Article

Name: Polypredicative causal constructions in the Altai language (in literary and academic texts)

Authors: Aiiana A. Ozonova

Institute of Philology of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk, Russian Federation

In the section Linguistics

Abstract:

The structural and semantic types of causal polypredicative constructions of the Altai language and their functioning in artistic and scientific texts are considered. The study material includes artistic works of famous Altai writers and scientific monographs of researchers of folklore and literature in the Altai language. Compared to other conditionality relations, causal relations in the Altai language are expressed by the widest variety of means, including monofinite and bifinite polypredicative constructions. In total, 23 models of causal polypredicative constructions have been identified, with 11 models found in scientific texts. With all the multiplicity of causal indicators, the basic coding tools are constructions with general causal semantics. In literary texts, in oral speech, such construction is a participial construction with a causal-purpose postposition učun ‘because of, for’, in scientific texts – a construction with the causal union neniŋ učun deze ‘because of.’ Depending on the actualization of the semantics of cause or effect, two semantic blocks are distinguished: causal and investigative. Causal constructions are divided into proper causal and non-causal constructions. The actual causal constructions represent real relations that objectively exist regardless of the subject of the action. They include constructions with general causal semantics that can be neutral or complicated by positive or negative evaluative semantics. Non-causal constructions include alternative motivation, emotional and physical response to a stimulus, with the meaning of sanctions and with an inferential meaning. Special attention is paid to constructions conveying mainly temporary, conditional, target, explanatory relations, and only sometimes causal relations.

Keywords: Altai language, syntax, polypredicative construction, complex sentence, causal sentence, causal relations

Bibliography:

Abumova O. D. Strukturnaya tipologiya tyurkskikh prichinno-sledstvennykh konstruktsiy i ee semanticheskaya realizatsiya v khakasskom yazyke [Structural typology of the Turkic causal constructions and its semantic realization in the Khakass language]. Abakan, Servisnyy punkt, 2013, 186 p.

Burkova S. I. Sopostavitel’noe opisanie funktsional’no-semanticheskikh polei obuslovlennosti v lesnom i tundrovom dialektakh nenetskogo yazyka [A comparative description of functional-semantic fields of causality in Forest and Tundra Nenets]. Novosibirsk, NSU, 2003, 260 p.

Cheremisina M. I., Brodskaya L. M., Gorelova L. M., et al. Predikativnoe sklonenie prichastiy v altaiskikh yazykakh [Predicative declension of participles in Altai languages]. Novosibirsk, Nauka, 1984, 191 p.

Ozonova A. A. Strukturne tipy prichinno-sledstvennykh konstruktsiy v altayskom yazyke (v sopostavlenii s yakutskim) [Structural types of causal constructions in the Altai language (in comparison with the Yakut language)]. In: Yazyki korennykh narodov kak faktor ustoychivogo razvitiya Arktiki: Sb. materialov Mezhdunar. nauch.-prakt. konf. [Indigenous languages as a factor in the sustainable development of the Arctic: Proceedings of the Intern. sci. and pract. conf.]. Yakutsk, 2019, pp. 76–81.

Pertsovskaya I. V. Sposoby vyrazheniya prichinno-sledstvennykh otnosheniy v altayskom yazyke [Ways of expressing causal relations in the Altai language]. In: Analiticheskie sredstva svyazi v polipredikativnykh konstruktsiyakh [Analytical means of communication in polypredicative constructions]. Novosibirsk, 1980, pp. 31–45.

Shamina L. A. Sistema bipredikativnykh konstruktsii c infinitnymi formami glagol v tyurkskikh yazykakh Yuzhnoi Sibiri [System of bipredicative constructions with non-finite verb forms in the Turkic languages of Southern Siberia]. Abstract of Cand. philol. sci. diss. Novosibirsk, 2004, 50 p.

Shubina T. P. Semantika obuslovlennosti v slozhnopodchinennom predlozhenii (na materiale altayskogo yazyka) [The semantics of conditionality in a complex sentence (based on the material of the Altai language)]. In: Sintaksicheskaya i leksicheskaya semantika na materiale raznykh yazykov [Syntactic and lexical semantics based on the material of different languages]. Novosibirsk, 1986, pp. 66–78.

Skribnik E. K., Darzhaeva N. B. Grammatika buryatskogo yazyka. Sintaksis slozhnogo (polipredikativnogo) predlozheniya [Grammar of the Buryat language. Syntax of a complex (polypredicative) sentence]. Ulan-Ude, 2016, vol. 1, 316 p.

Tazhibaeva S. Zh. Kauzal’nye polipredikativnye konstruktsii kazakhskogo yazyka (sopostavitel’nyi aspekt) [Causal polypredicative constructions of the Kazakh language (Comparative aspect)]. Novosibirsk, Sibirskii khronograf, 2001, 271 p.