Case system in the Altai language (on material of three scientific grammars of the Altai language)

On the basis of three scientific grammars, the author compares and analyses the changes in the Altai case system having occurred during the 148 since the release of the first Altai grammar. During that time, profound linguistic changes have taken place not only in the category of case, but also in phonetics, grammar, and syntax. The paper is to demonstrate the unity of the reflected material in the category of case and the dynamics of its development. The author takes into account that the object of description is unique for every grammar. For example, the Altai grammar includes the Teleut and Kalmyk dialects as well as the traits of the Kondom and taiga subdialects into the definition of the Altai language; N. P. Dyrenkova’s Oirot grammar presents rich reference materials for all Altai dialects. Hence, it is necessary to differentiate the Altai, Teleut, Kondom and taiga forms. The difference of modern grammar from the ones mentioned above is that the authors sought only to reflect the literary forms of the Altai language. The author distinguishes two meanings of the case: 1) case as a grammatical category denoting syntactic relations; 2) case as a specific form (basic, accusative, dative, ablative, locative, directive, instrumental). In the Altai language, basic, genitive, and accusative cases are grammatical, or syntactic, whereas the rest (locative, dative, directive, and ablative) compose the system of semantic, namely local, cases. It has been found that the three grammars serve as reflections of historical shifts in cases: what used to be a postposition-affix turns into an affix, and therefore the paradigm replenishment occurs as a result of postposition synthesising. Literary fiction and mass media written in Altai language play a significant role in this process.

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