genitive case in "chto novogo?"

[robert beard]

>Katya Krivinkova wrote:
>
>>Problem:
>>
>>(1) chto u tebja est' zheltogo?
>>
>>(2) u tebja est' chto-nibud' zheltoe?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I think the problem is purely morphological.

"Chto" is an interrogative pronoun which does not allow adjunction to the
best of my knowledge.  "Chto-nibud'" is an indefinite pronoun which does.
Just as in English adjuncts must follow rather than precede pronouns, hence
we get "chto-nibud' zheltoe/novoe/interesnoe" just as we get "somethine
yellow/new/interesting" in English but not "yellow something" or "zheltoe
chto-nibud'".

"Chto novogo/zheltogo/interesnogo" is a syntactic way around the problem
along the lines laid out by George involving a null pronoun.  This would
account for the occasional parallels like "Chto y vas est zheltogo sveta?"
where an appropriate lexical noun is available.  The important point is
that only certain pronominal classes allow adjunction and I would be
willing to bet that this is a purely morphological universal fact -- not
lexical (after looking at a few more grammars).

--Bob

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Robert Beard
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Russian & Linguistics Programs
 Fax: 717-524-3760
Bucknell University
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