Converb constructions in Mari and Udmurt

Uralic languages of the Volga-Kama Region, especially Mari and Udmurt, show strong Turkic influence in the range of usages of converbial (gerundial, i.e. adverbial non-finite) forms. Converbs can be found in combination with syntactically superordinate verbs communicating different values, mirroring Turkic structures: modal (“swimming know” = ‘know how to swim’), directional (“crawling leave” = ‘crawl away’), benefactive (“baking give” = ‘bake something for someone’), aspectual (“drinking send” = ‘drink up’). It is debatable however to what extent one can speak of grammaticalized structures and to what extent one should speak of a body of loan translations in individual languages or varieties. The paper explores the prospect of using verbs borrowed from Russian as a metric of productivity: as these were borrowed after the phase of intense Turkic language contacts ended, their usage in Turkic-type structures can been seen as evidence for their grammaticalization, while their absence in such structures can be seen as evidence against it.

Marking strategies of attributive possession in Selkup

This paper deals with attributive possession in North, Central and South Selkup and focuses on a quantitative analysis of the frequency with which marking strategies are used in Selkup dialects. In Selkup, attributive possession can be head marked (with a possessive suffix), dependent marked (with genitive or adessive marking), and double marked (both combined), but close study shows that while dependent marking with genitive is most commonly used for lexical possessors, for non-lexical possessors the most common usage is head marking with a possessive suffix. The paper also illustrates the usage of different types of possession (e.g. inalienable/alienable) and shows that they are rarely treated differently with regard to their marking.

On the interplay between tense marking, aspect and temporal continuity in Udora Komi

The Udora dialect of Zyrian Komi lacks the morphological opposition between the present and future tenses that is found in other Komi dialects and the written standard. The morphemes corresponding to these tenses are, however, found in this dialect, with individual verbs showing a strong tendency to choose one of the two. This study shows that the two morphemes are not in free variation but rather carry various grammatical meanings, and that the variants are strongly connected to the lexical aspect of individual verbs. Due to the rigidity of the system, the authors refer to the variants here as conjugation types. The -as- conjugation type, which corresponds to the Standard Komi future marker, occurs with all transitive verbs and a majority of intransitive verbs. However, the study also identifies a group of intransitive verbs occurring with the conjugation type -e̮-. The verbs in the latter group can be analysed as temporally continuous. Additionally, there are other subgroupings that can be postulated, including verbs that describe involuntary actions. The system interacts in a predictable manner with Komi derivational morphology. The study also corroborates the previously proposed historical connection between this characteristic of verbal morphology in the Udora dialect and Old Komi. The authors suggest that the verbal morphology seen in these Komi varieties must predate the contemporary tense system. The study provides a new direction for analysing the development of the tense system in the Permic languages, as it is shown that the factors underlying the variation extend beyond transitivity. As a previously undescribed phenomenon, the study describes the use of the Udora conjugation types in narrative tense structuring and demonstrate parallels with Standard Komi.

Typology of number systems in languages of Western and Central Siberia

This paper investigates the linguistic expression of number in seven languages from Western and Central Siberia. In a first step the number system of each language is described in detail, and afterwards the most relevant convergences and divergences of the languages are dealt with. Three particularly interesting phenomena are discussed in more detail: First, it is shown that the concept of general number, denoting noun forms underspecified for number, is able to account for a range of related phenomena (unmarked noun forms after numerals, nouns denoting paired objects). Second, singulatives in Selkup, Ket and partly Eastern Khanty are analyzed, whereby it is argued that their similar morphosyntactic and grammaticalization patterns allow for analyzing them as a contact phenomenon. Third, two splits on the animacy hierarchy between the first and second person in Dolgan as well as Chulym Turkic are presented. Finally, the results are evaluated against a broader areal-typological background, whereby it is shown that the category of number does not support any larger areal groupings within Western and Central Siberia, but that the analyzed languages rather adhere to patterns of number marking present all over Northern Eurasia.

A template approach to pragmatic constituent order variation in modern Northern Mansi

Mansi belongs to the Ob-Ugrian branch of the Uralic language family. Northern Mansi constituent order and its pragmatic variation have not been examined comprehensively until now. This lack is filled in this article, by syntactic-pragmatic template analysis, using a new model of 9+1 templatic slots, which are filled with syntactic or pragmatic functions. Thus, this study is also an attempt to combine both pragmatic and syntactic levels in the same template analysis. Moreover, Rombandeeva’s (1979; 1984) earlier observations on Northern Mansi word order, and those of other scholars, are compared to those drawn here from contemporary data.

Languages of hunter-gatherers through a historical-typological lens

Besprechung Güldemann, Tom & McConvell, Patrick & Rhodes, Richard A. (eds.). 2020. The language of hunter-gatherers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. xxii + 720 pp.