The Numbers of Russian. Research on Numerals and Quantifiers

Author: Zuo Shaoxing
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-07-01
Features: This book adheres to the principle of "learning for application," providing a comprehensive and in-depth description of the difficulties in Russian grammar—so-called "the great trouble" of "number, numerals, and quantifiers"—from the perspectives of academic inheritance, academic accumulation, and academic innovation. It is connected to traditional descriptive grammar while also "breaking new ground" in many aspects, forming its own distinct style with clear characteristics of Chinese learners of Russian using Russian (for example, in declension, it points out both "should decline" and "avoid declining"; it highlights both "declension agreement" and the phenomenon of "mixed declension" where agreement is not necessary, etc.). Additionally, the book corrects many one-sided and erroneous statements and "examples" found in some Russian language books. When describing "number, numerals, and quantifiers," the book does not treat the subject in isolation but expands the scope of their "connections," increases linguistic material, and conducts in-depth analysis and research on linguistic facts. Therefore, the book combines both grammatical content and elements of "lexicology," using "morphology (word formation)" as the starting point for description (e.g., morphological categories of cases and numbers) while also considering the characteristics of "syntax (sentence structure)" (e.g., the combination of numerals with other words in number). The book is highly practical but also includes theoretical explanations. It provides a wealth of practical materials on "saying, reading, writing, translating, and comparing" (comparing with Chinese numerals) for numerals and quantifiers, making it suitable for teaching and reference use by college Russian majors and teachers, as well as helpful for Russian translators and self-learners.