Case-marking asymmetry (Udmurt)
CasesystDegr
CasesystDegr: Case marking is degressively asymmetrical; a limited group within its nominals (such as pronouns or nouns within a defined lexical area) shows a smaller number of cases than the majority of nominals.
| busy ’meadow’ | kyšno ’woman’ | mon ’I’ | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nom | busy | kyšno | mon |
| Acc | busy-jez | kyšno-jez | mon-e |
| Gen | busy-len | kyšno-len | myn-a-m |
| Abl | busy-leś | kyšno- leś | myn-eśt-ym |
| Dat | busy-ly | kyšno-ly | myn-ym |
| InsCom | busy-jen | kyšno-jen | mon-en-ym |
| Abe | busy-tek | kyšno-tek | mon-tek |
| Adv | busy-ja | kyšno-ja | mon-ja |
| Ine | busy-yn | - | - |
| Ill | busy-je | - | - |
| Elat | busy-yś | - | - |
| Egr | busy-yśen | - | - |
| Term | busy-oź | - | - |
| Prolat | busy-jeti | - | - |
| Approx | busy-lań | kyšno- lań | mon-lań |
| (1) | so | skal | kysk-iś-yn | uža. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| (s)he | cow | milk‑PTCP.PRS‑INE | work.3SG | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ’(S)he works as a milkmaid/milkman.’ (Keľmakov – Hännikäinen 2008: 40) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
In the Udmurt literary language a noun has 15 case forms (Csúcs 1990: 37–38, Csúcs 1998: 282–283, Keľmakov – Saarinen 1994: 97, Keľmakov – Hännikäinen 2008: 39). Abstract and inanimate nouns distinguish all these case forms, whereas animate nouns have only the first eight case forms available plus approximative (Keľmakov – Hännikäinen 2008: 39–40). Members of the latter group can have locative case only when accompanied by certain verbs and they have non-locative meanings (1) (Keľmakov – Hännikäinen 2008: 39–40, Csúcs 1998: 282–283). As a replacement for the missing case forms the language tends to use postpositions for the respective meanings. Personal pronouns have nine case forms.
Author: Laura Horváth