206 Greville G. CorbettThe choice of the short form or the long form is a complex issue that requires
more extensive treatment than is possible here. Taking the long view, we see that
over the last two millennia in Slavonic, the long form has gained inexorably at the
expense of the short form. The adjective originally had the inflections of the major
noun types (short forms) to which were added the anaphoric pronoun j- to yield the
definite or long forms (Schenker 1993:91). From a situation where it was possible in
attributive position and excluded in predicate position, the long form has steadily
extended its range. The short form is better preserved in Russian than in several of
the Slavonic languages; in Russian the situation has changed dramatically over the
last two centuries. We are viewing the final stages of the process, and many factors
are in play (Gustavsson 1976 found 6,615 'parameter combinations'). There is a great
difference between genres (with the short form typically being a sign of older/writ-
ten use), also between individual styles and between consultants' judgements. For
the essentials see Timberlake (1993:861-5); f°r much more detail see Nichols (1981);
a transformational account is given in Babby (1975); the sketch given here is based
substantially on my own observations. Let us start from the basic structure:
(8) subject-verb-complement adjective-dependents on complement adjective
Each of the four elements can have a substantial influence on the choice of the
short form or the long form. We begin with the verb. The copula by? 'be' allows the
most open choice (and there must be an overt verb for the long form instrumen-
tal to be possible). Semi-copulas like sta? 'become' allow the short form, but less
readily. Kazat'sja 'seem' strongly favours the long form (instrumental). Full lexic-
al verbs, such as verbs of motion, allow the adjective as an adjunct and in modern
Russian require the long form (with a choice of nominative or instrumental; see
Timberlake 1986, Nikunlassi 1993, Richardson 2001).
The subject also has an influence. The most substantial factor is that if the sub-
ject is a non-canonical noun phrase this will strongly favour the use of the short
form:
(9) Rabotat' byl-o trudn-o
WOrk.INFINITIVE WaS-NEUT.SG difficult-(sp)NEUT.SG
'to work was difficult'/'it was difficult to work'
Non-canonical noun phrases include complete clauses and infinitive phrases,
phrases headed by action nominals or by eto 'this', vse 'everything', cto 'which', and
the totally absent phrase of impersonal constructions, for example:
(10) zdes' xolodn-o
here cold-(sp)NEUT.SG
'it's cold here'
Non-canonical noun phrases typically lack agreement features and so the adjec-
tive appears in the 'default form', the neuter singular short form. Since this form is
frequently available for use also as an adverb, some would treat such sentences as