Diachronic bottlenecks of the Uralic (ablative-)partitive

Bibliographic Data

ID4567741
AuthorsRiho Grünthal (0000-0002-7648-5687, University of Helsinki, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume23
Issue1
Pages124-156
Publication date2023-02-02
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueLinguistic Variation (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2211-6834 • E-ISSN: 2211-6842
PublisherJohn Benjamins Publishing Company (PUBLISHER • NL)
DOI10.1075/lv.21003.gru
OpenAlexW4210410940
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited28

This article discusses the emergence of the partitive case in the three western-most branches of the Uralic language family, which are Saamic and Finnic in North Europe, and Mordvinic in Central Russia. The Finnic languages represent the outer edge of development in the partitive from an earlier ablative case, which used to manifest 'source', a specific property of spatial relations. In Finnic the partitive case is a multifunctional and conceptually distinct case, an inflectional category which has developed highly specific functions in object marking, negative phrase and as a case of non-canonical subject. Traces of this development are found in Saamic and Mordvinic as well, whereas other Uralic languages don't share this kind of secondary development and functional extension. The development of this particular affix consists of several stages, special bottlenecks, enhancing functional properties and triggering the reanalysis of an inherited affix *-ta/-tä. This article focuses on the diachrony of this particular affix with special emphasis on western Uralic

Affix · Geography · Linguistics · Computer Science · History · Linguistics and Cultural Studies · Linguistics and language evolution · Philosophy · Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation