conundrum

[Michael Berry]

A common example of this usage with two singular adjectives and a plural noun is 
между Черным и каспийским морями (mezhdu Chernym i Kaspiiskim moryami) (204,000 hits on Google)
and 
между Каспийским и Черным морями (mezhdu Kaspiiskim i Chernym moryami) (187,000 hits)
Mike Berry
M.J.Berry,
Honorary Senior Research Fellow,
Centre for Russian and East European Studies,
University of Birmingham,
Birmingham,
B15 2TT
________________________________________
From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list [SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu] On Behalf Of John Dunn [John.Dunn at GLASGOW.AC.UK]
Sent: 06 May 2012 14:20
To: SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] conundrum

To answer Anne-Marie Devlin: This is indeed an interesting usage, and it would be useful to know if it is accepted by all native speakers of Russian.  My own view is that it is an invention of nineteenth-century grammarians and is likely to occur only in formal varieties of written Russian.

To answer Patrick Corness: As a native of Bradford I am aware that they do things differently in Leeds, but I do not see how else I could form this particular sentence.
'You could always ask me and Paul Gallagher' is grammatically possible, but pragmatically dubious, since it places the speaker ahead of a third person, which is something we are taught not to do
'You could always ask PG and me' is also grammatically possible, but conveys a different meaning.  Monosyllabic personal pronouns in English can bear only certain amount of emphasis, and the lack of emphasis here would mean the sentence is likely to be understood as referring to Paul Gallagher and (indeed) myself as a single unit, working together to produce a single answer.  A splendid example, no doubt, of Trans-Atlantic co-operation, but not quite what I meant.  Here 'myself' is simply an emphatic form of the personal pronoun, used to indicate that the conjunction indicates addition, rather than inclusion.

John Dunn.

Disclaimer: Any perceived eccentricities in my English usage are included with the sole intention of confusing other native speakers.
________________________________________
From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list [SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu] On Behalf Of anne marie devlin [anne_mariedevlin at HOTMAIL.COM]
Sent: 05 May 2012 22:40
To: SEELANGS at bama.ua.edu
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] conundrum

What was most interesting about this conundrum for me was the fact that in Russian, the plural could be used after after, if I can remember conditerskaya i makaronnaya fabriki.  In English, it is obvious that a plural can't be used after 'a'.  therefore it is more interesting that a plural can be used in Russian after a singular adjective and I'm surprised that the thread hasn't picked up on that.
AM

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
  options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
                    http://seelangs.home.comcast.net/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------