POSSESSIVE RELATIONS IN KET: PROTOTYPICAL CONSTRUCTIONS AND PERIPHERAL CASES
DOI: 10.23951/2307-6119-2017-4-42-55
The present article focuses on the description and analysis of means used to express possessive relations in Ket belonging to different levels of language structure (prosodic, morhosyntactic and lexical). The article surveys both adnominal and predicative possessive constructions in the language distinguishing between prototypical possessive strategies (possessive clitics in adnominal constructions, nonverbal possessive predicates in locational constructions) and peripheral means of coding possession (complex words and specific verbs of possession). Adnominal possessive constructions in Ket can be divided into constructions with an explicit possessor (it can either be a noun or a pronoun) and constructions with an implicit one. If a possessor is nonreferential, it is possible to use compounding which yields a complex word as a result. Predicative possessive constructions in the language distinguish between nonverbal locational constructions and constructions with specific verbs of possession. In the first case, a possessor is marked with the Adessive case marker, while the nonverbal possessive predicate (possessum) requires the presence of a copula. The nonpast tense copula is often omitted. In the second case, a possessum gets incorporated into a finite possessive verb. There is a clear dominating preference for using locational constructions to express possessive relations over the verbal ones in the language, which is the reason why there are no constructions of the latter type found in our text corpus. In addition, the analysis shows that various discourse-related factors may play an important role in choosing a particular possessive strategy in Ket. For instance, the use of a particular adnominal possessive construction seems to be connected with the possessor’s degree of activation in the preceding discourse: the more it is activated, the greater the probability of using an implicit possessor construction.
Keywords: possession, possessive predicates, referentiality, information structure, Ket, endangered Siberian languages
References:
Comprehensive Dictionary of Ket / Kotorova E., Nefedov A. (eds). – München: LINCOM, 2015. – Vol. 1. – 430 p. (in Russian and English)
Bondarko A. V. Teorija funkcional'noj grammatiki: Lokativnost'. Bytijnost'. Posessivnost'. Obuslovlennost' [The theory of functional grammar. Locative. Beingness. Possessive. Conditionality]. – Sankt-Peterburg: Nauka, 1996. – 229 p.
Vajda E. J., Zinn M. A. Morphonological Dictionary of the Ket Verbs. – Tomsk: Izd-vo TGPU, 2004. – 262 p. (in Russian and English)
Vall M. N., Kanakin I. A. Kategorii imeni v ketskom yazyke [Noun Categories in Ket]. – Novosibirsk, Nauka Publ., 1985. – 56 p. (in Russian)
Vall M. N., Kanakin I. A. Ocherk po fonologii i grammatike ketskogo yazyka [Sketches of Ket phonology and grammar]. – Novosibirsk, Nauka Publ., 1990. – 101 p. (in Russian)
Verner G. K. Reliktovye priznaki aktivnogo stroja v ketskom jazyke [Relic features of active typology in Ket] // Voprosy yazykoznaniya – Problems of Linguistics. – 1974. – № 1. – P. 34–45. (in Russian)
Grishina N. M. O nekotoryh sredstvah vydelenija temy i remy v ketskom jazyke [On means of marking theme and rheme in Ket] // Problemy dokumentacii ischezajushhih jazykov i kul'tur [Problems of documenting endangered languages and cultures]. – Ufa; Tomsk, 1999. – P. 73–76. (in Russian)
Kotorova E. G., Nefedov A. V. Tipologicheskiye kharakteristiki ketskogo jazyka: vershinnoe ili zavisimostnoe markirovanie? [Typological characteristics of Ket: head-or dependent-marking?]. Voprosy yazykoznaniya – Problems of Linguistics. – 2006. – № 5. – P. 43–56. (in Russian)
Krejnovich E. A. Glagol ketskogo jazyka [The Ket Verb]. – L.: Nauka Publ., 1968. – 284 s. (in Russian).
Kryukova E. A. Imennye posessivnye konstrukcii v ketskom jazyke [Possessive Noun Constructions in Ket] // Tomskij zhurnal lingvisticheskih i antropologicheskih issledovanij – Tomsk Journal of Linguistics and Anthropology. – 2015. – № 4 (10). – P. 55–61. (in Russian)
Kryukova E. A. Predikativnye posessivnye konstrukcii v ketskom jazyke (korpusnoe issledovanie) [Possessive Predicative Constructions in Ket (Corpus-Driven Research)] // Tomskij zhurnal lingvisticheskih i antropologicheskih issledovanij – Tomsk Journal of Linguistics and Anthropology. – 2016. – № 4 (14). – P. 22–36. (in Russian)
Nefedov A. Otricanie neglagol'nyh predikatov v ketskom jazyke [Negation of nonverbal predicated in Ket] // Tomskij zhurnal lingvisticheskih i antropologicheskih issledovanij // Tomsk Journal of Linguistics and Anthropology. – 2018 (in print).
Cysouw M. Morphology in the wrong place. A survey of preposed enclitics // Wolfgang U. Dressler (ed.) Morphology and its Demarcations. – Amsterdam: Benjamins, 2005. – P. 17–37.
Dryer M. S. Clause types. In: Shopen T. (ed.), Language Typology and Syntactic Description. – Vol. I: Clause Structure, 2nd edition. – Cambridge: CUP, 2007. – P. 224–275.
Georg S. A Descriptive Grammar of Ket (Yenisei-Ostyak) GLOBAL ORIENTAL LTD, 2007. – 328 p.
Nefedov А. Clause linkage in Ket. – Utrecht: LOT, 2015. – 297 p.
Nefedov A., Vajda E. Grammatical sketch (of Ket). In: Comprehensive Dictionary of Ket. (with Russian, German and English Translations). Under the general supervision of E. G. Kotorova. Editors-in-chief: E. G. Kotorova, A. V. Nefedov. – Vol. 1. München: LINCOM EUROPA, 2015. – P. 27–69.
Payne Th. E. Describing Morphosyntax: A Guide for Field Linguists. – United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press, 1997. – 413 p.
Stassen L. Predicative Possession. – Oxford University Press, 2009. – 812 p.
Vajda E. J. Ket. LINCOM EUROPA, 2004. – 99 p.
Vajda E. J. Vestigial possessive morphology. In Na-Dene and Yeniseian. Working papers in Athabaskan (Dene) Languages. 2012. – Alaska Native Language Center Working Papers, eds. Sharon Hargus, Edward Vajda, Daniel Hieber. Fairbanks. – AK: ANLC, 2013. – № 11. – P. 9–91.
Vajda E. J. Polysynthesis in Ket. In M. Fortescue, M. Mithun, and N. Evans (eds.) The Oxford Handbook of Polysynthesis, Oxford University Press. – 2017. – P. 906–929.
Werner H. Die ketische Sprache. (TUNGUSO SIBIRICA B. 3) – Wiesbaden, Harrassowitz Verlag, 1997. – 405 p.
( 989.77 kB ) 
( 971.44 kB )
Issue: 4, 2017
Series of issue: Issue 4
Rubric: LINGUISTICS
Pages: 42 — 55
Downloads: 389