North Caspian Research Articles

HISTORY AND RESULTS OF HYDROACOUSTIC RESEARCHES IN THE NORTH CASPIAN

Aim. We present materials on the history of hydroacoustic research in the Caspian Sea and forecast of catches in case of abolition of the law prohibiting the fishing in the open sea. Methods. We have carried out three hydroacoustic surveys in accordance with existing procedures. Investigations have been conducted using fish-finding multifunctional sonar panorama video-plotter. Results. Hydroacoustic researches on the density of accumulations, spatial distribution and stocks of Caspian Sea migrating herring (Dolginskaya herring, Caspian and bigeye shads) were carried out in the period of April - May 2007, in the shallow part of the North Caspian Sea, and for this we have performed two hydroacoustic surveys. In the spring, in different areas of surveyed area size and weight characteristics of marine migratory herrings were fairly stable; the length of Dolginskiy herring caught in control fixed nets in different parts of the area surveyed ranged from 23.6 cm. to 30.0 cm, with an average of 26,7 cm; as for the weight, it fluctuated from 212.3g. to 393g, with an average of 275.0 g. These data indicate that the temperature factor is one of the most important abiotic factors that determine the density of accumulations, places and areas of migratory sea herring in the pre-spawning period. Conclusion. Using hydroacoustic sonar method in the Caspian Sea for more than 40 years has shown its representativeness and reliability in assessing marine fish stocks. The number of marine migratory herring in the North Caspian Sea is closely linked to the temperature of the water and with the increase in temperature we can observe increase in the number. The biomass of marine migratory herrings in the Northern Caspian Sea varies from 3 to 5 thousand tons, which is a significant reserve for the fishing industry of Kazakhstan and Russia. Under the current economic conditions the hydroacoustic sonar method is to become a major tool for assessment of fish stocks in the North Caspian.

Личные местоимения дагестанских языков в сравнении c ностратическими

Личные местоимения дагестанских языков в сравнении c ностратическими

Morphological fusion without syntactic fusion: The case of the “verificative” in Agul

AbstractA crosslinguistically unusual case of morphological fusion, in which two clauses fuse morphologically in the absence of preceding syntactic fusion or clause union, is found in the East Caucasian language Agul. This phenomenon involves a set of “verificative” verbal forms (forms that seek ‘to find out the truth value or the value of an unknown variable’). The verificatives are completely morphologically bound, but manifest clear biclausal properties: in particular, the introduction of a new agentive argument by the verificative (the ergative “verifier”) causes no change in the argument structure of the embedded clause. This article argues that the Agul verificative has grammaticalized from the matrix verb ‘see’ plus an indirect question complement in the conditional form: over time, the two verbal heads have fused into one form. Partial parallels to this development can be found in the related languages Archi and Lezgian, where a semantic shift from ‘see’ to ‘check, find out’ is attested, together with a change in subject encoding from typically experiential (dative) to canonically agentive (ergative). Still, the complete morphologization of the verificative structure in Agul dialects remains exceptional given its comparatively recent origin, the infrequency of the construction, and the general absence of observed cases in which matrix verbs become fused with their complements.

ARKhEOGRAFIChESKIE ISSLEDOVANIYa V DAGESTANE V 2014 g

The article covers the archaeographical field researches, which in 2014 were conducted in a number of mountain and lowland regions of Dagestan in order to identify collections of manuscripts and early printed books, written mostly in Arabic, as well as in the Turkic and Dagestan languages using the Arabic script.

Events, locations and situations

This paper documents a number of restrictions on negation marking in Avar, a Northeast Caucasian language, and presents a tentative analysis of the observed morphosyntactic facts as having a semantic basis. The two different negation markers are analysed, based on the proposal in (Ramchand & Svenonius 2014), as taking complements of a different semantic type.

Successfully Looking for Syntax in Mehweb Dargwa Relative Clause Constructions

East Caucasian relative clause constructions (RCCs) are thought by some to be constructed mainly on the basis of semantic and pragmatic information and not to elaborate on the syntax of the relative clause. In this paper, we consider RCCs in one of the East Caucasian languages, namely Mehweb Dargwa, and argue that, despite the fact that its RCCs can be organized on a semantic basis, their functioning can also rely on syntactic information. In particular, we present evidence that Mehweb Dargwa has grammaticalized the resumptive use of reflexive pronouns, which can be contrasted with other uses of reflexive pronouns due to the restrictions on animate antecedents observed only in RCCs

Specialized Converbs in Mehweb

This paper classifies the semantic inventory and describes the morphosyntactic characteristics of specialized converbs in Mehweb a lect of the Dargwa group of the East Caucasian (Nakh-Daghestanian) language family. The data for this description were collected during a field trip to the village of Mehweb (Megeb) 3. For Mehweb I describe converbs which have the following meaning: anteriority, immediacy, inceptivity, simultaniety, posteriority, hypothetical conditionality, counterfactuality, concessivity (and another meaning close to concessivity), causality, purpose and graduality.

Quasi-Causative Constructions in Mehweb

This paper investigates causative constructions in Mehweb, a lect of the Dargwa group of the East Caucasian (Nakh-Daghestanian) language family. In Mehweb, it is possible to build a causative construction by using a causative predicate and the predicate of caused action. Originally such verbs conveyed the meaning of physical causation of motion and left the causee on its own. Constructions of this kind do not qualify as canonical analytic (periphrastic) causatives, because they are not fully grammaticalized. I describe them as quasi-causatives. Usually, either a morphological or periphrastic causative marker is used in one utterance. Mehweb shows some evidence for double causative marking by combining a separate verbal form as the main causative predicate with a dependent verbal form which is marked with a morphological causative affix, producing only one causative meaning.

Distinguishing Logophoric Pronouns and Long-Distance Reflexives in Mehweb Dargwa

This study analyses the difference between logophoric pronoun and long-distance reflexive in Mehweb Dargwa of East Caucasian language family. Following paper cites the examples that provide evidence for the difference existing between logophoric pronouns and long-distance reflexives in Mehweb and explains the cases of the reference ambiguity by introducing the idea of the zero pronoun with non-subject reference.

Moods of Mehweb

This paper describes the moods of Mehweb, a lect of the Dargwa branch of East Caucasian languages, Republic of Daghestan. The data for this description was collected during several field trips to the village of Mehweb (Megeb). The forms of non-indicative moods and common constructions where these forms occur are described. Mehweb has inflectional forms for the imperative, optative, irrealis and apprehensive. The hortative and jussive are expressed by means of grammatical constructions.

Seismic hazard assessment for oil-and-gas-bearing shelf zones: A case study of the North Caspian region

Seismic hazard assessment is done for oil field areas in the North Caspian region by a method earlier successfully applied to other areas. The method involves general seismic zoning data, available regional databases on recurrence of seismic shaking, known models of ground motion attenuation in seismoactive regions, and data on geological and geophysical surveys in the studied area. The assigned level of seismic hazard of the region is refined using probabilistic analysis; additionally, disaggregation is made and accelerograms are synthesized (the latter are necessary for seismic microzoning of particular sites using the numerical nonlinear analysis of ground seismic response). The amplitude and spectral characteristics of ground motions are obtained which are necessary for seismic resistance design and construction of petroleum industry objects.

SIVUKH VERNACULAR WITHIN THE SETUP OF DIALECTS OF THE AVAR-ANDI-TSEZ GROUP OF DAGESTAN LANGUAGES

The paper considered one of the urgent challenges of areal linguistics arisen on a contemporary scene of levelling languages, and cultures undergoing globalization, – i.e. studying the Sivukh vernacular of the Karatin language, and drawing its isoglosses on the map of dialects for Dagestan languages. The study specified a position the Sivukh vernacular has taken in the set of Avar – Andi – Tsez group of Dagestan languages, and provided the data from history and ethnography specifying the factors capable of contributing to its development and alteration. The author referred to phonetic and morphological features and other language-related features of various Dagestani languages and dialects, when comparing them with the Sivukh vernacular and specifying details on their similarity or discrepancy. Taking for instance the Karatin and Tukitin, and Andy and Sivukh languages and dialects, the study has shown that numerous dialects and vernaculars within the language affinity group of Andy and Tsez sub-groups undergo isolation and differentiation owing to disintegration of language units that once being relatively homogenous. The study has noted that the Sivukh vernacular is mostly similar to the Karatin language and significantly distanced from other dialects.

Towards a semantic map for intensifying particles: Evidence from Avar

AbstractIn this paper I examine the multifunctional enclitic =goin the Nakh-Daghestanian language Avar. By means of a semantic map I show that its central function is the expression of emphasis and/or contrast. Other uses are the expression of identity, scalar additivity, reflexivity (including local and long-distance reflexives, emphatic reflexive uses), the marking of indefinite pronouns and adverbs, and the derivation of cardinal numerals and converbs. The paper also advances a hypothesis about the origin of =goand argues that it goes back to the copula -ugo. The use of the copula in cleft constructions gave rise to the emphatic/contrastive function, and all other uses can be viewed as extension of this function.

Logophoric reference in Archi

The paper considers the pronoun used in logophoric contexts in Archi, an East Caucasian language of the Lezgic group. Like many other languages of the family, Archi shows a formal connection between logophoric and reflexive pronouns. The latter differs from the former in that it carries an obligatory intensifier particle. This connection questions the suggestion in Culy (1997); cf. also Dimmendaal (2001) to separate African-style ‘pure’ logophoric systems from systems where a long-distance reflexive is used in the same context. Culy (1997), in a typological analysis of logophoricity, argues that long-distance reflexives in logophoric contexts are a secondary extension of the reflexive function. Toldova (1999), in an overview of East Caucasian systems, suggests on the contrary that, in these languages, logophoricity is the primary function and the reflexive function is its extension. In their approaches, neither Culy nor Toldova rely on notions such as focus of empathy (Kuno, 1987), and Culy even explicitly disproves its relevance for the typology of logophoric systems. The solution suggested in the present study is discourse-based and is not unlike the focus of empathy. Both logophoric and reflexive uses of the Archi pronoun, corresponding to two clearly different and well established comparative concepts, constitute one descriptive category (Haspelmath, 2010). They both are extensions of the core function of the pronoun which is to mark the special pragmatic/discourse role of its referent – extensions that involve grammaticization of the pronoun in specific contexts as reflexives and logophoric.

The stratigraphic, sedimentological and structural evolution of the southern margin of the Kazakhstan continent in the Tien Shan Range during the Devonian to Permian

Abstract The passive margin carbonate platform in the Middle Tien Shan rests on Givetian–Frasnian red siliciclastic strata. It evolved from an attached carbonate platform in the Famennian and early Tournaisian to an isolated carbonate platform in the late Tournaisian to early Bashkirian. The open-ocean side of the platform was reef-rimmed, whereas the continental side was both reef- and shoal-rimmed. Platform interiors exhibit low-energy facies during the Famennian to early Visean and high-energy facies during the late Visean to Bashkirian. Eustatic sea-level rises in the middle Tournaisian, early Visean and near the Visean and Serpukhovian boundary caused major reorganizations in platform architecture. Deformation in the middle Bashkirian reflects the onset of a convergent margin. Flexural loading by an orogenic thrust wedge controlled basin subsidence along the southern edge of the Middle Tien Shan in the Late Pennsylvanian to Asselian. Cessation of deposition in the Asselian followed by folding and granitoid plutonism reflects the onset of a rigid collision. Devonian to Permian carbonates represent outcrop analogues of coeval oil- and gas-rich carbonate platforms in the North Caspian basin and can be used for comparative and predictive sedimentological studies. Palaeozoic carbonate reservoir facies may host subsurface Cenozoic oil fields in the Fergana Basin.

Groundwater of the Pleistocene aquifer system in the North Caspian and Near-Caspian regions: Communication 2. Significance of sedimentary water integrity for the development of sedimentary basins and paleogeological reconstructions

An additional very important and, possibly, unique feature of the Caspian sedimentary basin—the retention of sedimentary water in the Pleistocene aquifer system of the North Caspian and Near-Caspian regions—is discussed. It is shown that increase of the groundwater mineralization was caused by its metamorphization during diagenesis. Under conditions of the integrity of sedimentary water during geological history, hydromicaceous clays serve as the main source providing a significant increase of mineralization in the interstitial water of marine sediments and groundwater. The comprehensive examination of sedimentary processes in the Neopleistocene Caspian Basin and groundwater formation in the Pleistocene aquifer system of the northern Near-Caspian region made it possible to determine (and, frequently, to quantify) a system of specific natural factors and conditions (at the quantitative level in many cases). They can be used for the assessment of retention or displacement of sedimentary water from the sedimentary basin with a high degree of confidence. This is of great importance for the study of present-day sedimentary basins and geological reconstructions.

From Caucasian Albanian to Udi

Two palimpsest manuscripts founded in the Mt. Sinai monastery by Zaza Aleksidze and identified as Caucasian Albanian by the same researcher can be regarded as the earliest documentation of an East Caucasian language. The decipherment of the palimpsests dating back to probably the 6th or 7th century A.D. mainly by Jost Gippert and the author of this paper allow relating the language of these texts (fragments of the Gospel of John and parts of a Christian lectionary) to the world of modern East Caucasian languages. It soon became clear that the language conventionally termed Caucasian Albanian (CA; for lack of a known autochthonous name) can be regarded as a more or less direct ancestor of present-day Udi, a minotarian language spoken in one village in Azerbaijan (Nij), as well as in some other settlements and cities of the former USSR. The paper wants to illustrate the degree of relatedness between of CA and Udi by referring to aspects of phonology, morphosyntax, and the lexicon. The CA and (Vartashen) Udi versions of a short text passage (Matthew 17,1-3) are additionally used to show that although some major processes of language change have occurred since the times of CA, there still is enough evidence that ascertain the assumption of immediate relatedness.

Groundwater of the Pleistocene aquifer system in the north Caspian and near-Caspian regions: Communication 1. Character of water exchange and factors of sedimentary water integrity

Water contained in marine sediments is of great significance in evolution process of sedimentatry basin. Transformation of sediments at all stages of lithogenesis occurs through interaction with water of different genetic types, as well as with organic matter and gases. Our attention was focused on the proportions of sedimentary and infiltration water in basin. The possibility and degree of displacement of sedimentary water by waters of other genetic types, first of all, infiltration water, are considered. In this communication, we consider specific natural conditions that provided the integrity of sedimentary water at least during the entire Pleistocene-Holocene. It was convincingly demonstrated for the first time that infiltration water, evaporation, and deep factors have a minimum or local influence on the total balance of the Pleistocene aquifer system of the North Caspian and near-Caspian regions. The water balance is mainly determined by the following principal factors: extremely low Darcy velocity of regional groundwater flow and insignificant contribution of local recharge of atmospheric precipitation, evaporation, and vertical water exchange between aquiferous strata.

New data on the upper quaternary stratigraphy of the North Caspian Sea

New data on the upper quaternary stratigraphy of the North Caspian Sea

The wavelength of satellite reflectance maximum as a remote indicator of water exchange between ecologically different aquatic areas

The wavelength λmax of the maximum of spectral reflectance Rrs is examined as a tool for remote indication of water exchange in straits, coastal zones, and other transition areas. Estimates of λmax were calculated from data of MODIS-Aqua sensor by means of spline interpolation of Rrs at 469, 488, 531, 547, and 555 nm for pixels of images of the strait of Skagerrak and the North Caspian Sea as testing areas of active water exchange. The distributions of Rrs(555) and color index Q = Rrs(555)/Rrs(488), found from the same data, were used to compare the behavior of λmax with the variability of habitual characteristics. We demonstrate that the new indicator λmax, being a characteristic of chromaticity of natural waters, is preferable in areas where water exchange is accompanied by redistribution of colored dissolved organic matter of natural origin. The estimates of λmax may be useful as a remote indicator of salinity deficit in river mouth regions.