... 119 Page 5. Proceedings of LingO 2007 (9) a. [ Ue [ hee b-ez-a] ø-ukk-u Boy(I).ABS book(III).ABS III-take-INF I-must-PST.PTCP ø-eč-i]. I-be-PST.W 'The boy had to buy a book.' Sentence (9b) shows different case... more
... 119 Page 5. Proceedings of LingO 2007 (9) a. [ Ue [ hee b-ez-a] ø-ukk-u Boy(I).ABS book(III).ABS III-take-INF I-must-PST.PTCP ø-eč-i]. I-be-PST.W 'The boy had to buy a book.' Sentence (9b) shows different case marking and different agreement. ...
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After giving a general account of ditransitive constructions in East Caucasian languages, the paper focuses on the most salient and unique property of ‘give’-verbs in the languages of the family – the distinction made between two types of... more
After giving a general account of ditransitive constructions in East Caucasian languages, the paper focuses on the most salient and unique property of ‘give’-verbs in the languages of the family – the distinction made between two types of transfer. This distinction reflects the double nature of ‘give’-situations which involve both metaphorical transfer of possession rights and physical transfer of the object, and the consequent double nature of the Recipient which combines properties of a Beneficiary and a Goal. East Caucasian languages break Recipient down into two different marking strategies which may be called dative and lative, respectively. After giving a brief introduction to genetic grouping and areal spread of the family, as well as sketches its typological profile, we provide a general characteristic of the ditransitive constructions. Then we discuss some specific properties of dative marking in East Caucasian, focussing on the alternation in Recipient/Goal marking in ‘giv...
The paper deals with the issue of language data visualization on the website "Minority languages of Russia". This site is created as an open information resource containing materials on the functioning and structure of minority... more
The paper deals with the issue of language data visualization on the website "Minority languages of Russia". This site is created as an open information resource containing materials on the functioning and structure of minority languages of Russia and their local varieties. Methods of data visualization in five areas are considered: genealogy, areal distribution, domains of language usage, dynamics of language usage and phonetic data representation. For each area, theoretical problems, related tasks and technical implementation are indicated, and prospects for further work are discussed.
This paper addresses affective ("experiencer") constructions in the Tsezic languages (Nakh-Daghestanian), which represent the most frequent type of non-canonical subject constructions in these languages. They differ from transitive... more
This paper addresses affective ("experiencer") constructions in the Tsezic languages (Nakh-Daghestanian), which represent the most frequent type of non-canonical subject constructions in these languages. They differ from transitive constructions in a number of ways that go far beyond case marking and affect various domains of grammar (e.g. inflectional morphology, complex clause structures, reflexive and reciprocal binding, etc.). In this paper, we explore morphological, syntactic and semantic features of Tsezic affective constructions from a typological perspective. We investigate variation, stability and change between the constructions in the various Tsezic languages and try to give explanations for the observed patterns of variation.
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Khwarshi, a Nakh-Dagestanian language, presents an unusual pattern of agreement in complement clauses called long-distance agreement whereby the complement taking verb in the matrix clause agrees with the absolutive argument inside the... more
Khwarshi, a Nakh-Dagestanian language, presents an unusual pattern of agreement in complement clauses called long-distance agreement whereby the complement taking verb in the matrix clause agrees with the absolutive argument inside the complement clause. Khwarshi nominal morphology is very rich in such categories as case, gender and number. Gender is made explicit by agreement on verbs, adjectives, adverbs and postpositions.
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... 2The distinction between witnessed and unwitnessed past forms in Tsezic languages has been noted by Bokarev (1959), who discusses Past I and Past II forms, which stand for witnessed and unwitnessed past respectively. ...
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Proceedings of the 37th Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society: Special Session on Languages of the Caucasus (2013), pp. 32-51
This article explores Bezhta word formation processes. Bezhta is very rich in word formation devices; among them are compounding, derivation, conversion, and reduplication as well as complex process which include both compounding and... more
This article explores Bezhta word formation processes. Bezhta is very rich in word formation devices; among them are compounding, derivation, conversion, and reduplication as well as complex process which include both compounding and derivation. Compound words in Bezhta are formed by combining two bases and sometimes even three bases. Derivation in Bezhta is very productive and sometimes quite complex, including the stacking of two or more derivational suffixes in a row.
This article describes various means of Avar word formation. Among them are compounding, derivation, conversion, reduplication, and the formation of complex nominals based on two processes, compounding and derivation. Avar, as a language... more
This article describes various means of Avar word formation. Among them are compounding, derivation, conversion, reduplication, and the formation of complex nominals based on two processes, compounding and derivation. Avar, as a language with a rich history of language contacts, has borrowed derivational suffixes from Turkic and Persian languages.
The Tsezic languages present a number of prima facie instances of insubordination, given current definitions of this phenomenon. For the purposes of this chapter, we base ourselves on the definition provided by Evans (2007: 367): "... more
The Tsezic languages present a number of prima facie instances of insubordination, given current definitions of this phenomenon. For the purposes of this chapter, we base ourselves on the definition provided by Evans (2007: 367): " [Insubordination is] the conventionalized main clause use of what, on prima facie grounds, appear to be formally subordinate clauses. " While some instances of insubordination in Tsezic languages seem to illustrate typical instances, others present synchronic and diachronic issues that probe the phenomenon's boundaries.