Finno-Ugric Languages Research Articles

Глагольная морфология в памятнике марийской письменности «Начатки христианского учения...» (1839 / 1841)

The article deals with the verbal morphology in the monument of Mari writing “The Beginnings of Christian doctrine...” (published in Kazan in 1841). Among the earliest publications in the Mari language, this is one of the most voluminous texts, including Concise Sacred History and Catechism. The dialectal basis of the considered text is a Meadow dialect, at the same time the verbal morphology (mainly in the plural forms) differs significantly from the literary norm of the contemporary Mari (Meadow-Eastern) language. As a result of comparison with dialectological data, the correspondence of the verbal morphology in the monument to the conjugation in the western subdialects (Volga, Yoshkar-Ola) of the Meadow dialect is revealed. (These dialects turned out to be peripheral during the formation of the literary Meadow-Eastern Mari language in the 20th century. The verbal morphology of the literary language is based on the Morki-Sernur subdialect of the Meadow dialect and the Eastern dialect of the Mari language.) At the same time, the specific verb forms of Western subdialects of the Meadow dialect revealed in the monument and described in the article largely correlate with the conjugation in Western Mari dialects (Hill and North-Western), including the literary norm of the Hill Mari language. In general, the analysis of the verbal forms (with preliminary consideration of phonetic and vocabulary data) allows us to define the “The Beginnings of Christian Doctrine…” (1839 / 1841) as a most important early written monument of the Volga subdialect of the Meadow dialect and a valuable source on the historical dialectology of the Mari language. Keywords: Finno-Ugric languages, Mari language, Vol

Языковые ошибки в переводе автобиографической книги Питирима Сорокина «A long Journey» на коми язык

Introduction: in modern linguistics, a branch of linguistics – translation studies – was formed. Its aim is to research the processes of translations from one language to other in different aspects. Based on the material of the Russian Finno-Ugric languages, this branch of science takes its first steps. In this article, we analyze the texts of the autobiography by P. Sorokin «A long Journey. The autobiography of Pitirim Sorokin» (1963) in the Russian and Komi languages; fragments of texts are compared with the original English text; language errors in translation were identified. Objective: to consider the language errors in the use of vocabulary in the text of the translation of P. A. Sorokin’s autobiography into the Komi language identified by systematic comparisons of fragments of texts in the English, Russian and Komi languages. Research materials: the texts of P. A. Sorokin’s autobiography published in separate books of different years. Results and novelty of the research: the article for the first time considers translation errors found in the text of the translation of the autobiography of the world-famous sociologist, a native of the Komi region, Pitirim Alexandrovich Sorokin into the Komi language, published as a separate book in Syktyvkar in 2013. The errors are analyzed on the basis of successive comparisons with the English-language original and the translation of the same book into the Russian, published in Syktyvkar in 1991. The analysis of the translation language (the first 40 pages of the autobiography) allowed us to conclude that the translation into the Komi language was not made from the original language, as it is stated in the bibliographic description, but from the Russian translation of the autobiography, since most of the translation errors from the Russianlanguage text were transferred to the Komi-language text.

О происхождении консонантных комплексов в мордовских языках

We consider consonant complexes at the beginning, middle, and end of Mordovian (Moksha and Erzya) words absent in related Finno-Ugric languages. The purpose of the study was to find out the reasons for the origin of this phenomenon (the absence of consonant complexes) and to determine to what historical period of language development it belongs. The research material was Mordovian (Moksha and Erzya) languages, in which there is a large group of words with consonant complexes. The main research methods were synchronous descriptive and comparative historical, involving the classification of linguistic facts, their analysis, and restoration of certain historical aspects. The study revealed that the consonant complexes in Mordovian languages are innovative. At the beginning of the word, their appearance cannot be attributed to one historical period. The reason for the loss of the vowel of the first syllable should be sought in the changes that have occurred in the accentological system: a more sonorous vowel or vowel from the diphthongal combination of not the first syllable acquired the ability to pull the stress from the narrow or reduced vowel of the first syllable onto itself. In the middle and at the end of the word, consonant complexes are observed at the junction of morphemes, with there being two reasons for their formation: 1) loss of the final vowel (often reduced) non-derivative basis during agglutination of the relational or derivational affix; 2) joining of the affix with the initial consonant to the primary consonant base.

Финская литература на коми языке

Despite the fact that Komi literary translation has a long history (its origins date back to the XIV century), it still remains poorly studied. This fully applies to translation activities between the Komi and other related Finno-Ugric languages, including translations from the Finnish language. The first Komi translations from Finnish literature appeared yet in the 1920s, but the majority of the available translations were made since the 1980s. About several dozens of works by various Finnish authors are presented in the Komi language. The translations of poetry prevail. Compared with translations from other Finno-Ugric literatures, the share of direct translations from the original language is much higher.

UDMURTS-ADVENTISTS OF THE SEVENTH DAY IN THE VILLAGE OF YAKSHUR-BODYA: ETHNO-DEMOGRAPHIC ANALYSIS

This article discusses the socio-demographic characteristics and doctrinal characteristics of members of the Church of Seventh-day Adventist Christians (HASD) of Yakshur-Bodya rural locality of the Udmurt Republic of the Russian Federation - representatives of the Udmurt and Russian ethnic groups. Earlier, on the basis of empirical materials, the author put forward a theoretical position according to which among the multi-ethnic Protestants of the studied regions of the Southern, Middle and Polar Urals, speakers of Finno-Ugric languages can be described as representatives of a more traditional culture. Materials of fieldworks conducted by the Institute of Ethnological Research. R. G. Kuzeeva UFITs RAS in 2015 in Yakshur-Bodya rural locality, allow us to adjust this thesis. The leading approach to the study of this problem is an inductive strategy; analysis and synthesis methods are also used. The collection of empirical materials was carried out by the methods of field ethnography and sociology: included observation and surveys (questioning and interviewing). Article materials may be useful for employees of state bodies, specialists in the field of ethno-confessional relations, and religious researchers.

More Rule than Exception: Parallel Evidence of Ancient Migrations in Grammars and Genomes of Finno-Ugric Speakers.

To reconstruct aspects of human demographic history, linguistics and genetics complement each other, reciprocally suggesting testable hypotheses on population relationships and interactions. Relying on a linguistic comparative method based on syntactic data, here we focus on the non-straightforward relation of genes and languages among Finno-Ugric (FU) speakers, in comparison to their Indo-European (IE) and Altaic (AL) neighbors. Syntactic analysis, in agreement with the indications of more traditional linguistic levels, supports at least three distinct clusters, corresponding to these three Eurasian families; yet, the outliers of the FU group show linguistic convergence with their geographical neighbors. By analyzing genome-wide data in both ancient and contemporary populations, we uncovered remarkably matching patterns, with north-western FU speakers linguistically and genetically closer in parallel degrees to their IE-speaking neighbors, and eastern FU speakers to AL speakers. Therefore, our analysis indicates that plausible cross-family linguistic interference effects were accompanied, and possibly caused, by recognizable demographic processes. In particular, based on the comparison of modern and ancient genomes, our study identified the Pontic-Caspian steppes as the possible origin of the demographic processes that led to the expansion of FU languages into Europe.

ФИННО-УГОРСКИЙ СУБСТРАТ В ГИДРОНИМИИ ТАМБОВСКОЙ ОБЛАСТИ (СЛОВООБРАЗОВАТЕЛЬНЫЙ АНАЛИЗ)

Цель. Статья является начальным этапом обширного исследования, которое посвящено решению ряда задач в области изучения тамбовских топонимов, таких как выявление ареалов финно-угорских языков на территории области в прошлом, совмещение выявленных топонимических ареалов с ареалами археологических культур, что позволит установить возможную хронологию развития топонимических типов.В статье рассматриваются финно-угорские топоосновы в гидронимии Тамбовской области, для некоторых топонимов предлагаются новые этимологии. Определяется, что заимствованные мордовские элементы некоторых топонимов были адаптированы русским языком путем включения русских формантов.Выделяются основные словообразовательные типы субстратных гидронимов, проводится сравнение с данными топонимики на территории исконного проживания мордвы и современного распространения мордовских языков, выделяются некоторые отличительные черты мордовской субстратной гидронимии на территории Тамбовской области и мордовской гидронимии на территории функционирования мордовских языков. Предполагается, что словообразовательная модель «русское прилагательное + мордовский гидроним» характерна для более позднего этапа развития рассматриваемой субстратной топонимии.Метод или методология проведения работы. В ходе решения научных задач используются методы текстологического анализа, синхронного среза (исследование ономастики одного временного периода), а также структурный, формантный, этимологический, ареальный и описательный.Результаты. По результатам анализа структур субстратных топонимов финно-угорского происхождения на территории Тамбовской области автор предлагает этимологии рассматриваемых гидронимов. Выделенные словообразовательные модели сопоставляются с результатами исследований топонимического материала республики Мордовия.Область применения результатов. Результаты исследования представляют интерес для лингвистики, археологии, истории, этнографии, географии и могут быть использованы для изучения древнейших состояний общества (общественных формаций, этнических общностей, материальных культур и др.).

Interpreting Estonian Demonstratives: The Effects of Referent's Distance and Visual Salience.

Most of the research done with spatial demonstratives (words such as this, here and that, there) have focused on the production, not the interpretation, of these words. In addition, emphasis has been largely on demonstrative pronouns, leaving demonstrative adverbs with relatively little research attention. The present study explores the interpretation of both demonstrative pronouns and demonstrative adverbs in Estonian—a Finno-Ugric language with two dialectal-specific demonstrative pronoun systems. In the South-Estonian (SE) dialectal region, two demonstrative pronouns, see—“this” and too—“that”, are used. In the North-Estonian (NE) region, only one, see—“this/that”, is used. The aim of this study is twofold. First, we test if the distance and the visual salience of a referent have an effect on the interpretation of demonstratives. Second, we explore if there is a difference in the interpretation of demonstratives between native speakers from SE and NE. We used an interpretation experiment with 30 participants per group (total n = 60) and compared the SE and NE group responses. The results clearly show that the distance of the referent has an effect on how demonstratives are interpreted across the two groups, while the effect of visual salience is inconclusive. There is also a difference in the interpretation of demonstratives between the two dialectal groups. When using the Estonian with an influence of the SE dialect, the NE speakers rely on demonstrative adverbs in interpreting the referential utterance that includes demonstrative pronoun and adverb combinations, whereas the SE speakers also take into account the semantics of demonstrative pronouns. We show that, in addition to an already known difference in the production, there is also a difference in the interpretation of demonstratives between the two groups. In addition, our findings support the recognition that languages that have distance neutral demonstrative pronouns enforce the spatial meaning of a referring utterance by adding demonstrative adverbs. Not only is the interpretation of demonstrative pronouns affected, but the interpretation of demonstrative adverbs as well. The latter shows the importance of studying adverbs also, not just pronouns, and contributes to further knowledge of how demonstratives function.

Saamskij komponent v srednevekovoj istorii i toponimii Volgo-Okskogo mezhdurech'ya

The article considers the reasons for the difficulties of etymologization ancient ethnic and geographical names of the Volga-Oka interfluve. Shows the historical background and general foundations of a number of ethnonyms, ethnotonyms and toponyms (Saami, Merya, Murom, Chud, Lob river, Ruza river, Moskva River, Moscow, Mozhaisk, Kolomna, etc.). The author presents a set of identical names of the Volga-Oka interfluve and places of established settlement of the Saami. The facts and substantiations presented in the article lead to the conclusion about the existence on the territory of the Volga-Oka interfluve before the appearance of the Slavs of regional toponymy based on the Sami and, possibly, the near Finno-Ugric languages.

AUGUST AHLQVIST’S “CULTURAL WORDS”: EXCERPTS ON THE HISTORY OF FINNO-UGRIC LANGUAGE STUDY DURING THE 1860S-1880S

Karl August Engelbrekt Ahlqvist (literary pseudonym A. Oksanen) was a Finnish scholar, philologist and patriot who worked hard to create the Finnish standard language. The authors of the paper turn to some milestone facts from A. Ahlqvist’s academic biography. His meetings with some outstanding scholars, scientific expeditions to the kindred Finno-Ugric peoples, gathering of the unique field data as well as his educational activity were among those events. So-called “cultural words” became the main research topic of the paper. A. Ahlqvist classified “cultural words” according to human endeavors, locating genuine Finnish words among the loanwords. Having come to the conclusion that proper Finnish vocabulary comprised words which defined historically early, not specialized kinds of labour, A. Ahlqvist got firmly convinced that this fact witnessed the people’s historic youth period rather than its backwardness. Doing his research the scholar came to another important conclusion that the most part of the linguistic methodology was outdated then and needed updating. Thus A. Ahlqvist can be called a forerunner of the Neogrammarian turn. A. Ahlqvist became a pioneer in the Finno-Ugric language etymology study as well as in interdisciplinary approach in science, using the opportunities of “cultural words” analysis in the framework of the comparative historical method and as a means to reconstruct the Finnish ethnic history and culture.

Negative verb clusters in Mari and Udmurt and why they require postsyntactic top-down word-formation

In this paper, we provide an in-depth study of the morphosyntactic behavior of negative verb clusters in the Finno-Ugric languages Udmurt and Mari. We argue that the standard treatment of negation as an auxiliary is inadequate for these languages as it does not explain its morphosyntactic and morphophonological behavior, which presents a challenging morphology-syntax-semantics mismatch: Despite taking high scope and governing the highest verb of the clause, negation surfaces immediately before the highest verb rather than at the end of the verb cluster as would be expected in head-final languages. Furthermore, we show that negation forms a complex unit with the highest verb of the clause and thus crucially differs from negative auxiliaries in other Finno-Ugric languages like Finnish and from other auxiliaries. We argue that the properties of negation are best modelled by means of postsyntactic Lowering (Embick and Noyer 2001). Next to the semantic vacuousness of the displacement, the main arguments for a postsyntactic perspective come from the internal constituency of the verb cluster, the possibility to interleave clitics inside the verb cluster only in the presence of negation, and cases where Lowering fails and a syntacto-semantically inert copula is inserted as a repair. We show that competing approaches to complex head formation based on narrow-syntactic head-movement, flexible spell-out in different positions or base-generation fail to capture the crucial properties of negative verb clusters. On a more general level, we thus provide evidence for the necessity of post-syntactic mechanisms for word formation and a serial architecture of the morphology-syntax interface.

Глаголы перемещения веществ в некоторых финно-угорских языках

The article deals with verbs describing motion of substances (‘fl ow’, ‘stream’, ‘pour’ etc.) in three Finno-Ugric languages (Komi, Western Khanty, and Hill Mari), which were not considered in the previous typological studies of this domain. The article is aimed at identifying the semantic oppositions between such verbs from the typological perspective. The material has been collected primarily in fieldwork by elicitation and is compared to the data available in dictionaries (sometimes coming from other language varieties). Methodologically, I rely on the frame-based approach to lexical typology, which involves collocational analysis as the key procedure for highlighting semantic oppositions A sketch of falling verbs in each language is provided (focusing on how the basic parameters of cross-linguistic variation are realized in my sample), since they are contiguous to the domain being in the main focus. The main part of the article provides the description of flowing & pouring verbs in each language from the sample. I discuss several semantic features of these verbs, such as the opposition between a stream and drops, the colexification of moving liquids and granular substances (with some language-specific constraints dealing with some properties of the situations), special lexemes for small amounts of liquids emitted from some entity, etc. Some issues underdescribed in typological studies are touched upon (e.g. a special verb in Khanty for small portions of liquids or pouring substance moving in the air, such as fog or flour). The semantic connections between, on the one hand, flowing & pouring, and, on the other hand, falling of multiple subjects are analyzed, taking into account the restrictions on the subject of falling (natural entity vs. artifact, size of singular entities) and on the whole situation (distributivity) available for this colexification pattern. Other polysemy patterns developed by the verbs in question are considered as well, e.g. the extension of the basic lexeme kis’s’yny ‘flow, pour’ in Komi to some situations of destruction

Глаголы падения в финском языке

In Finnish, a Finno-Ugric language, many different verbs are used to describe the process of falling. They differ in meaning according to the trajectory, the characteristics of the falling object, and the process of landing. The list of verbs of falling was compiled with the help of dictionaries, corpus material, and native and multilingual speakers of Finnish. After completing the list of verbs, the authors collected examples of the use of the chosen ca. 40 verbs (in some cases, different Aktionsarten were also included). The main corpus of examples was retrieved from the Language Bank of Finland, available online at www.korp.csc.fi. The examples illustrated the direct, special, and metaphoric meanings of the verbs. After comparing the contexts where different verbs were used, it was found that the most frequent verbs are pudota, tippua (falling from above to the ground), kaatua (falling from a vertical position into a horizontal one) and romahtaa (collapse). The first two verbs may replace each other in almost all contexts. Although the primary meanings of the other verbs are often different, they may have very similar metaphoric meanings, especially when people speak of their mental state. The other verbs described in this study are: alentua ‘become lower, go down, fall, sink’, aleta ‘become lower’, kellahtaa ‘fall, tumble down, topple over’, kellistyä ‘fall, tumble (down), fall down’, kierähtää ‘fall, tumble over, stumble, flip over, turn over’, kolahtaa ‘bang, slam, hit, bump, clunk, go down well’, kompastua ‘trip, stumble, trip up’, kopsahtaa ‘thump, clap, click, fall with a thump’, kupsahtaa ‘topple, topple over, tumble over, pop off’, kuukahtaa ‘topple, topple over, tumble over, pop off’, langeta ‘fall, throw’, laskea ‘lower, reduce, fall, drop, go down’, lätsähtää ‘splash, belly-flop’, leijailla ‘float, soar, hover’, lentää ‘fly’, loiskahtaa ‘splash, spill’, luhistua ‘collapse, cave in, fall in, break down, fall apart’, lysähtää ‘collapse, sink, drop, slump, flop’, lyyhistyä ‘collapse, fall down, sink, drop, slump’, molskahtaa ‘splash, plop’, painua ‘sink, fall’, plätsähtää ‘splash’, roiskahtaa ‘splash, splatter, spurt out’, romahtaa ‘collapse, tumble down, fall down, crash down, cave in, topple over’, sortua ‘collapse, fall down, cave in, crash down’, tömähtää ‘thump, thud’, tuupertua ‘collapse, drop, sink, fall down’, vajota ‘sink, fall’, valua ‘flow, run, drip’, varista ‘fall off, drop off’, and vierähtää ‘roll, elapse’.

IN HONOR OF SZILÁRD TIBOR TÓTH

Szilárd Tibor Tóth, PhD, Finno-Ugrist, Executive Editor of the Yearbook of Finno-Ugric Studies, lecturer at Narva College of Tartu University turned 50. He founded the journal “Finnugor Világ” in 1996. He has taught Hungarian in Tartu, Izhevsk, Kudymkar and Riga. His scientific interests include Estonian philology, contacts between Latvian and Finno-Ugric languages, Permic languages, lexicology, lexicography and culinary linguistics. In his dissertation, he gave his first overview of the history of the South Estonian Tartu literary language.

Semantics of verbs of auditory perception in the Erzia and Finnish languages

Introduction. The article studies the semantics of Erzia and Finnish verbs of auditory perception. It considers the meanings of some of the most vividly expressing polysemy of audio verbs and verb constructions. The problem associated with the study of the semantics of the verbs of auditory perception is very relevant. The absence of special works on the topic of the research, as well as its insufficient research in comparative terms, adversely affects the development of lexicology and word formation of Finno-Ugric languages. Materials and methods. The authors employed verbal units that have common semantics of auditory perception in modern Erzia and Finnish languages. They are isolated from the explanatory dictionaries of these languages and examined using descriptive, component and comparative methods. Results and discussion. Given the affinity of the Erzia and Finnish languages, this article classifies the lexical-semantic group on the basis of a semantic characteristics to identify nuclear lexemes in the composition of the verb group, as well as to describe peripheral units. In the course of the analysis it was possible to establish that as a result of polysemy, the verbs and verb constructions of auditory perception in the Erzia and Finnish languages can be a part of several synonymous series. Conclusion. Taking into account the semantic characteristics of verbs and verbal constructions of auditory perception, systematization made it possible to determine a number of nuclear auditory units based on material from distant languages. The study showed that the verbs of auditory perception in the Erzia and Finnish languages have common semantics, and allowed us to identify a number of universal meanings, as well as various semantic nuances in both languages.

Contact-induced change in Surgut Khanty relative clauses

AbstractThis paper inquires into the structure of newly emerging relative clauses (RCs) in the Surgut dialect of Khanty, an endangered Finno-Ugric language of Western Siberia. The original externally headed RCs in this language are prenominal, with a participial verb form and a gap at the relativization site. More recently new types have been observed as well: post-nominal participles with and withoutťu(a morpheme that looks identical to the distal demonstrative ‘that’) as well as postnominal finite RCs with a relative pronoun. These types have emerged as a result of extensive language contact with Russian, the socially dominant language of the area. The paper provides the first detailed description and analysis of the new Surgut Khanty RC types, exploring their syntactic structure as well as the extent to which language contact has shaped these structures.

Топонимическое пространство эрзя-мордовского села Большая Ёга Самарской области

Pokhvistnevsky District of Samara Oblast and its surroundings, as well as other elements of the toponymic space: geographical vocabulary, toponymic legends. Objective: introduction to scientific circulation, etymological and comparative analysis of toponymic nomenclature of the Erzya-Mordovian village Bolshaya Yoga. Research materials: the study is based on the materials collected and processed by the author during the field seasons 2015, 2018 and 2019 in the village Bolshaya Yoga, as well as in the neighboring Erzya-Mordovian villages of Pokhvistnevsky District of Samara Oblast forming the special Pokhvistnevo ethno-territorial group of the Mordovian people of the Samara Volga region. Results and novelty of the research: the result of the study is the comprehensive analysis of toponymic space of the Erzya-Mordovian village Bolshaya Yoga, including the comparative analysis of geographical vocabulary of the Bolshaya Yoga subdialect of the Erzya-Mordovian language, etymological analysis of the geographical names of the village and its vicinities. Scientific novelty of the research consists in the fact that such analysis with regard to the toponymic space of Bolshaya Yoga was completed at the first time; valuable data for researchers of toponyms of Mordovia, Mordovian languages, as well as for professionals in other Finno-Ugric languages are introduced into scientific circulation.

Исконные названия одежды в финно-угорских языках: новые этимологии

Исконные названия одежды в финно-угорских языках: новые этимологии

THE CULTURAL AND HISTORICAL RICHNESS OF THE REGIONAL NAMES

The article considers the toponyms of the Smolensk region as a valuable phenomenon of cultural and historical character, which, being the language of the earth, are able to tell about the ancient and most ancient facts of life of the people of this region on a par with the monuments of material culture. Names belonging to Finno-Ugric and Baltic languages, as well as to West Slavic languages are identified. It is emphasized that names can persist for centuries, losing their connection with the source language and adapting to new language conditions.

Zoomorphic Pattern in Collective Nicknames among the Residents of the Russian North

The paper studies collective nicknames of the residents of the Russian North (Arkhangelsk and Vologda regions) to describe a productive zoomorphic naming pattern. The research is based on findings of the Toponymic Expedition of the Ural Federal University which includes materials from field trips to the Russian North (1960–2019) as well as data published in dictionaries and monographs. The paper identifies lexical composition of the pattern, describes the geography of collective nicknames, and provides analysis of the material in terms of motivation, onomasiology, and language contacts. In some cases, collective nicknames are considered against the background of other types of nickname anthroponymy: family and individual nicknames. The analyzed body of nicknames includes both units formed from all-Russian vocabulary such as vorony, ershi, zaitsy, kuliki, etc., and less common names based on dialectal names of animals, birds, fish and insects (revyaki, svizi, sivkuny, pepyaki). The choice of animal species used in nicknames (in decreasing order: birds, fish, wild animals, pets, insects, amphibians) as well as substantial quantitative differences between Arkhangelsk and Vologda region (more than 200 units vs 88) are attributable to landscape features (forest and water) and occupations of the population (hunting, fishing). Characterological motivations, widely used in individual nickname anthroponymy, are relatively rare among zoomorphic collective nicknames. The prevalence of some thematic and motivational categories (especially “birds”) in the nicknames is probably due to the influence of substrate Finno-Ugric languages.