Votian/Copula and Compound Tenses

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Copula

Predicative

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.)
  • 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.)
  • 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)

Present tense:

Person	Singular	Plural
1.	òle-n	òle-mmak
2.	òle-t	òle-ttak
3.	on	on-vat

Present tense negation :

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 :

Person	Singular	Plural
1.	las' òle-n	òl-kama
2.	òle-k	òl-ka'a
3.	òl-ko'on	òl-ko'ot

Prohibition:

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:

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:

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  :

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 :

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 :

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:

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:

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 *		òl-ttane's'
Potential-future negation *	epi	òl-ttane's'

Agent and participles:

	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:

	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

• The very same endings of the first and second person are used in all moods and tenses .
  • Notice the irregular 3. person of present tense !
• 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

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

e̮   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). vs. mȫ ē̮mma ~ e̮лe̮mma ('We are') .

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

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

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

• E.g. e̮ + -i- > i: e̮лe̮vaD ('being' plural nominative of present tense participle) > e̮lija ('the one who is.').

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.

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 ) vs. epi òl-nut > eb e̮ллut tšettäit kot̀on ('Nobody was at home' Itšäpäivä dialect) .

Compound tenses

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.").

Votic examples:

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

• Ariste interpretes the future forms of e̮лe̮ma (~ lid́d́ä ) auxiliary verb + past participle of a main verb as futurum exactum e.g. kui miä lēn tšüzünnü, sis siä anna ("If I shall ask, then you give me!"), siллē̮  ke̮ik̄   lēp   ̮ prostittu ("Everything will be forgiven you!" indefinite voice ), leiväd  ̮ lēvät  ̮ senelē лavvaлē̮  pantu ("Bread will be layed on this table." indefinite voice ).

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

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 on sȫmäzä   (" 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 on sȫmättä   (" 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)

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.") , Savvokkala dialect tšel   ̮ lēp 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 e.g. mǖ lēmm 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 e.g. sinū tavākā liep  ̮ tauge̮ta ('One of your habits should die.' future obligation), lieb  ̮ mennä mettsǟ obahkā ('We should go to forest to pick mushrooms.' future proposal Lempola ).

Dialectal alternatives

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

e̮   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). vs. mȫ ē̮mma ~ e̮лe̮mma ('We are') .

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

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

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

• Votic of Ingria
  • Eastern Votic dialect
    • A metanalytic morpheme -k has been added to the past participle's singular nominative -nut e.g. lēn e̮ллuG ('I'll be.'). The suffix -k is probably borrowed from the present tense negation here, where it was a present tense marker . See the chapter of imperfect tense negation.
    • A metanalytic morpheme -k has been added to the potential-future negation ettak lee-ne > ettak lee-k e.g. ettäg  ̮ lēG ('You won't be.'). The suffix -k is probably borrowed from the present tense negation here, where it was a present tense marker .
    • A metanalytic morpheme -k has been added to the conditional negation e.g. ettäg  ̮ e̮лe̮issiG ('You wouldn't be.'), ep  ̮ e̮лtaissiG ('Nobody would be.' indefinite voice ). The suffix -k is probably borrowed from the present tense negation here, where it was a present tense marker .
    • In Eastern Votic dialect they have (preserved or added) -k in the end of auxiliary verb of analytic imperative las'e-k emmak òle > la'-k emmak òle e.g. lag   ̮ emmäg   ̮ e̮le̮G ('Let's not be (like this).'). . The auxiliary verb of analytic imperative la' may be originated from the verb laske̮a (laske-tak) ("let" ~ German lassen ~ Swedish lata) e.g. lazze̮ttako urvittama ? (< laske-ttak-ko "Dou you let me whisk you ? " Lempola dialect; Whisking is a certain Easter ritual.), laka miä tämǟ ve̮ttan enelē (< laske-ka'a 'Let me take this.' Mati dialect), jutte̮n las vā (< las'e-k 'I say: "Let it be!".' Jõgõperä dialect).

See also

• Grammar of Votian dialects (syllabus)
• Votian verb moods, voices and tenses
• Imperative
• Prohibition
• Votian indefinite imperative
• Present tense
• Votian present tense negation
• Votian present tense indefinite voice
• Imperfect tense
• Votian imperfect tense negation
• Votian imperfect tense of indefinite voice
• Conditional
• Potential-future
• Compound verb expressions
• Agent and participles
• Verbal nouns: gerund and infinitives
• Auxiliary verbs

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