Votian/Comitative

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Comitative

Postposition

	Singular	Plural
Comitative marker	-n kan'	-in kan'

Phonological history and morphophonology

• This kind of Votian, Estonian and Livonian comitative marker has been developed from a postposition , which is still used by other Baltic Finnic dialects with genitive e.g. Finnish minu-n kanssa (' with me' < *kansassa ) .
• In Votian dialects it still contains a genitive marker
  • in singular jaлgākā (" with a foot ")
  • in plural ( jaлkoikā = " with feet "), it usually follows a short plural genitive .
    • One syllable vowel stems use the full plural genitive e.g. pū-iten kan' > pud́d́ēkā ('with trees' plural comitative ).

• Thus any comitative is in the same grade as genitive .

Many linguists of the 19. and 20. century interpreted this kind of comitative as a postposition rather than a case.

Pronunciation

• The comitative suffix is pronounced -kā . It does not vary according to vowel harmony e.g. ope̮ze̮-n kan' > ope̮zē̮kā ('with a horse' singular comitative ), tüttäre-n kan' > tüttärēkā ('with a daughter' singular comitative ), tüttäre-in kan' > tüttärīkā ('with daughters' plural comitative )
• The final vowel of comitative suffixes may be shortened or even omitted depending in it's position in a sentence e.g. tanttsi   m o r o z o v ā   poigāk   (" She danced with Morozova's son. " Mati dialect), te̮in-te̮izē̮G   (" with each-others " Kõrvõttula dialect), menim̄   izä̀kà nīttämǟ   (" We went to mow with our father. "), tappe̮li karùkà   (" He fought against a bear. " Jõgõperä dialect).

Agreement

• Unlike in most of the other cases in comitative there is no agreement between adjectives and nouns in case, but a noun follows an adjective in genitive e.g. kaĺaska kaunī rattaikā (' a coach with red wheels ').
  • There may be poetic exceptions e.g. mesizīkā mēlīkā (' with honeyed minds ').

Usage

Comitative may express

1. time - e.g. miä e̮лe̮n üö-päivɛ̆ä̀kā karjuššin̄   (' I'm tending a cattle the whole day and night long .' Lempola dialect)
2. being together with somebody - e.g. eli izǟkā ja emǟkā (' She lived with her father and mother .'), nämäd ̮ menivät ̮ poigākā (' They went with their son .' Lempola dialect), tšenēkā siä isud ̮ rinnā ? (' Whom are you sitting next to? '), jutte̮li tüttärikkoikā (' He was speaking with girls. '), e̮lin lehmīkā karjaza (' I was tending cows. ')
3. being equipped with something - e.g. verēkā varvaz (' bleeding toe'), e̮unappū e̮une̮ikā (' an appletree with apples '), seittsemē paikākā (' with seven patches '), kaĺaska kaunī rattaikā (' a coach with red wheels '), mikä pǟkā on? (' What's wrong with your head? '), tuli vaĺeŋkoikā rihēsē (' He came in (to a chamber) felt boots on. ')
4. a mean to do something with (Comitative is used in this sence more often than adessive .) - e.g. taллaz ̮ jaлgākā (' She treaded (? a spinning-wheel) with her foot .'), rikke̮   ke̮ik̄   pād ̮ ope̮zē̮kā (' He broke all the pots with his horse .'), se̮ve̮ttī üvī ke̮ikē̮kā (' He dressed her well with everything. '), ke̮re̮tākā paŋge̮t ̮ pihaллa (' (She holds) buckets on her shoulders with a yoke. ')
5. a way to do something (Used instead of essive influenced by Russian.) - e.g. e̮limma tȫzä artelīkā (' We were working in a crowd .')

Dialectal alternatives

• Kukkuzi dialect
  • Pronunciation of comitative suffix varies according to vowel harmony -kā, -kǟ e.g. лahsēkā ('with a child' singular comitative ), lehmǟkǟ ('with a cow' singular comitative ).

Suffix

	Singular	Plural
Comitative marker	-na'n	-ina'n

Phonological history

The morpheme na'n is probably composed of instructive component -n + 3. person's singular hen. It has a counterpart in Finnish , Karelian and even in Mordvinic -ńek .

Pronunciation

• Pronunciation of this comitative suffix varies according to vowel harmony -nā, -nǟ e.g. ke̮ikke̮-ina'n > ke̮ikkinā ("generally, everyone"), pe̮лve̮-ina'n > pe̮лvinā ("on knees"), naisi-ina'n > naisinā ("with wives"), ke̮ik̄   te̮ize̮t perei-nǟ tuллas̄   ("All the others come with their families.")
• The final vowel of comitative suffixes may be shortened depending in it's position in a sentence " -nà, -nä̀ ".

Usage

Suffixal comitative may express

1. being together with somebody - e.g. tuлe̮mma poigad ̮ naisinā (' We sons shall come with our wives .'), ke̮ik̄   te̮ize̮t pereinǟ tuллas̄   ("All the others come with their families."), te̮mpazin pū jūri-nā (' I pulled a tree out with its roots. ')
2. a mean to do something with - e.g. miä ve̮tan tšäsinǟ ("I'll take with my hands."), лutisap ̮ se̮rminā (' He squeezes with his fingers .')
3. a way to do something - e.g. ne̮isivat ̮ pe̮лvinā (' They kneeled down .'), e̮hsinā päivinǟ tōmma pū kotōsē̮ ("We shall bring the tree home with all the twigs and everything.")
4. number - e.g. ühsinǟ ~ ühsnǟ   ("alone")
5. Prolative has been preserved in some adverbs - e.g. tšäsinǟ (" (made) by hands " ), se̮rminā (" (made) by fingers " ), pe̮лvinā (" on (ones) knees " ),

Dialectal alternatives

• Votic of Ingria
  • Western
    • Vaipooli
      • Jõgõperä dialect
        • The vowel of abessive suffix may be -ē, -ē̮   like in Ingrian .
          • e.g. te̮mpe̮z ̮ jūri-nē̮ ( " extracted with roots "), perè-nè i poiki-kà ( " with family and sons ")

See also

• Grammar of Votian dialects (syllabus)
• Plural
• Genitive
• Abessive
• Essive

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