Answering Votian questions

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Answering questions

Descriptive question

Inflection of pronouns and pointers
	Interrogative		Distal demonstrative		Proximal demonstrative		Alternative		Indefinite		Negative		Universal
Adverbs
manner ( instructive )	kui (ku, ko)	how	nī (nennī, kannī, Eastern Votic dialect: kannīG)	so			muitē̮	elsehow, in another way; (for nothing)	kuilēB	somehow
cause-purpose ( translative )	mihsi (missi, mihē̮   , minē-peräs̄ , Mati dialect: mi)	why	senē perässä (senperäs̄ )	therefor			muite̮z	otherwise; for no reason, for nothing	misselē Luuditsa dialect	for some reason or other
time ( essive)	ke̮nz (kē̮z, kē̮)	when	sīz (size̮   , siz)	then	nüD (nüttä, Jõgõperä dialect: nüt̄ ; para.iko)	now	muinā	other times - long ago	kē̮zlēB	sometimes
direction ( allative and illative )	kuhē̮	where (to)	sinne (Eastern Votic dialect: sinneG)	there (to)	tänne (Eastern Votic dialect: tänneG)	here (to)	muvvaлē̮   (mūvvaлē̮   , Luuditsa dialect: mujā)	elsewhere (to)	kuhē̮lēB	somewhere (to)
location ( adessive and inessive )	kuza	where	siällä	there	tǟllä (kassenna)	here	muvvaллa	elsewhere	kuzalēB	somewhere
ablative-direction ( ablative and elative )	kussa	where (from)	siältä	there (from)	tǟltä	here (from)	muvvaлta	elsewhere (from)	kussalēB	somewhere (from)

Dialectal alternatives

• Votic of Ingria
  • Western
    • Hill:
      • Lempola dialect

location

sihēsē (sihē)

here (to)

sīnä

here

sītä

here (from)

• Kukkuzi dialect
  • kussalēB may be kust-lē .

Syntax

• A simple descriptive question may be composed starting a sentence with an interrogative word. Often you may answer with one word or phrase .
  • kuhē̮ ke̮rjazit tširvē ? 'Where did you hide the ax?' Luuditsa dialect
  • sinne . 'Over there.'

You may answer with more informative adverbs, than the general ones displayed in the table above.

• kuhē̮ , kuza, kussa 'where (to), where, where (from)'
  • 'somewhere'
    • kuhē̮lēB e.g. Itšäpäivä dialect: kuhē̮lēG mennǖD tüttäreD, ep kūluG näitä 'Daughters have gone somewhere, they can't be heard.' kuhē̮
  • 'outside'
    • akkunaлā e.g. лahze̮d ̮johsivad ̮akkunaлā 'The kids ran out.' kuhē̮
    • akkunaллa e.g. meil on akkunaллa vanat ̮kazge̮D 'We have old birchtrees outside (in our courtyard).' kuza
    • akkunaлta e.g. akkunaлta tultī jo rihēsē 'They came in already.' kussa (into the chamber from outside of the house)
  • 'down, below, under'
    • aлaz ~ aлā e.g. tämä tuli ähüpǟlt aлaz 'He came down from the oven.' kuhē̮
    • aллa e.g. koira on lavvā naллa, meni aлā 'The dog is under the table, went down.' kuza (The n of naллa is actually a Genitive ending, which has slided from lavvā to the beginning of the following word.)
    • aлta e.g. ve̮ta linad ̮aлta vällǟ 'Take the bedsheets away.' kussa (from below a blanket)
  • 'ahead, forward, onwards'
    • etezī ~ etēz e.g. ain ove̮s̄ etezī aje̮ Lempola dialect '(He) drove the horse forward all the time.' kuhē̮
  • 'back'
    • tagāz ~ tagaz e.g. vellet ̮tulivat ̮tagāz 'The brothers came back.' kuhē̮ ; täl tagāz ̮be̮ллu antā rahā 'She (the seller) had no money to give (return me) the change.'
  • 'back and forth, there and back, to and fro, up and down'
    • etēz ̮tagāz' e.g. tšäütteleb ̮etēz ̮tagāz '(Se) walks back and forth.' kuhē̮

• kui 'how'
  • 'below'
    • aлe̮tsē̮   ~ aлe̮ttse̮   ~ aлattsē̮   e.g. menemmä aлe̮tsē̮   "Let's pass below (the obstacle)."

• mihsi 'why'
  • ' otherwise, for no reason, for nothing'
    • muite̮z ~ muitez ~ muitaz
  • ' anyway, still (regardless to that)'
    • muite̮štši
  • ' of course'
    • muitokki Kukkuzi dialect

Affirmative question

suffix	-ko	Is it ... ? Did she ...? ... wether etc.
adverb	vai	Is it ... ? Did she ...? ... wether etc.

• A simple question may be composed adding a suffix -ko to the first word of a sentence.
  • pesiko tšäet puhtāssi? 'Did he wash his hands (clean)?' < pesi tšäet puhtāssi. '(He) washed (his) hands (clean).'
  • oŋko üvä issua? 'Is it good to sit (like this)?' < on üvä issua. 'It is good to sit (like this).'

• A simple question may be composed starting a sentence with vai.
  • vai siä karjuššin̄ e̮лe̮D? 'Are you (working as) a shepherd?' < siǟ e̮лe̮D karjuššin 'you are (working as) a shepherd?'

A vague answer may contain ku b lie (may be).

Neighbouring languages

There is a similar morpheme vai in Latvian with similar functions.

• Vai Ritai patīk aritmētika? 'Does Rita like arithmetic?' < Ritai patīk aritmētika? 'Rita likes arithmetic.'

Exercises

• 1. Compose questions and answers using the examples of the Syntax chapter.

See also

• Grammar of Votian dialects (syllabus)
• Pronouns
• Potential-future

References

Educational level: this is a non-formal education resource.

Type classification: this is a lesson resource.

Completion status: Deliberately incomplete for educational purposes.

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