16.1, Diss: Historical Ling/Syntax: Kortvely: 'Conjugation...'

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LINGUIST List: Vol-16-1. Mon Jan 10 2005. ISSN: 1068 - 4875.

Subject: 16.1, Diss: Historical Ling/Syntax: Kortvely: 'Conjugation...'

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1)
Date: 22-Dec-2004
From: Erika Kortvely < erika at petra.hos.u-szeged.hu >
Subject: Conjugation in Tundra Nenets


-------------------------Message 1 ----------------------------------
Date: Mon, 10 Jan 2005 09:57:46
From: Erika Kortvely < erika at petra.hos.u-szeged.hu >
Subject: Conjugation in Tundra Nenets


Institution: University of Szeged
Program: Graduate school in linguistics, Finno-Ugric studies
Dissertation Status: Completed
Degree Date: 2003

Author: Erika Kortvely

Dissertation Title: Conjugation in Tundra Nenets

Linguistic Field(s): Historical Linguistics
                     Morphology
                     Pragmatics
                     Syntax

Subject Language(s): Nenets (YRK)


Dissertation Director(s):
Eugene Helimski

Dissertation Abstract:

The aim of my dissertation is to provide a comprehensive analysis and
overview of Tundra Nenets verb conjugation both from a synchronic and a
diachronic perspective. The synchronic investigation aims to describe the
verb conjugation types of Tundra Nenets and their use as well as to briefly
outline the pragmatic functions of the choice of verb conjugation types.
The diachronic part of my dissertation describes the development of Tundra
Nenets verb conjugations, their origins in the Uralic proto-language, and
the history of the inflectional affixes.

Even though in the case of Uralic languages it is obvious that we can speak
about conjugation or even conjugations, among the world's languages it is
not at all obvious that the subject (and sometimes the object) of the sentence
can be referred to with verb inflections. Thus, besides providing a detailed
discussion of Tundra Nenets conjugation, I also discuss conjugation as a
linguistic phenomenon as well as describe the origin of the inflections in a
brief typological overview.

The Tundra Nenets verb conjugation system is, of course, not an independent
phenomenon and thus cannot be discussed without reference to the verb
conjugation systems of other Uralic languages or of the Siberian languages
which surround Nenets and which are typologically very similar to it. This
makes it necessary to outline the verb conjugation systems of Uralic
languages and of the languages of the same linguistic area which might have
affected Tundra Nenets, and to show and analyze their similarities and
differences. Besides tracing the origin of Tundra Nenets verb inflections,
one of the main goals of this dissertation is to discuss and critique the
theories regarding the source language origin of the three types of verb
conjugations of Uralic languages (the indeterminative, the determinative,
and the reflexive-medial conjugations).

In Tundra Nenets, verbs can be grouped into four classes on the basis of
their conjugations: the intransitive, the transitive, the transitive-reflexive,
and the reflexive-medial. Depending on which one of the four classes the verb
belongs to, its conjugation can be bound or free. The use and function of Tundra
Nenets verb conjugations can be best shown through an investigation of the
conjugation of verbs that do not belong to one paradigm only. Contrary to
opinions voiced in previous literature on the subject, I want to demonstrate
that the speaker's choice between the determinative and indeterminative
conjugation is not connected with the expression of syntactic focus.

Since the results of an investigation of individual sentences do not provide a
satisfactory explanation for the use of conjugations, an examination of Tundra
Nenets conjugation in texts is indispensable. In this dissertation I will show
the anaphoric use of Tundra Nenets determinative conjugation as a basic function
of this conjugation and will examine a possible connection between and influence
of topic-comment relations on the choice of conjugations. As, unlike in the
Ob-Ugric language, in the latter there does not seem to be a clear connection, I
want to underline the role of the extent of transitivity manifested in the
linguistic situations and of the different intents of the speakers. Thus, the
use of the reflexive-medial conjugation can most likely be explained with the
logical or, sometimes, emotional, connection between the starting point of the
action expressed in the sentence and its result or process.

My investigations of Tundra Nenets verb conjugations are based on the Tundra
Nenets literary language and are aimed to describe this variety. My
dissertation, thus, does not contain data on regional dialects of Tundra Nenets,
and I do not aim to study any possible regional dialectal differences in the use
of conjugations.





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