Sergey Say
Biographic Data
| ID | 6560217 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Sergey Say |
| GIVEN NAMES | Sergey |
| FAMILY NAME | Say |
| SIGNATURE | SAY S |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Potsdam |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-8066-9166 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 13 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 1 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 13 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2014 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
Degrees of complexity in valency class systems
The complexity of valency class systems remains an underexplored dimension of typological variation. Drawing on data from BivalTyp, a database cataloging valency patterns of 130 bivalent verbs across 120 languages, this paper proposes three metrics to quantify this complexity. Two of these metrics – the ratio of intransitive verbs among bivalent verbs and the entropy in the distribution of bivalent intransitive verbs across valency classes – are …
How the cause and purpose syncretism was lost
In early nineteenth-century Russian, two complex subordinators – dlja togo, čto(by) and zatem, čto(by) – exhibited syncretism between cause and purpose. Over the course of the century, this syncretism was lost: while the purpose uses remained frequent, the causal uses largely decayed by the end of the nineteenth century. Based on quantitative corpus data, I trace this shift over the course of the nineteenth century. I argue that the two interpret…
Variation in valency patterns across Romani dialects is primarily shaped by contact languages
This paper examines the effects of language contact on valency patterns by comparing Romani dialects with their contact languages. Due to their wide dispersion and extensive contact with diverse European languages, Romani dialects provide an excellent testing ground for exploring the interplay of genealogical and areal factors in valency encoding. Using data from the Romani morpho-syntax database (RMS) and BivalTyp, a typological database of biva…
Areal effects on argument-coding patterns
This article introduces the special issue on valency-related phenomena, with a focus on the areal dimension in the cross-linguistic distribution of argument-coding patterns. A central concern is how areal effects shape these distributions and how they can be distinguished from genealogical effects. We review current approaches, data sources, and new quantitative methods for identifying areal signals, emphasizing the need to combine them with deta…
Bivalent verb classes across Slavic
The Slavic languages, shaped by a complex history of divergence and contact, offer an ideal setting for investigating how genealogical and areal factors influence valency class systems. These systems, marked by diachronic instability, reflect both internal linguistic developments and external pressures. Drawing on data from BivalTyp, a typological database of bivalent verbs and their coding frames ( https://bivaltyp.info/ ), this study analyzes t…
A typology of positional differential argument marking
In this paper, we introduce the notion of positional differential argument marking, a pattern in which the use of argument-coding devices, such as flags or indexes, is contingent upon the linear position of arguments in the clause. Compared to factors such as animacy and referentiality, the impact of word order on differential argument marking is understudied. In order to fill this gap, we compiled and annotated a dataset of 93 PDAM patterns, ide…
Semanticization of Accentual Variants in Russian Nouns of the Third Declension
Some Russian nouns of the third declension have a specialized “second locative” form with the stressed desinence -и. By contrast, the otherwise homophonous genitive, dative and “plain” locative forms of these nouns are believed to have stress on the stem, cf. genitive, dative and “plain” locative те́ни, vs. second locative (в) тени́ ‘(in) the shade’. However, the data from the poetic texts available in the Russian National Corpus indicate that so…
Stimulus encoding in constructions with past passive participles in Russian
The Instrumental Case in the Diachrony of Russian Reflexive Verbs of Emotion
Russian experiencer-subject reflexive verbs of emotion vary greatly in the syntactic encoding of their stimuli: poražatʹsja ‘be astonished’ takes the dative case, while obižat’sja ‘feel offended’ takes na ‘on’ + the accusative case, etc. Based on data from the Russian National Corpus, we show that, despite synchronic variegation, many reflexive verbs have been undergoing a unidirectional drift during the last three centuries: the instrumental enc…
Prezidentskie vybory vs. vybory prezidenta
[Review of
Dialect loss in the Russian North
We analyze the dynamics of dialect loss in a cluster of villages in rural northern Russia based on a corpus of transcribed interviews, the Ustja River Basin Corpus. Eleven phonological and morphological variables are analyzed across 33 speakers born between 1922 and 1996 in a series of logistic regression models. We propose three characteristics for a comparison of the rate of loss of different variables: initial level, steepness, and turning poi…
Bivalent Verb Classes in the Languages of Europe
The aims of this study are twofold: to propose methods for measuring (dis)similarities in the organization of valency class systems across languages, and to test them on a sample of European languages in order to reveal areal and genetic patterns. The data were gathered for 29 languages using a questionnaire containing 130 contextualized uses of bivalent predicates. The properties under study include (i) lexical range of transitives, (ii) lexical…
Dialect loss in the Russian North
We analyze the dynamics of dialect loss in a cluster of villages in rural northern Russia based on a corpus of transcribed interviews, the Ustja River Basin Corpus. Eleven phonological and morphological variables are analyzed across 33 speakers born between 1922 and 1996 in a series of logistic regression models. We propose three characteristics for a comparison of the rate of loss of different variables: initial level, steepness, and turning poi…
Bivalent Verb Classes in the Languages of Europe
The aims of this study are twofold: to propose methods for measuring (dis)similarities in the organization of valency class systems across languages, and to test them on a sample of European languages in order to reveal areal and genetic patterns. The data were gathered for 29 languages using a questionnaire containing 130 contextualized uses of bivalent predicates. The properties under study include (i) lexical range of transitives, (ii) lexical…
Prezidentskie vybory vs. vybory prezidenta
[Review of
Dialect loss in the Russian North
We analyze the dynamics of dialect loss in a cluster of villages in rural northern Russia based on a corpus of transcribed interviews, the Ustja River Basin Corpus. Eleven phonological and morphological variables are analyzed across 33 speakers born between 1922 and 1996 in a series of logistic regression models. We propose three characteristics for a comparison of the rate of loss of different variables: initial level, steepness, and turning poi…
The Instrumental Case in the Diachrony of Russian Reflexive Verbs of Emotion
Russian experiencer-subject reflexive verbs of emotion vary greatly in the syntactic encoding of their stimuli: poražatʹsja ‘be astonished’ takes the dative case, while obižat’sja ‘feel offended’ takes na ‘on’ + the accusative case, etc. Based on data from the Russian National Corpus, we show that, despite synchronic variegation, many reflexive verbs have been undergoing a unidirectional drift during the last three centuries: the instrumental enc…
Semanticization of Accentual Variants in Russian Nouns of the Third Declension
Some Russian nouns of the third declension have a specialized “second locative” form with the stressed desinence -и. By contrast, the otherwise homophonous genitive, dative and “plain” locative forms of these nouns are believed to have stress on the stem, cf. genitive, dative and “plain” locative те́ни, vs. second locative (в) тени́ ‘(in) the shade’. However, the data from the poetic texts available in the Russian National Corpus indicate that so…
Stimulus encoding in constructions with past passive participles in Russian
Degrees of complexity in valency class systems
The complexity of valency class systems remains an underexplored dimension of typological variation. Drawing on data from BivalTyp, a database cataloging valency patterns of 130 bivalent verbs across 120 languages, this paper proposes three metrics to quantify this complexity. Two of these metrics – the ratio of intransitive verbs among bivalent verbs and the entropy in the distribution of bivalent intransitive verbs across valency classes – are …
How the cause and purpose syncretism was lost
In early nineteenth-century Russian, two complex subordinators – dlja togo, čto(by) and zatem, čto(by) – exhibited syncretism between cause and purpose. Over the course of the century, this syncretism was lost: while the purpose uses remained frequent, the causal uses largely decayed by the end of the nineteenth century. Based on quantitative corpus data, I trace this shift over the course of the nineteenth century. I argue that the two interpret…
Variation in valency patterns across Romani dialects is primarily shaped by contact languages
This paper examines the effects of language contact on valency patterns by comparing Romani dialects with their contact languages. Due to their wide dispersion and extensive contact with diverse European languages, Romani dialects provide an excellent testing ground for exploring the interplay of genealogical and areal factors in valency encoding. Using data from the Romani morpho-syntax database (RMS) and BivalTyp, a typological database of biva…
Areal effects on argument-coding patterns
This article introduces the special issue on valency-related phenomena, with a focus on the areal dimension in the cross-linguistic distribution of argument-coding patterns. A central concern is how areal effects shape these distributions and how they can be distinguished from genealogical effects. We review current approaches, data sources, and new quantitative methods for identifying areal signals, emphasizing the need to combine them with deta…
Bivalent verb classes across Slavic
The Slavic languages, shaped by a complex history of divergence and contact, offer an ideal setting for investigating how genealogical and areal factors influence valency class systems. These systems, marked by diachronic instability, reflect both internal linguistic developments and external pressures. Drawing on data from BivalTyp, a typological database of bivalent verbs and their coding frames ( https://bivaltyp.info/ ), this study analyzes t…
A typology of positional differential argument marking
In this paper, we introduce the notion of positional differential argument marking, a pattern in which the use of argument-coding devices, such as flags or indexes, is contingent upon the linear position of arguments in the clause. Compared to factors such as animacy and referentiality, the impact of word order on differential argument marking is understudied. In order to fill this gap, we compiled and annotated a dataset of 93 PDAM patterns, ide…
Linguistics (9 works) · Philosophy (7 works) · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation (6 works) · Psychology (5 works) · Verb (5 works) · Computer Science (4 works) · Linguistics and language evolution (4 works) · Mathematics (4 works) · Natural Language Processing Techniques (4 works) · Valency (4 works)