Russian Word Order Language Typology Research

This dissertation aims to research word order in Russian within the framework of linguistic typology. Our research is based on the contemporary typological theories. Born in 1960s, contemporary linguistic typology, as a linguistic branch or school, strives to explore linguistic universals, word order and local classification, expounding language phenomena from a functional approach.Our research of Russian word order in neutral context sets foot on the syntactic functional research of Russian word order, at the meantime, examines human language universals achieved by linguistic typology. In addition, our research emphasizes the reasonable explanations for Russian word order, which frequently proceeds from function, cognition and semantics, to clarify human language universals. The explanation of human language universals combines various kinds of other aspects in this dissertation. Our research reflects that individuality is the concrete manifestation of universals. We inspect the word order in Russian language at syntactic level, focusing on the order of attributive, adverbial modifier, subject, predicate and object. All the elements are important factors in typological research, between which there are implicational relations, appearing as dominant and harmonious word order. Here the Russian word order is explained from the perspective of functionalism and cognitive linguistics.In chapter three we focus on the word order dominance in noun phrase and its cognitive explanation. Word order dominance is mainly motivated by identifiability hierarchy. Everything else being equal, the orders are more compatible with the order of identifiability hierarchy. And the preceding of less identified constituent implies the preceding of more identifiable. To extend the application of identifiability in word order universals, a cross-category hierarchy of identifiability is proposed. The attributive, expressing more innate property is nearer to the core noun and vice versa. The attributive, which is about the interior, classical, and impersonal characteristics is nearer to the core word, than the attributive, which is about the exterior, variable, subjective, specific characteristics.In chapter four we investigate the order of Russian adverbial modifier. Although in Russian language the order of adverbial modifier is flexible, the multi-adverbials arrange according to the regular pattern― orbital structure, that the adverbial modifiers with subjective semantics are farer to the core verb than the adverbial modifiers with objective semantics.The preposition in Russian has dominant usage as prepositive, besides postpositive usage and frame usage. The evolution of prepositions'position reflects the colligative progress of Russian language, which has implication with the order change from SOV to SVO. Some of the change belongs to the grammaticalization phenomenon. As far as the order of base elements(S,V,O) in the simple sentence are concerned, SVO is the normal and unmarked order in Russian. Russian is inclined to be VO type language, at the meantime combining much specificities of VO and OV type language. The other five word orders of these three elements are marked, which can be explained from the view of grammar, communication,and by the economy principle.The comparative sentences in Russian have three forms, which expresses the transition from synthetic to analytic. Russian language belongs to the language with double comparative marks―synthetic and analytical. The comparative sentences with synthetic marks sometimes can cause ambiguity, the elimination of which can be accomplished with the help of analytical marks with clear and definite comparative subject and standard.