현대러시아어 화제표지 소사 -то의 의미적, 화용적 기능에 관하여

Abstract

The study explores semantic and pragmatic functions of the topic-marking particle -to in modern colloquial Russian. Previous studies characterize this particle as a marker of the discourse notion of 'topic', or contrastive meaning, or known information (though unactivated). This study argues that the particle -to has distinctive features and functions, as compared to other apparently synonymous particles or conjunctions, such as e, ved' or a. The particle -to can mark a contrastive topic which has an indefinite meaning as well as definite, and it can function on the syntagmatic level, as well as on the paradigmatic level. Although the function of the particle -to as a paradigmatic contrastive topic marker has been explored in previous studies, its function on the syntagmatic level has rarely been investigated: this is found in the tautological construction <P-to P, a/no/da Q>, which evokes scalar implicature in the given discourse context. Thus, in verbal, nominal, adjectival tautological constructions the lower value (lexical items accompanying -to) is affirmed, but a higher value is negated in the following clauses or sentences. Here the values are ranked by the speaker's subjective assessments in the given discourse contexts. Further, this particle is often employed in detachment constructions, such as topicalization, left or right-dislocation, and its main discourse function is to separate the reference from the grammatical role. In sum, the particle -to is a lexical exponent of a marked topic: a topic in the redundant information structure (tautology); or indefinite topic or non-nominative (or caseless) topic or dislocated topic. It is further argued that the separating function can be construed as a kind of 'neutralization' device, which is also realized by the sentence-initial 'Thematic Nominative' (именительный темы) in colloquial Russian.