Interactive properties: Modern Russian predicate adjectives in affirmative and negative contexts

When discussing case variation in Modern Russian predicate adjectives, scholars usually rely on data found in affirmative contexts. However, an examination of predicate adjectives in negative alongside affirmative contexts reveals important statistical differences and usage asymmetries that help understand the factors involved in case choice. The fact that case choices are differently distributed under negation has been noted by scholars, who traditionally argue that negation favors the instrumental. Examining statistical data gathered from the open web, this article updates the existing literature by showing that while the instrumental is more prominent with inanimate referents, the short nominative is significantly more prominent with animate referents. Additional usage asymmetries, such as the scarcity of the long nominative under negation, are also uncovered. Adopting the functionalist/construction-grammar perspective, I will discuss the statistical results to show how case choice is influenced by animacy—related factors such as agentive control and narrative interaction, and how specific predicate adjective constructions are adopted for structuring viewpoint.