disputed cases in erzya jack rueter 1 sky 2009 cases in and across languages ©jack rueter...

Disputed cases in Erzya

Jack Rueter

1SKY 2009 Cases in and across languages©Jack Rueter rueter[at]cc.helsinki.fi

A = adjective; ABE = abessive; ABL = ablative; ABS = absolutive; CMP = comparative; COM= comitative; DAT = dative; DET = determiner, determinate; ELA = elative; FV = finite verb; GEN = genitive; HUM = human; ILL = illative; IMP = imperative; IND = indicative; INE = inessive; INF = infinitive; INTR = interrogative; LAT = lative; LOC = locative; N = noun; NEG = negative, negation; NOM = nominative; NP = noun phrase; NUM = numeral; PRT = particle; PAT = patient; PERS = person; PL = plural; POP = postposition; POSS = possessive; PRED= predicate function; PRES = present tense; PRET = preterite; PROL = prolative; PRON = pronoun; PROP = proper (noun); Q = quantifier; SG= singular ; STRNG= strong; TEMP= temporalis; TRL = translative


Absolutive◦ In the most recent grammar of Erzya Buzakova

(2000: 82-89) explains 12 cases and in a separate paragraph addresses the workings of the Absolutive. (= INDET NOM SG).

Determinate◦ Also known as the definite, the determinate

formants “ś” NOM DET SG, “ńť ” OBL DET SG, and “ńe” PL DET are associated with their etymological determiner values, definiteness, and referential prominence, (cf. Grebneva 2000: 102-107)


Elative, illative, inessive and prolative◦ In many studies of Erzya the spatial cases

“sto/ste” elative, “s” illative, “so/se” inessive and “ga/ka/va” prolative are equated with the adpositionals “ejste”, “ejs”, “ejse”, and “ezga”, (cf. Paasonen 1953: 01-03; Bartens 1999: 83, 87). Here, however, only the dependent formants come into question.

Inflection class ◦ Since the Erzya language attests a high degree

of regular inflection, and the various inflected forms of one given word might, in fact, be interpreted as different parts of speech, the term inflection class here refers to inflectional types, which might attest specific distributions and frequencies of case usage.


Morphology◦ Case and case-like formants

Parts of speech◦ Inflection classes and case

Associated NP complexity Compatibility with other grammatical

notions Some theta roles and cases Updated NP and VP usage So-called secondary Declension


Grammatical cases◦ Nominative, Genitive, Dative and Ablative

Local cases◦ Inessive, Elative, Illative, Lative and Prolative

Attribute cases◦ Comparative, Abessive and Translative

(Grebneva 2000: 76)

Misc. Cases◦ Comitative, Locative, Temporalis


Nominative Økudo house_N.NOM.SG = house_N.ABS

Genitive ńkudo+ń house_N+GEN ‘of a/the house(s)’

Dative ńeń/neńkudo+ńeń house_N+DAT ‘(AGENT) home(s)’

Ablative do/ďe/de/to/ťe/tekudo+do house_N+ABL ‘about/from a/the house’


Inessive so/se kudo+šo house_N+INE ‘in a/the house’

Elative sto/ste kudo+sto house_N+ELA ‘out of a/the house’

Illative s kudo+s house_N+ILL ‘into/in a/the house’

Lative v/j kudo+v house_N+LAT ‘(towards) home’

Prolative ga/ka/vakudo+va house_N+PROL ‘around home /the

house’


Comparative škakudo+ška house_N+COMP ‘the size of a house’

Abessive vtomo/vťeme/tomo/ťeme/temekudo+vtomo house_N+ABE ‘without a house’

Translative kskudo+ks house_N+TRANSL ‘(like) a house’


Comitative ńek/nekkudo+ńek house/holder_N+COM ‘with a

house/holder’

Locative o/emastor+o ground/land_N+LOC ‘on the ground’

Temporalis ńe/ne ~ńavarma+ńe wind_N+TEMP ‘when there's a wind’


Directional Non-directional

Separative

Dynamic ILL -s INE -so/-se ELA -sto/-ste

General LAT -v/-j LOC -o/-e ABL -do/-ďe…

Distributive PROL -ga/-ka/-va


(Morfologia 2000)◦ Nouns, pronouns, numerals

Corpora evidence◦ Adverbs, postpositions


Abe N, PRON, NUM Abl N, PRON, NUM,

POP Com N, PRON, NUM Comp N, PRON, NUM Dat N, PRON, NUM Ela N, PRON, NUM,

POP Gen N, PRON, NUM Ill N, PRON, NUM,

POP

Ine N, PRON, NUM, POP

Lat N, PRON, NUM, POP

Loc N, POP Nom N, PRON, NUM Prol N, PRON, NUM,

POP Temp N Transl N, PRON, NUM


Com ◦ N (+,-,-,-)

[+COUNT] ◦ PRON

kudo+ńek meź+ńek ‘house and all’(particle usage of pronominal stem)

◦ NUM (-,-,-,+) kolmo+ńe+ŋk ‘the three of you’, ‘you three’ komśe+ška+ńe+ŋk ‘about twenty of you’


Loc◦ N (+,-,-,-)

mastor+o ‘on the ground’mastor+do, mastor+ov, mastor+ga (general spatial)

◦ POP/ADV (+,-,-,+) al+o under_pop+local+do, al+ov, al+ga

◦ DEVERBAL NOUNS moĺe+m+e ‘to-go_v+inf+loc’ = Nominative infinitivemoĺe+m+(e)ďe, moĺe+m+ga


Temp◦ N (+,-,-,-)

Varma+ńe ‘when there’s a wind’


According to Raija Bartens (1999: 98) the presence of modifiers alone would suffice to indicate “case” status for the temporal use of the prolative NP “ťe porava” ‘at this/that time’.


Comitative ◦ Quantifier ◦ veśe veĺe+ńek ‘with the entire village’◦ peĺ veĺe+ńek ‘with half the village’◦ kolmo veĺe+ńek ‘with all three villages’◦ Modified adjective◦ veĺť paro kudo+ńek ‘with a very good sheath.’◦ Other ◦ Od veĺe+ńek ‘with all of Od Vele (New Village)’.


Locative◦ N

ĺembe mastor+o ‘in the south (in the warm land)’◦ ADV

veĺť alo ‘quite low’◦ POP

lov alo ‘under snow’ sonze alo / alo+nzo ‘under him/her/it’

◦ VN sajeme (cf. Bartens 1979: 25-26)


Temporalis◦ Determiner

iśťamo piźeme+ńe ‘in rain like this’◦ Genitive

śokśeń piźem+ńe ‘in the autumn rain’◦ Adjective

vijev varma+ńe ‘in a strong wind’ ĺembe varma+ńe ‘in a warm wind’


Arrays: “±, ±, ±, ±” of the nominal cells indicate

“±INDET, ±DET.SG, ±DET.PL, ±POSS”.“±, ±” of the postpositional cells indicate

“±INDET, ±POSS”.


Determinate markers attested with most cases◦ functions are associated with their own

frequencies and distributions definiteness may readily be associated with the

grammatical cases DAT, GEN and NOM deixis is strongly associated with the other cases.

Possessive suffixes◦ mark subordination to a referentially prominent

element or a possible discourse feature [-THEME] (cf. Rueter 2005, and Rueter forthcoming)


Indeterminate◦ Case◦ (NOM PL)

Determinate singular◦ (NOM, GEN) portmanteau◦ (DAT) portmanteau [etym det+case]◦ (elsewhere) case+det

Determinate plural◦ PL+DET+case

Possessive◦ (NOM, GEN) portmanteau◦ (DAT) portmanteau [etym person+case(+person)]◦ (elsewhere) case+person


Agent◦ Nominative; dative, illative

Patient◦ Nominative, genitive, inessive

Source◦ Elative, ablative

Goal◦ Illative, lative, prolative

Spatial location◦ Inessive, locative, prolative

Temporal location◦ Elative, prolative, temporalis


Case Np Vp

abe kudo+vtomo psakahouse/home_N+ABE cat_N.ABS‘homeless cat’

psakaś kudo+vtomocat_N.NOM.SG.DET house/home_N+ABE‘the cat [is] homeless’

cmp vazo+ška kiskacalf_N+CMP dog_N.ABS‘dog the size of a calf’

kiskaś vazo+škadog_N.NOM.SG.DET calf_N+CMP‘the dog [is] as big as a calf’

ela Turku+sto professorośTurku_N+ELA professor_N.NOM.SG.DET‘the professor from ’

professoroś Turku+stoprofessor_N.NOM.SG.DET Turku_N+ELA‘the professor [is] from ’

gen Purgazo+ń kudośPurgaz_N-PROP+GEN house/home_N.NOM.SG.DET‘Purgaz's house’

te kudoś Purgazo+ńthis_PRON-DEICT house/home_N.NOM.SG.DET Purgaz_N-PROP+GEN‘this house [is] Purgaz's’

ill jarsam+s kšim araśto-eat_NFV+ILL bread_N.POSS-1SG non-existent_PTC‘I don't have bread to eat’

kšim kadïja čokšnes jarsam+sbread_N.POSS-1SG to-leave_V.1SG>3SG evening_N.ILL to-eat_NFV+ILL‘I left my bread for evening to eat’


Case Np Vp

ine pakśa+so lomańfield_N+INE human_N.ABS‘a/the person in the field’

lomańeś pakśa+sohuman_N.ABS field_N+INE‘the person [is] in a/the field’

nom-abs kiska ĺevksdog_N.ABS offspring_N.ABS‘puppy’

te kiskathis_PRON-DEICT dog_N.ABS‘this [is] a dog’

loc ikeĺe peś ahead_ADV.LOC end_N.NOM.SG.DET‘the front end’

peś ikeĺeend_N.NOM.SG.DET ahead_ADV.LOC‘the/this/that end is ahead’

prol čavo pakśa+va moĺemańť końďamoempty_A.ABS field_N+PROL to-walk_NFV.GEN.SG.DET like_PP.ABS‘like going through an empty field’

kiś moĺś pakśa+varoad_N.NOM.SG.DET to-go_VF.IND.PRETI.3SG field_N+PROL‘the road went throught a/the field’

trl kudo+ks čočkohouse/home_N+TRANSL log_N.ABS‘a/the log for [building] a house’

ramaś čočkt od kudo+ks to-buy_VF.IND.PRETI.3SG log_N.PL.NOM.INDET new_A.ABS house/home_N+TRANSL ‘he/she/it bought logs for [building] a new house’

dat sazor+neń śorma little-sister_n+dat letter_n.nom.sg ‘a letter for my/a/the little sister’ (cf. Bartens 1999)

Maksoms sazor+neń śorma to-give_v.inf little-sister_n+dat letter_n.nom.sg ‘to give a letter to my/a/the little sister’


Secondary declension occurs when the np head is dropped – this implies predictability◦ Adjectives

+ ABE, CMP, TRS; ELA, INE, LOC, PROL + case etc. + “śe” ‘distal demonstrative’ + case etc.


◦ Genitive and locative + “śe” ‘distal demonstrative’ keve+ń+śe+ś stone_N+GEN+PRON.DEM.DISTAL+NOM.SG.DET ‘that/the one made out of stone’

◦ Indeterminate ABE, CMP, TRS; ELA, INE, LOC, PROL + case etc. pakśa+so+ś field_N+INE+NOM.DET.SG‘the one in the field’


◦ Determinate plural + ABE, CMP, TRS; ELA, INE, LOC, PROL + case etc. kudo+ť+ńe+se+ť+ńe house_N+PL+DET+INE+PL+DET‘the ones in the houses’

◦ ABE, CMP, TRS; ELA, INE, LOC, PROL + Determinate singular + śe” ‘distal demonstrative’ + case etc.

― Veĺe+ńť mala+va moda+ť+ńe śovoń, kev dï pesok marto čovor, vasolo pakśa+so+ńť+śe+ś kujav, roźe+ś to+so keńeŕi alamo+do śe+ďe pozda dï źorna+ń pramo+do+jak a peĺi.

Field_N+INE+DET+PRON-DEM.DISTAL+NOM.SG.DET


Veĺe+ńť mala+va moda+ť+ńe Village_n+gen.det.sg near_pop+prol field_n+pl+detśovoń, kev dï pesok clay_n.abs, stone_n.abs and/but_conj sand_n.absmarto čovor, vasol+o with_pop mixed_adv, far-away_adv+locpakśa+so+ńť+śe+ś kujav, field_N+INE+DET+PRON-DEM.DISTAL+NOM.SG.DET fat_a.absroźe+ś to+so keńeŕi rye_n+nom.det.sg there_pron-dem+ine to-ripen_v+ind.pres.pred-

3sgalamo+do śe+ďe pozda dï a-little+abl it_pron-dem-distal+abl late_adv and/but_conjźorna+ń pramo+do+jak a peĺi.grain_n+gen to-fall_v-n+abl+clt not_prt-neg to-fear_v+ind.pres.3sg(Shcheglov 1980: 272) ‘The fields near the village [are] mixed with clay, stone and sand, [but]

the one in the field far away [is] rich, the rye there ripens a little later and it isn’t (the ears) apt to lose its grain.’


Case types◦ Grammatical, local, attribute; peripheral modifier

Affinity between case and inflection classes◦ Low: com, loc, temp

NP complexity◦ Com

Quantifier, adjective◦ Loc

Only pop and v-n


Compatibility with other grammatical notions◦ LAT, COM, LOC, TEMP

Theta roles◦ Agent, patient, source, goal, spatio-temporal

NP and VP◦ ABL, LAT, TEMP, COM

Secondary declension◦ NOM, GEN, DAT, ILL, LAT, ABL, COM, TEMP


Translative ◦ Contested since Evsevyev (1928-29) for compatibility

with determinate and possessive marking. Hypothesis: few logical applications

Lative Locative Temporalis

◦ Conflict between abstract/fuzzy and definite

Comitative◦ Universal quantifier has limited application


ReferenceBartens, Raija 1970: On the Temporal Forms in Mordvin. 247-256. FUF XXXVIII. Helsinki. - - ” - - 1979: Mordvan, tšeremissin ja votjakinn konjugaation infiniittisten muotojen syntaksi.

SUST 170. Helsinki. - - ” - - 1999: Mordvalaiskielten rakenne ja kehitys. SUST 232. Helsinki.Buzakova, R. Н. [Бузакова, Р. Н.] 2000: «Падежтнень смустест», «Аволь падежень формась» in

Эрзянь кель. Морфемика, валонь теевема ды морфология: Вузонь эрзянь ды финнэнь отделениянь тонавтницятнень туртов /Редколлегиясь: Д. В. Цыганкин (отв. ред. ), Н. А. Агафонова, М. Д. Имайкина ды лият. – Саранск: Тип. «Крас. Окт.». 2000. – 280 с. – Мордов.-эрзя яз.

Evsevyev, M. E. [Евсевьев, М. Е.] 1963 [1928-29]: Избранные труды т. 4. Основы мордовской грамматики. Саранск.

Grebneva, A. М. [Гребнева, А. М.] 2000: «Невтемачинь категориясь» in Эрзянь кель. Морфемика, валонь теевема ды морфология: Вузонь эрзянь ды финнэнь отделениянь тонавтницятнень туртов /Редколлегиясь: Д. В. Цыганкин (отв. ред. ), Н. А. Агафонова, М. Д. Имайкина ды лият. – Саранск: Тип. «Крас. Окт.». 2000. – 280 с. – Мордов.-эрзя яз.

Rueter, Jack 2005: Conflicting evidence for the Erzian Genitive. In Lihkkun lehkos! Beiträge zur Finnougristik aus Anlaß des sechzigsten Geburtstages von Hans-Hermann Bartens. Herausgegeben von Cornelius Hasselblatt, Eino Koponen und Anna Widmer. Harrassowitz Verlag · Wiesbaden in Kommission.

Saarinen, Sirkka 2009: Case endings in Mari and Mordvin postpositions. Section paper at SKY 2009: Case in and across languages. Helsinki

SourcesErzya language corpora of the Erzya written language under development as Helsinki.

Versions accessible in UHLCS at IT Center for Science in Finland, and Max Planck Institute, Leipzig, Germany.


disputed cases in erzya jack rueter 1 sky 2009 cases in and across languages ©jack rueter...

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