Russian 2210/1400: Midterm examination

Instructions: Type all answers and email to instructor by midnight Sunday, March 21. The place of stress is marked by underlining in this exam (e.g., русский), and you should mark stress by underlining in your answers. You may use your textbook and any reference materials you’d like (print or electronic), but you may not discuss the exam with anyone else, whether or not they are taking this course.

Part 1: Noun endings

The following are Nsg forms of hypothetical nouns. Give, with stress, the Gsg, Npl, Gpl, plus any other form requested. Assume that all are regular and follow rules, and don’t forget to mark stress and take care of fill vowels where appropriate.

1. кадбо [S]
2. куздра [F] Isg
3. бола [SR] Asg
4. полх [S]
5. забавей [Fe] (mobile vowel)

Part 2: Noun stress

Explain/discuss/summarize the system of noun stress in Russian, aiming your discussion at a level appropriate for an undergraduate student in a second-year language course.

Part 3: Adjectives

The following are hypothetical adjectives. Give, with stress, the msg, fsg, and pl short forms and the comparative (four forms in all). Assume that all are regular and follow rules, and don’t forget to mark stress and take care of fill vowels where appropriate.

1. лухой [S]
2. глостый [Fe]
3. прыжной [Fe]
4. боросый [S]
5. снойный [F]

Part 4: Verb forms

The following are hypothetical verbs. Give the inf; the 1sg, 2sg, and 3pl present; the imv sg; and the f past (six forms in all). Assume that all are regular and follow rules, and don’t forget to mark stress and take care of fill vowels where appropriate.

1. туз-и́+
2. туз-а̀+
3. тор-о̀+
4. тор-ова́+

Part 5: Verb system

Answer the following questions, assuming a single-stem model.

1. How can you tell which verbs are -ёт-conjugation and which are -ит-conjugation?
2. Non-suffixed obstruent-stem verbs have stems that end in (in alphabetical order) б, г, д, з, к, с, and т. Group these in natural classes (that is, group together the types that behave similarly to one another) and list briefly the idiosyncrasies of each class. If there were non-suffixed obstruent-stem verbs in п, how would they be conjugated?

Part 6: Odds and ends

Answer the following questions.

1. The words тре́тий, медве́жий, си́ний, ди́кий, and хоро́ший all end in -ий in the mNsg. How are they similar and how are they different from one another? (Your answer should distinguish pronominals from adjectives and should take spelling rules and fill vowels into consideration.)
2. You are teaching second-year Russian and a precocious student stumbles across the form сам-третей when reading a folktale and asks you about it. How does this word fit into what you know about Russian numbers and what will you tell your student?