Dostoevsky and World Culture Dostoevsky and World Culture 2619-0311 2712-8512 IWL RAS https://doi.org/10.22455/2619-0311-2025-4-166-204 Research Article Articles Language Experiments in the Novel Demons Testelets Yakov G. fedor@dostmirkult.ru 25 12 2025 1 4 166 204 Demons language experiments ellipsis in Russian complementizers in Russian prepositions in Russian converbs in Russian functional words in Russian Copyright © 2026, IWL RAS 2026 The article offers a first detailed grammatical analysis of the peculiar language of two characters in Dostoevsky’s Demons—Kirillov and Captain Lebyadkin. The main characteristic of Kirillov’s language is non-standard ellipsis, that is, the omission of some elements of a sentence that can nevertheless be understood in the context of the remaining elements and the speech situation. Kirillov omits more than is permitted by the rules of Russian grammar. The instances where he violates the rules of spontaneous ellipsis with indefinite recovery of the elided material (like Pushkin’s Tatjana v les, medved’ za neju “Tatyana ran to the forest, the bear ran after her”) are of special interest. Kirillov also violates the rules that regulate the use of Russian complementizers, quantifier pronouns and some other, mainly functional, words. Kirillov’s minimalist language reflects his indifference to everything except the radical transformation of the world and humanity that he wants to achieve by his suicide. Lebyadkin’s poetry and prose speech contain non-standard word formation, ungrammatical uses of prepositions, particles, and converb clauses. Violations of grammar rules are only one of the factors that contribute to the comical and satirical effect. In several cases, we can only hypothesize that some morphological or syntactic constructions might be perceived as comical by the first readers. Sometimes, e. g. with spontaneous ellipsis or with the semantics of converbs, the material found in the Demons makes it possible to detect problems yet unresolved in research of the Russian grammar. Grammatical violations in Kirillov’s and Lebyadkin’s speech may be tentatively associated with the fragmentation, chaos, and expectation of imminent radical change characteristic of the revolutionary mindset as depicted in the novel.