Honti László: Némely uráli nyelvek állítólagos tárgyragjairól [On putative object markers in some Uralic languages] ⟨abstract/absztrakt⟩
The ancient suffixes of the accusative in the Uralic family of languages were *-m and *-t, but the literature says that, in some Uralic languages, other case markers can also signal the direct object of the sentence. Two of these are widely known:
— the separative–ablative suffix *-ta∕*-tä of a Uralic/Finno-Ugric origin that assumed a partitive function in Early Proto-Finnic and that still survives as such in Finnic and Saami, marking (partial or full) direct object, too; and
— Hungarian inessive -ban∕-ben and elative -ból∕-ből, also able to mark partial direct object.
These two cases are amply discussed in the literature, so it is not worth going into details about them here. I only describe cases that are hardly known and more or less lack a historical explanation or an account of their emergence. The following three instances will be discussed:
1. Mordvinic inessive “object”: Nominals with an inessive suffix (E -so, -se, M -sa) or with a postposition of inessive function (E ejse, M es) only have an “object” function, especially in Erzya, if it is to be emphasised that the action denoted by the verb does not involve the whole of the object affected by that action.
2. Zyryan dative “object”: In Northern Zyryan dialects, along with the accusative suffixes -e̮s and -se̮, another ending is also used to identify objects in a restricted sense and as a surviving archaism: -le̮∕-le∕-li̮∕-li. Researchers usually claim that this -li̮ etc. is the dative marker. The origin of this suffix is a complex issue, partly due to the fact that it can also be attached to a noun or pronoun having a subject role. The key to its emergence and function is Permic *-i∕*-i̮, also known in Permic languages as a suffix with an identifying function: Proto-Permic illative *-lik∕*-li̮k > *-li̮ > Zyryan dative -li̮, with a double role: the *l had a locative function, while the *k, more specifically, had a lative one; after the *-k was lost, the identifying function got fixed as a reminiscence of the vocalic element, and reference to the local relationship survived as a functional trace of the lost lative suffix. In other words, a polysemous Zyryan -li̮ morpheme emerged: Proto-Permic illative *-lik∕*-li̮k > *-li̮ → Zyryan -li̮ dative suffix and Zyryan -li̮ particle
3. Ob-Ugric instrumental “object”: The undergoer of an action can be signalled by the instrumental suffix in both active and passive sentences. The beneficiary of the action, for the sake of whom/what the action takes place, is the direct object of the sentence (with an accusative or a nominative ending). The function of this construction is to express a situation in which an instrument, signalled by the instrumental, is alienated from the agent to the benefit of the patient. The Mordvinic inessive-marked, the Zyryan dative-marked, and the Ob-Ugric instrumental-marked nouns do not represent the direct object of the sentence: rather, they stand for the undergoer of the action, that is, an adverbial modifier in the sentence.
Keywords: Uralic, Mordvinic, Zyryan, Khanty, Mansi, morphology, accusative, local cases, instrumental, syntax
Kulcsszavak: uráli, mordvin, zürjén, osztják, vogul, morfológia, akkuzatívusz, lokáliszi esetek, insztrumentálisz, szintaxis
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Németh Szilvia:
Az északi manysi ūnli ’ül’ testtartásige jelentésszerkezete és szinkrón megfigyelhető grammatikalizációs irányai [The semantic structure of the Northern Manysi posture verb ūnli ‘sit’ and its directions of grammaticalization in a synchronic perspective] ⟨abstract/absztrakt⟩
In this paper, the Northern Mansi posture verb ūnli ‘sit’ is examined in terms of a complex system of criteria. The aim was twofold: on the one hand, to describe the different meanings of the verb, and on the other, to explore the connections between the meanings and the grammaticalization paths recognizable from these connections. Based on a corpus comprising approximately 580,800 tokens taken from the texts of newspaper articles, tales, poems, and spontaneous speech, five different meanings of the posture verb ūnli were identified: ‘sit’, ‘live’, ‘be inactive/passive’, ‘be somewhere/exist’, ‘be arranged somehow’. It can be argued that the verb has also begun to be used as a modifier encoding continuous aspect and durative action. In addition to the independent meanings of the posture verb, three idioms could be discerned in the corpus with the meaning of ‘declare’, ‘rule’, and ‘be in prison/serve a prison sentence’.
Keywords: grammaticalization, posture verbs, Mansi language, difference between styles
Kulcsszavak: grammatikalizáció, testtartásigék, manysi nyelv, stílusok különbsége
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Sipos Mária:
Nominális állítmányú mondatok az északi hantiban [Sentences with nominal predicates in Northern Khanty] ⟨abstract/absztrakt⟩
The present paper discusses some features of the Kazym Khanty sentences having nominal predicates. Primarily, the form of predicative, specificational, and equative sentences are examined and described. Besides the mere juxtaposing of subject and predicate, it is the predicative sentences that appear in the most numerous forms, while the equative sentences show the least diversity in this respect. The present-day Kazym Khanty proves to use the eventive – non-eventive distinction in the predicative subtype, however, the choice of lative or nominative cases for the nominal part of the predicate does not always coincide with it. Various linking elements are attested, including a copula going back to the Khanty be-verb, as well as further elements with pronominal background appearing in certain clause-types, which latter primarily play a part in information structuring. Of them, it is the neutral demonstrative pronoun that in present day texts functions as a marker of generic sentences, as well as definitions. In present tense, there can be a zero copula in all the three subtypes. The corpus material covers more than six decades. Examples are collected from school books, the journal published in Kazym Khanty, as well as several recent publications.
Keywords: Northern Khanty, nominal predicate, copula, pronominal copula, eventive/non-eventive reading
Kulcsszavak: északi hanti, nominális állítmány, kopula, pronominális kopula, eseményszerű/nem eseményszerű értelmezés
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Várnai Zsuzsa:
Az ’áll’ ige grammatikalizációja a nganaszanban [The grammaticalization of the verb ‘stand’ in Nganasan] ⟨abstract/absztrakt⟩
In locative and existential sentences, quasi-copulas occurring in addition to the verb of existence are usually derived from independent words which may also be the sources of posture verbs. Verbs related to human postures such as ’sit’, ’stand’, and ’lie’ show interesting complexity in terms of the meanings that can be associated with them. In the course of their grammaticalization, they have developed a wide network of various figurative meanings, and in some languages they also take on grammatical functions (aspect markers, copula). The aim of this research is to investigate whether posture verbs have started the grammaticalization process in Nganasan and whether they serve a quasi-copula function. Posture verbs in Samoyedic languages have not been studied so far, and little research has been done on the Uralic/Finno-Ugric languages in this respect. In this study, I investigate the posture verb ‘stand’. My aim is to describe the different meanings of this verb and to explore the relationships between the meanings. I will investigate whether this verb functions as a quasi-copula and whether verb choice is influenced by the geometrical properties of the subject or by other factors. This research is carried out on the annotated Nganasan Spoken Language Corpus of the University of Hamburg.
Keywords: posture verbs, ‘stand’, grammaticalization, quasi-copula
Kulcsszavak: testtartásigék, ’áll’, grammatikalizáció, kvázi-kopula
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Mus Nikolett – Metzger Réka:
A tundrai nyenyec (egynyelvű) korpusz munkálatai: kihívások, módszerek, eredmények [Work on the Tundra Nenets (monolingual) corpus: challenges, methods, and results] ⟨abstract/absztrakt⟩
This paper reviews work on the Tundra Nenets corpus currently under way in the Hungarian Research Centre for Linguistics. Its most important aim is to provide methodological underpinnings for future initiatives of creating online corpora from the data of languages whose sociolinguistic background and level of digital elaboration are similar to those of Tundra Nenets. This paper reviews the stages of our work: the selection of texts for the corpus, their digital processing (web scraping, OCR, transcription), the uniformization of texts, and the creation of corpus files. We summarise our results so far, and provide guidance concerning possibilities of search in the corpus. We show at what levels the data are currently annotated, and outline our plans for the future.
Keywords: Tundra Nenets corpus, digital processing of written texts, uniformization of characters, the NoSketchEngine corpus management system, annotation
Kulcsszavak: tundrai nyenyec korpusz, írott szöveg digitális feldolgozása, karakterek egységesítése, NoSketchEngine korpuszkezelő, annotálás
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Maticsák Sándor:
Johann Peter Falck 18. századi udmurt nyelvi anyaga [Johann Peter Falck’s 18th-century Udmurt linguistic data] ⟨abstract/absztrakt⟩
The Swedish born Falck was one of the leaders of the Orenburg Expedition, an endeavour that aimed to map the distant lands of Russia and describe their flora, fauna and geographical conditions. Between 1768 and 1774, Falck explored the Middle and Lower Volga Regions, the Orenburg Governorate, Western and Southern Siberia. He did not have the opportunity to publish his notes about the expedition, because his mental disorder led to his suicide in Kazan in March 1774. His work was finally published by his fellow researcher, J. G. Georgi in 1785–86. The three-volume text contains natural scientific, ethnographical and linguistic information. Falck collected words from several languages; these are mainly plant names, animal names and expressions from basic vocabulary.
The volumes contain 226 Udmurt words. The first two volumes contain 62 plant names and 66 animal names, while third volume includes a German–Finnish–Mari–Udmurt–Khanty glossary, with 86 Udmurt words in it. Furthermore, a dozen additional Udmurt expressions occur in the description of the Udmurt people and their lifestyle.
Falcks’s travelogue was also published in Russian in 1824–25. This version is considerably shorter, with virtually no linguistic material in it. Linguistic research on the first period of the Udmurt literary language has only examined the 19 Udmurt words of this Russian text (cf. Tepljašina’s short analysis of these lexemes in her monograph on 18th-century texts).
The present paper is the first complete study of all the Udmurt words in the travelogue. After a brief overview of Falck’s life and works, his contribution to the Orenburg Expedition and the Udmurt words collected by him are discussed. I was able to identify over 200 words in the text. I conclude the essay with a survey of the characteristic features of Falck’s spelling.
Keywords: J. P. Falck, Orenburg Expedition, 18th century Udmurt language, linguistic field work, glossaries, Udmurt spelling
Kulcsszavak: J. P. Falck, orenburgi expedíció, 18. századi udmurt (votják) nyelv, nyelvi anyag gyűjtése, szójegyzékek, udmurt (votják) ortográfia
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É. Kiss Katalin – Gugán Katalin:
A hogy kötőszó kialakulása [The emergence of the Hungarian complementizer hogy] ⟨abstract/absztrakt⟩
This paper discusses the evolution of hogy, an interrogative/indefinite modal proadverb, into the general complementizer of Hungarian. Based on evidence from the Ob-Ugric sister languages and from Old Hungarian, we claim that Proto-Hungarian only had non-finite subordination and parataxis. Finite subordination emerged as part of the SOV-to-SVO shift of Hungarian grammar, and the propositional complements of utterance verbs came to be integrated into the utterance clause via the correlative construction. Utterance verbs were typically accompanied by a cataphoric pro-adverb úgy ‘so’, which brought along hogy ‘how’, its lexically fixed correlate. Later the correlative clause introduced by hogy was reanalyzed as an object clause, and the utterance verb started to display object agreement. Hogy, originally a relative pronoun in Spec,CP, has become a complementizer also present in embedded wh-questions. Eventually a demonstrative pronominal correlate of the complement clause introduced by hogy has appeared in the main clause, and úgy has been reinterpreted as an optional discourse particle.
Keywords: complementizer, correlative, finite subordination, utterance verb, indirect quotation
Kulcsszavak: kötőszó, korrelatív, véges alárendelés, közlésige, függő idézet
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Varga Mónika:
A határozói igeneves tagmondatok alanyának történetéről: használat, variáció, változás [On the history of the subjects of Hungarian adverbial participle constructions: usage, variation, and change] ⟨abstract/absztrakt⟩
Adverbial participle constructions have been used as a systematic non-finite alternative for finite subordinate clauses for a long time. Research is required, however, on the patterns of the subject belonging to the adverbial participle construction, with respect to the historical characteristics of this feature. The analysis follows a usage-based approach, exploring the contexts in which an implicit subject, an overt one, and/or several different subjects of the participle are possible. Adverbial participle constructions will be compared to finite clauses and interpreted accordingly, concerning their canonical or dislocated word order. Diachronic data show that adverbial participle constructions were used regularly with an overt or implicit subject of their own (including personal pronouns). Many of these features are still possible today, both with the -va∕-ve and the -ván∕-vén ending of the participle.
Keywords: adverbial participle constructions, subject, coreference, variation, diachronic and synchronic data
Kulcsszavak: határozói igeneves tagmondat, alany, koreferencia, variáció, történeti és szinkrón adatok
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Bácsi Enikő:
Mihez kötődik a kötőmód? Kötőmódhasználat a Nádasdy-levelezésben [What is the subjunctive mood subjoined to? The use of the subjunctive mood in the Nádasdy correspondence] ⟨abstract/absztrakt⟩
This study explores the triggers of subjunctive in Middle Hungarian (1526–1772): the conjunction, the main clause predicate or the order of the verb and verbal prefix. For this historical examination, I used an annotated and morphologically analysed database, the Historical Corpus of Informal Language Use. The basis of the present analysis was a set of 184 letters by Hungarian nobles, Tamás Nádasdy and Orsolya Kanizsay, written in the 16th century. 105 expressions were created with the -J mood suffix and 12 with the -nA∕-nÁ suffix. The clauses were mainly connected by the conjunction hogy ‘that’. Although the conjunction cannot be omitted from the beginning of a subjunctive clause in Present-day Hungarian, there are some examples like that in the historical material. The direct word order of the verbal prefix and the verb was found to be dominant, which is in line with Present-day Hungarian, but in a few cases the reverse word order was also attested. The analysis of the sentences yielded results parallel to the Present-day Hungarian categorization: the subjunctive mood occurred most commonly in clauses of purpose. In addition, other main clause predicates also attracted this mood.
Keywords: subjunctive mood, Middle Hungarian, Hungarian Historical Corpus of Informal Language Use, letters
Kulcsszavak: kötőmód, középmagyar kor, Történeti magánéleti korpusz, levelezés
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Bába Barbara:
Az ë ~ ö szembenállás területi és kronológiai sajátosságai a korai ómagyar korban [Geographical and chronological aspects of the opposition ë ~ ö in early Old Hungarian] ⟨abstract/absztract⟩
The labialization of ë to ö was a sound change of significant efficiency, spanning several historical periods and concerning several regions. However, the assignment of individual data to this source is problematic, given that the ö concerned may have emerged by the lowering of ü, too. The study of the geographical and chronological aspects of the sound change tendency ë > ö may therefore only be based on data in which the originality of closed ë can be proven. In earlier descriptions of historical phonology and historical dialectology, the limited number of data and the difficulty of their assessment either chronologically or geographically, or both, made it possible to formulate tentative claims at best. However, with the help of a larger amount of local historical data now at our disposal, we can venture to make novel claims, due to the fact that, in view of very early data and their peculiarities, we can now see an increase in the number of items that can be attributed to labialization of the type ë > ö.
Keywords: historical dialectology, historical phonology, labialization, early Old Hungarian period, phonological opposition
Kulcsszavak: nyelvjárástörténet, történeti hangtan, labializáció, korai ómagyar kor, hangtani szembenállások
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Vargha Fruzsina Sára:
Különböző nyelvjárások magánhangzó-rendszereinek találkozása: a meg igekötő esete Moldvában [Interactions of vowel systems of diverse dialects: the case of the verbal particle meg in Moldavia] ⟨abstract/absztract⟩
The phonetic quality and phonological status of e-like vowels have traditionally been relevant criteria in describing Hungarian dialects and delimiting dialect areas. In the present study, I investigate vowel quality in a relatively common morpheme, the verbal particle meg with a quantitative, linguistic-geographical approach, based on phonetically recorded data from three Moldavian data repositories. I aim to draw lessons from this example to illustrate the striking Moldavian variability of e-like vowels, amplified by the interaction of two different dialect types (Eastern Székely and Mezőségi), and to determine the nature of this interaction that may also influence the typological classification of Hungarian dialects of Moldavia. Based on the results, we should clearly distinguish the dialects of the Bákó/Bacău area not only from the Northern dialects but also from the Székely ones.
Keywords: dialect geography, dialectometry, dialect interaction, dialect classification, Hungarian dialects of Moldavia, vowel quality
Kulcsszavak: nyelvföldrajz, dialektometria, nyelvjárások kölcsönhatása, nyelvjárások osztályozása, moldvai magyar nyelvjárások, magánhangzó-minőség
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Balogné Bérces Katalin – Shanti Ulfsbjorninn:
Olts, oltódj, oltass, oltakozz: A felszólító módú alakok palatalizációjának templatikus elemzése autoszegmentális elem és elrendezés típusú modellben [A templatic analysis of Hungarian imperative palatalization in an autosegmental item-and-arrangement model] ⟨abstract/absztract⟩
The imperative in Hungarian is marked by a palatal element /j/ and a highly complex set of irregularities that can be ostensibly characterised as root suppletion and phonologically conditioned allomorphy. We will instead show that adopting the full range of possible shapes of exponents given by autosegmental phonological approaches (such as Strict CV), the pattern can be recast in an item-and-arrangement model without recourse to allomorphy at all.
Keywords: palatalisation, Hungarian imperative, item-and-arrangement, Strict CV Phonology
Kulcsszavak: palatalizáció, felszólító mód, elem és elrendezés, Szigorú CV-Fonológia
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Puzder Zsófia:
Az alapfrekvencia hallgatói megítélése női beszélők esetében [The evaluation of fundamental frequency in the case of female speakers] ⟨abstract/absztract⟩
Because of our learnt stereotypes, we have preconceptions of speakers’ characteristics on the basis of their voices. In the present study we examine the link between judgements on women and their various fundamental frequencies. We expected that the lower the fundamental frequency is, the more likely it is that people will think that the speaker is masculine. We expected prototypical masculine and feminine traits, too. Using a matched-guise technique, we asked 20 listeners to rate the speakers on a Likert-scale with respect to 10 attributes. We have found that listeners are more likely to think a lower fundamental frequency suggests a more masculine woman. We have also found a strong correlation of intelligence, leadership abilities, reliability and attractiveness with low fundamental frequency.
Keywords: attitude, fundamental frequency, stereotyping, masculine, feminine
Kulcsszavak: attitűd, alapfrekvencia, sztereotípia, maszkulin, feminin
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Rosenberg Mátyás:
A nemzetközi morfofonematikus romani ortográfia magánhangzó-jelölése [Vowel symbols in the international morphophonemic orthography of Romani] ⟨abstract/absztract⟩
This paper looks at the ways in which vowels are represented in the international morphophonemic writing of the Romani language. First, it gives a brief account of the circumstances under which the writing system evolved and of the activities that contributed to its creation. The paper goes on to examine vowel quantity, stress marking rules, the graphic representation of palatalisation and its relationship with centralised vowels, in multiple varieties of Romani but primarily from the perspective of the Lovari variety spoken in Hungary. The aim is to explore the origin of this system of graphic representation and to give some examples to reveal a number of important and serious problems, both theoretical and practical, about this orthography.
Keywords: Romani language, spelling, orthography, standardisation
Kulcsszavak: romani nyelv, helyesírás, ortográfia, sztenderdizáció
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