Clitic ʨə in Maloe Karachkino dialect of Chuvash: A copula, a retrospective shift marker, a focus particle

In this paper, we consider the distribution of the clitic ʨə / ʨë in the Maloe Karachkino (Poshkart) dialect of Chuvash. The study builds on data collected during the field trips to Maloe Karachkino village in 2017–2019. We identified a wide range of functions with this marker. In this paper, we separately consider the usage of ʨə in non-verbal and verbal predications. In non-verbal predications, the clitic ʨə performs the function of a copula of the past tense. It can attach to non-verbal predicates or to the verb pol- ‘be’, with its usage in both contexts only limited to direct evidentiality contexts. This marker can also attach to both the predicate and the focused phrase. Our analysis of the distribution of the clitic in verbal predications shows that in Maloe Karachkino Chuvash, when attached to verb forms the marker ʨə, can be used in a wide range of contexts that are usually associated with a marker of retrospective shift in the languages of the world. We identified the following functions: the pluperfect marker, the discontinuous imperfect marker, the marker used in the protasis and apodosis of irrealis and counterfactual condition clauses, the optative marker, and the permissive question marker. We established that the clitic can stand after the predicate or occupy the Wackernagel’s position (i.e. be attached to the first phrase in the clause). When attached to a non-predicative component, ʨə can express contrastive focus (in direct evidentiality contexts) or optative meanings. Our findings also show that there can be more than one ʨə in one sentence.