Functions of reflexive pronouns in Evenki dialects

The paper focuses on the various forms derived from the stem of the so-called Evenki reflexive pronoun mə:n-. Given that the Evenki language is spread over a vast territory, with Standard Evenki playing a very restricted role, it is crucial to take into consideration data from multiple dialects. With this in mind, the paper is based on data from corpora of oral texts (both modern and those recorded in the mid-20th century), while also using elicitation data. The three forms considered in the paper are the “plain” (affixless) mə:n, mə:n with personal possessive suffixes, and mə:n with reflexive possessive suffixes. The first is quite rare and mostly occurs in Eastern Evenki dialects where it marks the possessor in possessive constructions or is sometimes used anaphorically or emphatically. As regards the other two forms, the traditional interpretation strictly classifies them as reflexive versus emphatic. Our data, however, shows that forms with both the personal possessive marker and the reflexive possessive marker can fulfill emphatic and anaphoric functions. The emphatic functions can be compared to those of similar “emphatic” pronouns in Russian or Tsakhur. Moreover, the reflexive function is actually not syntactically pure, since there are “broad” antecedent cases (with the antecedent including both the subject and family), or cases of reciprocal interpretation. Our conclusion is that these forms should be interpreted as emphatic and switching the focus to the more (the reflexive possessive markers) or less (the personal possessive markers) prominent participants. The paper also discusses the structure of main and dependent clauses in Evenki, with the head of the latter usually being a non-finite verb such as a converb, and the way the clause and its head influence the choice between the reflexive possessive or the personal possessive form. The paper suggests that particular converbs differ in switching the focus to the more or less prominent participants and thus determining which pronoun form will be used. However, given the great number of non-finite forms in Evenki, the paper touches upon this issue only briefly and leaves these problems for future work.