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Part of
Language Contact in the Territory of the Former Soviet Union
Edited by Diana Forker and Lenore A. Grenoble
[IMPACT: Studies in Language, Culture and Society 50] 2021
► pp. 143–182

From head-final towards head-initial grammar

Generational and areal differences concerning word order usage and judgement among Udmurt speakers

| Hungarian Research Institute for Linguistics | Eötvös Loránd University

Contrary to the commonly assumed view that Udmurt is a non-rigid head-final language (Vilkuna, 1998), I argue that Udmurt is undergoing an (S)OV>(S)VO change through the influence of (S)VO Russian, but this change is proceeding more slowly in the areas where (S)OV Tatar is also spoken. In my survey, younger speakers of Udmurt produced and accepted head-initial phrases (embedded in discourse-neutral sentences) to a higher degree than older ones. In an apparent-time hypothesis approach, this difference may indicate that Udmurt is undergoing a typological change. On the other hand, speakers from Tatarstan had a stronger preference for the head-final variants than the ones from Udmurtia. I suggest that the influence of Tatar “refrains” the typological change of Udmurt in these areas.

Keywords: word order, Udmurt, typological change, (S)OV, (S)VO, head-final, head-initial, Russian, Tatar, apparent-time hypothesis
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Background
    • 2.1The Udmurt language
    • 2.2Sociolinguistic background
      • 2.2.1Udmurtia
      • 2.2.2Tatarstan
    • 2.3Theoretical background
      • 2.3.1Word order in Russian
      • 2.3.2Word order in Tatar
    • 2.4Comparative-historical background
    • 2.5Previous analyses on Udmurt word order
  • 3.Methods
    • 3.1The constructions
    • 3.2Task types
    • 3.3The consultants
  • 4.Results
    • 4.1Verbal phrases
      • 4.1.1Verb (V) + object (O)
      • 4.1.2Verb (V) + subject (S)
        • 4.1.2.1Verb + subject in existential sentences
        • 4.1.2.2Verb + subject in predicative possessive sentences
      • 4.1.3Copula (Cop) + predicate (Pred)
      • 4.1.4Modal auxiliaries (AuxMod) + VP
        • 4.1.4.1‘Want’ + VP
        • 4.1.4.2Other modal auxiliaries + VP
      • 4.1.5Verb (V) + adpositional phrase (AdpP)
      • 4.1.6Verb (V) + case-suffixed (pro)noun with adverbial function (NCx)
      • 4.1.7Verb (V) + manner adverb (AdvMan)
    • 4.2Phrases with a functional head
      • 4.2.1Complementizer (Comp) + subordinated sentence (Sent)
      • 4.2.2Adverbial subordinator (AdvSub) + subordinated clause (Sent)
    • 4.3Noun phrases
      • 4.3.1Noun (possessee) + genitive (possessor) (N + Gen)
      • 4.3.2Noun (N) + relative clause (Rel)
      • 4.3.3Noun (N) + complement/adjunct (X)
    • 4.4Adjectival phrases
      • 4.4.1Adjective (Adj) + standard of comparison (Stand)
      • 4.4.2Adjective (Adj) + complement (X)
  • 5.Word order flexibility
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • List of abbreviations
  • References
Published online: 18 June 2021
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/impact.50.06asz
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