Grammatical animacy at the edges
Animacy is a lexical-grammatical classification, not a live/non-live test applied from scratch.
- People and animals are normally animate. Some lexical classes, metaphors, games, toys, and collective labels require dictionary or construction knowledge.
| Referent | Typical pattern | Example |
|---|---|---|
| person | animate | ви́жу но́вого врача́ |
| animal | animate | ви́жу ма́ленького кота́ |
| plant | normally inanimate | ви́жу ста́рый дуб |
| doll | often animate grammatically | ви́жу но́вого пупса |
| chess piece | lexically variable by noun/use | store the exact noun frame |
Read the model
3.04 · Grammatical animacy at the edges · table 1
person · animate · ви́жу но́вого врача́animal · animate · ви́жу ма́ленького кота́Mini-check
Choose: ви́жу ста́рый / ста́рого дуб. Should a learner guess edge animacy from biology alone?
Apply this next
- Say the Russian examples aloud, cover the model, and retrieve the pattern once before continuing.