Evaluative construction with an element of the motivation of the type “Eto mne ne po plechu” in Russian

Abstract

Based on the corpus data, the article focuses on the Russian evaluative construction Это Х-у не по У-у with the meaning “correspondence/discrepancy with expected features”, for example: Это мне не по силам ‘This is beyond my power’. We claim that all components of the construction are used with relative freedom and have a close semantic connection between them, which may be analyzed from the standpoint of «construction grammar», aimed at investigating the relationship between the elements of different levels of language. This construction can be used as an independent or as a subordinate clause. For describing these sentences, three semantic roles must be identified: the characterized object «это», the experiencer «X» and the basis of evaluation «не по У-у». The characterized object, which coincides with the object of evaluation, is expressed by a noun, an infinitive or a pronoun. In our data, this role is predominantly performed by nouns in the nominative case. The non-predicative dative case of the noun or pronoun is put in the position of the experienсer, a qualified participant in the situation that does not necessarily directly perceive it. In accordance with the lexical meaning of the basis of evaluation, implying the motivation of the speaker’s judgment, this component may be divided into three thematic groups: 1) internal capacities (the impact of physical, financial, intellectual elements); 2) taste and predisposition (the expression of preferences); 3) external judgment (the comparison with the standard). The basis of the evaluation acts as the nominal part of the predicate, which is combined with linking verbs.