Article

Name: Syntagmatic complexity of verbal word forms in Alutor

Authors: A. A. Maltseva

In the section Linguistics

Abstract: The paper based on the solid sample from Alutor folklore texts of different periods considers aspects of quantitative syntagmatic complexity of verbal word forms, such as verbal richness of folklore texts and average number of grammatical morphemes per word. Despite the complex two-sided model of verb, verbal forms found in authentic texts include an average of 2.5 morpheme. This is due to several reasons: not all categories in Alutor are marked on both sides of the root, some person-number morphemes are limited in use, there exist zero morphemes and optional quasi-inflectional and derivational morphemes. The status of an endangered language does not significantly affect the syntagmatic complexity of Alutor verbal word forms. Relative level of verbal word forms complexity varying within certain language limits is totally dependent on individual language competence. Linguistic mechanisms compensating syntagmatic complexity of verbal word forms by reducing the frequency of verbs in the text are not inherent in the Alutor language.

Keywords: chukotko-kamchatkan languages, alutor, language complexity, verbal morphology

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