THE SAKHA PROPRIETIVE SUFFIX -LEEX
This paper examines morphosyntactic and semantic characteristics of the proprietive suffix -LEEX of Sakha (Yakut). The suffix -LEEX is highly productive and has a wide-ranged usage: the resultant form functions as adnominal phrases or predicates (i. e., predicative possession) as well as noun phrases or adverbials. Semantically, the suffix -LEEX denotes not only simple possession, but often implies special connotation. When the base nouns is human, the proprietive expresses kinship relation, accompaniment, or approximate plural. When the base is a concrete noun, the proprietive often denotes ‘possession at that very moment’ as well as simple possession. When the base is an abstract noun, the proprietive denotes either a person characterized by that noun or a permanent or temporary property of humans or things. The proprietive construction may overlap the comitative construction or the existential construction. Although the proprietive suffix -LEEX has been described as an adjective-deriving suffix in the literature, this suffix shows some idiosyncrasy that ordinal derivational suffixes do not have. For example, suffixation after a plural suffix or directly to a verbal noun is possible with the suffix -LEEX. In addition, the paper examines the morphosyntactic characteristics of the abessive that is semantically contrastive but is not always symmetrical to the proprietive.
Keywords: Sakha, possession, proprietive, lexical integrity, abessive
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Issue: 1, 2014
Series of issue: Issue № 1
Rubric: LINGUISTICS
Pages: 23 — 34
Downloads: 1292