Tore Nesset

Professor of Russian Linguistics
Department of Language and Linguistics
University of Tromsø
NO-9037 Tromsø, Norway

Email: tore.nesset@uit.no

tel: +47 776 45633

Research interests

Slavic linguistics, especially Russian morphology and phonology

Linguistic theory, especially cognitive linguistics and Optimality Theory

I have published on a number of topics in Russian linguistics, such as conjugation, declension, morphophonology, stress, vowel reduction, case, gender, aspectual prefixes, and reflexive verbs.

For my profile in the CRISTin research database, click here.

Research group and research projects

Together with Laura A. Janda, I am the leader of the CLEAR (cognitive linguistics: empirical approaches to Russian) research group. Major research projects:

Exploring Emptiness (funding from Norwegian Research Council; 2008-2011)
Neat Theories - Messy Realities (funding from Norwegian Research Council, 2011-)
Time is Space (at the Center for Advanced Study, Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters; 2011-2012)
Birds & Beasts: Shaping Events in Old Russian (funding from Norwegian Research Council; 2013–2016)

Editorial boards

I am on the editorial board of Norsk Lingvistisk Tidsskrift and Slavica Bergensia.
Together with Ingunn Lunde, I edit Poljarnyj Vestnik.

CV

2012-13

Visiting scholar with Fulbright grant, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

2011-12	Group leader at Center for Advanced Study, Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters (with Laura A. Janda)
2007-08	Professor II, University of Bergen
2005-06	Visiting scholar, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
2004-	Professor of Russian Linguistics, University of Tromsø
2003-	Affiliate, Center for Advanced Study in Theoretical Linguistics (CASTL), University of Tromsø
2001	Visiting scholar, Dept. of Linguistics, University of California, San Diego
1997-04	Associate professor of Russian linguistics, University of Tromsø
1997	Doctor artium, University of Oslo
1995	Visiting scholar, Surrey Morphology Group, University of Surrey, UK
1992-96	Research fellow, Dept. of East European and Oriental Studies, University of Oslo
1992	Cand.philol., University of Oslo (Russian hovedfag)
1991	Visiting scholar, Dept. of Linguistics, Soviet Academy of Sciences, Moscow
1989	Cand.mag., University of Oslo (Russian mellomfag, Linguistics mellomfag, German grunnfag)

Publications

Monographs:

Why Russian aspectual prefixes aren’t empty: prefixes as verb classifiers. Bloomington IN: Slavica Publishers, 2013 (ISBN 978-0-89357-409-3) (with Anna Endresen, Laura A. Janda, Julia Kuznetsova, Olga Lyashevskaya, Anastasia Makarova, and Svetlana Sokolova)
Russiskstudentens beste venn. Elementær innføring i kasuslære. Oslo: Novus forlag, 2010, 144 pp. (Abstract (pdf))
Abstract Phonology in a Concrete Model. Cognitive Linguistics and the Morphology-Phonology Interface, Berlin and New York: Mouton de Gruyter, 250 pp. (Abstract )
Russian Conjugation Revisited. A Cognitive Approach to Aspects of Russian Verb Inflection, Oslo: Novus Press 1998(=Tromsø studies in linguistics 19), 336 pp. (Abstract)
Russian Stress. Stress as an Inflectional Formative in Russian Noun Paradigms and Bybee's Cognitive Morphology, Oslo: Novus Press 1994 (=Oslo studies in linguistics 9), 172 pp. (Abstract (pdf))

Articles:

OLD CHURCH SLAVONIC BYTI PART TWO: GRAMMATICAL PROFILING ANALYSIS. Slavic and East European Journal 58.3, 2014, pp. 498-525. (with Laura A. Janda and Hanne M. Eckhoff)
OLD CHURCH SLAVONIC BYTI PART ONE: GRAMMATICAL PROFILING ANALYSIS. Slavic and East European Journal 58.3, 2014, pp. 482-497. (with Laura A. Janda and Hanne M. Eckhoff)
Testing the Semantic Homogeneity Constraint: Analogical change and Russian verbs. Journal of Historical Linguistics 4.2, 2014, pp. 161-191. (with Anastasia Makarova)
Space-time asymmetries: Russian v ‘in(to)’ and the North Slavic Temporal Adverbial Continuum. Russian Linguistics 37.3, 2013, pp. 317-345. (with Anastasia Makarova)
How ‘here’ and ‘now’ in Russian and English establish joint attention in TV news broadcasts. Russian Linguistics 37.3, 2013, pp. 229-251. (with Laura A. Janda, Anna Endresen, Anastasia Makarova, Francis Steen and Mark Turner)
Making choices in Russian: Pros and cons of statistical methods for rival forms. Russian Linguistics 37.3, 2013, pp. 253-291. (with Laura A. Janda, Anna Endresen, Anastasia Makarova and R. Harald Baayen)
The History of the Russian Semelfactive: The Development of a Radial Category. Journal of Slavic Linguistics 21.1, 2013, pp. 123-169. (database)
How Russian became Typologically Unusual: the History of Russian Temporal Adverbials with v ‘in(to)’. Scando-Slavica 59.(1), 2013. (database)
Some notes on temporal adverbials in Old Russian: the case of lěto ‘year’ in Suzdal’skaja letopis’. Poljarnyj vestnik 15, 2012, pp. 31-38
Russian ‘purely aspectual’ prefixes: Not so ‘empty’ after all?. Scando-Slavica 58.(2), 2012, pp. 231-291. (with Anna Endresen, Laura A. Janda, Julia Kuznetsova, Olga Lyashevskaya, Anastasia Makarova, and Svetlana Sokolova)
One or several categories? The Old Church Slavonic nǫ-verbs and linguistic profiling. Russian Linguistics 36.3, 2012, pp. 285-303.
Space-Time Asymmetries in Russian Prepositions: Preliminary Analysis, Poljarnyj Vestnik 14, 2011, pp. 45-62. (Article)
‘Nu-drop’ in Russian verbs: a corpus-based investigation of morphological variation and change. Russian Linguistics 35.4, 2011, pp. 41-63. (with Anastasia Makarova)
Two ways to get out: Radial Category Profiling and the Russian prefixes vy- and iz-. Zeitschrift für Slawistik 56.4, 2011, pp. 377-402. (With Anna Endresen and Laura A. Janda)
Stability and Complexity: Russian Suffix Shift over Time. Scando-Slavica 57.2, 2011, pp. 268-289. (with Julia Kuznetsova).
Constraints on diachronic development: the Animacy Hierarchy and the Relevance Constraint. Sprachtypologie und Universalienforschung 64.3, 2011, pp. 193-212. (with Hans-Olav Enger)
Metafor og metonymi: personkarakteriserende sammensatte substantiv i norsk. Maal og Minne 1. 2011, pp. 32-64.
Is the choice of prefix arbitrary? Aspectual prefixation and Russian verbs of perception. Slavic and East European Journal 54.4, pp. 666-689.
The art of being negative: metonymical morphological constructions in contrast, Oslo Studies in Language 2(2), 2010, pp. 261-279. (Article (pdf))
Taking Apart Russian RAZ-. Slavic and East European Journal 54.3, 2010, pp. 476-501. (with Laura A. Janda)
Paradigm structure: Evidence from Russian suffix shift. Cognitive Linguistics 21-4, 2010, pp. 699-725. (with Laura A. Janda) (Article (pdf))
Why not? Prototypes and blocking of language change in Russian verbs, in Cognitive Linguistics in Action: From Theory to Application and Back. Berlin and New York: Mouton de Gruyter, 2010, pp. 125-144.
Suffix shift in Russian verbs: a case for markedness? Russian Linguistics 34.2, 2010, pp. 123-138. (Article (pdf))
Capturing correlational structure in Russian paradigms: a case study in logistic mixed-effects modeling. Corpus Linguistics and Linguistic Theory 6-1, 2010, pp. 29-48 (with Laura A. Janda and R. Harald Baayen). (Article (pdf))
Metaphorical walking: Russian idti as a generalized motion verb, in Victoria Hasko and Renee Perelmutter (eds.): New Approaches to Slavic Verbs of Motion, Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 2010, pp. 343-360. (Article (pdf))
Getting out: A preliminary analysis of vy- and iz-. Poljarnnyj Vestnik 12, 2009, pp. 72-84 (with Anna Baydimirova and Laura A. Janda). (Article (pdf))
Metonymy of Aspect/Aspects of Metonymy. Scando-Slavica 55, 2009, pp. 65-77. (Article (pdf))
On the epithet “cognitive”. In E.V. Padučeva: Stat’i raznyx let, Moscow: Jazyki slavjanskoj kul’tur, 2009 pp. 646-649. (Article (pdf))
Why poslushat', but uslyshat'? Poljarnyj Vestnik 11, 2008, pp. 38-46 (with Laura Janda, Julia Kuznetsova, Olga Lyashevskaya, Anastasia Makarova, and Svetlana Sokolova) (Article (pdf) ).
Modeling language change in Cognitive Grammar: The bereč´ verb class in Russian. Slavica Helsingiensia 35, 2008, 242-251. (Article (pdf))
Ob''jasnenie togo, čto ne imelo mesto: Blokirovka suffiksal'nogo sdviga v russkix glagolax. Voprosy jazykoznanija 6, 2008, 35-48. (Article (pdf) )
PATH and MANNER: An Image-Schematic Approach to Russian Verbs of Motion. Scando-Slavica 54, 2008, 135-158.
The Path to Neutralization: Image Schemas and Prefixed Motion Verbs, Poljarnyj Vestnik 10, 2007, pp. 61-71. (Article (pdf))
Second-order schemas and active subschemas: Vowel reduction in Cogntive Grammar, Poljarnyj Vestnik 9, 2006, pp. 52-61. (Article (pdf))
Meta-Constraints: Constraint Interaction and Gender Assignment in Ukrainian Proceedings of the Thirtieth Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society, published 2006, pp. 318-329. (Article (pdf))
Gender meets the Usage-Based Model: Four Principles of Rule Interaction in Gender Assignment Lingua vol. 116:9, 2006, pp. 1369-1393. (Article (pdf))
Introduction, Lingua 116:9, 2006, pp. 1343-1345 (with Hans-Olav Enger and Curt Rice).
Opaque softening: A usage-based approach, Poljarnyj Vestnik 8, 2005, pp. 55-68. (Article (pdf))
Substansielle og kategorispesifikke ordningsprinsipp i kognitiv lingvistikk: Evidens fra genustilordning, Norsk Lingvistisk Tidsskrift 23:2, 2005, pp. 177-197. (Article (pdf))
Rule Counting vs. Rule Ordering: Universal Principles of Rule Interaction in Gender Assignment Morphology and Linguistic Typology. On-line Proceedings of the Fourth Mediterranean Morphology Meeting (MMM4) Catania, 21-23 September 2003 (ISSN 1826-7491)(Link to proceedings) (Article(pdf)).
Introduction, Glossos 5 (with Laura A. Janda). (Article)
Case Assignment in Russian Temporal Adverbials: an Image Schematic Approach, Glossos 5. (Article)
Allomorphy in the Usage-Based Model: The Russian Past Passive Participle, Cognitive Linguistics 16:1, 2005, pp. 145-167. (Abstract (pdf)).
Truncation without Truncation?, Poljarnyj Vestnik 7, 2004, pp. 56-73. (Abstract (pdf))
Case Assignment and Image Schemas: Russian Temporal Adverbials, Studies in Language 28:2, 2004, pp. 285-320. (Abstract (pdf)) (Article (pdf))
The Assignment of Gender and Declension to Russian Nouns in Soft Consonants: Predictability and Rule Interaction, Journal of Slavic Linguistics 11:2, 2003, pp. 287-322. (Abstract (pdf)) (Article (pdf))
Gender Assignment in Ukrainian: Language Specific Rules and Universal Principles, Poljarnyj Vestnik 6, 2003, 71-85. (Abstract (pdf))
Morphological Splits - Iconicity, Optimality and (Inverse) Doughnuts, in S. Bendjaballah/W.U. Dressler/O.E. Pfeiffer/M.D. Voeikova (eds.): Morphology 2000, Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 2002 pp. 271-282. (with Hans-Olav Enger). (Abstract (pdf))
Dissimilation, Assimilation and Vowel Reduction: Constraint Interaction in East Slavic Dialects with so-called Dissimilative Akan‘e Jakan‘e, Poljarnyj Vestnik 5, 2002, pp. 77-101. (Abstract (pdf))
The Compactness Hypothesis: Interaction between Aspect and Case in the Russian "Decade Construction", Journal of Hokkaido Linguistics 2, pp. 93-100.
How pervasive are sexist ideologies in grammar?, in R. Dirven/E. Sandikcioglu/B. Hawkins (eds.): Language & Ideology: Cognitive Theoretical Approaches, Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 2001 pp. 197-227. (Abstract (pdf))
Iconicity and Prototypes: A New Perspective on Russian Verbs of Motion, Scando-Slavica 46, 2000, pp. 105-119. (Abstract (pdf)) (Article (pdf))
The Norwegian and Russian reflexive-middle-passive systems and Cognitive Grammar, in Simonsen, H.G. & R.T. Endresen (eds): A Cognitive Approach to the Verb: Morphological and Constructional Perspectives (Cognitive Linguistic Research 16). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 2000, pp. 223 - 242. (Abstract (pdf))
Schwa in Contemporary Standard Russian, Poljarnyj Vestnik 3, 2000, pp. 49-63. (Abstract (pdf))
The Realization of (In)definiteness in Russian, Poljarnyj Vestnik 2, 1999, pp. 84-109. (Abstract (pdf))
The Value of Cognitive Grammar in Typological Studies: the Case of Norwegian and Russian Passive, Middle and Reflexive, Nordic Journal of Linguistics 22, 1998, pp. 27-60 (with Hans-Olav Enger). (Abstract (pdf)) (Article (pdf))
Antiphonotactic Suffixation: Russian -sja and Optimality Theory, Scando-Slavica 44, 1998, pp. 145-153. (Abstract (pdf))
Affiks eller klitikon? (Affix or Clitic?), Norsk Lingvistisk Tidsskrift 16, 1998, pp. 185-206. (Sammendrag (pdf))
Russian nu-drop Verbs, Radial Categories and Cognitive Grammar, Nordlyd 25, 1997, pp. 91-97. (Abstract (pdf))
Kasus i russisk, trekk og kognitiv grammatikk (Case in Russian, Features and Cognitive Grammar), Norsk Lingvistisk Tidsskrift 14, 1996, pp. 171-188. (Sammendrag (pdf))
A Feature-Based Approach to Russian Noun Inflection, Journal of Slavic Linguistics 2(2), 1994, pp. 215-238. (Abstract (pdf))
Semiotičeskie aspekty udarenija russkix sushestvitel'nyx, (Semiotic Aspects of Russian Noun Stress) Meddelelser fra Slavisk-baltisk avdeling 68, Oslo, 1994, pp. 23-33.
Diktet og revolusjonen, Meddelelser fra Slavisk-baltisk institutt 56, Oslo, 1988, pp. 1-32.

Book reviews:

Ronald W. Langacker: Cognitive Grammar. A Basic Introduction, Journal of Linguistics 45, 2009, pp. 477-499. (Article (pdf))
Jerome A. Feldman: From Molecule to Metaphor. A Neural Theory of Language, Norsk Lingvistisk Tidsskrift vol. 2, 2007, pp. 284-287. (sammen med Laura A. Janda) (Article (pdf))
Ny norsk-russisk ordbok: Ei leksikografisk storhending, LexicoNordica 12, 2005, pp. 273-284. (saman med Trond Trosterud)
Katherine Crosswhite, Vowel Reduction in Optimality Theory, Journal of Linguistics 39, 2003, pp. 421-423.
Gjert Kristoffersen: The Phonology of Norwegian, Journal of Linguistics 38, 2002, pp. 445-446.
Marit Bjerkeng, Tatiana Bräger & Trond Gunnar Nordenstam: Sosedi 1. Begynnerkurs i russisk, Nordisk Østforum 1, 2001, pp. 102-103.