From head-final towards head-initial grammar
Generational and areal differences concerning word order usage and
judgement among Udmurt speakers
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.
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
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