Two Nominal Clause-Types in Northern Mansi: An Experimental Study of Language Variation

Abstract

The paper examines the structure and distribution of two types of ­nominal/adjectival predicates in the Northern Mansi language. A nominative noun or adjective serves as the predicate in one construction. The other predicate type contains a predicate noun or adjective that takes translative case marking. In both ­constructions, the stative-like copula ōl- ’be, exist’ can also appear, though under ­different ­conditions. In the paper we focus on (a) the licensing conditions of the ōl- copula, (b) the ­predicate-subject agreement morphology, and (c) concord within the predicate phrase in both predicates. Our findings demonstrate that the two types exhibit systematic structural differences: the copula ōl- is utilized in the nominative construction in the past, while it must be omitted in the present. The ōl- copula is always obligatory in the translative predicate. The nominative predicate noun/adjective takes the morpheme of the subject agreement in number, and we attested inter- and intra-speaker variation in Number concord in this construction when there is an overt copula in the predicate phrase. The translative-marked nominal/adjectival predicate does not take any inflectional suffix, and agreement that indicates both the person and the number of the subject is marked on the ōl- copula. ­Additionally, we will show that only the translative-type is acceptable in identificational clauses. As a result, the identificational reading/interpretation is where the ­semantic ­division of labor between the two constructions lies. Our data come from fieldwork where Mansi native ­speakers helped us with survey research. Northern Mansi newspaper texts were also used to clarify certain inconsistencies between our findings and the literature.

Keywords

• mansi; nominal/adjectival clauses; nominal/adjectival predicates
• experimental methods; endangered language