Diana Forker

A Grammar of Hinuq

This is the first thorough description of the Nakh-Daghestanian language Hinuq. Hinuq has about 600 speakers living primarily in a single village in the Caucasus mountains in southern Russia (Daghestan). During several fieldwork trips, the author collected an extensive corpus of texts. Based on the data, Forker provides a comprehensive analysis of Hinuq grammar with reference to other Nakh-Daghestanian languages, to Caucasian studies and to typological and general linguistic topics.

The bi-absolutive construction in Nakh-Daghestanian

While all Nakh-Daghestanian languages show ergative–absolutive patterns of case assignment and gender/number agreement, many languages have sentences containing imperfective transitive predicates with both A and P in the absolutive case. In these bi-absolutive constructions, A is generally topicalized whereas P is pragmatically demoted. Bi-absolutive constructions show a number of structural properties (e.g. word-order constraints) which are absent in ergative constructions, but the precise nature and number of these constraints differs from language to language. In this article I offer the first in-depth analysis of bi-absolutive constructions, describing also the range of variation in these constructions in the Nakh-Daghestanian languages. I argue that the traditional biclausal analysis fails to explain all properties of these constructions. Other structural approaches such as anti-passivization and noun-stripping are also rejected as inadequate. Instead, I propose to analyze bi-absolutive constructions in the wider context of information-restructuring devices.

Finiteness in Hinuq

Hinuq (Nakh-Daghestanian language family, Caucasus, Russia) has a rich system of verbal forms. In independent/main clauses there are seven synthetic TAM forms, 20 periphrastic TAM forms, and two heterogeneous TAM forms that cannot be attributed clearly to one of these two groups. In dependent clauses there are about twenty forms that serve adverbial function, attributive function (i.e. headed and headless relative clauses) or complement function. To these forms belong suffixed forms that are traditionally called participles, adverbial participles, Infinitive and Masdar. In this paper I analyze Hinuq verb forms and clause types with respect to categories and phenomena that have been associated with finiteness. I will explore which of the criteria actually apply to Hinuq and whether they form a cluster that could be subsumed under the notion of finiteness.

Towards a semantic map for intensifying particles: Evidence from Avar

Abstract In this paper I examine the multifunctional enclitic =go in the Nakh-Daghestanian language Avar. By means of a semantic map I show that its central function is the expression of emphasis and/or contrast. Other uses are the expression of identity, scalar additivity, reflexivity (including local and long-distance reflexives, emphatic reflexive uses), the marking of indefinite pronouns and adverbs, and the derivation of cardinal numerals and converbs. The paper also advances a hypothesis about the origin of =go and argues that it goes back to the copula -ugo. The use of the copula in cleft constructions gave rise to the emphatic/contrastive function, and all other uses can be viewed as extension of this function.

Word order and focus particles in Nakh-Daghestanian languages

[Extract] This paper offers an account of how information structure is expressed in the Nakh-Daghestanian languages. The focus of this paper is on word order and focus particles which can be regarded as the most important means of manipulating the information structure because they are to varying degrees employed in all languages of the family. Other means such as a special cleft-like focus construction (cf. Xaidakov 1986, Kazenin 2002), the opposition between certain verb forms (cf. Sumbatova 2004), the use of so-called ‘predicative particles’ (Kalinina & Sumbatova 2007), or intonation are either not very prominent or restricted to a subset of the languages.

Nonlocal uses of local cases in the Tsezic languages

In this paper, I argue for a decomposition of the Path head in the syntactic structure for directional expressions. Based on cross-linguistic data showing that different types of paths are of different complexity and, crucially, are subject to a morphological containment relationship, I propose a more detailed structure for directionals. I adopt the orthodox view that Goal paths are built on top of a locative Place projection. However, I suggest that Source paths are built on top of Goal paths. This is evidenced by the morphological make-up of Sourcedenoting elements in a variety of languages, where the Source marker morphologically contains the Goal marker. Further, I explore the lexicalization of the decomposed Path structure I defend and test the predictions against the empirical domain of syncretisms between the spatial roles Source, Goal, and Location. I show that the decomposed Path structure and the lexicalization theory I adopt capture syncretism patterns that are widely attested among languages and ban those syncretism patterns that are unattested.

Gender agreement is different

Abstract Person and gender are typical agreement features within the clause, and crosslinguistically they are frequently part of one and the same agreement system and even expressed through the same morphological exponents. Some theories even go so far as to claim that person and gender agreement on different targets, e.g., verbs and adjectives, are instances of one and the same agreement phenomenon. This paper discusses gender and person agreement in the Nakh-Daghestanian language Lak. It shows that the two agreement systems are formally and functionally completely separated from each other. Corpus data from Lak does not prove that gender agreement in this language is used to establish reference. Therefore it should rather be treated as concord, that is, similar to modifier agreement within the noun phrase.

Agreement in grammar and discourse: A research overview

Abstract Agreement is among the most widely-researched issues in theoretical linguistics. In this introduction, we critically review some of the key issues, focussing on typological approaches to agreement, the role of agreement in establishing and maintaining reference, and the emergence of agreement diachronically. We point to the interplay of semantic, pragmatic and syntactic factors in shaping the way agreement systems function, and emphasize the need for more usage-based research in understanding the impact of extra-syntactic factors. We also argue for greater attention to lesser-researched languages, particularly those where features other than person are central in agreement relations. Finally, we offer a short synopsis of the contributions to this issue.

Sanzhi–Russian code switching and the Matrix Language Frame model

Purpose: The study represents the first attempt to analyze intrasentantial code switching in an indigenous language from the Caucasus (the Nakh- Daghestanian language Sanzhi Dargwa) in contact with Russian. It also tests borrowing/code switching hierarchies that target parts of speech. Methodology: The study applies the Matrix Language Frame model developed by Myers-Scotton to data from Sanzhi. Data and analysis: The analyzed data consist of around 6,000 tokens of natural texts (monologues) produced by six male speakers and recorded in the main settlement of the Sanzhi speech community in Daghestan (Russian Federation). The original data are compared to published data from other languages in contact with Russian. The Sanzhi data are analyzed by means of the Matrix Language Frame model, focusing on intraclausal code switching. Findings: The Sanzhi data can largely be analyzed within the Matrix Language Frame model, confirming thus the ‘Uniform Structure Principle’ posed by Myers-Scotton. However, there are also a few instances of code switching in which embedded language and matrix language cannot be identified, which prevents application of the model. Furthermore, the study replicated findings on borrowing/code switching hierarchies for parts of speech, that is, the preference for insertions of nouns and other parts of speech from the open classes in comparison with the relative scarcity of inserted pronouns or adpositions (closed classes). Originality: This is the first attempt to apply the Matrix Language Frame model to code switching between a Caucasian language and Russian and constitutes a new approach to the study of language contact in the Caucasus and, more generally, to the impact on Russian of minority languages in the Russian Federation. Implications: The results suggest that the Matrix Language Frame model could also be applied to other languages in contact with Russian and with a similar sociolinguistic profile, such as Sanzhi.

Cases-Non-cases: At the Margins of the Tsezic Case System

[Extract] The Tsezic languages are a group of closely related languages that form one subbranch within the Nakh-Daghestanian (or East-Caucasian) language family. They can be divided into East Tsezic, comprising Hunzib and Bezhta, and West Tsezic, comprising Khwarshi, Tsez and Hinuq. Tsezic languages are spoken in the Republic of Daghestan, which belongs to the Russian Federation. Daghestan is located in the north-eastern part of the Caucasus. Smaller groups of Tsez and Bezhta speakers also live in Turkey, and some Bezhta speakers live in Georgia. The largest Tsezic language is Tsez with about 12000 speakers (according to the Russian census of 2010); the smallest language is Hinuq with around 600 speakers. Case assignment in the Tsezic languages is largely semantically motivated, and morphosyntactic features play only a marginal role (cf. Kibrik 1997). Due to the dominant role of semantics in the assignment of case it seems that it is relatively simple to extend the case inventory. That is, suffixes and enclitics with an autonomous distinguished form paired with a clear-cut meaning can, in principle, develop into cases. This seems to explain the origin of many spatial cases in Tsezic that most probably go back to spatial postpositions. The aim of this paper is to explore a number of nominal markers that resemble cases and compare them with genuine case markers with respect to functional and formal similarities and differences. I will adopt the canonical approach as exemplified by Corbett (2008) for the feature of case. Corbett (2008) provides ten criteria for canonical case markers and examines the Russian cases in regard to the criteria. I will use these criteria for investigating whether the respective nominal markers from the Tsezic languages could be analyzed as case markers.