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Evenki grammar

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This article outlines the grammar of the Evenki language spoken in Russia, in both Cyrillic and Latin scripts. Since the Cyrillic script do not usually mark long vowels, macrons will be used in this article (excepting е (ē), which is always long, at least in native words). Example sentences will be taken from either the Evengus (Russian: Эвенгус) website, or from Nadezhda Bulatova and Lenore Grenoble's book Evenki Grammar in 1997.

Morphology notes

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Vowel harmony

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Like other Tungusic languages, Evenki employs vowel harmony. There are two rows ("first and second row") with two neutral vowels, и (i) and у (u).[1] For simplicity, archiphonemes will be used for alternating vowels in suffixes, with capital О (O) for а/э/о (a/ə/o), А (A) for а/э (a/ə), and their iotated counterparts Ё (JO) for я/е/ё (ja/jə/jo), Я (JA) for я/е (ja/jə).

First row Neutral Second row
а
a 		и
i 		э
ə
е
e 		у
u
о
o
Syllables containing first row vowels can only be followed by another syllables that contain first row vowels, and vice versa.
  • анактадяран (anaktaʒaran)
  • эмэктэдерэн (əməktəʒərən)
и (i) and у (u) can be followed by either first or second row vowels.
  • сулакива (sulakiva), ACC of сулаки (sulaki).
  • улукивэ (ulukivə), ACC of улуки (uluki).
Short о (o) can be followed by о (o); however, о (o) cannot follow long о̄ (ō) or being intervened by neutral vowels. In this place, а (a) is used instead.
  • соӈоктодёрон (soŋoktoʒoron)
  • о̄дяран (ōʒaran), not *о̄дёрон (*ōʒoron).
  • орондивар (oronʒivar), not *орондивор (*oronʒivor).

Nominals

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Pluralization

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Here are some rules of forming Evenki plurals:[2]

The plural suffixes -л (-l) after vowels or -ил (-il) after consonants are usually used.
  • бур (bur) : бурил (buril) "islands"
  • дю̄ (ʒū) : дю̄л (ʒul) "yurts"
However, after -н (-n), -р (-r) is used instead and the final consonant before the suffix is removed.
  • орон (oron) : орор (oror) "deers"
Some nouns use -сал (-sal) in addition to the previous two suffixes. Notice that this suffix also removes -н (-n) from the stem.
  • киран (kiran) : кирасал (kirasal) "eagles"
Some kinship terms are irregularly pluralized:
  • амын (amin) : амтыл (amtil) "fathers"
  • эмын (əmin) : эмтыл (əmtil) "mothers"
  • акин (akin) : акнил (aknil) "older brothers"
  • экин (əkin) : экнил (əknil) "older sisters"
  • нэкун (nəkun) : нэкнил (nəknil) "younger brothers, younger sisters"
  • аса (asa) : асил (asil) "women"
  • хунаг (hunag) : хунил (hunil) "girls"

Cases

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Evenki nouns are inflected for 13 cases: nominative, accusative, accusative indefinite, dative, allative, locative, prolative (longitudinal), allative locative, allative prolative, ablative, elative, instrumental, and comitative cases.[3]

List[4]
Case Suffix
-V[a] -C[+V][b] -N[c] -C[-V][d]
Nominative -∅ (no marker)
-∅
Accusative[5][e] -вО
-vO 		-мО
-mO 		-пО
-pO
Accusative indefinite[6][f] -Ё
-JO
Dative[7] -дӯ
-dū 		-тӯ
-tū
Allative[8] -ткӣ
-tkī 		-тыкӣ
-tikī
Locative[9] -лО̄
-lŌ 		-дулА̄
-dulĀ 		-тулА̄
-tulĀ
Prolative[10] -лӣ
-lī 		-дулӣ
-dulī 		-тулӣ
-tulī
Allative locative[11] -клО̄
-klŌ 		-иклО̄
-iklŌ
Allative prolative[12] -клӣ
-klī 		-иклӣ
-iklī
Ablative[13] -дук
-duk 		-тук
-tuk
Elative[14] -гӣт
-gīt 		-ӈӣт
-ŋīt 		-кӣт
-kīt
Instrumental[15][g] -т
-t 		-ит
-it 		-ди
-ʒi 		-ит
-it
Comitative[16] -нӯн
-nūn

Possession

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Evenki nouns can also be inflected for possession, where a possessive suffix is attached to the noun based on features of the noun which possesses it.[17][18][19]
  • 1SG: оронмӣ (oron·mī) "my deer"
  • 2SG: ороннӣ (oron·nī) "your deer"
  • 3SG: оронин (oron·in) "his/her/its deer"
When declined in grammatical cases, case suffixes are placed between the noun and the possessive suffixes:[20]
  • NOM: оронмӣ (oron·∅·mī)
  • ACC: оронмов (oron·mo·v)
  • ACC.INDEF: оронов (oron·o·v)
There are also reflexive-possessive suffixes; they do not inflect in the nominative, and instead use null on the accusative:[21]
  • ACC: оронмӣ (oron·∅·mī)
  • ACC.INDEF: орономӣ (oron·o·mī).

Бӣ

1SG

хунатпӣ

daughter-REFL

ичэм

see-1sg.PRES

Бӣ хунатпӣ ичэм

1SG daughter-REFL see-1sg.PRES

"I see my daughter."

Some kinship nouns, as well as body part names (usually), are inalienable:
  • аминмӣ (aminmī) "my father", but амин (amin) "father" can't stand alone
-ӈӣ (-ŋī) is used to mark non-attributive possessive:[22]
  • оронӈӣ (oron·∅·ŋī)
To negate presence of an object, а̄чин (āčin) is used:[23]

Миндӯ

1SG-DAT

ӈинакин

dog

а̄чин.

NEG.

Миндӯ ӈинакин а̄чин.

1SG-DAT dog NEG.

I don't have a dog.

Дю̄дӯвӣ

house-DAT-REFL

энинмӣ

mother-1SG

а̄чин.

NEG.

Дю̄дӯвӣ энинмӣ а̄чин.

house-DAT-REFL mother-1SG NEG.

My mother is not at her home.

Final element in the stem → Singular Plural
Person ↓ -V -C[+V] -C[-V] -n -l -r
Singular 1st person -в
-v 		-ив
-iv 		-мӣ
-mī 		-вӣ
-vī
2nd person -с
-s 		-ис
-is 		-нӣ
-nī 		-лӣ
-lī 		-рӣ
-rī
3rd person -н
-n 		-ин
-in
reflexive -вӣ
-vī 		-пӣ
-pī 		-мӣ
-mī 		-вӣ
-vī
Plural 1st person exclusive -вун
-vun 		-мун
-mun 		-вун
-vun
inclusive -т
-t 		-ит
-it 		-ты
-ty
2nd person -сун
-sun 		-нун
-nun 		-лун
-lun 		-рун
-run
3rd person -тын
-tyn
reflexive -вОр
-vOr 		-пОр
-pOr 		-мОр
-mOr 		-вОр
-vOr

Adjectives

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Evenki adjectives can be declined, and agree with the noun's inflection:[24]
  • NOM: хулама о̄сикта (xulama osikta) "red star"
  • ACC: хуламава о̄сиктава (xulama·va ōsikta·va)
To create comparative degree forms, -дымАр (-dimAr) after consonants and -тмОр (-tmOr) after vowels are used:
  • хэгдытмэр (xəgdi·tmər) "taller"
  • ӈонимдымар (ŋonim·dimar) "longer"
To create superlative degree forms, -дыгӯ (-digū) after consonants and -ткӯ (-tkū) after vowels are used:[25]
  • хэгдыткӯ (xəgdi·tkū) "tallest"
  • ӈонимдыгӯ (ŋonim·digū) "longest"

Pronouns

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Unlike other nominals, personal pronouns in Evenki tends to be irregularly inflected:[26]

1st person
Singular Plural
Exclusive Inclusive
Nominative бӣ
bī 		бӯ
bū 		мит
mit

Notes

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  1. ^ after vowels
  2. ^ after voiced consonants, i.e. any other consonant
  3. ^ after nasal consonants (м (m), н (n), and ӈ (ŋ)
  4. ^ after voiceless consonants (к (k), п (p), с (s), т (t), and ч (č))
  5. ^ According to Bulatova and Grenoble, plurals use -ба/-бэ/-бо (-ba/-bə/-bo), although the Evengus website restricts it dialectally.
  6. ^ Nouns in -н (-n) and plurals use -О (-a/-ə/-o) (орон (oron) → ороно (orono) "deer".
  7. ^ -ди (-ʒi) in the plural.

References

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  1. ^ "Гармония гласных". Эвенгус. Retrieved 20 February 2022.
  2. ^ "Единственное и множественное число имён существительных". Эвенгус. Retrieved 19 February 2022.
  3. ^ "Падежи имён существительных". Эвенгус. Retrieved 20 February 2022.
  4. ^ Bulatova & Grenoble 1999, p. 8.
  5. ^ "Винительный падеж". Эвенгус. Retrieved 19 February 2022.
  6. ^ "Винительный неопределённый падеж". Эвенгус. Retrieved 21 February 2022.
  7. ^ "Дательный падеж". Эвенгус. Retrieved 21 February 2022.
  8. ^ "Направительный падеж". Эвенгус. Retrieved 1 March 2022.
  9. ^ "Местный падеж". Эвенгус. Retrieved 4 October 2024.
  10. ^ "Продолный падеж". Эвенгус. Retrieved 4 October 2024.
  11. ^ "Направительно-местный падеж". Эвенгус. Retrieved 5 October 2024.
  12. ^ "Направительно-продолный падеж". Эвенгус. Retrieved 5 October 2024.
  13. ^ "Отложительный падеж". Эвенгус. Retrieved 5 October 2024.
  14. ^ "Исходный падеж". Эвенгус. Retrieved 5 October 2024.
  15. ^ "Творительный падеж". Эвенгус. Retrieved 5 October 2024.
  16. ^ "Совместный падеж". Эвенгус. Retrieved 5 October 2024.
  17. ^ "Лично-притяжательные суффиксы". Эвенгус. Retrieved 23 March 2022.
  18. ^ Bulatova & Grenoble 1999, p. 13.
  19. ^ Nedjalkov, Igor (1997). Evenki. London: Routledge. pp. 143–4.
  20. ^ "Притяжательное склонение имён существительных". Эвенгус. Retrieved 2024-10-07.
  21. ^ "Возвратно-притяжательные суффиксы". Эвенгус. Retrieved 2024-10-07.
  22. ^ "Употребление имён существительных с притяжательными суффиксами". Эвенгус. Retrieved 2024-11-02.
  23. ^ "Имя отрицания ачин". Эвенгус. Retrieved 2024-11-23.
  24. ^ "Склонение имён прилагательных". Эвенгус. Retrieved 25 November 2024.
  25. ^ "67". Эвенгус. Retrieved 25 November 2024.
  26. ^ "Склонение личных местоимений 1-го и 2-го лица". Эвенгус. Retrieved 22 December 2024.

Citations

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  • Bulatova, Nadezhda; Grenoble, Lenore (1999). Evenki Grammar (PDF). München: Lincom Europa.
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