Variant Forms in Russian Conjugation

The purpose of this article is to analyze and classify variant forms in Russian conjugation. The variation, as it is recorded in standard Soviet sources, will be examined in terms of the conjugational type in which it occurs as well as with regard to the kind of variation: variation in stress, presence or absence of consonant mutation, choice of suffix, presence or absence of suffix, variation in verb type, etc. It will be seen that variation occurs in only certain verb types. It is most widespread in verbs of the type prosit' and isceznut' and occurs less commonly in verbs of the type pisdt', tr6bovat', and iddt'. This examination will assume that the Russian verb is most efficiently described in terms of a single stem. Since the one-stem system may still not be familiar to everyone, a brief summary of the basic elements may be in order. Verbal stems may end either in a consonant or in a vowel. Verbal endings may begin either with a consonant or with a vowel. There are thus four possible combinations which may occur at the boundary of stem and ending: consonant plus consonant (CC), consonant plus vowel (CV), vowel plus vowel (VV), and vowel plus consonant (VC). The combination of unlike elements (CV or VC) is said to provide a stable environment in that a simple linking of stem with ending occurs, Zivplus -u giving iivu, pis-aplus -1 giving pisdl, etc. The combination of like elements (CC, VV) is said to be an unstable environment, in which truncation of the first element regularly occurs, often accompanied by stress shift, consonant mutation, or other changes that must be specially noted; thus, for example, vit-ajplus -1 gives 6itdl, pis-aplus -u gives pisi, trplus -t' gives teret'. Verbs (verbal stems) are classified as PRIMARY (lacking a suffix) or SECONDARY (having a suffix). Primary verbs, which are all first conjugation, are further divided, according to the nature of the stem-final consonant, into RESONANT stems, e.g., xziv't, stdnut, poj~t, p'jit, trnt, pojmzt (to cite a form which shows the stem-final consonant intact), and OBSTRUENT stems, e.g., veduCt, met~t, vezft, nesit, greb'it, beregzt, tekuit. Secondary verbs are divided first by conjugation, first or second, and then by suffix. To the first conjugation belong the following classes: (1) a-verbs like pisdt', (2) nonsyllabic-root a-verbs like iddt' (NSa-verbs), (3) ova-verbs like trebovat', (4) o-verbs like

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