Nominativus absolutus in the history of the Russian language

The article examines the structure, semantics, and functions of the nominativus absolutus structure, which is a predicative unit with the participial predicate having the subject of its own. The relevance of the work is explained by inconsistency in interpretation of the genesis, structural features and functions of this structure in the linguistic literature. The purpose of the article is to identify indicators of the grammatical dependence of nominativus absolutus on the verbal part, to prove its originality, to determine the dynamics of use, stylistic marking, and reasons for elimination. The article used the method of continuous sampling, descriptive, comparative historical and comparative typological methods. It has been proved that, despite the high degree of predicativity of the participle in this construction, it remains grammatically dependent on the verbal part. The markers of this dependency are revealed: the identity or co-reference of the subjects in nominativus absolutus and the verbal part; one subject denotes the whole, while the other nominates its part; the subject of one part represents a subject, while in the other part it is an object; the subject in nominativus absolutus possesses the item nominated in the verbal part. The constructive variety of the analyzed clause is investigated, the types of semantic relations between the subject in nominativus absolutus and the main part are characterized. The application of quantitative data analysis has enabled the author to study the dynamics of nominativus absolutus functioning in the written records of the 11th - 17th centuries, taking into account the development of the simple sentence structure and the category of a subordinate clause. The reasons for nominativus absolutus elimination are determined.