Shira Yughur

22 Pages·2.375 MB·Western Yugur

by  Nugteren Hans.

The
DATAAND SOURCES
265
266 THEMONGOLIC LANGUAGES
Information on ShiraY ughur begant o increaseo nly with the Sino-Soviete xpedition
in the mid-1950s.T he first major publicationr esulting from this work was a sketcho f
both Easterna nd WestemY ughur,w ritten jointly by E. R. Tenisheva nd B. X. Todaeva
( I 966). Todaeva( 1997) later publisheda notherb rief synopsiso f ShiraY ughur.C hinese
scholarsa lsow orked on the languageb, ut becauseo fpolitical circumstancetsh ey hadt o
postponet heir publicationsu ntil the I 980s.J unast( I 98I ) then publisheda ShiraY ughur
grammarw ith vocabulary while Bulchulu (1984)p repareda more elaboratev ocabulary
with etymological indications.B ulchulu and Jalsana lso publisheda volume of Shira
Yughur texts and everydayp hrases( 1988) as well as a comparativeg ralnmar( 1990).
Little is known aboutt he dialectals ubdivisiono f ShiraYughur,b ut it is clearf rom the
sourcest hat therei s somev ariely within the languagea, t leasta s far asp honeticsi s con-
cemed.B ulchulu and Jalsanm entiont he Qinglong and Hongshiwod ialectsa nd present
a small list of undramaticp honetic differences,w hich mainly concem the vocalism.
Materials collectedb y other authorsc annots imply be attributedt o either one of these
dialects,a nd, therefore,i t may be expectedt hat a more careful investigationo f other
localities will yield further variantso f the language.T his will also make it possiblet o
work on the diachronyo f ShiraY ughur.S o far, most diachronicw ork on ShiraY ughur
hasc oncernedth e layerso f the lexicon (R6na-Tas1 962,N ugterena ndR oos 1996,1998).
The Shira Yughur languagei s not written, nor is it used in any media or taughti n
schools. In the present chapter the languagei s neverthelessp resentedi n a slightly
standardizedfo rm. Most examplesd erive from the recent Chinese( Inner Mongolian)
publicationsm entioneda bove.T he materialso f Junasth aveb eenp artly reinterpreteda nd
retranscribedt o match the generally more detailed analysis of Bulchulu and Jalsan.
Variant spellingsh aveb eenl eft intact in so far as they seemt o reflect actuald ialectalo r
idiolectal differences( rather than merely different views or transcriptionso f the same
underlyingp ronunciation).
SEGMENTAL PHONEMES
ShiraY ughur has sevenp honemicv owel qualities( Table 13.1),a ll of which also have
long counterpartsai a ee ii oo ciri uu iii). The long vowels are possiblyb est analyseda s
monophonemicA. 11v owels can occur in both the initial and non-initial syllables.T here
is no subsystemo f reducedv owels. The numbero f diphthongsi s hard to determineb ut
it is possiblet hat the only independenot nesa rc ai oi ui. By contrast,b oth [oi] and [ui]
seemt o be variantso foi, while [ei] is a variant of ai ili ilil. There are also variationso f
the type [ai - ei - ii] and lyi - y:].
Many monophthongsa ppeart o be unstablea s well, both in quality and in quantity.
Long ee oo rici areo ften raiseds o that they mergew ith ii uu ilii, respectively.S hortI is
typically pronounceda s a mid-centralv owel [e], but it occasionallya ppearsa s [i] when
following apalatalc onsonantS. imilarly,s hortz ii s usuallyp ronounceda s a centralv owel
[u] exceptw hen following a palatalc onsonantA. s a consequencelo, ng ii andi )il tendt,o
TABLE 13.1 SHIRAYUGHUR VOWELS
u u 1
o o e
a
SHIRAYUGHUR 267
TABLE 13.2 SHIRAY UGHIIR CONSONANTS
p t q
tS
b d j gh
s-
,' sh
w z zh
m n ng
I
be shortenedi nto [i] and [y], since the qualitative difference is sufficient to keep them
separatef rom their short counterparts,e .g. ciig [tftg - tJiS] 'moisture' vs. crg ftjeg]
'achnatherum',shiir[aJ ira-Jira] 'leg'vs. shiraltera-Jra] 'yellow'. Manyotherlong
vowels have developed short forms or variants: sala (< *salaa)'branch', derme
(< *deerme)'thief'.
The scarcity of oppositionsw hich could really causec onfusion may eventually con-
tribute to the loss of distinctive vowel quantity. There are, nevertheless,s ome minimal
pairs which can still illustrate the potential phonological importance of the quantitative
correlationc, f. e.g.t awin'fifty' vs. taawin 'frve', xana'where' vs.x anaa- 'to cough,' ula
'sole' vs. uula 'mottntain', jun 'summer' vs.j uun 'hundred'.
The consonants ystemh ast wenty-five memben (Table 13.2).W ords recently adoptedf rom
Mandarin Chinesem ay additionally contain 'loan phonemes'c orrespondingt o the Chinese
retroflex afticates and fricatives (Pinytn ch zh sh r) and their alveopalatal counterparts
(q j x). Chinesew ords which retain their original pronunciationw ill be cited in boldface.
As in the other Mongolic languageso f the region, aspirationi s the actuald istinguishing
featureb etweent he shong obstruentsp t ts c k q and the correspondingw eak segments
b d dzj g gh. This oppositionm ainly functionsi n initial position,e .g.b uu-'to descend'
vs.p uu- 'to tie up', dere 'pillow' ys. tere 'that', gii- 'to lose' vs. hi 'wind' , jiluu 'rein'
vs. ciluu 'stone'. The analysis proposed by Junast even suggests that most non-
initial aspirates have lost their aspiration (as in Mongghul). The strong stops fr q
can, however, in medial position be preceded by a phase of preaspiration, while the
correspondingw eak stopsg gl can occur with a fricative pronunciation,w hich is probably
allophonic.
Speechs oundsa bsentf rom the table include the following initial sequencesh, istorically
producedb y the loss of a vowel: h + n is realizeda s a voicelessn , e.g. hnii- 'to laugh' <
* hinie-; h + I is realizeda s voicelessI or as a voicelessl ateral fricative , e.g. hlaan 'red' (
*hulaan;f u+ y is realizeda st he 'ich-laut'[ g], e.g.h yaa- 'to tie up'< hiyaa-< *huya-.
WORD STRUCTURE
The syllable structureo f Shira Yughur involves a regular altemation of vowels and con-
sonants,w hereby the vowels can be short, long, or diphthongoid. The minimal syllable
consistso f a single vowel (V), which can be preceded and/or followed by a consonant
(CV, VC, CVC). In initial position, clusters of two consonants egments( CCV CCVC)
268 THEMONGOLICLANGUAGES
are also permitted.N ot all consonantsa re allowed in all positions.F or instance,s trong
(aspirated)o bstruentsa nd fricativeso thert hans aren ot allowedi n flrnalp osition.I n most
i
initial clusters,t he first segmenti s a nasal or a fricative and the seconda n obstruent,
e.g. mba- 'to swim' (< *xumba-), skii 'felt' (< *isigei), hlcil- 'to die' (< *xiibil-). Other I
clustersu sually havev ariantsw hich preservet he original vowel, e.g.c luu - ciluu'stone',
cna-- cina-'to cook',t yagh- tiyagh'cane'.
Accent is probably non-distinctivea nd falls normally on the final syllableo f a word.
When suffrxesa re attachedt o a stem,t he last syllable of the last suffix bearst he accent.
However,l ong vowels can attractt he accenta way from the final syllable,a nd accenat lso
tendst o flee the final syllable if it containsi , as in x4ucin 'old' , belwisin 'widow'.
Most morphophonologicapl henomenaa t the boundaryb etweena stem and a suffrx
have to do with maintainingt he ideal syllables tructureo f altematingv owels and conso-
nants (CVCV). This is achievedb y meanso f connectives egmentsw, hich might alsob e
termed buffer vowels and consonantsE. xamplesa re offered by the plural suffix /l-s and
the instrumentalc asee nding/ G-AAr. Someo ther suffixesa ssimilatet he stemv owel,e .g.
xalda- 'to look'+ causative.U l > xaldu.ul-.S omes uffrxesh aved ifferentc onsonantavla ri-
ants dependingo n whethert he steme ndsi n a sonoranto r a (morphophonologicalo) bstruent,
cf. e.g.t he dative in -Di (-di - +i) andt he imperfectivec onverbn -Ji (-ji - -ci).
Vowel harmony,w hich is conventionallya ssumedto haveb eenb asedo n an original
opposition between front vowels and back vowels, has considerablyr ecededi n Shira
Yughur.M any stemss till reveal the effect of former harmonicc onstraintsb, ut owingt o
otherd evelopmentss,u cha st hep alatalizatioonf 'back'vowels by adjacenst oundss,o me
stemsh avea cquireda n 'unharmonicl'o ok, e.g.ji )ra- 'to mix' < *juura-, neiman'eight'
< *naiman. Synchronicallyv owel harmony,i ncluding labial harmony,d oesn ot put any
restrictionso n the vocalism of stems,b ut it continuest o be active in somes uffixesc on-
taining the low vowel A, which is representedb y the set a e o ri. In many casesh, ow-
ever,t he harmonic variant o is replacedb y e, ands omes uff,rxeso nly featuret he variants
a e, whlle yet othersa re completelyi nvariable.O ther deviationsf rom the rules of vowel
harmonya rea lsoc ommoni n the data,c f. e.g.r efl. cge-yaan'one'sfa ther'vs.c om.r efl.
xani-leen 'with one's friend'. A numbero f suffixesc ontain a harmonicallyv ariablel ong
UU (uu iii)). The short high vowels of non-initial syllablesh ave becomeh armonically
marginalized,s ince they have largely merged into i. Only a few suffixes, such as the
converbm arker /G-AAdU, contain a harmonicallyv ariable short U
. There are also sandhip henomenaa ctive at word boundaries.S omeo f theseh aveo nly
a phonetic effect. For instance,i nitial and ftnal g gh can be fricativized when occurring
intervocalically.I n the caseo f b, however,a similar fricativization resultsi n a phonemic
alternation with w. Also, some grammatical endings, notably -Gi of the futuritive
participle and- Ji of the imperfectivec onverb,c an lose their final vowel beforea vowel
or a semivowel.I n the data quotedb elow, thesea nd other similar sandhiv ariantsw ill be
indicatedb y the apostrophe( ').
WORD FORMATION
The ShiraY ughur derivatives uffixesa re listed below under four basicc ategoriesW. ithin
each category the suffixes are arrangeda pproximatelyi n an order ofdecreasing frequency.
Denominaln ouns:[ possessivaed jectivanl ouns]. ti (< *.tU)'with, having,' e.g.a rgha
'ruse' : argha ti 'crafty'; .tii (< *.tAi) id., e.g.j irghal 'happiness': j irghal.tii 'happy'; [the
SHIRAY UGHUR 269
privativec onstruction.]g ili (< *+i)gi)i)' without,- less',e .g.n ere' name': nere.gili'name-
less';. ci fprofessionas nd occupations]e, .g. cimig'thef\' : cimig.ci'thief'; .gA [affec-
tivel,e .g.d iid'yotnger brother': diiil.gei d. [affective].,r KAG'abwdant in', e.g.q usu/n
'water': qusu.rqagh'watery'.
Denominavl erbs:A very frequent,a ndn ow perhapsth e only productive,v erbalizer
is the suffix .lA- lfrom substantivanl ounsl,e .g.g ilid'lock' : gilid.le-'to lock'. Other
suffrxesin clude:. dA- lfrom substantivanlo uns],e .g.s hiwge'awl' : shiwge.de-'top ierce
with an awl'; .d- [from adjectivaln ouns],e .g.o lon'much' : olo d-'to becomen umer-
ous'; /i- [from adjectivanl ouns],e .g.g haltagh'filthy' : ghaltagh.ti-'to becomef ilthy',
.rA- lmainly from adjectivaln ounsl,e .g. hkd 'blue' : hktj.re-'to becomeb lue'. Some
nounsa re madei nto verbsb y meanso f the element+ gl- which is strictly speakingn ot a
suffrxb ut the stemo f the verb 'to do', e.g.l ar 'speech': lar+ gi- 'to speak',c imig 'theft' :
cimig+ gi-'to steal'.T his compoundc onstructionis , howeveqm uch lessc ommont han
in someo ther languageso f the Gansu-Qinghaci omplex.
Deverbaln ouns:. mA fadjectives]e, .g. sur- 'to leam' : sur.ma' experienced'.;m A
[instrumentse],. g.a lgha-' to clean'' .a lgha.ma'mop';. mA [professionse],. g.d dngge-'t o
support:' ddngge.me'midwife'.;m A lplaces]e, .g.u u-'to eat' : xuula uu.ma'restaurant';
.KAi [adjectives],e .g. hqara- 'to break' : hqara.qai 'broken'; .rAKAi 'apt to', e.g.
honghi-' breakw ind' : hongho.raqa'if latulent';. Ur [instruments]e, .g.s olo- 'to close':
solu.ur( < *solo.ur)' stop (of a bottle)'. CommonM ongolic suffixesf or deverbanl ouns
thath aveb ecomen on-productivein ShiraY ughur include *.xA (the imperfectivep artici-
ple),a s rn sana.a'thought';* .xA/n (id.), as in tele.en'firewood';* .xA.sU/na s in
xala.asin'p atch'; *.cA as in gebte.ce'l air' , nuu.ca' secret';* .dAl as in hkii del 'death';
*.dU/nasinxanaa.di'nc ough';* .gAnasrnyaw.gha'no nfoot'; *./asin tani.l'acqu.ain-
tance';* lAng as in jirgha.lang'joy'; *.lGA as in ere.lge'income',* .mAl as rn giir.mel
'braid';* .Unasinxalu.un'w arm';a nd.wir-.wur(<*.buri)asinhele.wir 'remainder'.
Deverbalv erbs: There is no morphologicalm eansf or creatingr epetitivesa nd itera-
tives. Only the so-calledg enera verbi listed below are formed with suffixes, which
ue: Ul- [causativee],. g.hani-'t ogo': hanu.ul-(<*hani.ul-')t omakeg o';.lGA[ causative],
e.gj.o qoi-'to sit down':joqoi.lgho-'toc auset o sit').GA- [causativee],. g.g har-'to
comeo ut' : ghar.gha-'tob ring out'; .GdA-- .GtA- [passive]e, .g.e je-'to see': eje.gte-
'to be seen';. ldi freciprocall,e .g.x rig- 'to hit' : xdg/i.ldi- 'to hit eacho ther,t o frght'; .lcA
[cooperativee],. g.g hadi-'to harvest': ghadi.lca-'to harvestt ogether'.O f the several
suffixesf or the causative( transitive)c ategory,o nly .Ul seemst o be productivet oday.
Altogether,t he number of productive derivative suffixes is not large. The two most
commonlyu seds uffixesa ret he versatilen ominalizer- mA andt he generalv erbalizer- lA,
which are also usedt o adaptl oanwordst o the ShiraY ughur inflexional system.T urkic
verbals temsa re borroweda s they are, but Chinesea nd Tibetanv erbs have to receivea
verbalizings uffix beforet hey can take verbal suffixes,e .g. Chinesek ai tuolaji 'to drive
a tractor' -+ ShiraY ughurt uolaji kai.la- id., which can then be nominalizedi nto tuolaji
kai.lam. a'tractord river'.
Although there is no morphologicald ifferenceb etween substantivala nd adjectival
nouns,t here are somed erivationalp henomenath at may be regardeda s characteristico f
adjectivaln ouns.T hus, they canb e intensifiedb y meanso f partial reduplication,e .g.a b
aruun'very clean', and moderatedb y special( lexicalizeda nd synchronicallyu npre-
dictables) uffrxese, .g.m oder.h kd.btir' bluish'.T hem eaningo f 'rather'c anb e expressed
by meanso f the suffix .shig, as in ene misgi muni qoqodi hdei.shigb ai 'this garmenti s
rathers mall for my body (size)'.
2]O THE MONGOLIC LANGUAGES
NUMBERAND CASE
There is no agreementb etween an attributively usedn oun and its nominal headword The
headword of a nominal phrase can, however, take suffixes indicating number and/or
case.P lural probably remains a derivational (rather than an inflexional) category,s ince
it can be expressedb y several alternative and lexically detennined markers. It is true,
Shira Yughur (like the other languageso f the Gansu-Qinghaic omplex) shows a tendency
to dcvclop a single productive (possibly inflexional) plural markcr. Evcn so, plural mark-
ing occurs sparingly. It is nonnally absenta fter quantifiers,a s well as on stemsd enoting
objccts which naturally appeara s pairs, groups, or uncountableq uantities,s ucha s niidiin
'eye/s',g hudisin'bootls', shdin 'toothlteeth',h odin'starls', czslr 'blood'.
The single productive plural marker is * s > s (after vowels) - /i s (after consonants),
before which a stem-final r may be deleted. This marker is most frequently used on
words denoting hurnan beings, e.g kiiti.r 'people', mula.s 'chlldren', cerig/i .r'' soldiers'.
But also other nouns, and even pronouns, may take it, e.g. xainagh/i s 'yaks', nag/is
'trees',drjds'things', leres'they',ta'.je.\'yourselves'.Anotherpluralendingis.duud
( historically a double plural +-d.UUd), which is found in a few 'elevated' words sucha s
ttit,on 'lord' : pl- niyo duud. The element * nAr srnvives only in some petrified items
without a synchronic plural connotation, e.g hgha nar 'man'. Similarly, the ancient
adjectival plural in * /r survives in the word am.tdn 'creature/s,a nimal/s'.
The casep aradigrn of Shira Yughur cornprisest he basic unmarked (nominative) form
as well as the six suffixally marked Common Mongolic cases: genitive, accusative,
dative, ablative, instrumental,a nd cornitative.T he genitive and accusativeh ave, howev-
er, merged into a single connective (genitive-accusative)f orrn with the exception of the
singular first and second person pronouns, which base the two forms on different stem
variants. Sornec ases uffixes have separatev ariants for stemse nding in a long (diachron-
ically double) vowel or a diphthong (VV), a (morphophonological) obstruent (O), or a
general consonant (C). Otherwise, all stem types follow the stems ending in a short
vowel (V) (Table 13.3).
The connective (genitive-accusative) case shows forrnally the most variegated
picture. After short-vowel stems it has the ending -ir, which nonnally rnergesw ith the
stern-final vowel into i-in, e g- dere 'prllow' I conn. *dere-in > deri-itt, bodo 'deer' :
conn. *bodo-in> bodi-in. After long-vowel and diphthong stems the ending is -r, eg.
soyoo'tusk' : conn.s oyoo-n, tologhoi'head' : conn. tologhol-n. Consonants tems,o n the
other hand, take the ending -1, e.g. raan'emperor' '. conn.x aan-i, pl. mula.s 'children' :
conn. mula s-i. Separatee ndings for vowel stems and consonants tems are also present
in the instrumental Moreover, stems ending in a sholt vowcl can sometimcs form the
instrurnentalw ith the (original) simple ending -Ar, e.g. nere 'name' '. instr. nere-er.
TABLE 13.3 SHIRAYUGHUR CASE MARKERS
o
conn. -tn -t -t1
dat. -di
abl. -SA
rnstr. (/GA)-Ar -AAr /G-AAr
com. -lA
SHIRAYUGHUR 27I
Exampleso f completep aradigmsm: ula'child' '.c orn.m uli-in: dat.m ula-di: abl.mula-
sa : instr. mula/gh-aar : com. mula-la; moori'horse' : corn. moori-in '. dat. moori-
di : abI.m ooi-so : inst. mooro-or: com.( unattestebdu t probably:)* mooiJa; qusun'water':
conn.q usun-i : dat.q usun-di: abl.q usun-sa'.i nstr.q usun-aar: com.q usunJa; kiil'foot' :
conn.kril-i:dat.kil-di:abl.kril-se-luil-sti:tnstr.kdl-eer-kril-ririr:com.kil-le;ghajar
'land' : conn.g hajar-i i d^t. ghajar-ti: abl.g hajar-sd: insfr.g hajar-aar: com.g hajarJa.
Functionally,t he unmarkedb asic (nominative) form indicatest he subject as well as
the indefinite object, while the definite object as well as the possessora re indicatedb y
the connective( genitive-accusativef)o rm. The dative (dative-locative)a lso has the func-
tions of a locative as well as a directive. Somep etrif,redit ems have the dative suffix -dl,
e.g.n an-da'to me'. The archaicl ocatives uffrx- l survivesin the relic form ghajar-a'to
the place'. The instrumentalp rovides the only productive means for making (modal)
adverbsf rom substantivalo r adjectival nouns, as in instr. sain-aar 'well', cugh-aar
Jointly', ciij-eer'by heart', yoghor-aar largi- 'to speakY ughur'. However,m ost adverbs
do not containt his suffix.
Comparativer elationso f adjectival nouns are expressedb y a variefy of casef orms,
notablya blative,g enitive,a nd comitative.T he ablativei ndicatest he comparatived egree,
e.g. ti)n-ses hke 'bigger than he' (literally: 'big from him'); iin-se tere bagha nige sain
bai 'that one is a bit better than this one'. The superlative degree is expressedb y
constructionsin volving either the ablativeo r the genitive'.s ain-sas ain'very good'
(literally:' bettert han good'), moori-in sain 'the best horse' (literally: 'the best of the
horses')O. therwise,t he adverbb ildin - biidiiiin'[the] most' can also be used:b iidiliin
shkiini keedi nastawa'how old is the oldest [of the family]?'. Comparisonb etweent wo
equalsi s expressedb y the comitative,o r by the postpositions hinggi 'like':- tere danda-la
sain bai'he is as good as I [am]'; taliin gdrddsin htoro ci shinggi muuqain gdrdr)sin
iigwei'amongt he wild animalst herei s no animala su gly as you'.
There are someo ther forms which superficially look like casesb ut may be described
differentlyT. he 'locative'i n+biid'and the 'directive'in +iid'seem to involvep ostposi-
tions.T he suffix ./ii (*-tAi), perhapsn on-productived, oesn ot combinew ith the posses-
sive suffixes, and is more convenientlya nalyseda s an adjectival suffrx (for possessive
adjectival nouns). The directive suffrx .iiilr - (rarely) .uur, as in qusun.iliir 'towards
thew ater', (ghada: ) ghad.i)iir' towardst he rock', is perhapsb esta nalyseda s an adver-
bial derivative suffix. The same suffix occurs in lexicalized items such as shadan.uur
'outwards'a ndd, uu/gh.uur'downwards'.
NUMERALS
The basicc ardinaln umeralsa re, for the digits: I nege- nige,2 ghuur,3 ghurwan,4
ddrwen,5t aawin,6j irghuun - jurghuun,T doloon,8n aiman- neiman,9h yisin- shisin;
andf or the tens:l 0 harwan,20x orin, 30 qucin,4 0 ddcin,5 0 tawin, 60j iran,70 dalan,
80 nayan - neyan,9 0 yeren. The powers of ten are expresseda s: 100j uun, 1,000m ing-
ghan, 10,000t emen,1 00,000h arwan temen,7,000,00j0u un temen- sayl, 10,000,000
mingghant emen, 100,000,000t emen temen - dongsuur.F urther numerals are formed
analyticallye, .g. ll harwann ege,36q ucinj irghuun,200 ghuurj uun. All cardinaln um-
eralsc an be declinedl ike the common noun.
The ordinal numeralst ake the ending .cAAr (accordingt o Bulchulu), e.g. ghuur.caar
'second'g, hurwan.caar'third',d tirwen.ceer'fourth'.I n otherd ata( Junast)t,h e ordinal
suffrx is reported to be .rjAr, before which the final nasal n of the stem is dropped,
272 THE MONGOLIC LANGUAGES
e.g. nige.rjer 'first', doloo.rjor 'seventh', harwarjar 'tenth'. Neither one of these
suffixes seemst o be found in other Mongolic languages.
Collective numerals are formed with the suffix /a (unharmonic),e .g. ghuur.la'bolh',
ghurwan.la 'the three of them'. By definition, there is no collective derivative from
I nege - nige,but a related concept is expressedb y instr. refl. ghagca-ar-aan'onone's
own'. The suffix /a cannot be a regular developmento f the Common Mongolic collective
suffix * (x)ula and may be due to a confusion with the comitative casee nding. There are
also approximative numerals ending rn /G.AAd, before which r is elided, e.g. ha:.aad
'about ten', juu/gh aad 'about one hundred'. More commonly, the approximativesa re
expresseda nalytically, e.g. harwan jirge 'about ten'. Distributives are formed either by
reduplication,e .g.g huur ghuur dg 'give two fto everyone]! ', or by using the instrumental
case,e .g. kiiln wilrildi ghurwan-aar dg'give three to each person!'.
PRONOUNS
The personal and demonstrative pronouns show an inflexion that is slightly different
from the common noun, in that their casef orrns are basedo n stem variants which do not
occur in isolation (Table 13 4). The most unpredictable paradigms are those of the
singular personalp ronouns,w hich have a genitive stem in -r?-a s well as an oblique stem
in -ma-. In the first person singular pronoun, the dative form nanda (< *nanta-da) has
become the basef or the other casef orms. The paradigrnso f the plural personalp ronouns
are much more regular (note the merger of the accusativea nd ger.ritivec ases),a lthough
they also havea n oblique stem in -r-.
The first person plural shows (according to Junast) a distinction between cxclusive
and inclusive forms Morphologically, the inclusive form buda s is the plural of the
exclusive stem buda (which itself is historically an inclusive formation). In the second
person there is a similar derivative ta s 'you fmany]', which has a specihcally plural
function, as opposedt o the polite singular use ofthe basic stem ta'you [honouredo ne]'.
TABLE 13.4 SHIRAYUGHUR PERSONALP RONOUNS
lp. 2p.
nom. bi-bu cl
gen. mtnt - muw ctnt
acc. namiin - damiin ctmIIn
dat. nanda - danda cimadi
abl nandasa - dandasa ctmasa
lnstr. nandaghaar - dandaghaar cimaghaar
com. nandala - dandala cimala
excl incl.
pl. nom. buda budas ta
conn budani hudasi tani
dat. budandi budasti tandi
abl. budansa budassa tansa
lnstr. budanaar budasaar tanaar - taghaar
co1n. hudanla budasla tanla - tala
SHIRAYUGHUR 273
The function of the third person pronouns is filled by the demonstratives ene 'this' and
(more frequently) tere 'that' , which have the oblique stems z7- resp. tiin- (not attestedi n the
other Gansu-Qinghai languages).T he correspondingp lurals are expressedb y the secondary
formations ene s rcsp. tere.s 'they'. The declension of the demonstrative pronouns is
otherwise regular, e.g. tere : conn. tiin-i : dat tiln-di : abl. tiin-se '. tnstr. tiin-eer'. com. tiin-
le;pl. tere.s : conn. tere.s-i : dat. tere.sli'. abl. tere s-se : instr. tere s-eer: com. tere.s-le.
A less frequent secondaryp ersonalp ronoun is ergen'slhe'(< *irgen'people'). There
are also numerous compound expressions with cogh 'all' and coll. ghuur.la > ghula 'two
together';budacogh' allofus'; tacogh '[allof] you';enecogh-terecogh-ergencogh
'all of them'; ene ghula 'these two', tere ghuurla > tere ghula 'both; the two of them',
etc. All of these have a regular nominal declension. A special formation is, however,
presenti n tughula (<*ta+ghuur.la)'you two', which comes close to being a separate
dual pronoun, as is also suggestedb y the fact that it has developed an oblique stem in n,
e.g. conn. tughulan-i.
The reflexive pronoun ejen'self'(< 'master') : pl. eje s 'selves'can also be used in
the personal function, referring to 'I'resp. 'we', perhapsm ainly in reported speech.T he
reflexive function is, however, unambiguous in compounds with a preceding personal
pronoun, in which case the reflexive pronoun takes the shape+ 'jen: pl. +)es, as in
buj en'(l)myself', ci jen'(you) yourself', ta jen'(you)yourself fpolite]',terej en'(he)
himself', terej es'(they) themselves'.I n all of its occurrences,t he reflexive pronoun is
declined like the common noun.
The demonstrativese ne'this'and tere'that', when appearing in the demonstrative
function, have the plurals iin/i.s 'these' resp. tiln/i.s 'those'. Other related derivatives
includee nde'here'vs. tende'there'; iir 'such, like this' vs. tiin'such, like that'; dmc)
(ilme)'llke this'vs. tdmd (tiime)'like that'; iingeer'along this side'vs. tilngeer'along
that side'; iinilin'of this side'vs. tiiriiin'of that side'; ilniliriiiir'in this direction'vs.
tilrilirtitir 'in that direction'. Also related are the demonstrative verbs inggi- (ing+ gi-) 'to
do like this' vs. tinggi- (ting + gi-)'to do like that', of which the converbs inggiji, inggigee
'thus' are the most frequent forms.
The interrogatives are representedb y the Common Mongolic set of interrogative roots
*ke-,*kaa-,*ya-,and*ali,fromwhicharederived:
ken'who',keedi'howmuch',keden
'how many', kejee 'when'1' xana 'where', xagshi 'where to' , xanasa 'where frorn'; yaan
'how' , yaandi 'why' , yima 'what' , yimar 'what kind of'; aali 'which'. Also related are
the interrogative verbs yaagi- (yaa+gi-)'to do how'andyimagi- (yima+gi-)'to do
what'. Recent contractions are present in yimal- (< *yama bol-) 'to happen how' and
xanad- (< *kaana od-)'to go where'. There are also some analytic interrogative expres-
sions, such asy ima ningwa 'what kind of' , yima hci)rti 'why' (literally: 'by what reason').
Indefinite pronouns and related expressions, collected here for the reason of conve-
nience rather than on the basis ofany formal or logical coherence ofthe group, include:
ningwa (< *nike+yama) 'some', ningwa cagh 'sometimes', gc)drd (giire) 'other' , as well
as( placeda fter the noun) bolghon'every', biiri (wiiril)'every', cogh (cugh)'all', rjrti'all',
as in kiin wi)ri), kiin bolghon, amtan bolghon'everybody', ghajar biirjil'everywhere'. The
concepto f'any'is expressedb y the particle da, as in ken da'anyone; whoever', kejee da
'whenever', yima da 'anything; whatever'. Negative (connegative) pronouns like
'nobody', 'nothing', are formed by means of the interrogative pronouns + negation.
POSSESSIVE SUFFIXES
Shira Yughur has a full possessivep aradigm, based on the suffrxed (or clitically used)
genitive (connective)f orms ofthe personalp ronouns (Table 13.5). From the synchronic