2O4 Greville G. Corbett
certainties (Zaliznjak 1977: 58). This is an indicator of the insecure status of the
short form for some adjectives. Moreover, a substantial proportion of the available
short forms are involved, unlike the uncertainties in other major categories which
affect a small number of the members. This pattern of four forms is like that of the
past tense verb, for example: byl, byld, bylo, byli 'was/were'. The past tense has a pal-
atalized consonant in the plural; otherwise the forms are phonologically compar-
able (see Timberlake 1993: 831 on vocalic allophones).
The status of the short form is problematic. Furthermore many adjectives do
not have a short form. Simplifying considerably we may say that adjectives which
are freely used in the predicate and which are underived, synchronically at least,
are most likely to have short forms. Adjectives which are synchronically derived
from nouns are unlikely to have short forms. Where a short form exists, it may not
be available for all of the meanings of the corresponding long forms.^5 Note the
direction of the restriction: short forms are found only in the predicate in modern
Russian;^6 adjectives without a short form can still be used in the predicate, using
the long form.
A similar restriction is found with the comparative. Russian has a synthetic
comparative, formed productively with a suffix, thus novyj 'new', novee 'newer',
krasivyj 'beautiful', kmsivee 'more beautiful'. Many adjectives form the compara-
tive with -e, and a mutation of consonant (this is not fully predictable, and there
are minor irregularities), for example: molodoj 'young' > moloze 'younger', korotkij
'short (time)' > koroce, sirokij 'wide' > sire, staryj 'old' > starse. Not all adjectives have
a synthetic comparative. There is considerable overlap with those that have a short
form, but it is not complete, and the decline in the short form does not appear to
affect the synthetic comparative. The synthetic comparative, like the short form, is
largely restricted to use in the predicate (it also occurs as a postpositive reduced
relative clause; Timberlake 1993: 845). There is an analytical comparative formed
with bolee 'more', which is itself indeclinable, but the adjective with which it com-
bines declines normally, for example bolee krasivyj 'more beautiful'. The analytic
comparative is required in attributive position; it can also be used in the predi-
cate, first with adjectives which have no synthetic form, and second in place of the
synthetic form (though this usage is markedly formal written). Running counter
to the regularity stated, a handful of adjectives have synthetic declinable compara-
tives, available for use in attributive position.
The normal expression of the superlative is with samyj plus the long form of
the adjective: krasivyj 'beautiful' > samyj krasivyj 'most beautiful'. For the theory
of agreement this is particularly interesting, since samyj semantically modifies the
adjective and yet agrees like an adjective with the head noun. This analytical for-
(^5) For interesting comparison with the dialect of Ostrovcy (Pskov area) see Honselaar (2001:123-
40). There long form adjectives are contracted in some instances, making it more difficult to identi-
fy short forms. As one would expect, Honselaar cites relatively few examples of unambiguous short
form adjectives. On the other hand, possessive adjectives are well attested.
(^6) The earlier use of the short form in attributive position is preserved in a few set expressions.