The temporal system of Vakh Khanty (a case study of the modern field research data)

The article presents findings resulting from an analysis of the system of verbal tense markers in the Vakh dialect of the Khanty language. The purpose of the study is to establish a range of meanings of verbal temporal suffixes and to provide their authorial interpretation. The source of linguistic materials was the field data collected by one of the authors in the village of Korliki, Nizhnevartovsk region, Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug-Yugra in 2019. These linguistic data were obtained by means of the questionnaires proposed by the Swedish linguist Esten Dahl which had been previously adapted and translated into Russian. The interpretation of data took into account the typological uniqueness of the suffixes in comparison with similar markers of other dialects of the Khanty language. The temporal system of Vakh Khanty is represented by an opposition of the “past/unpassed” types. The system includes suffix representatives that are unevenly distributed over the corresponding fragments of the temporal field. A large number of functionally different suffixes are presented in the past tense zone, which function as markers of the metric temporal deixis. According to the field data, the suffixes of the past tense in the Vakh dialect enter into paradigmatic relations, indicating a different remoteness of the past action from the moment of speech. The -s suffix focuses on marking the closest temporal distance, the -yas -yas suffix indicates a close temporal distance, while the -yal/-yal suffix indicates a distant temporal distance. Functionally homogeneous suffixes -l/-w/-wsl(-wsl) are used to express the present or futurial time period. Their forms depend on the person and number of the subject. The semantics of the zero suffix 0 seems to be the most difficult to interpret, since the linguistic material indicates the ability of the given grammeme to relate the action to both the past and present tenses. This marker tends to consolidate the function of a marker of the present time. Field data also suggest that the temporal suffixes -s and 0 have syncretic semantics and may signal the aspectual characteristics of the denoted action. Linguistic examples indicate that the suffix -s can mark the semantics of the completeness and effectiveness of the action, and the suffix 0 - the semantics of the incomplete action. The suffixes of the near and distant past -yas/-yas and -yal/-yal, respectively, are not used in the expression of aspectual meanings. The results presented in the article can be used to actualize the temporal morphology of the verb in the Vakh Khanty language, as they were obtained from the latest field data collected in the 21^st century. The authors of the article reserve the right to provide an updated interpretation of the values of Vakh temporal markers after processing the field material in full or obtaining new data as a result of upcoming expeditions. The results presented in the article can be used to update the information on the temporal morphology of the verb in the Vakh Khanty language, since they were obtained from the latest field data collected in the 21st century. The authors of the article do not insist on the finality of the conclusions obtained, they plan new expeditions and further processing of the available field material, they admit the possibility of further clarifications regarding the semantics and functions of the Vakh Khanty temporal markers.

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