Votian/Copula and Compound Tenses

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Copula [1][edit | edit source]

Predicative [2] [3] [4][edit | edit source]

There is not much data about this matter available. So I've made my own research basing on the data of modern Finnish.

Baltic Finnic languages oppose partial predicative to total predicative

  • Partitive marks a partial predicative while nominative marks a total predicative of a sentence.
    • tämä naizikko on tōž soikkoлaisī ('This woman also is a one of Soikkola Ingrians.' i.e. We emphasize, that she belongs to a group of certain quality - is a part of that group. - This is a partial predicative.) [5]
    • tämä on soikkuлaine̮ (Liivtšülä dialect 'She is a Soikkola Ingrian.' i.e. We don't emphasize, that she belongs to that group. - This is a total predicative.) [6]
    • See the page of main cases for further details.


As a copula they use an auxiliary verb e̮ллa / lid́d́ä (òl-tak / lee-tak) .


Inflectional paradigms of e̮ллa / lid́d́ä (òl-tak / lee-tak)[edit | edit source]

Present tense:[edit | edit source]

Person

Singular

Plural

1. òle-n òle-mmak
2. òle-t òle-ttak
3. on on-vat
Present tense negation :[edit | edit source]

Person

Singular

Plural

1. eni òle-k emmak òle-k
2. eti òle-k ettak òle-k
3. epi òle-k evat òle-k

Imperative :[edit | edit source]

Person

Singular

Plural

1. las' òle-n òl-kama
2. òle-k òl-ka'a
3. òl-ko'on òl-ko'ot
Prohibition:[edit | edit source]

Person

Singular

Plural

1. las' eni òle las' emmak òle
2. eläk òle-k elka'a òl-ka'a
3. elko'on òl-ko'on elko'ot òl-ko'ot

Conditional:[edit | edit source]

Person

Singular

Plural

1. òle-iksi-n òle-iksi-mmak
2. òle-iksi-t òle-iksi-ttak
3. òle-iksi- òle-iksi-vat
Conditional negation:[edit | edit source]

Person

Singular

Plural

1. eni òle-iksik emmak òle-iksik
2. eti òle-iksik ettak òle-iksik
3. epi òle-iksik evat òle-iksik

Past tense  :[edit | edit source]

Person

Singular

Plural

1. òlè-i-n òlè-i-mmak
2. òlè-i-t òlè-i-ttak
3. òlè-i- òlè-i-vat
Past tense negation :[edit | edit source]

Person

Singular

Plural

1. eni òl-nut emmak òl-nut-et
2. eti òl-nut ettak òl-nut-et
3. epi òl-nut evat òl-nut-et

Potential-future :[edit | edit source]

Person

Singular

Plural

1. lee-ne-n lee-ne-mmak
2. lee-ne-t lee-ne-ttak
3. lee-ne-p lee-ne-vat
Potential-future negation:[edit | edit source]

Person

Singular

Plural

1. eni lee-ne emmak lee-ne
2. eti lee-ne ettak lee-ne
3. epi lee-ne evat lee-ne

Indefinite voice:[edit | edit source]

Mood

Negation verb

Main verb ending

Present tense òl-t'aksen
Present tense negation epi òl-t'ak
Imperative òl-ttako'on
Prohibition elko'on òl-ttako'on
Conditional òl-ttaiksi
Conditional negation epi òl-ttaiksik
Past tense òl-ttiin
Past tense negation epi òl-ttu
Potential-future *[7] òl-ttane's'
Potential-future negation *[8] epi òl-ttane's'

Agent and participles:[edit | edit source]

 

Definite voice

Indefinite voice

Past tense òl-nut òl-ttu
Present tense òle-va òl-ttava
Agent participle òle-ja

Verbal nouns: gerund and infinitives:[edit | edit source]

 

Object

Instructive

Inessive

Elative

Illative

Abessive

Translative

Infinitive

òl-tak òl-ta'essa òl-ta'kse

Potential-future infinitive

lee-tak

Infinitive

òle-massa òle-masta òle-masen òle-matta

Notes[edit | edit source]

  • The very same endings of the first and second person are used in all moods and tenses .
  • The negation verb will be conjugated in various moods. See the present tense negation chapter about dialectal and morphophonological alternatives of it.
  • See the chapters of moods, voices and tenses about dialectal and morphophonological alternations of each morpheme. (Click the links below or captions of the tables above.)


Pronunciation[edit | edit source]

ò is pronounced as o only in Kukkuzi dialect. Elsewhere (both in Ingria and Estonia) it is pronounced as . [9]


  substitutes e according to vowel harmony rules (except in Kukkuzi dialect) e.g. e̮лe̮issi   (" (if) she was ")


òle may be contracted to ō or ē̮   respectively e.g. epi òle-k > ebō tarvis teit opetta ('There is no need to teach you.' Kukkuzi dialect). [10] vs. ē̮mma ~ e̮лe̮mma ('We are') [11].


Short vowels and imperfect i melt together into a single short vowel.

  • E.g. + -i- > i: e̮лe̮G ('Be!') > e̮livaD ('They were.').


Short e / were substituted by i in front of j.


The final -k has been preserved only in Eastern Votic dialect e.g. lēäG (" to be " potential-future infinitive). All the other dialects both in Ingria and Estonia have lost the phoneme *k in the end of words e.g. lēvvä ~ lid́d́ä .


t component of indefinite voice suffixes is weakened everywhere (except after unstressed vowels) e.g. elko'on òl-ttako'on > elkō e̮лtagō ('Nobody should be (like this).'), òl-t'aksen > e̮ллassē̮   ('Somebody would get.').


Potential marker -ne- may be omitted : lēneväD / lēväD , lēneD / lēD etc. [12]


See the chapter of participles about dialectal and morphophonological alternations of -nut and -nut-et e.g. emmak òl-nut-et > mǖ emmä ollēd nähnēt karrua ('We had not seen bear.' Kukkuzi dialect [13]) vs. epi òl-nut > eb e̮ллut tšettäit kot̀on ('Nobody was at home' Itšäpäivä dialect) [14].


Compound tenses [15][edit | edit source]

Existance of compound tenses in Baltic Finnic languages is rather disputable as the whole grammar of those languages is created under influence of German and Swedish linguistics .


Thus a complex predicate composed of copula verb e̮ллa / lid́d́ä (òl-tak / lee-tak) and a past participle is treated as perfect tense ( or pluperfect tense if the auxiliary verb is in imperfect ~ German (Plusquamperfekt ): auxiliary verb (haben or) sein in its preterite form + Partizip Perfekt (Partizip II) of the full lexical verb. For example: Nachdem ich aufgestanden war, ging ich ins Badezimmer. "After I had got up, I went into the bathroom."). [16]

Votic examples:

  1. omaD antannūD ("They have given." perfect )
  2. e̮livaD antannūD ("They had given." pluperfect )



In fact the auxiliary verb e̮ллa / lid́d́ä (òl-tak / lee-tak) of a complex predicate may have any (mood, voice and tense) marker. So we could create a heap of additional compound tenses. Unfortunately it's difficult to find them proper counterparts in Latin grammar.

  1. E.g. eb' e̮лtaiz ne̮istu ("Nobody would have begun." pluperfect ) - composed of
    1. negation verb of the third person of singular - epi
    2. auxiliary verb in conditional of indefinite voice - òl-ttaiksik
    3. past participle o indefinite voice of another auxiliary verb ne̮isa (nòis-tak) in role of main verb for the previous one - nòis-ttu
    4. missing ma infinitive in the role of a full lexical verb should be guessed from context (a potential-future expression)
  2. eväd e̮лtaiz e̮лtu tšüzünnüd ("They would not had asked.") - composed of
    1. negation verb of the third person of plural - evat
    2. auxiliary verb in conditional of indefinite voice substituting the form of the third person of plural - òl-ttaiksik
    3. past participle o indefinite voice of another auxiliary verb in role of main verb for the previous one - òl-ttu
    4. past participle o definite voice of a full lexical verb - küsu-nut [17]


Moreover, the auxiliary verb e̮ллa / lid́d́ä (òl-tak / lee-tak) may compose a complex predicate with other non-finite verb forms. See the chapters of verbal nouns and participles about it.

We could have present continuous here, if the grammar was written by British. For example:

  1. -massa inessive may express
    1. situation - e.g. isä onmäzä   (" Father is eating. " kuza ?), e̮limma spektaklia vāttamaza   (" We were watching a performance. "), e̮лtī   tšäümäzä   (" They went wooing. ")
  2. -matta abessive may express
    1. undone action - e.g. ve̮rkko on paratamattaG   (" The net is not repaired. " Eastern Votic dialect), ope̮n onmättä   (" The horse has not eaten. ")
  3. -ttava adjective participial modifier may express
    1. possibility or acceptance of an action - e.g. jōma on jōtava   (" The drink would (or might) be drunk. "), on suvattava   ("is amiable, lovable ")
    2. obligation - e.g. pantava on pajate̮ttava i naite̮ttava on nagre̮ttava   (" People should talk about the one, whom others must find a groom for and people should laugh at the one, whom others must find a bride for. " ~ a proverb)


It seems more practical to analyse those constructions word by word instead of spending ones lifetime creating hypothetical paradigms.


Other use cases of e̮ллa / lid́d́ä (òl-tak / lee-tak) [18][edit | edit source]

lee-tak may express also

  1. obligation - e.g. Lempola dialect lieb minū manaχann  ̮ e̮ллa ke̮ik̄   itšä ("I must be a monk all my lifetime.")
  2. indefinite relative pronouns - e.g. siä ku b lie tahod mennä tšäümǟ enellēz nuorikke̮ata ("You probably want to go wooing.") [19], Savvokkala dialect tšel   ̮ p tuli   n a r v a s̄   ("Somebody came from Narva.")
  3. There are future forms of e̮лe̮ma auxiliary verb + past participle of a main verb [20] e.g. mm tšüzüttü ('We shall be asked.' passive future).
  4. There are future forms of e̮лe̮ma auxiliary verb + ta infinitive of a main verb in Votic grammar of Ariste [21] e.g. sinū tavākā liep  ̮ tauge̮ta ('One of your habits should die.' future obligation), lieb  ̮ men mettsǟ obahkā ('We should go to forest to pick mushrooms.' future proposal Lempola ).


Dialectal alternatives[edit | edit source]

ò is pronounced as o only in Kukkuzi dialect. Elsewhere (both in Ingria and Estonia) it is pronounced as . [22]


  substitutes e according to vowel harmony rules (except in Kukkuzi dialect) e.g. e̮лe̮issi   (" (if) she was ")


òle may be contracted to ō or ē̮   respectively e.g. epi òle-k > ebō tarvis teit opetta ('There is no need to teach you.' Kukkuzi dialect). [23] vs. ē̮mma ~ e̮лe̮mma ('We are') [24].


on-vat may be pronounced as onvaD ~ ovaD ~ omaD [25].


epi òle-k may be pronounced as eb  ̮ e̮лe   ~ be̮лe̮ ~ bē̮ [26].


epi òl-nut may be pronounced as eb  ̮ e̮ллu   ~ be̮ллu [27].




See also[edit | edit source]


References[edit | edit source]

  1. Ariste, Paul Vadja keele grammatika. Tartu, 1948. p. 75-90
  2. Main cases
  3. Словарь водского языка - Vadja keele sõnaraamat.
  4. Alvre, Paul: Soome keeleõpetuse reeglid, Valgus, 1969. p.176-179
  5. Ariste, Paul Vadja keele grammatika. Tartu, 1948. p. 25
  6. Словарь водского языка - Vadja keele sõnaraamat. v.5 p.260
  7. It's only a reconstruction.
  8. It's only a reconstruction.
  9. Ariste, Paul: Vadja pajatusi. Emakeele Seltsi toimetised 18. Tallinn: Valgus, 1982. p.106
  10. Ariste, Paul: Vadja pajatusi. Emakeele Seltsi toimetised 18. Tallinn: Valgus, 1982. p.106
  11. Ariste, Paul Vadja keele grammatika. Tartu, 1948. p. 75
  12. Ariste, Paul Vadja keele grammatika. Tartu, 1948. p. 76
  13. Ariste, Paul: Vadja pajatusi. Emakeele Seltsi toimetised 18. Tallinn: Valgus, 1982. p.106
  14. Adler, Elna: Vadjalaste endisajast. ( I. Idavadja murdetekste). Tallinn, 1968. p.99
  15. Ariste, Paul Vadja keele grammatika. Tartu, 1948. p. 78-80
  16. Pluperfect tense in various languages
  17. Tsvetkov, Dmitri: Vadja keele grammatika. Tallinn, 2008. p.64-103
  18. Potential-future
  19. Alava V. Vatjalaisia häätapoja. Häälauluja ja itkuja. — Helsinki, 1909. (Suomi IV) p.10
  20. Tsvetkov, Dmitri: Vadja keele grammatika. Tallinn, 2008. p.88
  21. Ariste, Paul Vadja keele grammatika. Tartu, 1948. p. 79
  22. Ariste, Paul: Vadja pajatusi. Emakeele Seltsi toimetised 18. Tallinn: Valgus, 1982. p.106
  23. Ariste, Paul: Vadja pajatusi. Emakeele Seltsi toimetised 18. Tallinn: Valgus, 1982. p.106
  24. Ariste, Paul Vadja keele grammatika. Tartu, 1948. p. 75
  25. Ariste, Paul Vadja keele grammatika. Tartu, 1948. p. 75
  26. Ariste, Paul Vadja keele grammatika. Tartu, 1948. p. 88
  27. Ariste, Paul Vadja keele grammatika. Tartu, 1948. p. 89
  28. Laanest, Arvo: Sissejuhatus läänemeresoome keeltesse, Tallinn 1975. p.158
  29. Ariste, Paul Vadja keele grammatika. Tartu, 1948. p. 89
  30. Ariste, Paul Vadja keele grammatika. Tartu, 1948. p. 90
  31. Ariste, Paul Vadja keele grammatika. Tartu, 1948. p. 90
  32. Runic Swedish verb lata conjugated in all tenses.
  33. Словарь водского языка - Vadja keele sõnaraamat. v.3. p.5, 34, 50-53
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