Papers by Anton Zimmerling

Research paper thumbnail of A-dependencies and the parametrization of raising constructions

Zimmerling A. A-dependencies and the parametrization of raising constructions. Typology of Morphosyntactic Parameters. 2025. Vol. 8, iss. 2. Pp. 139–177, 2025

In the first part of my paper, I render the notions of argument raising and A-dependencies and sh... more In the first part of my paper, I render the notions of argument raising and A-dependencies and show that case licensing in the upper clause is neither a necessary precondition of raising nor its universal trigger. There are languages with raising constructions, where case is licensed in the complement clause. Hyperraising, i.e. raising out of embedded complement clauses is widespread outside the languages of the Standard Average European type and is attested in some European languages including Bulgarian. In the second part of the paper, I offer a parametrization of six European languages with raising constructions and show that these languages are not uniform: some of them including English primarily encode the control versus raising distinction lexically, while other including Russian and Danish are mixed raising languages that developed productive raising constructions with added morphosyntactic markers.

Zimmerling A., Lyutikova E. Constructions and linguistic typology. Typology of Morphosyntactic Parameters. 2023. Vol. 6, iss. 2. Pp. 13–30. doi:10.37632/PI.2023.26.91.001, Dec 29, 2023

Apologies for cross-posting: the Academia identified a clone of my paper available elsewhere. Th... more Apologies for cross-posting: the Academia identified a clone of my paper available elsewhere.  This 2023 coauthored paper (w. Ekaterina Lyutikova) is published in Vol. 6,  iss. 2 of the journal "Typology of morphosyntactic parameters".

Zimmerling A., Lyutikova E. Constructions and linguistic typology. Typology of Morphosyntactic Parameters. 2023. Vol. 6, iss. 2. Pp. 13–30. doi:10.37632/PI.2023.26.91.001

Research paper thumbnail of Raising constructions in Russian

А.В.Циммерлинг. Конструкции c подъемом аргумента в русском языке // Русская грамматика IX.Сборник статей по итогам IХ Международного научного симпозиума (г. Иркутск, 23–27 сентября 2025 г. ). ]. Irkutsk, 2025. ISBN 978-5-9624-2432-3. P. 38-45, 2025

I discuss Russian raising constructions and argue that all Russian constructions with infinitival... more I discuss Russian raising constructions and argue that all Russian constructions with infinitival complements can be explained in terms of just two reordering mechanisms ― syntactic control versus raising. Canonic raising predicates license narrow scope readings and lack matrix clause restrictions displayed by control predicates, notably, the animacy condition. Most raising operators are realized in Russian as complex non-verbal (infinitival or copular) predicates: their heads exhibit several non-trivial morphosyntactic and semantic features. In Russian small clauses, raising is attested in its most regular form. With verbs taking sentential complements, the assignment of the predicative instrumental to the small clause nominal / adjectival / participial predicate is conditioned by raising of its subject into the matrix clause. A parallel is furnished by a sub-normative construction rooted in a dialect of XIX-XXI century Russian grammar: the speakers of this dialect license the predicative instrumental case assigned by raised sentential arguments.

А. В. Циммерлинг. Дьявол в деталях: откуда берутся слова верификации //Чтения памяти Н.Д. Арутюновой «Логический анализ языка. Дискурсивные слова и конструкции». М., ИЯз РАН, 10.11.2025., 2025

This conference presentation addresses the origin and grammaticalization paths of verum words, wi... more This conference presentation addresses the origin and grammaticalization paths of verum words, with focus on Russian discourse word КОНКРЕТНО 'specifically', 'exactly', 'in details' which develops the meaning 'really' in modern colloquial Russian along with other non-trivial uses. In the first part of my talk, I outline a theory of communicative structure and explain the status of verum markers. In the second part, I provide a classification of the uses of Russian КОНКРЕТНО and discuss two possible scenarios for the development of the new verum word.
Update 19.11.2025. A corrected and slightly expanded version is uploaded.

Anton Zimmerling. Alethic modals and dative-infinitive structres // Дискурс. Предложение. Слово (сб. статей к юбилею И.М.Кобозевой). М.: Буки-Веди, 2025, 146-153., 2025

I discuss the meaning of the Russian dative-infinitive construction and argue that it expresses a... more I discuss the meaning of the Russian dative-infinitive construction and argue that it expresses a single kind of modality in indicative sentences, notably-alethic modality. There is no need to split this construction in the indicative mood and ascribe different categorical meanings to its varieties.

Research paper thumbnail of Raising Constructions in Russian

А.В. Циммерлинг. Конструкции с подъемом аргумента в русском языке // IX Международный симпозиум «Русская грамматика» Иркутск, 23-27 сентября 2025., 2025

All Russian constructions with infinitival complements can be explained in terms of two reorderin... more All Russian constructions with infinitival complements can be explained in terms of two reordering mechanisms ― syntactic control versus raising. Canonic raising predicates license narrow scope readings and lack matrix clause restrictions displayed by control predicates, notably, the animacy condition.  Most raising operators are realized in Russian as complex non-verbal predicates: their heads exhibit several non-trivial morphosyntactic and semantic features.  In Russian small clauses, raising is attested in its most regular form. With verbs taking sentential complements, the assignment of the predicative instrumental to the small clause nominal / adjectival / participial predicate is conditioned by raising of its subject into the matrix clause. A parallel is furnished by a sub-normative construction rooted in a dialect of XIX-XXI century Russian grammar: the speakers of this dialect license the predicative instrumental case assigned by raised sentential arguments.

Research paper thumbnail of The Imperfective Aspect and Object Quantification: Russian and Serbian [Несовершенный вид и квантификация объектов: русский и сербский языки]

Т. Балек, А. В. Циммерлинг. Несовершенный вид и квантификация объектов: русский и сербский языки //Rhema. Рема, 2025, № 1, 38–59. , 2025

This paper discusses the semantics and pragmatics of Russian and Serbian verbs taking quantified ... more This paper discusses the semantics and pragmatics of Russian and Serbian verbs taking quantified direct objects in the actual-durative (progressive) variation of the imperfective aspect. Contrary to the claim previously raised in Slavic aspectology, the meaning of the imperfective aspect does not constrain the realization of QPs like dva jabloka ‘two apples’ in the direct object position. This generalization holds both in the actual-durative construction describing incomplete durative processes from the viewpoint of the synchronized observer and in other durative uses of the imperfective aspect. The diagnostic examples are infrequent due to ontological reasons. Moreover, the progressive interpretation is context-dependent in Russian and Serbian, and the borderline between standard agentive verbs and interpretation verbs, cf. analyzirovat ’ ‘analyse’ and issledovat ’ ‘study’ is not strict.

Research paper thumbnail of The Particle -KA. Meaning. Grammar. Etymology [Частица КА. Значение. Грамматика. Этимология]

Anton Zimmerling. The Particle -KA. Meaning. Grammar. Etymology [Частица КА. Значение. Грамматика. Этимология]. Dialectological Circle. Moscow, 22.05.2025., 2025

This is a revised and extended presentation of my invited talk given at the Dialectological Circl... more This is a revised and extended presentation of my invited talk given at the Dialectological Circle in Moscow 22 May, 2025. I address the meaning and grammar of the Russian particle -KA (-KO) and partly its etymology and areal contacts in the Circum-Baltic area.  I consider three types of sources: 1) Russian texts of the XIX - XXI centuries; 2) Russian dialects, with focus on the mini-corpora of 9 Northern Russian dialects and the Dialectal Subcorpus of the Russian National Corpus (RNC); 3) the correspondences to Russian clauses with -KA in the parallel Russian-Vepsian and Russian-Karelian corpora. The general meaning conveyed by the particle -KA in Modern Standard Russian can be classified as a 'weak imperative meaning', i.e. the meaning of the non-categorical order, where the speaker acknowledges the possibility that her order to commit p won't be realized. This sort of meaning is covered by the use of morphologically marked imperative forms, but is distinct from the meaning of imperative proper, i.e. the meaning of a categorical order or instruction, and has some features in common with optative and emphatic indicative constructions. Basing on the ideas advanced earlier by Kobozeva (1990), Levontina (1991, 2019) and Krylova (2024, 2025), I offer a definition of the weak imperative meaning and argue that in the case of the Slavic particle -KA, Indo-European -*KO (N), it evolved from the meaning of proximal deixis still retained by part of the uses of –KA in earlier Russian and in the Russian dialects. Vahros's hypothesis (1984) that the weak imperative particle (T)-KO and the dectic particle -KA are genetically different elements is not true to fact since Old Russian birch bark letters from the XII already show both the weak imperative and the deictic uses of the particle, which is invariably spelled as -КА. Moreover, Vahros's conjecture that Northern Russian variant -KO invariably correlates with the (weak) imperative meaning, while the variant -KA invariably correlates with the non-imperative meaning finds no support in the dialectal corpora. The parallel Vepsian and Karelian corpora add an important areal perspective. The weak imperative meaning of Russian -КА clauses is normally not rendered by bare imperative forms. Vepsian has a default weak imperative marker ― the suffix (or frozen enclitic particle) –ske(p)/-ške(b)/-šek and several less frequent markers including the particle -ko borrowed from Russian, while Karelian mostly applies a strategy with an added postpositive particle but lacks a single generalized weak imperative marker.  Both languages license the double marking strategy, where the main weak imperative marker combines with an added deictic or emphatic element. The reanalysis of the particle -KA in standard Russian as a weak imperative suffix (Pertsov 1996) is possible but not forced since colloquial Russian still exhibits some variation in the placement of -KA. In particular, Pekunova's test (p. c.) on the locus of -KA in the complex imperatives like IMP1 (KA) IMP (KA) indicates that -KA should be analyzed as an enclitic attached to clausal left periphery rather than a verbal affix.

Research paper thumbnail of Pluperfect Auxiliaries in the Russian Language of the 14th – 16th Centuries

Vestnik Volgogradskogo Gosudarstvennogo Universiteta. Seriâ 2. Âzykoznanie, Dec 1, 2019

This paper discusses the syntax of the past tense auxiliaries in the vernacular Old Russian plusp... more This paper discusses the syntax of the past tense auxiliaries in the vernacular Old Russian plusperfect construction of the type дал был, дал есми был. I prove that the past tense auxiliaries behaved as enclitics both with the order дал есми был and with the order дал был есми. The order of the pluperfect auxiliaries reflects different types of a clitic template characteristic of late Old Russian dialects. In the 15 th century, the order <дал> есми был was characteristic for the official style of the Moscow charters, while Polotsk charters from the same period generalized the reversed order <дал> был есми. In the 16 th century, the order <дал> был есми has established in the Moscow official tradition as well. The pluperfect auxiliaries were excluded from the clause-initial position and other non-enclitic positions, sentences of the type *#был есмь дал ~ #был дал есмь are not attested. In the clause-internal position, both groups of the Old Russian dialects grammaticalized the fixed contact order of the auxiliaries #...был есми... дал ~ #дал был есми irrespective of the position of the verb. This distribution proves that the pluperfect auxiliaries in the Old Russian texts from the 14 th -16 th centuries have the features typical of the clustering enclitics in the world's languages with Wackernagel's law.

Research paper thumbnail of A воз и ныне-ка там. К истории частицы КА в русском языке [And the things are still the same. On the evolution of the particle KA in Russian]

A. В. Циммерлинг. A воз и ныне-ка там. К истории частицы КА в русском языке // Юбилейные чтения в честь 90-летия А. А. Зализняка. М., ИРЯ РАН, 29.04.2025, 2025

In this talk, given at the 2025 Memorial Zaliznjak's Readings, I discuss the evolution of the par... more In this talk, given at the 2025 Memorial Zaliznjak's Readings, I discuss the evolution of the particle KA in Russian.  This enclitic particle expresses the meaning of soft encouragement in standard Modern Russian and attaches to imperative forms or ininitial proclitics like NU that can are semantically equivalent to imperatives. A close semantic parallel is provided by the Danish imperative particle LIGE that conveys a similar meaning. However, in the Russian dialects and in the Russian language of the XIX century, the particle KA is also used as a proximal deictic marker 'here and now' or 'towards the speaker' and attaches to other clitic hosts, e. g. personal pronouns (MNE-KA), wh-words (GDE-KA), etc. Max Vasmer in his Etymological Dictionary (vol. 1, 1964) takes for granted that the deictic KA (which has Slavic parallels) and imperative KA represent the same element. However, Vladimir Orel (2007) in his Etymological Dictionary accepts Igor S. Vahros's hypothesis (1984) that the imperative KA is a recent Russian innovation rooted in rapid colloquial speech and based on the allegro-variant of some focus particle going back to Proto-Slavic *toliko. He claims furthermore that the initial form is neither -KA, nor -KO, but -TKO ( < TOKO < TOL'KO < TOLIKO) and assumes that the imperative -KA /-KO /-TKO was absent from Old Russian. This theory, attractive as it is, must be rejected ipso facto since the imperative KA is safely documented by the Old Novgorod Birch bark letters № 109 and 854 dating with XII century, while deictic KA is attested in the same epoch by the Birch Bark letter 652. Moreover, the Birch bark letter № 1002 (XII century) already contains the compound deictic particle KO-VO, known from Northern Russian dialects. Andrej A. Zaliznjak (1993, 2004, 2008) correctly classified Old Russian KA as a 2P particle conforming to Wackernagel's law, though he stated that the data is too scanty to predict the place of KA in Old Russian clitic clusters.  Regarding the Birch bark letter № 109, where KA attaches to the clause-initial adverbial NYNĔ, Zaliznjak initially (1989) assumed that NYNĔKA is a single lexical element characteristic of South-West Russia, though in 1993 he converted to the syntactic analysis with Wackernagel's law. Zaliznjak's first hypothesis was later supported by Polekhov & Krysko (2021) and Gippius et. al. (2023) provided that the author of the Birch bark letter № 109, certain Zhiznomir, indeed had clear Old South Russian features in his idiolect. However, the probable South Russian origin of Zhiznomir does not undermine the syntactic analysis of  NYNĔ=KA since the context is unequivocally imperative.

Lyutikova E., Zimmerling A. Linguistic typology and its applications. Typology of Morphosyntactic Parameters. 2024. Vol. 7, iss. 2. Pp. 13–21. DOI:10.37632/PI.2024.53.62.001 , 2024

We discuss the intersections of linguistic typology with other branches of linguistics and outlin... more We discuss the intersections of linguistic typology with other branches of linguistics and outline several research fields where the implementation of the parametric approach in typology is appropriate. The paper develops the idea of a typologically-oriented and typologically-informed research direction in the field of linguistics of specific languages and language groups, contrastive linguistics, areal linguistics, diachronic linguistics, computational linguistics, and translation studies.

Research paper thumbnail of Russian predicatives and the ontology of states

Computational Linguistics and Intellectual Technologies, Jun 19, 2021

Basing on the frequency dictionary of Russian predicatives, I measure the volume of the lexical c... more Basing on the frequency dictionary of Russian predicatives, I measure the volume of the lexical class of nonagreeing predicatives licensing the productive dative-predicative sentence pattern, where the predicative assigns dative case to its animate subject. The tested vocabulary includes 422 elements. Their frequency rates are derived from the main corpus of RNC using an approximation -the number of hits in the context "predicative + dative subject in 1Sg" in the window {-1; 1}. I argue that the Russian dative-predicative construction has an invariant meaning of internal state, i.e. spaciotemporal stative situation with a priority argument. However, most predicatives licensing dative-predicative structures in Russian also express external states, i.e. spaciotemporal stative situations without a priority argument, if used without overt referential dative subject. This can be proved both for words denoting physical sensations, cf. X-y kholodno 'X is cold' vs kholodno 'It is cold' and for some words denoting affections, cf. tosklivo 'dreary', 'sad', Х-у tosklivo 'Х feels sad' vs zdes' tosklivo 'It's dreary here'. The shift from internal state to external state is licensed in Russian. If a lexical item has regular uses in the dative-predicative structure, it generally can express the meaning of external state outside this structure. The reverse if false: if a lexical item has regular uses as an external state, cf. vetreno 'windy', pyl'no 'dusty', it only can have infrequent side uses with a dative subject. This asymmetry is confirmed by the corpus data. I check an additional list of words with the meaning of external state, measure their frequency rate in the context "predicative + dative subject in 1Sg" in the window {-1; 1} and compare them to standard dative predicatives.

А. В. Циммерлинг, Т. Е. Янко. Верификация и правда: от предиката к коннектору // И. М. Кобозева, Н. В. Сердобольская, А. И. Крюкова (ред.). Коннекторы современного русского языка: семантика и синтаксис, прагматика и диахрония. М., 2026. , 2026

We discuss concessive connectors pravda and pravda skazat’ and their grammatical paths in Russian... more We discuss concessive connectors pravda and pravda skazat’ and their grammatical paths in Russian. These connectors originate from metalinguistic inserts conveying the meaning ‘it is necessary to tell the truth’. They complement the previously uttered proposition p and aim at optimizing the description of the world. Russian word PRAVDA ‘truth’ serves as the marker of verification. Verification operators have a single propositional argument, while connectors have two. Therefore, the discourse word PRAVDA ‘truth’ turned into a concessive connector must restore an additional argument from the preceding context.

Research paper thumbnail of The Slavic Bond: Copular Predicates and Stative Meanings [Славянская связка: именное сказуемое и значение состояния]

А. В. Циммерлинг. Именное сказуемое и значение состояния. М. Инcтитут славяноведения РАН. 05.12.2024., 2024

I discuss the predicate classifications based on event logic, with focus on the stative meanings.... more I discuss the predicate classifications based on event logic, with focus on the stative meanings. The distinction between Davidsonian states (D-states) and Kimian states (K-states) alias abstract states is currently accepted for verbal predicates, while some proponents of the neo-davidsonian analysis claim that there is no K/D distinction for the copular predicates, at least, in the European languages, where canonic copular constructions do not describe dynamic situations with an agentive subject.  I concur with Silvagni (2021) against Maienborn (2019) and argue that the K/D distinction is universal and does depend on morphosyntax. Slavic languages contribute to this debate by productive class of copular predicatives lacking the agreement morphology. These predicative have standard features diagnostic of internal D-states, i.e. D-states associated with an animate experiential subject. Internal D-states cannot be observed from the outside. Meanwhile, they have outward diagnostics that is observable. The verb SEE in a combination with internal D-states, i. e. 'I SEE THAT YOU ARE ANGRY/ HUNGRY' changes its semantics and is used in the derived meaning 'to realise', therefore, the corresponding test sentences are sensu stricto not perceptual reports.

Research paper thumbnail of [Affirmativity and verification] Аффирмативная модальность и верификация

А. В. Циммерлинг. Аффирмативная модальность и верификация // Прагматический потенциал глагольных категорий в русском языке. М., МГУ им. М. В. Ломоносова, 15-16.11. 2024., 2024

I discuss two general meanings associated with two non-intersecting groups of Russian discourse ... more I discuss two general meanings associated with two non-intersecting groups of Russian  discourse markers. The meaning of verification is defined in this talk as the meaning of verifying DE RE hypotheses about the states of affairs in the outer world. The class of Russian verification markers includes discourse words ДЕЙСТВИТЕЛЬНО 'indeed', РЕАЛЬНО 'really', <accented > ПРАВДА 'it is true that', the collocation НА САМОМ ДЕЛЕ 'in fact', 'actually', etc. These elements attract the phrasal accent and do not undergo deaccenting in any environment. If lexical verification markers are absent, the same type of meaning is signaled by the accent shift: the verb gets the accent. Affirmativity is defined in this talk as kind of subjective modality involving the confirmation of the speaker’s expectations. The class of Russian affirmative markers includes discourse words like ЕСТЕСТВЕННО ‘naturally’,  РАЗУМЕЕТСЯ 'of course', КОНЕЧНО ‘certainly’, ПОНЯТНО ‘clearly’, the collocation Я ТАК И ЗНАЛ, lit. ‘I knew it’. Affirmative markers often bear the accent but can be deaccented as well. There are other tests diagnosing these two groups of discourse markers. Оnly verification markers are licensed in the context of the yes-no marker ЛИ. Only verification markers can be exported to indirect contexts, where the speech or mental acts of other people are described, cf. Rus. Иван (действительно) считал, что Василий действительно ошибся ‘John (really) believed that Vasiliy really made a mistake’. Affirmative markers are not licensed in indirect contexts, hence the ill-ill-formedness of Rus. *Иван считал, что Василий, естественно, ошибся, lit. ‘John believed that Vasiliy naturally made a mistake’.  This diagnostics firmly links verification markers with DE RE modals, i.e. the attitude to describe the things as they are and affirmative markers with DE DICTO  modals, i.e. the attitude to interpret the text in the form as it was expressed.

А. В. Циммерлинг. От божьей правды к уступке // Международная конференция «Современная российская аксиосфера: семантика и прагматика идентичности» Москва, ГИРЯ им. А. С. Пушкина. 14-15 ноября 2024 г., 2024

I discuss the grammaticalization of the concessive connector pravda ‘p although q’ in Russian. Ve... more I discuss the grammaticalization of the concessive connector pravda ‘p although q’ in Russian. Verification markers including its homograph, the stressed discourse marker pravda ‘indeed’ as well as the predicate noun pravda ‘truth’ have a single propositional argument, while connectors have two.  One must restore the second propositional argument from the context and explicitly mark the need of adding q in the situation, where the interlocutors already know p.

Research paper thumbnail of Microsyntax meets macrosyntax: Russian neg-words revisited

Russian linguistics/Russian Linguistics, Mar 26, 2024

This paper offers a new analysis of Russian syntactic idioms consisting of stressed general negat... more This paper offers a new analysis of Russian syntactic idioms consisting of stressed general negation n´e- fused with a wh-word (k-word). The elements from this class take infinitival complements and select dative subjects. The clauses with Russian neg-words like mne negde spat’ ‘I have no space to sleep’ and their affirmative counterparts represent the modal existential construction conveying the meaning ‘p is (not) available & X can (not) do q’. I argue that while the perspective of checking Russian modal existentials on a class of embedded wh-infinitives is important, it must be complemented by a comparison of idioms of the mne negde spat’ type with two productive sentence patterns—dative-predicative and dative-infinitive structures. The former are control structures, where dative subjects are matrix clause elements, while the latter have raising properties. Syntactic idioms display mixed properties: on the one hand, they match the overt syntax of dative predicatives, on the other hand, show residual raising effects and license derived non-animate subjects. Like root dative-infinitive structures, syntactic idioms express the meaning of external (alethic) modality, but the same type of modality can be expressed by some dative predicatives. The clauses with neg-words originated as embedded dative-infinitive structures, a type marginally acceptable in Modern Russian, while the dative-predicative construction extends its coverage and assimilates neg-words.

A. В. Циммерлинг. От божьей правды к уступке // Аксиология и когнитивная лингвистика. М. С. Милованова (ред.). М.: ГИРЯ им. А. С. Пушкина, 2024. С. 346 - 352., 2024

This paper discusses the grammaticalization of the concessive connector pravda ‘p although q’ in ... more This paper discusses the grammaticalization of the concessive connector pravda ‘p although q’ in Russian. Verification markers including its homograph, the stressed discourse marker pravda ‘indeed’ as well as the predicate noun pravda ‘truth’ have a single propositional argument, while connectors have two. One must restore the second propositional argument from the context and explicitly mark the need of adding q in the situation, where the interlocutors already know p.

А.В.Циммерлинг. "Общие факты". Несовершенный вид и значение верификации // Кустова Г. И., Пичхадзе А.А. (ред.), Грамматические процессы и системы в синхронии и диахронии. М.: ИРЯ РАН, 2024, 58 - 61., 2024

The Russian imperfective aspect has diverse meanings including the so-called existential General ... more The Russian imperfective aspect has diverse meanings including the so-called existential General Factual use and the so-called concrete General Factual (Paducheva 1996) = 'Individual Factual' (Mehlig 2013). I argue that the notion of 'general facts' is fake and both uses of the Russian imperfective aspect indeed refer to sets of events, not to a single event.

Anton Zimmerling. The Taming of the Clitics. Review of: Zrinka Kolaković, Edyta Jurkiewicz-Rohrbacher, Björn Hansen, Dušica Filipović Đurđević & Nataša Fritz. 2022. Clitics in the wild: Empirical studies on the microvariation of the pronominal, reflexive and verbal clitics in Bosnian, Croatian an..., 2023

This paper is a review of: Zrinka Kolaković, Edyta Jurkiewicz-Rohrbacher, Björn Hansen, Dušica Fi... more This paper is a review of: Zrinka Kolaković, Edyta Jurkiewicz-Rohrbacher, Björn Hansen, Dušica Filipović Đurđević & Nataša Fritz. 2022. Clitics in the wild: Empirical studies on the microvariation of the pronominal, reflexive and verbal clitics in Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian (Open Slavic Linguistics 7). Berlin: Language Science Press. 461 p. I discuss emprical and theoretical issues in clitic syntax.