Existential constructions in the Yakut language: a model of causation of the beginning of existence

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of models of existential constructions in the Yakut language. It examines the causation model of the beginning of existence in accordance with the principles of functional and semantic analysis. The relevance of this article is due to modern approaches in the study of the Yakut language as a system represented by multi-level means of its expression. The sentence as the main syntactic unit is displayed in a model that "combines the invariants of the minimal structural schemes that ensure the completeness of the sentence, and the generalized propositions associated with them." The structural scheme of the causation model of the beginning of existence in the Yakut language consists of a subject, an object and a predicate of an existential type expressed by verbs of the initial phase of being, existence. The typical meaning of the model is "to give the beginning to any event, phenomenon, contribute to the appearance, emergence of someone or something." The basis of this study is a functional-semantic approach to the study of language phenomena, which assumes a holistic organization of universal semantic categories. The study uses the continuous sampling method in the formation of material from lexicographic sources, the modeling method, and the glossing method to represent illustrative material. The presentation of the causation model of the beginning of existence as a component of the functional and semantic field of being in the Yakut language is new. It is revealed that the subject and object of the considered model can be stated by a noun, a pronoun, denoting an animate or inanimate person. In accordance with the forms of the subject and object included in the structural composition of the specified model, variants of its structural type are determined. It is established that in this model, such verbs of being as tөrүtte ‛to found, create something; to start something, olohtoo ‛ to inhabit, settle, infuse; can be used as a predicate, to establish; justify’, saҕalaa‛to start any action; to begin’, tөrөt‛to give birth.