This dissertation investigates whether Russian pseudo imperatives form a unified semantic class. It argues that they do, and proposes that their common core is an incompatibility modal encoded in the presupposition: a background assumption that the described situation clashes with what is compatible in the context. The analysis draws on formal semantics and classical theories of modality, representing the meaning through the parameters of the modal base and ordering source.
Empirically, the work examines three main types of Russian pseudo imperatives: mirative/unexpected (e.g. Vse šli spokojno, a Petya voz’mi da upadi ‘Everyone was walking calmly, and then Petya suddenly fell’), undesirable (e.g. Ona otdyhaet, a ja tut rabotaj ‘She is relaxing while I’m working here’), and conditional (e.g. Pridi on vovremja, načal’nik by ne rugalsja ‘Had he come on time, the boss wouldn’t have scolded him’). The empirical study discusses aspect, temporal reference, linguistic markers, word order, and context dependence.
On the theoretical side, the dissertation develops a step by step proposal for a unified meaning. It tests and rejects several intermediate hypotheses (involving inertia worlds, salience and non normality, and an incompatibility modal in the assertion) before arriving at the final account, where the incompatibility modal is located in the presupposition. Pseudo imperatives are characterized as “pseudo compositional”: while it is difficult to fully derive the contribution of each individual element (particles, conjunctions, auxiliaries) in a strictly compositional way, the meaning of the pseudo imperative morpheme itself remains stable. The main contribution of the dissertation is to clarify the semantic role of pseudo imperatives and to situate them within broader linguistic theory as a coherent, modally defined phenomenon.
Solomeia Bagautdinova successfully defended her thesis on 29 May 2026.
Trial lecture
Designated topic: Non-indicative moods in Russian: form and meaning.
Evaluation committee
- Dr. Nina Dobrushina, Laboratoire Dynamique du Langage (CNRS,Lyon) (first opponent)
- Dr. Dmitry Privoznov, University of Göttingen (second opponent)
- Professor Elizaveta Khachaturyan, University of Oslo (committee administrator)
Chair of the defence
Supervisors
- Professor Atle Grønn, University of Oslo
- Dr. Ekaterina Vostrikova, University of Göttingen