True blue: on the syntax and connotations of colour and ‘class membership’ adjectives in Russian

Mostovaia, Anna (2009) True blue: on the syntax and connotations of colour and ‘class membership’ adjectives in Russian. Studia Slavica, 54 (2). pp. 317-343. ISSN 0039-3363

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Abstract

Colour adjectives are known to refer to different parts of the colour continuum in different contexts. The interpretation of colour adjectives, as well as some other types of adjectives, depends on the noun they modify.The first part of this paper surveys some approaches to the meaning of adjectives, starting with James Mill and J. S. Mill who first introduced the concept of ‘connotation’ in order to clarify the nature of adjectival signification.The second part of the paper contains a discussion of some contemporary approaches to the meaning of adjectives.The third part of the paper is concerned with the meaning of a group of Russian adjectives which all emphasize that an object is a member of a class. These are the words настоящий [real], типичный [typical], обычный [usual/ordinary], нормальный [normal] and средний [average]. A number of differences in the meaning and the syntax of these and a few other adjectives, referring to ‘class membership’, are considered. The fourth part of the paper is concerned with a possibility to combine adjectives like настоящий [real] and обычный [usual/ordinary] with colour adjectives in Russian. The meaning of the resulting phrases in real language contexts is considered.

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