Evenki grammar
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This article outlines the grammar of the Evenki language in both Cyrillic and Latin scripts.
Morphology notes[edit]
Vowel harmony[edit]
Like other Tungusic languages, Evenki employs vowel harmony. There are two rows ("first and second row") with two effectively neutral vowels, и (i) and у (u).[1]
| First row | Second row | Neutral |
|---|---|---|
| а a | э ə | и i |
| е e | у u | |
| о o |
- Syllables containing first row vowels can only be followed by another syllables that contain first row vowels: анактад’аран (anaktad’aran), эмэктэд’эрэн (əməktəd’ərən), and соӈоктод’орон (soŋoktod’oron).
Nouns[edit]
Pluralization[edit]
There 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"
- There are also some irregular plurals of kinship terms:
- амын (amin) : амтыл (amtil) "fathers"
- эмын (emin) : эмтыл (emtil) "mothers"
- акин (akin) : акнил (aknil) "older brothers"
- экин (ekin) : экнил (eknil) "older sisters"
- нэкун (nəkun) : нэкнил (nəknil) "younger brothers, younger sisters"
- аса (asa) : асил (asil) "women"
- хунаг (hunag) : хунил (hunil) "girls"
Cases[edit]
![[icon]](File:Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg){kind=small} | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (February 2022) |
Evenki nouns are inflected for 13 cases: nominative, accusative, accusative indefinite, dative, illative, locative, prosecutive (longitudinal), directional locative, directional prosecutive, deferred, initial, instrumental, and joint cases.[3]
| Case | Suffix | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | -∅ (no marker) -∅ | |
| Accusative[4] | -ва/-вэ/-во/-ма/-мэ/-мо -va/-və/-vo/-ma/-mə/-mo | Nouns in -н (-n) may use forms in -м- and remove the last consonant before the suffix (орон (oron) → оромо (oromo) "deer") |
| Accusative indefinite[5] | -я/-е/-ё/-а/-э/-о -ja/-jə/-jo/-a/-ə/-o | Nouns in -н (-n) may use one of the last three forms (орон (oron) → ороно (orono) "deer") |
| Dative[6] | -ду/-ту -du/-tu | Nouns ending in voiceless consonants may use the form -ту (-tu) (а̄мут → а̄мутту "for (the) lake") |
| Illative[7] | -тыки/-тки -tiki/-tki | Nouns ending in vowels may use the form -тки (-tki) (беру → берутки "to (the) sheep") |
Possession[edit]
| This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (March 2022) |
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.[8][9][10]
| Final element in the stem → | Singular | Plural | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Person ↓ | Vowel | Most consonants | Nasal -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 | |||||
| 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 | ||||||
References[edit]
- ^ "Гармония гласных". Эвенгус. Retrieved 20 February 2022.
- ^ "Единственное и множественное число имён существительных". Эвенгус. Retrieved 19 February 2022.
- ^ "Падежи имён существительных". Эвенгус. Retrieved 20 February 2022.
- ^ "Винительный падеж". Эвенгус. Retrieved 19 February 2022.
- ^ "Винительный неопределённый падеж". Эвенгус. Retrieved 21 February 2022.
- ^ "Дательный падеж". Эвенгус. Retrieved 21 February 2022.
- ^ "Направительный падеж". Эвенгус. Retrieved 1 March 2022.
- ^ "Лично-притяжательные суффиксы". Эвенгус. Retrieved 23 March 2022.
- ^ Bulatova, Nadezhda; Grenoble, Lenore (1999). Evenki Grammar. München: Lincom Europa. p. 13.
- ^ Nedjalkov, Igor (1997). Evenki. London: Routledge. pp. 143–4.