Scando-Slavica 58:1 (2012), 184 185.
Abstracts of Books in the Field of Slavic and Baltic Linguistics, Literature,
Culture, History and Society Recently Published by Scandinavian Slavists
and Baltologists
Jens NÅ‚rgård-SÅ‚rensen, Russian Nominal Semantics and Morphology, Bloomington, Indiana:
Slavica Publishers 2011, x + 361 pp.
The principal idea behind this monograph is that lexis and grammar make up a single coher-
ent structure. It is shown that the grammatical pa erns of the different classes of Russian
nominals are closely interconnected. They can be described as reflecting a limited set of
hierarchically ordered semantic distinctions which are also rooted in the lexical-semantic
classification of Russian nouns and, in a wider perspective, closely linked to verbal seman-
tics. The presentation focuses on semantics, both lexical and grammatical, and not least the
connection between these two levels of content. The principal theoretical impact is the in-
sight that grammar and lexis should not be seen as a random collection of subsystems, but
as a comprehensive structure of interconnected oppositions, repeating the same semantic
distinctions at different levels and in different lexical and grammatical classes. It is shown
that lexis is just as essential for grammatical studies as is grammar for lexical studies.
These ideas are reflected in the structure of the book. The presentation of each class of
nominals (nouns, adjectives, pronouns and numerals) proceeds from an examination of
the lexis and a classification of the words. This classification is basically semantic, forming
a vantage point from which the grammatical description departs. Each nominal part of
speech is first given a general semantic characterization. Then the semantic classification of
the lexemes belonging to the given part of speech is considered, and, finally, the grammati-
cal categories are analysed.
Thus, the book reveals a connecting thread all through Russian grammar. The results
have been achieved by systematically distinguishing between productive and unproductive
pa erns and acknowledging the asymmetric nature of grammatical distinctions, consisting
of marked and unmarked members.
Jens NÅ‚rgård-SÅ‚rensen, Lars Heltoft, and Lene SchÅ‚sler, Connecting Grammaticalisation
(= Studies in Functional and Structural Linguistics 65), Amsterdam: John Benjamins Pub-
lishing Company, 2011, xiii + 347 pp.
This monograph presents a view on grammaticalisation radically different from standard
views centering around the cline of grammaticality. Grammar is presented as a complex
sign system, and, as a consequence, grammatical change always comprises semantic
change. What unites morphology, topology (word order), constructional syntax and other
grammatical subsystems is their paradigmatic organisation. Since all grammar is organised
in closed sets of alternations, the traditional concept of the inflexional paradigm is gener-
alised as the structuring principle of grammar. Grammatical change involves paradigmatic
DOI: 10.1080/00806765.2012.669924 © 2012 The Association of Scandinavian Slavists and Baltologists
Abstracts of Books 185
restructuring, and in the process of grammatical change morphological, topological and
constructional paradigms often connect to form complex paradigms. The book introduces
the concept of connecting grammaticalisation to describe the formation, restructuring
and dismantling of such complex paradigms.
Drawing primarily on data from Germanic, Romance and Slavic languages, the book
offers both a broad general discussion of theoretical issues and three case studies. In chap-
ters 1, 2, and 3 the authors present their view on the paradigmatic organisation of gram-
mar: the concept of a paradigm, applied to (1) morphology and morphological change, to
(2) topology and word order change, and (3) to constructions and constructional change.
In 4 the concept of connecting grammaticalisation is presented.
Chapters 5 7 are separate studies by the individual authors, each of whom makes con-
necting grammaticalisation a central point. Chapter 5,  Pa erns of Connecting Grammati-
calisation in Russian: Syntax, Animacy, and Aspect (by Jens NÅ‚rgård-SÅ‚rensen), is an
extensive study of aspect and case in Russian. It is claimed that Russian aspect and ani-
macy developed as connected changes, their semantic organisation being related. Chap-
ter 6,  Word Order Change as Regrammation (by Lars Heltoft), is a study of Scandinavian
verb-second and its semantic and syntactic change from the Middle Ages to the present
day, especially of word order paradigms. And finally, chapter 7,  Scenarios of Grammati-
cal Change in Romance languages (by Lene Schłsler), deals with the reinterpretation
of the Latin case system in the Romance languages and its integration in constructional
paradigms.
Scando-Slavica 58:1, 2012