More on koe-

[Mike Berry]

In the useful Pushkin Institute publication Slovar' strukturnykh slov
russkogo yazyka, ed. prof. V.V.Morkovkin, M.,"Lazur'", 1997.p.172 the
following meanings are given for koe-kto:
1.  Chelovek ili nebol'shaya gruppa lyudei, k-rykh govoryashchii
    znaet, no namerenno skryvaet ot slushayushchego
    sootvetstvuyushchuyu    informatsiyu;
    e.g:    Ya koe-kogo iz nikh znayu.

2.  Izvestnyi govoryashchemu chelovek, k-ogo on namerenno ne nazyvaet
    libo dlya togo, chtoby poluchit' podtverzhdenie slushayushchego,
    libo s tsel'yu sozdaniya igrovoi situatsii;
    e.g. Tut, po-moemu, koe-kto khotel vystupit', ili ya vas, Leonid
    Pavlovich, nepravil'no ponyal?
    Anechka, papa koe-komu hovuyu kuklu prines. - Mne! Mne!

3.  Chelovek ili nebol'shaya gruppa lyudei, k-rykh znaet
    proizvoditel' deistviya, a dlya govoryashchego ne imeet
    sushchestvennogo znacheniya.
    e.g.: Oni priekhali v Moskvu, koe s kem pogovorili i v tot zhe
    den' vernulis' domoi.

4.  Otdel'nye, nemnogie lyudi (vnimanie fiksiruetcya na tom, chto
    rech' idet ne o vsekh, a ob ochen' nebol'shoi chasti vsekh)
    In this sense a synonym of nekotorye.
    e.g. Bylo uzhe teplo, no koe-kto byl odet eshche po-zimnemu.

This seems to satisfy almost everyone's interpretations...
Mike Berry


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Mike Berry
Centre for Russian and              Tel: 0121-414-6355
East European Studies,              Fax: 0121-414-3423
University of Birmingham,           email: m.j.berry.rus at bham.ac.uk
Birmingham B15 2TT, UK.

                   ***** Umom Rossiyu ne ponyat' *****
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