Semantics and polysemy of causal markers: Hill Mari evidence
DOI:10.30842/alp230657371713667
Davidyuk T. I., Studenikina Ks. A.
Semantika i polisemiya prichinnykh markerov: dannyye
gornomariyskogo yazyka. Acta Linguistica Petropolitana.
2021. 17(1): 36–67.
There are several markers in Hill Mari that have causal meaning — the postpositions gišän, veldə̈k, verc(ə̈n), gə̈c(ə̈n), and don(o), as well as the lative -eš. The paper discusses the semantics of these markers based on the following parameters: direct / indirect cause, external / internal cause, controllability / uncontrollability of the action expressed by the predicate, and compatibility restrictions. Another aim of the study is the polysemy and the origin of these markers that may be a useful contribution to the typology of causal meanings and the grammaticalization theory in general. The data described in this paper was collected during the fi eldwork in the village of Kuznetsovo and nearby villages, Mari El Republic, Russia in 2018–2019. The main method used for data collection was elicitation.
Gišän is the basic postposition expressing cause. Some prohibitions on its use are only observed among native speakers in direct causation contexts. An indirect cause can also be expressed by the postposition verc(ə̈n). The postpositions don(o), gə̈c, and the lative -eš mark direct cause. Direct-cause contexts are preferable for the postposition veldə̈k. The postposition gə̈c indicates negative consequences and only occurs in uncontrollable action contexts. Uncontrolled predicates are also relevant for the postposition don(o). The lative canoccur with both uncontrolled and controlled predicates, the latter case only relevant for constructions with the -maš nominalization.
The peculiar features of the system of causal markers in Hill Mari in terms of the theory of grammaticalization are as follows: it is unusual for the causal postposition gišän to have a theme meaning; and, while it is uncommon for Finno-Ugric languages to use a directional case to indicate a cause, the Hill Mari widely uses lativ (diachronically, apparently, a directional case) in this capacity.
Keywords
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