

B/C/S, which includes here only the names of chess pieces, has the smallest number

of honorary animates. Ukrainian and Belarusian exclude the names of animals, but

Ukrainian includes many semantic inanimates, apparently centred on the notion of

‘well-shaped object’ (Shevelov, 1993: 958). In West Slavic and Ukrainian, animate

masculines tend to take the genitive singular in -a, and inanimate masculines tend

to take the genitive singular in -u.

In the plural, gender is marked only in the nominative and the accusative.

Primary gender is found in the nominative and accusative plural of concording

238 5. Morphology: inflexion