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<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:115%"><span lang="FI" style="font-size:10.0pt; line-height:115%; font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif">Dear colleagues,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:115%"><span lang="FI" style="font-size:10.0pt; line-height:115%; font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:115%"><span lang="FI" style="font-size:10.0pt; line-height:115%; font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif">I am looking for an attested real-life analogue to the noun inflection paradigm conventionally reconstructed for Proto-Uralic.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:115%"><span lang="FI" style="font-size:10.0pt; line-height:115%; font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif"><br>
Although the exact number of Proto-Uralic cases varies, one of the most commonly accepted truths about the reconstructed case system is that although the nouns were inflected in 6–8 cases in singular, there were only two forms in plural – the nominative plural
in *-<i>t</i> and the accusative-cum-genitive plural in *-<i>j</i> (comprising the functions of the accusative and genitive singular):</span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:115%"><span lang="FI" style="font-size:10.0pt; line-height:115%; font-family:"Courier New""><span style="">
</span>Singular Plural</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:115%"><span lang="FI" style="font-size:10.0pt; line-height:115%; font-family:"Courier New"">Nominative
<span style=""> </span>*-Ø <span style=""> </span>*-t</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:115%"><span lang="FI" style="font-size:10.0pt; line-height:115%; font-family:"Courier New"">Accusative
<span style=""> </span>*-m <span style=""> </span>*-<b>j</b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:115%"><span lang="FI" style="font-size:10.0pt; line-height:115%; font-family:"Courier New"">Genitive
<span style=""> </span>*-n<span style=""> </span><span style=""> </span>*-<b>j</b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:115%"><span lang="FI" style="font-size:10.0pt; line-height:115%; font-family:"Courier New"">Locative
<span style=""> </span>*-nA<span style=""> </span><span style=""> </span>–</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:115%"><span lang="FI" style="font-size:10.0pt; line-height:115%; font-family:"Courier New"">Ablative
<span style=""> </span>*-tA<span style=""> </span>–</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:115%"><span lang="FI" style="font-size:10.0pt; line-height:115%; font-family:"Courier New"">Lative
<span style=""> </span>*-ŋ<span style=""> </span><span style=""> </span>–</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:115%"><span lang="FI" style="font-size:10.0pt; line-height:115%; font-family:"Courier New"">----------------------------</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:115%"><span lang="FI" style="font-size:10.0pt; line-height:115%; font-family:"Courier New"">?Translative *-ksi<span style="">
</span>–</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:115%"><span lang="FI" style="font-size:10.0pt; line-height:115%; font-family:"Courier New"">?Caritive<span style="">
</span>*-ktAk<span style=""> </span>–</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:115%"><span lang="FI" style="font-size:10.0pt; line-height:115%; font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:115%"><span lang="FI" style="font-size:10.0pt; line-height:115%; font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif">There might also have been a dual number in Proto-Uralic, although such forms can hardly be reconstructed, but my main
question today is about the naturalness or plausibility of a case system seen above: Do you know any real-life case paradigms that would make the above reconstruction typologically plausible? I am especially interested about the plausibility of the accusative-genitive
plural *-<i>j</i> within a case system like this.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:115%"><span lang="FI" style="font-size:10.0pt; line-height:115%; font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:115%"><span lang="FI" style="font-size:10.0pt; line-height:115%; font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif">Best regards,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:115%"><span lang="FI" style="font-size:10.0pt; line-height:115%; font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:115%"><span lang="FI" style="font-size:10.0pt; line-height:115%; font-family:"Tahoma",sans-serif">Jussi</span></p>
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