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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]

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.
  • анактад’аран (anaktad’aran)
  • эмэктэд’эрэн (əməktəd’ərən)
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.
  • соӈоктод’орон (soŋoktod’oron)
  • о̄д’аран (ōd’aran), not *о̄д’орон (*ōd’oron).
  • орондивар (oronʒivar), not *орондивор (*oronʒivor).

Nouns

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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] -ва/-вэ/-во
-va/-və/-vo 		-ма/-мэ/-мо
-ma/-mə/-mo 		-па/-пэ/-по
-pa/-pə/-po
Accusative indefinite[6][f] -я/-е/-ё
-ja/-jə/-jo
Dative[7] -дӯ
-dū 		-тӯ
-tū
Allative[8] -ткӣ
-tkī 		-тыкӣ
-tikī
Locative[9] -ла̄/-лэ̄/-ло̄
-lā/-lə̄/-lō 		-дула̄/-дулэ̄
-dulā/dulə̄ 		-тула̄/-тулэ̄
-tulā/-tulə̄
Prolative[10] -лӣ
-lī 		-дулӣ
-dulī 		-тулӣ
-tulī
Allative locative[11] -кла̄/-клэ̄/-кло̄
-klā/-klə̄/-klō 		-икла̄/-иклэ̄/-икло̄
-iklā/-iklə̄/-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.

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 -вар/-вэр/-вор
-var/-vər/-vor 		-пар/-пэр/-пор
-par/-pər/-por 		-мар/-мэр/-мор
-mar/-mər/-mor 		-вар/-вэр/-вор
-var/-vər/-vor

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 -а/-э/-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. ^ BulatovaGrenoble 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. ^ BulatovaGrenoble 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.

Further reading

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