Distinguishing Existentials: Modal Possessive Constructions in Russian

Modal Existential Constructions (MECs), exemplified in Russian in (1), have recently received
much attention in the literature. I will argue that in Russian two superficially similar constructions have
been conflated under the label of MEC: true MECs with a dative subject, as in (1), and possessive
constructions with u + (Genitive) DP in place of the dative subject (2), which I will refer to as Modal
Possessive Constructions (MPCs).
Crosslinguistically MECs share a number of properties (Izvorski 1998, Grosu 2004 among
others): an infinitival or subjunctive clause with a fronted wh-word is embedded under a verb of existence
or possession, the wh-word receives a narrow-scope indefinite interpretation, and the lower clause
expresses the modality of possibility. Since (1) and (2) share all of the above properties, they have either
been implicitly assumed to be the same construction (Grosu 2004) or posited to differ only in the meaning
associated with dative case and u+DP respectively (Rappaport 1986). I will argue that previous analyses
have failed to address important structural distinctions between the two constructions: unlike MECs,
where the dative subject originates inside the wh-clause, u+DP is a possessor, which is first merged
outside the clause. Therefore, in MECs the wh-clause is a complement of be directly, while in MPCs, it is
in the complement of a small clause whose specifier hosts the possessor DP.
The corresponding structural differences between the constructions are depicted in (3). I follow
Grosu (2004) and Izvorski (1998) in analyzing MECs as a bare CP complement of the verb be, akin to
interrogatives. By contrast MPCs are best analyzed as a possessive construction. I build on the analysis
of Russian possessives in Jung (2008), in the spirit of Kayne (1993), where the existential verb be takes a
PP complement which contains a small clause relating the possessor and possessee. I follow Jung in
placing a low Focus Phrase (in the sense of Belletti 2004) just below the BeP in Russian, which attracts
the possessee before the possessor remnant-moves to subject position.
There are three separate arguments that u+DP, unlike the dative subject of MECs originates outside
the wh-clause. First, MECs do not allow a second subject in the lower clause (4a), in contrast to MPCs
(4b). Second, the dative subject of MECs, but not u+DP, can appear in the lower clause between the wh-
word and the verb (5). Finally, MECs and MPC are possible with other predicates of existence or
coming into being. Some of these, like find, are transitive verbs, and as a result the matrix clause has a
nominative subject of its own. In such cases, the dative subject remains in the infinitival clause (6a),
while u+DP is disallowed (6b). (Due to space limitations I cannot address an alternative locative
interpretation for u+DP in this abstract.)
Furthermore, I provide evidence that the possessive small clause does not take the wh-clause as its
complement directly, but parallel to other possessive constructions, the complement of the small clause is
a DP, in this case a silent PERSON or THING modified by a relative clause: MPCs do not allow a wh-clause
with a complex wh-phrase (7a). This restriction to bare wh-words is inconsistent with the complement
being a bare CP, and, as expected, there is no similar restriction in MECs (7b).
The restriction to bare wh-phrases argues for a relative clause analysis, since relative clauses pattern
like MPCs (8). Based on the necessity of an indefinite interpretation and the absence of matching effects,
a free relative structure is ruled out (as argued for MECs by Izvorski and Grosu). The nature of the wh-
words (identical to interrogative pronouns and unlike relative pronouns) suggests that the silent head of
the relative clause is a light head in the sense Citko (2004). This is further confirmed by the fact an overt
light head is possible with a finite wh-clause, but only for MPCs and not MECs (9).
These data lead us to reconsider prior approaches to MECs which have relied on a bare CP analysis to
account for the unique behavior of the construction, since they cannot account for the existence of
identical properties in MPCs. To my knowledge this is the first discussion of the salient structural
distinctions between possessive and existential modal constructions. Unlike languages with identical
marking for possessors and MEC subjects, Russian conveniently allows us to tease apart the two
constructions through case marking. But the existence of a structurally distinct modal possessive
construction in Russian suggests a potential ambiguity in MECs crosslinguistically, which opens up new
areas for further investigation.
 (1) Mne est’ komu pozvonit’ (2) U menya est’ komu pozvonit’
[Link] is [Link] [Link] At [Link] is [Link] [Link]
‘There is someone for me to call’, ‘There is someone for me to call’
‘I have someone I can call’ ‘I have someone I can call’
(3)

(4) a. *Mne est’ gde tebe spat’ (5) a. Zdes’ est’ chto mne delat’
[Link] is where [Link] [Link] here is [Link] [Link] [Link]
b. U menya est’ gde tebe spat’ ‘There is something for me to do here’
at [Link] is where [Link] [Link] b.* Zdes’ est’ chto u menya delat’
‘I have somewhere for you to sleep’ here is what at [Link] [Link]
(6) a. Ya nashla chto mne podarit’ pape (7) a. *U menya est’ kakuju knigu chitat’
I found [Link] [Link] [Link] [Link] at [Link] is which book [Link]
‘I found something to give my dad’ b. Mne est’ kakuju knigu chitat’
b. *Ya nashla chto u menya podarit’ pape [Link] is which book [Link]
I found [Link] at [Link] [Link] [Link] ‘I have some book to read’
(8) * Ya nashla chto-to, kakuju knigu ya prochtu (9) a. U menya est’ to, chto ya khochu
I found something which [Link] I will read I [Link] is that, [Link] I want
‘I found something, which book I will read’ ‘I have what I want’
b. *Mne est’ to, chto ya khochu
[Link] is that [Link] I want.

Belletti, Adriana, 2004. “Aspect of the Low IP Area.” In The Structure of CP and IP: The Cartography of
Syntactic Structures, Vol. 2, ed. by Luigi Rizzi, 16–51. New York: Oxford University Press.
Citko, Barbara. 2004. On headed, headless and Light-headed relatives. Natural Language and Linguistic
Theory 22:95-126.
Grosu, Alexander. 2004. “The syntax-semantics of Modal Existential whconstructions.” In O. M. Tomić,
ed., Balkan syntax and semantics, 405-438. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Izvorski, Roumyana. 1998. "Non-Indicative Wh-Complements of Existential and Possessive
Predicates", in P.N. Tamanji and K. Kusumoto (eds.) NELS 28, 159-173.
Jung, Hakyung. 2008. “The Grammar of Have in a Have-less Language: Possession, Perfect, and
Ergativity in North Russian.” [Link]., Harvard University.
Kayne, Richard. 1993. “Toward a Modular Theory of Auxiliary Selection.” Studia Linguistica 47, 3–31.
Rappaport, Gilbert C. 1986. “On a persistent problem of Russian syntax: Sentences of the type `mne
negde spat'.” Russian Linguistics 10:1-31.