Article

Name: Genitive and ablative possessive constructs as markers of comparison in the Tuvan language

Authors: Lyudmila A. Shamina

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

In the section Linguistics

Abstract:

Comparative relations in the Tuvan language are expressed by non-isosemic isafetal possessive constructions, with a possessive relation encoded by a genitive group: {N=GEN N=POSS.3}, i.e., the combination of names in the genitive and possessive. Furthermore, degrees of comparison are expressed by ablative-possessive structures, formed by combinations of a substantiated adjective in the ablative with the same adjective in the nominative {ADJ=ABL ADJ}. Genitive-ablative possessive structures represent a comparative model comprising two comparators: the object (1) and the standard (2) of comparison and the comparison parameter. Comparison can also be expressed by morphosyntactic means that constitute another structural variant of the construction, with comparator 1 not marked by the genitive but by the indicator of the possessive and the second by the possessive marker =nyy / =niy. In the Tuvan language, genitive-possessive and ablative-possessive constructions express elative and superlative semantics. Superlative semantics is also expressed by two analytic constructions, including comparative particles. In religious discourse texts, the superlative is a widely used means of comparison as a model of figurative thought. The non-isosemic use of a genitive-possessive (isaphet) construction for conveying singularity and imagery is associated with the interpretation of the semantic, syntactic, and stylistic plan of the text, the peculiarities of perception, the recreation of the textual strategy or manner, and the desire to understand the culture and spirituality of the people.

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