Cover not available
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. 183–216

Russian influence on Surgut Khanty and Estonian aspect is limited but similar

| Hungarian Research Institute for Linguistics
| Károli Gáspár University of the Reformed Church in Hungary

In the present paper, we investigate evidence for a causal link between the sociolinguistic contact type and the type of structural change in borrowing. We build our argument via a comparative and contrastive study of the aspectual system of Surgut Khanty (Ob-Ugric, Uralic), Estonian (Finnic, Uralic) and Russian (Slavic, Indo-European). We relate our findings to earlier findings on the functional similarity of typologically distant languages in slight borrowing situations. Comparing the category of aspect in two Uralic languages, Estonian and Surgut Khanty, we claim that the structural changes in Estonian and Surgut Khanty are similar in the domain of aspect, despite the differences in the social conditions of contacts with Russian and additional influences from typologically diverging contact languages. We attribute the similarity to the low intensity of borrowing.

Keywords: pattern borrowing, aspect, Aktionsart, Surgut Khanty, Estonian, partitive, frequentative, iterative, imperfective, perfective
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Sociolinguistic conditions
  • 3.Causal relations between borrowing type and structural change
  • 4.Key terminology
  • 5.Aspect and Aktionsart: Areal features?
  • 6.The Estonian aspectual structure
    • 6.1The Estonian aspectual structure: Object case alternation
    • 6.2The Estonian aspectual structure: Aktionsart particles
    • 6.3The Estonian aspectual structure: Aktionsart suffixes
    • 6.4The Estonian aspectual structure: Verbal complexes
    • 6.5Secondary imperfectives
    • 6.6Interim summary: The expression of aspectuality in Estonian
    • 6.7Comparisons
  • 7.Surgut Khanty
    • 7.1Methods
    • 7.2The system
    • 7.3Absence and presence of interference-phenomena in Surgut Khanty
    • 7.4Khanty and Russian: Comparison
  • 8.Discussion of the findings
  • 9.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • Abbreviatons
  • References
Published online: 18 June 2021
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/impact.50.07gug
References
Aikhenvald, A. Y.
(2007) Grammars in contact: A crosslinguistic perspective. In A. Y. Aikhenvald & R. M. W. Dixon (Eds.), Grammars in contact: A cross-linguistic typology (pp. 1–66). Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Arkadiev, P. M.
(2015) Arealʹnaja tipologija prefiksalʹnogo perfektiva (na material jazykov Evropy i Kavkaza [Areal typology of prefixal perfectivization (Based on data of languages of Europe and the Caucasus]. Moskva: Jazyki slavjanskoj kulʹtury.Google Scholar
(2018) Borrowed preverbs and the limits of contact-induced change in aspectual systems. In R. Benacchio, A. Muro, & S. Slavkova (Eds.), The role of prefixes in the formation of aspectuality. Issues of grammaticalization (pp. 1–21). Florence: Firenze University Press.Google Scholar
Bereczki, G.
(2000) Bevezetés a balti finn nyelvészetbe [Introduction to Finnic linguistics]. Budapest: Universitas Könyvkiadó.Google Scholar
Binnick, R. I.
(1991) Time and the verb: A guide to tense and aspect. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Bybee, J. L., Perkins, R., & Pagliuca, W.
(1994) The evolution of grammar: Tense, aspect, and modality in the languages of the world. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Csepregi, M.
(1998) Szurguti osztják chrestomathia [Chrestomathy of Surgut Khanty]. Szeged: JATE Finnugor Tanszék.Google Scholar
Csepregi, M., & Onina, S.
(2011) Observations of Khanty identity: The Synja and the Surgut Khanty. In R. Grünthal & M. Kovács (Eds.), Ethnic and linguistic context of identity: Finno-Ugric minorities (pp. 341–358). Helsinki: Suomalais-Ugrilainen.Google Scholar
Csepregi, M., & Sosa, S.
(2009) Comparable sample texts of Surgut Khanty in 1996 and 2008. Journal de la Société Finno-Ougrienne, 92, 193–208. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Csepregi, M., & Gugán, K.
(2010) Orosz hatás az osztják aspektus- és akcióminőség-rendszerre [Russian interference phenomena in the domain of aspect and Aktionsart in Ostyak]. In K. É. Kiss & H. Attila (Eds.), Nyelvelmélet és kontaktológia [Linguistic theory and language contact] (pp. 149–168). Piliscsaba: PPKE.Google Scholar
Dahl, Ö.
(1985) Tense and aspect systems. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
(Ed.) (2000) Tense and aspect in the languages of Europe. Berlin: De Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2000) The perfect questionnaire. In Ö. Dahl (Ed.), Tense and aspect in the languages of Europe (pp. 789–818). Berlin: De Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ehala, M.
(2000) Second language learner’s impact on the structure of Estonian. In K. Allikmets (Ed.), Languages at universities today and tomorrow: Proceedings of the Methodology Conference of the Language Centre: 19–20 May 2000 (pp. 20–32). Tartu: Tartu Ülikooli Kirjastus.Google Scholar
Erelt, M., Kasik, R., Metslang, H., Rajandi, H., Ross, K., Saari, H., Tael, K., & Vare, S.
(1993) Eesti keele grammatika II. Süntaks. Lisa: Kiri [The grammar of the Estonian language II. Syntax. Appendix: Written anguage]. Tallinn: Eesti Teaduste Akadeemia Keele ja Kirjanduse Instituut.Google Scholar
Gugán, K.
(2013) Aspektus és akcióminőség a hantiban (szurguti nyelvjárás) [Aspect and Aktionsart in Khanty (Surgut dialect)] (Unpublished PhD dissertation). University of Szeged.Google Scholar
Galambos, A.
(2007) Primary and secondary imperfectives in Russian: A cumulativity analysis. LSO Working Papers in Linguistics, 7, 79–94.Google Scholar
Honti, L.
(2000) A magyar igekötő: nyelvünk kései jövevénye? [Preverbal particle: A newcomer in Hungarian?] In M. Bakró-Nagy, Z. Bánréti, & K. É. Kiss (Eds.), Újabb tanulmányok a strukturális nyelvtan és a nyelvtörténet köréből [Recent studies on structural linguistics and language history] (pp. 357–367). Budapest: Osiris.Google Scholar
Isačenko, A. V.
(1962) Die Russische Sprache der Gegenwart. Teil 1: Formenlehre [The contemporary Russian language. Part 1: Morphology]. Halle: Max Niemeyer.Google Scholar
Ivaska, I., & Tamm, A.
(2019) Distributional differences in the use of partitives in Estonian and Finnish. Paper presented at the workshop Partitive Cases, Pronouns and Determiners, University of Pavia, Pavia, September 2.
Kagan, O.
(2015) Scalarity in the Verbal Domain: The Case of Verbal Prefixation in Russian. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kiefer, F.
(2006) Aspektus és akcióminőség, különös tekintettel a magyar nyelvre [Aspect and aktionsart, with special attention to Hungarian]. Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó.Google Scholar
(2010) Areal-typological aspects of word formation: The case of aktionsart-formation in German, Hungarian, Slavic, Baltic, Romani and Yiddish. In F. Rainer, W. U. Dressler, D. Kastovsky, & H. C. Luschützky (Eds.), Variation and change in morphology (pp. 129–148). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kiefer, F., & Honti, L.
(2003) Verbal ‘prefixation’ in the Uralic languages. Acta Linguistica Hungarica, 50, 137–153. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Matras, Y., & Sakel, J.
(2007) Investigating the mechanisms of pattern replication in language convergence. Studies in Language, 31(4), 829–865. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Metslang, H.
(1994) Temporal relations in the predicate and the grammatical system of Estonian and Finnish. Oulu: Oulun Yliopisto.Google Scholar
(2001) On the developments of the Estonian aspect: The verbal particle ära . In Ö. Dahl & M. Koptjevskaja-Tamm (Eds.), The circum-Baltic languages: Grammar and typology (pp. 443–479). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pihlak, A.
(1982) Vene aspektikategooria ja eesti ajakategooria suhtest [On the relation between the Russian category of aspect and the Estonian category of tense]. In H. Leemets, S. Smirnov, & M. Erelt (Eds.), Voprosy sopostavitelʹnogo izučenija leksiki i grammatiki na materiale estonskogo i russkogo jazykov [Issues in the comparison of lexicon and grammar based on data from Estonian and Russian] (pp. 87–100). Tallinn: ENSV Teaduste Akadeemia Keele ja Kirjanduse Instituut.Google Scholar
(1985) Eesti ühendverbid ja perifrastilised verbid aspektitähenduse väljendjana [Estonian complex and periphrastic verbs as expressions of aspectual meaning]. In M. Erelt & H. Rajandi (Eds.), ARS Grammatica 1985. Eesti NSV Teaduste Akadeemia Keele ja Kirjanduse Instituut (pp. 62–93). Tallinn: Valgus.Google Scholar
Pool, R.
(2007) Täis- ja osasihitise omandamise ning markeerituse seosest [On the relationships between the acquisition of total and partitive objects and markedness]. Keel ja Kirjandus, 1, 35–50.Google Scholar
Rassudova, O. P.
(1984) Upotreblenie vidov glagola v sovremennom russkom jazyke [Aspectual usage in modern Russian]. Moscow: Russkiy Yazyk.Google Scholar
Rätsep, H.
(1957) Aspektikategooriast eesti keeles [On the category of aspect in Estonian]. Emakeele Seltsi Aastaraamat, 3, 72–77.Google Scholar
Sulkala, H.
(1996) Expression of aspectual meanings in Finnish and Estonian. In M. Erelt (Ed.), Estonian: Typological studies I. (pp. 165–225) Tartu: Publications of the Department of Estonian of the University of Tartu.Google Scholar
Steinitz, W.
(Ed.) (1966) Dialektologisches und etymologisches Wörterbuch der ostjakischen Sprache [Dialectal and etymological dictionary of the Ostyak language]. Berlin: Akademie-Verlag.Google Scholar
Taagepera, R.
(2000) A finnugor népek az orosz államban. [The Finno-Ugric republics and the Russian state]. Budapest: Osiris.Google Scholar
Tamm, A.
(2004) On the grammaticalization of the Estonian perfective particles. Acta Linguistica Hungarica, 51(1–2), 143–169. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2011) Cross-categorial spatial case in the Finnic non-finite system: Focus on the absentive TAM semantics and pragmatics of the Estonian inessive m-formative non-finites. Linguistics, 49(4), 835–944. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2012) Scalar verb classes. Scalarity, thematic roles, and arguments in the Estonian aspectual lexicon. Firenze: Firenze University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2018) Aspectual triplets in Estonian. Philologia Estonica Tallinnensis, 3, 208–234. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tamm, A., & Kivik, P-K.
(2018) In search of Russian influence: Contact-language impact on Estonian aspect. Paper presented at the Association for Advancement of Baltic Studies conference, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, June 1.
Tenny, C.
(1994) Aspectual roles and the syntax-semantics interface. Dordrecht: Kluwer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Thomason, S., & Kaufman, G. T.
(1988) Language contact, creolization, and genetic linguistics. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Vainikka, A.
(1993) The three structural cases in Finnish. In A. Holmberg, & U. Nikanne (Eds.), Case and other functional categories in Finnish syntax (pp. 129–159). Berlin: De Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Vendler, Z.
(1957) Verbs and times. The Philosophical Review, 66(2), 143–160. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Verschik, A.
(2009) Language contacts in the post-Soviet space. In A. Backus & A. Verschik (Eds.), Code-switching and contact-induced change: Empirical and theoretical perspectives. ICML XII Conference Abstracts. 12th International Conference on Minority Languages (pp. 132–134). Tartu: University of Tartu.Google Scholar
(2011) Estonian-Russian code-copying: A preliminary overview. Slavica Helsingiensia 2011, 355–365.Google Scholar
Volkova, A. N., & Solovar, V. N.
(2016) Kratkij russko-xantyjskij slovarʹ (surgutskij dialekt) [Short Russian-Khanty dictionary (Surgut dialect)]. Khanty-Mansijsk: Obsko-ugorskij institut.Google Scholar
Zsirai, M.
(1933) Az obi-ugor igekötők [Ob-Ugric verbal particles]. Értekezések a Nyelvés Széptudományi Osztály Köréből, 25(3), 41–82. Reprinted in: Hajdú, P. (Ed.) (1992), Zsirai Miklós emlékkönyv [Zsirai Miklós festschrift] (pp. 71–116). Budapest: ELTE Finnugor Nyelvészeti Tanszék.Google Scholar