Modal verbs in Balto-Finnic

Petar Kehayov & Reeli TornUniversity of Tartu

Types of modality The inventory of modal verbs in Balto-

Finnic Grammaticalization parameters Language contact

Key issues

Modality types (van der Auwera & Plungian 1998)

NecessityNon-epistemic necessity

Participant-external necessity

Epistemic necessity (Probability)

Deontic necessity (Obligation)

Non-deontic necessity

Participant-internal necessity (Need)

Deontic possibility (Permission)

Non-deontic possibility

Participant-external possibilityParticipant-internal possibility (Dynamic possibility, Ability)

Epistemic possibility (uncertainty)

Non-epistemic possibilityPossibility

The inventory of modal verbs in Balto-Finnic

in all 7 languages in 5 languages

voida saada

pitää

lie-

tulla

tarvita

täytyä

POSSIBILITY NECESSITY

in 3 languages

The premodal meanings of these core verbs

‘to need’ (Laitinen 1992: 130)tarvita

‘to get’ <*‘to come’ (Saukkonen 1966: 5)saada

modal variant of auxiliary ‘be’ (Saukkonen 1965: 174)lie-

‘to get filled; to suffice’ (Saukkonen 1965: 144)täytyä

‘to come’tulla

‘to seize; to hold’ (Saukkonen 1965: 113; Laitinen 1992: 137)

pitää

‘to be able/capable’ < *‘to be strong’ (Saukkonen 1966: 74–75)

voida

Impersonal vs personal pattern

Mina varim pid’ läem. (Salats)I earlier must(=hold).PST.1SG go-INF‘I had to leave earlier.’

Minnәn varald pidiks läem. (Piza)I-DAT early must(=hold)-COND.3SG go-INF‘I had to leave earlier’

Grammaticalization parameters (Lehmann 2002)

Integrity (semantic bleaching, formal erosion)

Paradigmaticity Paradigmatic variability Structural scope Bondedness Syntagmatic variability

Integrity: semantic bleachingSemantic bleaching leads to polyfunctionality; e.g. saada ‘get’

Integrity: formal erosion

Morphological degeneration: lack of person/number inflection; lack of mood inflection; lack of voice inflection; lack of tense inflection; lack of negative or positive forms; lack of nominalization(s) that are productive

with other verbs.

Loss of person inflection:a shift from personal to impersonal pattern

Old Written Estoniana. Nendetähtes sannade sees tullewad meil keigeennamiste these important word-PL.GEN in come-PRS.3PL we-ADE SUPER most kaks asja tähhele panna (Seitse Paasto-Jutlust 1817: 56: Penjam 2005: 106) two thing-PRT to_notice-INF ‘In these important words there are two things that need to be noticed above all’

Modern Standard Estonianb. Nendetähtsate sõnade sees tuleb meil kõige rohkem these important.PL word-PL.GEN in come-PRS.3SG we-ADE SUPER most kahte asja tähele panna. two-PRT thing-PRT to_notice-INF ‘In these important words there are two things that need to be noticed above all.’

Lack of nominalization(s) that are productive with other verbs:e.g. lack of agentive noun ending in –ja

*tulla võija ‘one who can come’

→b. ta võib tulla ‘s/he can come’

tulla tahtja‘one who wants to come’

→a. ta tahab tulla ‘s/he wants to come’

ParadigmaticityParadigmaticization: shift from an open class to a closed class of words, increase in irregularity, fossilization

Example of fossilization: the form of the potential mood of the Finnish verb lie- has become a modal particle/adverb

Väliaikana lienee valmistellaan jo seuraavaa break-ESS be(=SPPL)-POT prepare-PRS.PASS already next-PRTkokousta. (ISK 2004: 1522)meeting-PRT‘Probably preparations will already be made for the next meeting during the break.’

Paradigmatic variability: the freedom to chose between various means for expressing the category or to leave the category unspecifiedThe decrease of such freedom is called “obligatorification” by Lehmann. For example, the Estonian necessity verb tulema ‘to come’ requires the subject of the infinitive to be animate (b). In contrast, the verb pidama ‘to hold’, which is also used for expressing necessity, does not show such a restriction (a), and, is, thus, more obligatory:

a. Müts peab peas olema.

cap must(=hold)-3SG head-INE be-INF‘A cap must be worn.’ (Uuspõld 1989: 475)

b. *Mütsil tuleb peas olla.

cap-ADE must(=come)-3SG head-INE be-INF‘A cap must be worn.’ (Uuspõld 1989: 475)

Structural scope

The structural scope of a gram is the structural size of the construction it helps to form. The structural scope of the verbs following the personal pattern – see Karelianvoija in (a) – is narrower than the structural scope of those following the impersonal pattern – see Karelian piteä in (b).

a. Mie voin lähtie makuamah.I can-1SG go-INF sleep-INF‘I can go to sleep.’

b. Miula pitäy lähtie makuamah. I-ADE/ALL must(=hold)-3SG go-INF sleep-INF‘I must go to sleep.’ (Pekka Zaikov, p.c.)

Bondedness; Syntagmatic variability Bondedness:

The syntagmatic cohesion or bondedness of a sign is the intimacy with which it is connected with another sign to which it bears a syntagmatic relation.

Syntagmatic variability:Syntagmatic variability concerns the positional mutability of a sign with respect to those constituents with which it forms a construction.

Language contact

Types of language contact: Lexical borrowing Code-copying

Language contact: code-copying

Karelian: due to the intense contact with Russian practically all core modal verbs can occur in the impersonal pattern.

Voidgo miuлa teil’ä üödä moata. can(=be_able)-3SG-Q I-ADE/ALL you-ADE/ALL night-PRT sleep-INF‘Can I sleep at your place tonight.’ (Palmeos 1962: 33).

Suawgo lähtie sinul? (SKJ-LD 1990: 364)get(=get)-3SG-Q depart-INFyou-ADE/ALL‘Can you go?’

Koska auto rikkautu, meilä pitibecause car brake-REFL-PST.3SG we-ADE/ALL must(=hold)-PST.3SGkulkie.walk-INF’Because the car broke down, we had to walk.’ (Pekka Zaikov: Standard Karelian p.c.)

Hänellä tarviččenut sukeltaa. (Anastassia Trifonova: Olonets p.c.)s/he-ADE need-PST.PTCP dive-INF‘S/he had to dive.’

miuл tuloo sanuo (Saukkonen 1965: 154)I-ADE/ALL must(=come)-3SG say-INF‘I must say.’

Miuл täydyö lähtie (Saukkonen 1965: 147)I-ADE/ALL must(=get_filled)-3SG depart-INF‘I need to go.’

miula l´ienöu ruadua. (KKS III 1983: 86)I-ADE/ALL must(=be)-3SG work-INF‘I must work.’

Verbs used with the impersonal modal pattern

YESYESYESYESYESNOYESpitää ‘to hold’

YESYES?YESNONONOsaada ‘to get’

YESYES?YESNONONOvoida ‘to be able’

VepsKarelianIngrianVoticFinnishEstonianLivonian

EASTERNWESTERN

West-east cline:

1) high polyfunctionality of ‘to get’2) verbs of possibility always occur in

personal pattern3) preference for modal verbs

1) low polyfunctionality of ‘to get’2) verbs of possibility also occur in

impersonal pattern3) preference for modal adverbs

WEST EAST

Conclusions Seven core modal verbs in Balto-Finnic. Semantically defined class with rather

heterogeneous morphosyntactic properties.

Relatively low degree of grammaticalization.

The modal system of Balto-Finnic has been subjected to a considerable external influence.