Janhunen J. The Mongolic Languages

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NUMBER AND CASE

There is no agreement between an attributively used noun and its nominal headword. The

headword of a nominal phrase can, however, take suffixes indicating number and/or

case. Plural probably remains a derivational (rather than an inflexional) category, since

it can be expressed by several alternative and lexically determined markers. It is true,

Shira Yughur (like the other languages of the Gansu-Qinghai complex) shows a tendency

to develop a single productive (possibly inflexional) plural marker. Even so, plural mark-

ing occurs sparingly. It is normally absent after quantifiers, as well as on stems denoting

objects which naturally appear as pairs, groups, or uncountable quantities, such as nüdün

‘eye/s’, ghudisin ‘boot/s’, shdin ‘tooth/teeth’, hodin ‘star/s’, cüsin ‘blood’.

The single productive plural marker is *.s > .s (after vowels) ~ /i.s (after consonants),

before which a stem-final n may be deleted. This marker is most frequently used on

words denoting human beings, e.g. küü.s ‘people’, mula.s ‘children’, cerig/i.s ‘soldiers’.

But also other nouns, and even pronouns, may take it, e.g. xainagh/i.s ‘yaks’, nag/i.s

‘trees’, örjö.s ‘things’, tere.s ‘they’, ta’je.s ‘yourselves’. Another plural ending is .duud

(historically a double plural *-d.UUd), which is found in a few ‘elevated’ words such as

niyon ‘lord’ : pl. niyo.duud. The element *.nAr survives only in some petrified items

without a synchronic plural connotation, e.g. hgha.nar ‘man’. Similarly, the ancient

adjectival plural in *.tAn survives in the word am.tan ‘creature/s, animal/s’.

The case paradigm of Shira Yughur comprises the basic unmarked (nominative) form

as well as the six suffixally marked Common Mongolic cases: genitive, accusative,

dative, ablative, instrumental, and comitative. The genitive and accusative have, howev-

er, merged into a single connective (genitive-accusative) form with the exception of the

singular first and second person pronouns, which base the two forms on different stem

variants. Some case suffixes have separate variants for stems ending in a long (diachron-

ically double) vowel or a diphthong (VV), a (morphophonological) obstruent (O), or a

general consonant (C). Otherwise, all stem types follow the stems ending in a short

vowel (V) (Table 13.3).

The connective (genitive-accusative) case shows formally the most variegated

picture. After short-vowel stems it has the ending -in, which normally merges with the

stem-final vowel into i-in, e.g. dere ‘pillow’ : conn. *dere-in > deri-in, bodo ‘deer’ :

conn. *bodo-in > bodi-in. After long-vowel and diphthong stems the ending is -n, e.g.

soyoo ‘tusk’ : conn. soyoo-n, tologhoi ‘head’ : conn. tologhoi-n. Consonant stems, on the

other hand, take the ending -i, e.g. xaan ‘emperor’ : conn. xaan-i, pl. mula.s ‘children’ :

conn.

mula.s-i. Separate endings for vowel stems and consonant stems are also present

in the instrumental. Moreover, stems ending in a short vowel can sometimes form the

instrumental with the (original) simple ending -Ar, e.g. nere ‘name’ : instr. nere-er.

270 THE MONGOLIC LANGUAGES

TABLE 13.3 SHIRA YUGHUR CASE MARKERS

VCOVV

conn. -in -i -n

dat. -di -ti

abl. -sA

instr. (/GA)-Ar -AAr /G-AAr

com. -lA

Examples of complete paradigms: mula ‘child’ : conn. muli-in : dat. mula-di : abl. mula-

sa : instr. mula/gh-aar : com. mula-la; moori ‘horse’ : conn. moori-in : dat. moori-

di : abl. moori-so : instr. mooro-or : com. (unattested but probably:) *moori-la; qusun ‘water’ :

conn. qusun-i : dat. qusun-di : abl. qusun-sa : instr. qusun-aar : com. qusun-la; köl ‘foot’ :

conn. köl-i : dat. köl-di : abl. köl-se ~ köl-sö : instr. köl-eer ~ köl-öör : com. köl-le; ghajar

‘land’ : conn. ghajar-i : dat. ghajar-ti : abl. ghajar-sa : instr. ghajar-aar : com. ghajar-la.

Functionally, the unmarked basic (nominative) form indicates the subject as well as

the indefinite object, while the definite object as well as the possessor are indicated by

the connective (genitive-accusative) form. The dative (dative-locative) also has the func-

tions of a locative as well as a directive. Some petrified items have the dative suffix -dA,

e.g. nan-da ‘to me’. The archaic locative suffix -A survives in the relic form ghajar-a ‘to

the place’. The instrumental provides the only productive means for making (modal)

adverbs from substantival or adjectival nouns, as in instr. sain-aar ‘well’, cugh-aar

‘jointly’, ciij-eer ‘by heart’, yoghor-aar largi- ‘to speak Yughur’. However, most adverbs

do not contain this suffix.

Comparative relations of adjectival nouns are expressed by a variety of case forms,

notably ablative, genitive, and comitative. The ablative indicates the comparative degree,

e.g. tün-se shke ‘bigger than he’ (literally: ‘big from him’); ün-se tere bagha nige sain

bai ‘that one is a bit better than this one’. The superlative degree is expressed by

constructions involving either the ablative or the genitive: sain-sa sain ‘very good’

(literally: ‘better than good’),

moori-in sain ‘the best horse’ (literally: ‘the best of the

horses’). Otherwise, the adverb büdin ~ büdüün ‘[the] most’ can also be used: büdüün

shkiini keedi nastawa ‘how old is the oldest [of the family]?’. Comparison between two

equals is expressed by the comitative, or by the postposition shinggi ‘like’: tere danda-la

sain bai ‘he is as good as I [am]’; taliin göröösin htoro ci shinggi muuqain göröösin

ügwei ‘among the wild animals there is no animal as ugly as you’.

There are some other forms which superficially look like cases but may be described

differently. The ‘locative’ in +biid’ and the ‘directive’ in +iid’ seem to involve postposi-

tions. The suffix .tii (*-tAi), perhaps non-productive, does not combine with the posses-

sive suffixes, and is more conveniently analysed as an adjectival suffix (for possessive

adjectival nouns). The directive suffix .üür ~ (rarely) .uur, as in qusun.üür ‘towards

the water’, (ghada :) ghad.üür ‘ towards the rock’, is perhaps best analysed as an adver-

bial derivative suffix. The same suffix occurs in lexicalized items such as ghadan.uur

‘outwards’ and duu/gh.uur ‘downwards’.

NUMERALS

The basic cardinal numerals are, for the digits: 1 nege ~ nige, 2 ghuur, 3 ghurwan, 4

dörwen, 5 taawin, 6 jirghuun ~ jurghuun, 7 doloon, 8 naiman ~ neiman, 9 hyisin ~ shisin;

and for the tens: 10 harwan, 20 xorin, 30 qucin, 40 döcin, 50 tawin, 60 jiran, 70 dalan,

80 nayan ~ neyan, 90 yeren. The powers of ten are expressed as: 100 juun, 1,000 ming-

ghan, 10,000 temen, 100,000 harwan temen, 1,000,000 juun temen ~ sayi

, 10,000,000

mingghan temen, 100,000,000 temen temen ~ dongsuur. Further numerals are formed

analytically, e.g. 11 harwan nege, 36 qucin jirghuun, 200 ghuur juun. All cardinal num-

erals can be declined like the common noun.

The ordinal numerals take the ending .cAAr (according to Bulchulu), e.g. ghuur.caar

‘second’, ghurwan.caar ‘third’, dörwen.ceer ‘fourth’. In other data (Junast), the ordinal

suffix is reported to be .rjAr, before which the final nasal n of the stem is dropped,

SHIRA YUGHUR 271

e.g. nige.rjer ‘first’, doloo.rjor ‘seventh’, harwa.rjar ‘tenth’. Neither one of these

suffixes seems to be found in other Mongolic languages.

Collective numerals are formed with the suffix .la (unharmonic), e.g. ghuur.la ‘both’,

ghurwan.la ‘the three of them’. By definition, there is no collective derivative from

1 nege ~ nige, but a related concept is expressed by instr. refl. ghagca-ar-aan ‘on one’s

own’. The suffix .la cannot be a regular development of the Common Mongolic collective

suffix *.(x)ula and may be due to a confusion with the comitative case ending. There are

also approximative numerals ending in /G.AAd, before which n is elided, e.g. harw.aad

‘about ten’, juu/gh.aad ‘about one hundred’. More commonly, the approximatives are

expressed analytically, e.g. harwan jirge ‘about ten’. Distributives are formed either by

reduplication, e.g. ghuur ghuur ög ‘give two [to everyone]!’, or by using the instrumental

case, e.g. küün würüdi ghurwan-aar ög ‘give three to each person!’.

PRONOUNS

The personal and demonstrative pronouns show an inflexion that is slightly different

from the common noun, in that their case forms are based on stem variants which do not

occur in isolation (Table 13.4). The most unpredictable paradigms are those of the

singular personal pronouns, which have a genitive stem in -n- as well as an oblique stem

in -ma-. In the first person singular pronoun, the dative form nanda (< *nama-da) has

become the base for the other case forms. The paradigms of the plural personal pronouns

are much more regular (note the merger of the accusative and genitive cases), although

they also have an oblique stem in -n-.

The first person plural shows (according to Junast) a distinction between exclusive

and inclusive forms. Morphologically, the inclusive form buda.s is the plural of the

exclusive stem buda (which itself is historically an inclusive formation). In the second

person there is a similar derivative ta.s ‘you [many]’, which has a specifically plural

function, as opposed to the polite singular use of the basic stem ta ‘you [honoured one]’.

272 THE MONGOLIC LANGUAGES

TABLE 13.4 SHIRA YUGHUR PERSONAL PRONOUNS

1p. 2p.

sg. nom. bi ~ bu ci

gen. mini ~ muni cini

acc. namiin ~ damiin cimiin

dat. nanda ~ danda cimadi

abl. nandasa ~ dandasa cimasa

instr. nandaghaar ~ dandaghaar cimaghaar

com. nandala ~ dandala cimala

excl. incl.

pl. nom. buda budas ta

conn. budani budasi tani

dat. budandi budasti tandi

abl. budansa budassa tansa

instr. budanaar budasaar tanaar ~ taghaar

com. budanla budasla tanla ~ tala

The function of the third person pronouns is filled by the demonstratives ene ‘this’ and

(more frequently) tere ‘that’, which have the oblique stems ün- resp. tün- (not attested in the

other Gansu-Qinghai languages). The corresponding plurals are expressed by the secondary

formations ene.s resp. tere.s ‘they’. The declension of the demonstrative pronouns is

otherwise regular, e.g. tere : conn. tün-i : dat. tün-di : abl. tün-se : instr. tün-eer : com. tün-

le; pl. tere.s : conn. tere.s-i : dat. tere.s-ti : abl. tere.s-se : instr. tere.s-eer : com. tere.s-le.

A less frequent secondary personal pronoun is ergen ‘s/he’ (< *irgen ‘people’). There

are also numerous compound expressions with cogh ‘all’ and coll. ghuur.la > ghula ‘two

together’ : buda cogh ‘all of us’; ta cogh ‘[all of] you’; ene cogh ~ tere cogh ~ ergen cogh

‘all of them’; ene ghula ‘these two’, tere ghuurla > tere ghula ‘both; the two of them’,

etc. All of these have a regular nominal declension. A special formation is, however,

present in tughula (< *ta+ghuur.la) ‘you two’, which comes close to being a separate

dual pronoun, as is also suggested by the fact that it has developed an oblique stem in n,

e.g. conn. tughulan-i.

The reflexive pronoun ejen ‘self’ (< ‘master’) : pl. eje.s ‘selves’ can also be used in

the personal function, referring to ‘I’ resp. ‘we’, perhaps mainly in reported speech. The

reflexive function is, however, unambiguous in compounds with a preceding personal

pronoun, in which case the reflexive pronoun takes the shape +’jen : pl. +’jes, as in

bu’jen ‘(I) myself’, ci’jen ‘(you) yourself’, ta’jen ‘(you) yourself [polite]’, tere’jen ‘(he)

himself’, tere’jes ‘(they) themselves’. In all of its occurrences, the reflexive pronoun is

declined like the common noun.

The demonstratives ene ‘this’ and tere ‘that’, when appearing in the demonstrative

function, have the plurals ün/i.s ‘these’ resp. tün/i.s ‘those’. Other related derivatives

include ende ‘here’ vs. tende ‘there’; iin ‘such, like this’ vs. tiin ‘such, like that’; ömö

(üme) ‘like this’ vs. tömö (tüme) ‘like that’; üngeer ‘along this side’ vs. tüngeer ‘along

that side’; ünüin ‘of this side’ vs. türüin ‘of that side’; ünüirüür ‘in this direction’ vs.

türüirüür ‘in that direction’. Also related are the demonstrative verbs inggi- (ing+gi-) ‘to

do like this’ vs. tinggi- (ting +gi-) ‘to do like that’, of which the converbs inggiji, inggigee

‘thus’ are the most frequent forms.

The interrogatives are represented by the Common Mongolic set of interrogative roots

*ke-, *kaa-, *ya-, and *ali, from which are derived: ken ‘who’, keedi ‘how much’, keden

‘how many’, kejee ‘when’; xana ‘where’, xagshi ‘where to’, xanasa ‘where from’; yaan

‘how’, yaandi ‘why’, yima ‘what’, yimar ‘what kind of’; aali ‘which’. Also related are

the interrogative verbs yaagi- (yaa+gi-) ‘to do how’ and yimagi- ( yima+gi-) ‘to do

what’. Recent contractions are present in yimal- (< *yama bol-) ‘to happen how’ and

xanad- (< *kaana od-) ‘to go where’. There are also some analytic interrogative expres-

sions, such as yima ningwa ‘what kind of’, yima hcürti ‘why’ (literally: ‘by what reason’).

Indefinite pronouns and related expressions, collected here for the reason of conve-

nience rather than on the basis of any formal or logical coherence of the group, include:

ningwa (< *nike+yama) ‘some’, ningwa cagh ‘sometimes’, göörö (güre) ‘other’, as well

as (placed after the noun) bolghon ‘every’, büri (würü) ‘every’, cogh (cugh) ‘all’, örti ‘all’,

as in kün würü, kün bolghon, amtan bolghon ‘everybody’, ghajar bürjü ‘everywhere’. The

concept of ‘any’ is expressed by the particle da, as in ken da ‘anyone; whoever’, kejee da

‘whenever’, yima da ‘anything; whatever’. Negative (connegative) pronouns like

‘nobody’, ‘nothing’, are formed by means of the interrogative pronouns + negation.

POSSESSIVE SUFFIXES

Shira Yughur has a full possessive paradigm, based on the suffixed (or clitically used)

genitive (connective) forms of the personal pronouns (Table 13.5). From the synchronic

SHIRA YUGHUR 273

point of view it may be noted that the suffixes for sg. 1p. -mini, 2p. -cini, and pl. 2p.

-tani are still more or less identical with the corresponding pronominal genitives. The

suffixes for sg. & pl. 3p. -(i)ni and pl. 1p. -mani are, however, based on the genitives of

the otherwise lost pronouns *i ‘s/he’ and *ba ‘we’.

Apart from the basic possessive paradigm, there is the reflexive (reflexive–possessive)

suffix /y-AAn, which refers to the subject of the verb, whichever grammatical person this

may be, e.g. baruun ghar-aan örgö ‘lift your right hand!’; bu xwaacigh-aan jiilghajigewe

‘I lost my bag’.

The third person possessive suffix as well as the reflexive suffix are amalgamated

with the preceding case endings into complex synthetic endings containing a long vowel.

In the possessive series the resulting vowel is ii, as in px 3p. conn. -iini (< -i-ini) : dat.

-Diini (< -Di-ini) : abl. -siini (< -sA-ini) : com. -liini (< -lA-ini). In the reflexive series

the vowel is AA, as in refl. dat. -DAAn (< -DA-An) : abl. -sAAn (< -sA-An) : com. -lAAn

(< -lA-An). Only the instrumental preserves the fully agglutinative structure: instr. px 3p.

/G-AAr-ni, refl. /G-AAr-AAn.

Syntactically, the third person possessive suffix may (but need not) follow a noun in

the genitive, as in hkön-i belezig-iini tanij’ awsan bi ginii ‘he recognized the girl’s ring’.

It can also serve to delimit or define an object belonging to a larger group, as in ene örjös

htoro ningwas-ni muni wai, ningwas-ni muni aghiin bai ‘among these things some are

mine and some are my brother’s’. Finally, it can substantivize adjectival words and

forms, as in ene-ni keeni wai ‘whose is this one?’; tere barmii-ni bu bodomasa sein bai

‘the one he made is better than I thought’.

IMPERATIVES

The imperative forms in Shira Yughur are often used in combination with the appropri-

ate pronouns. The basic imperative form for the second person is expressed by the bare

verbal stem, e.g. ci ede ‘eat!’; ci kükenseen nanda nege ög ‘give me one of your sons!’;

ci püti üüla ‘do not cry!’. Another possibility is the ending -bar (or -war), e.g. ci tere

kündi araki uulgha-war ‘give that person liquor to drink!’. This ending has no harmonic

variants, as it derives from the independent stem bar (+bar

) ‘to do’. More rarely, the

ending -seyaan is also used for the second person, e.g. ci nanda ger xaaj’ ög-seyaan

‘build a house for me!’.

In the first person, the Common Mongolic voluntative in -ya (without harmonic vari-

ants) is used. When referring to a singular subject, it often acts as a kind of immediate

future tense, implying that the speaker will immediately start the described action, e.g.

xaruulj’ög-ya ‘I will give it back’; tündi kele bar-ya, bi tüneer cimiin saaghuul-ya ‘I will

tell him, I will have him wait for you’. When referring to a plural subject, it usually

expresses a friendly encouragement or proposal, e.g. buda dianyingdi xaldala yawi-ya

‘let us go to see the film!’; bu qi naadc’ keiki we, ghuurla awaldi-ya ‘I am bad at playing

274 THE MONGOLIC LANGUAGES

TABLE 13.5 SHIRA YUGHUR POSSESSIVE SUFFIXES

sg. pl.

1p. -mini -mani

2p. -cini -tani

3p. -ini, -ni

chess, let us wrestle together!’. When followed by the verb gi- ‘to say’ it conveys the

notion of ‘to want, to intend’, as in marghaashda urcagde ci yima uu-ya gwe ‘what do

you want to eat tomorrow morning?’.

Two other forms of the imperative sphere have the endings -sAA and -(a)see, respec-

tively. These are often hard to distinguish formally from each other, but, basically, -sAA

is used for the first and second persons and may represent the Common Mongolic

optative in *-sU(x)a(i), while -(A)see, is used for the second and third persons and

seems to derive from the Common Mongolic desiderative in *-(x)AsAi < *-(x)A-su(x)Ai.

Ultimately, then, both forms are likely to be based on the primary optative in *-sU.

Examples: bi nige xalda-saa ‘let me take a look!’; ci lomogh largi-see ‘[please] tell

a story!’; ci püti tamiki soro-soo ‘[please] do not smoke tobacco!’; ci hirteshig seid-asee

‘get well soon!’.

Additionally, there is a kind of adhortative form, used only for the third person, which

has the ending -gane or -gani (both the vocalism and the velar g are invariable), e.g. tere

xariji ere-gani ‘let him come back!’; mulas naad-gani ‘let the children play’; muni küken

nagti püti hani-gane ‘my son must not go to the woods’. The precise background of this

suffix is unclear, but it may contain the Common Mongolic permissive suffix *-gV, com-

bined with the third person possessive suffix *-ni. (The fact that the form does not occur

with the other possessive suffixes is apparently connected with the primary semantic

restrictions of the permissive.)

PARTICIPLES

Shira Yughur preserves the Common Mongolic futuritive, perfective, and habitive par-

ticiples. These forms are marked by the suffixes part. fut. -Gi, part. perf. -(G)sAn, and

part. hab. -dAG. The futuritive participle suffix is realized as -gi ~ -ghi ~ -ki ~ -qi (< *-kU),

while the perfective participle ends in either -GsAn or -

sAn (< *-gsAn) without a

predictable system. Apart from their predicative use in periphrastic tenses, these participles

can be used both adnominally and as independent nominal headwords. A fourth participle

has the marker -mA (which is also attested as a derivative suffix). This participle is

usually preceded by its subject.

Examples of participles in adnominal use: sarabci hda-ghsan küün ‘a person who

wears glasses’; cimiin orgho-san küün ‘a person who resembles you’; yughurti tamaki

soro-dogh küün olon bai ‘among the Yughur, smokers are many’; ende cimiin mede-deg

küün bii uu ‘is there anybody here who knows you?’; shükür-ki hcür ügo waan ‘there’s

no reason to run’; yaa-ghi düge kürc’ wai ‘it’s time to go’ (literally: ‘the time to go has

arrived’); ci adla-ma xooni ‘the sheep [that] you are herding’; ci ghoyi-ma örjü ja ene

wai ‘the thing you asked for is this’.

Examples of participles as independent nominal headwords in different declensional

forms: (nom.) bi araki li uuda-ghi ci li medenem uu ‘don’t you know I don’t drink

liquor?’; (refl.) ci angla-mi-yaan [< *anglama-yaan] nanda largi ‘tell me what you

heard!’; (px 3p.) mula shked-gi-ini türgen bai ‘the growing of a child is fast’; (conn.)

hsüneer cörme hsa-ghi-in hkiini jaaj’ wai ‘her mother taught [her] how to make curd

from milk’; (dat.) ejen odonon nagshi ere-gi-di nege andirga tuglaj’ waan ‘when I came

this way last year, I ran into a wolf’; (abl.) ci oroo moori huni-ghi-sa li ayinam uu ‘aren’t

you afraid of riding wild horses?’; (instr.) ya, ci largi-me-er barya ‘good, I shall do the

way you said!’.

The Common Mongolic imperfective participle in *-xA does not seem to be preserved

in Shira Yughur in the participial function. It is, however, possible that a syncretic trace

SHIRA YUGHUR 275

of the imperfective participle marker survives in the Shira Yughur perfective converb

marker /G-AA, which at the same time probably also involves an irregular development

of the Common Mongolic perfective converb in *-xAd.

CONVERBS

The Shira Yughur converbial forms, mostly with a Common Mongolic background,

include the following:

(1) The modal converb in /i-n (with i representing the original connective vowel *U).

This form usually occurs in the reduplicated sequence /i-n & /i-n, and it indicates a

repeated action performed during the action of the main verb, e.g. ci muni zaghalidi

xalda-n xalda-n üleyaan bar ‘do your work while looking at my portrait!’;

noqoi quca-n quca-n ail torooj’ wai ‘the dog circled around the tent, continuously

barking’.

(2) The imperfective converb in -ji ~ (after obstruent stems) -ci. This converb serves

most frequently to combine verbs, the second verb modifying the meaning of the first.

There are many lexicalized combinations. Mostly there are no sentence parts between

-ji and the following verb, though this is not an absolute rule, cf. e.g. ci ölöngü piile-j’

seiqan bamnaa ‘you play the flute beautifully’. The reduplicated form -Ji & -Ji expresses

a repeated or continuous action which takes place before or during the action of the main

verb, e.g. hkiini üüla-j’üüla-j’ milayaan xaighaa yawsan bi ginii ‘the mother went looking

for her child, crying all the time’.

(3) The secondary converb in -jwa ~ (after obstruent stems) -cwa, which apparently

derives from a combination of -ji (-ci) with conv. perf. aw-aa ‘having taken’ (-J’+aw-aa).

This form expresses an action preceding that of the main verb, e.g. soyooso nege

ghargha-jwa tünse malta ‘take out one of your tusks and then dig’; bu mooriyaan nege

tang honi-jwa ereya ‘I’ll ride my horse once and come back’.

(4) The perfective converb in /G-AA. Since this marker is not a regular reflex of

Common Mongolic *-xAd, it may be relevant to note that a formally and functionally

similar converb (in -GA) is also present in Sarygh Yughur. The form itself functions syn-

chronically as a basic ‘neutral’ converb, which connects consecutive or simultaneous

actions, e.g. ci taladi ghar-aa olwur xaiwar ‘go out and look for some income!’; tulugh

xara namiin jura/gh-aa edele erenii ‘the bear is chasing me and is coming to eat me’;

jaluu hce/g-ee gerteen xari yida/gh-aa nege biyan küni gerti kür-ee gertiini hce/g-ee oro

yida/gh-aa wesin talma gertiini na/gh-aa ghoyilgha ghoyi/gh-aa suusan bi ginii ‘the

young man was ashamed and could not return to his own home, and he arrived at a rich

man’s house, and he was ashamed and could not enter his [the rich man’s] house, and he

lay down in a hut made of grass and begged’.

(5) The converb with zero ending, which diachronically may represent an abraded

form of /G-AA. This converb occurs in combination with some verbs, notably shda- ‘can’

and yida- ‘cannot’, e.g. cini gerti ken niin saa-Ø shdadagh bi ‘who in your family can

milk cows?’; bi qutad lar largi-Ø shdanii ‘I can speak the Chinese language’; ci tere

uushiin örgö-Ø shdagh’ uu ‘can you lift that grain?’; cf. also the above xari-Ø yida/gh-

aa ‘could not return’, oro-Ø yida/gh-aa ‘could not enter’. More rarely, the verbs

shda- and yida- can also be combined with the imperfective converb, e.g. tughula

namiin alaj’ yidaghu ‘you two cannot kill me’; ci inggigee maltaj’ shdadagh b’ uu ‘can

you dig this way?’

276 THE MONGOLIC LANGUAGES

(6)The converb in /G-AAdU. This may involve another irregular reflex of Common

Mongolic *-xAd. The functions of /G-AAdU seem to be similar to those of /G-AA, e.g.

ghaqai gerti oro/gh-oodu muni hsüni uuj’ oghorc’ wai ‘the pig entered the house and

drank my milk’; bu semeer gaamisti yawghaa’dmiin duizhang mede/g-eedü namiin

usqanii ‘the team leader knows that I secretly went to town, and he will scold me’.

(7) The conditional converb in -sA. This is not a regular development of *-xAsU, and

it would therefore appear tempting to explain the suffix as being due to the influence of

the Turkic conditional in -sA. However, the conditional converb has similar forms in the

other Mongolic languages of the Gansu-Qinghai complex. The conditional converb per-

forms the usual conditional and temporal functions, e.g. li yawisan mör ci xjaar yawi-sa

mör tüürg’ wam joo ‘if you walk by yourself a road you have not walked [before] you

will get lost’.

(8) The concessive converb in -sA+da, formed from the conditional converb with the

particle da, e.g. xura yimar shike bol-so+da budas laodonglaya ‘however big the rain-

fall is, we shall work!’.

(9) The suppositive converb in -war ~ -bar. This rarely used form is close in function

to the conditional converb, cf. e.g. ejeni alaj’ ab-bar maangghis kögshini darij’ abci

shdagh’waan ‘if you kill me [myself], you will be able to vanquish the old Mangus’. The

origin of this form is unclear, though it is superficially reminiscent of the Common

Mongolic ‘colloquial’ conditional converb in *-bAlA < *-bA+*ele.

(10) The terminative converb in -tAlA, which describes an action with which the action

of the main verb ends, e.g. ci cad-tala ede, püti haramdzala ‘eat until you are satisfied,

do not be polite!’; ci ere-tele bu saaghighaa suuya ‘I will wait until you come’; budas

öör cai-tala larlaldiwa ‘we talked until dawn’.

(11) The contemporal converb in -mAGci (? < *-mAgcA), which in Shira Yughur

expresses an action that immediately precedes the action of the main verb, e.g. shke bulid

ghar-maghci düg kürci erej’ wai ‘large clouds appeared and a rainstorm came’; cina

namiin jüg eje-megci shükürc’ oghorc’ wai ‘the wolf looked in my direction, and

ran away’.

(12) The final converb in -lA, which indicates the goal of the main action. It always

immediately precedes the main verb, which is usually either ere

- ‘to come’ or (o)d-,

hani-, yawi- ‘to go’, e.g. tere kün yimagi-le erej’ wai ‘that person has come to do

what?’; bu barisi ala-la yawiya ‘I will go and kill the tiger!’; cini awa lomogh largidla

bolso budas ciqin tal-la haniya ‘if your father is telling a story, let’s go and listen!’.

(13) The converb in -suudi, as in tünse tuulii la hnii-suudi xwaaraan sedelj’ absan be

ginii ‘then the hare laughed and split its nose’. This suffix is diachronically unclear, but

it may contain the auxiliary suu- ‘to be’.

Generally, there are no sharp semantic boundaries between some of the converbial

forms. When a more precise temporal or causal relationship between the verbs in

a sentence needs to be expressed, secondary forms (quasiconverbs) are used. Some of

these are inflected forms of the participle in -(G)sAn, e.g. dat. -(G)sAn-di ‘when’ and

instr. -(G)sAn-AAr ‘while’; and others derive from the participles in -Gi and -mA, which

may be combined with postpositions, e.g. -mi-in hcürti, -mi-in hcüreer ‘because’, -Gi-sA

xawarti, -Gi-in xawarti ‘before’, -mA-sA ‘since, because’, -mA-sA aarsa ‘after’. Many of

these constructions are not stable in form.

Examples: ci xuula uu-san-di ere ‘come when the food is eaten’, i.e. ‘come at dinner-

time’; teres nüüj’ ere-sen-di bu daqi hdei wai ‘when they moved here I was still small’;

SHIRA YUGHUR 277

ci ere-sen-di bu biyarlawa ‘I was glad when you came’; bu hgör adla-san-aar yig

tomodogh be ‘I use to spin [wool] while herding the cows’; changi jasin oro-ghi-sa

xawarti janjij’ oghorya ‘let us finish the threshing before it will snow!’; xara na-ghi-in

xawarti ereg’ wai ‘he will come before darkness falls’; jiefangla-ma-sa aarsa budani

ende xuula ghoyima ügüi bolj’ wai ‘since the liberation we have not had beggars here’;

bu ene ghajar ere-me-se odoo ghuur jil bolwa ‘it is now two years since I came to this

place’; bi küüten qusun uu-ma-sa gedesin wedbe ‘because I drank cold water my belly

aches’; xura oro-mi-in hcüreer tergen l’erej’wai ‘because it is raining the car did not come’.

A special position is taken by the so-called abtemporal converb in -(G)sAAr, which

diachronically is also a secondary formation, based on the instrumental form of the per-

fective participle. Synchronically it denotes an action which is completed immediately

before, or which goes on during, the action of the main verb, e.g. ci posc’ ere-gseer misc’

abb’uu ‘when you got up, did you get dressed?’; naran ghar-saar solonggho hdagtaj’wai

‘when the sun came out, a rainbow appeared’. Occasionally, there is a causal relation

between the two verbs, e.g. wed-seer hküj’ wai ‘[he] died because of having been ill’, puu

duun ghar-saar tulagh xara degereej’ wai ‘when the rifle made a sound, the bear fell’.

FINITE INDICATIVE FORMS

Shira Yughur has a multitude of simple and periphrastic finite indicative forms. Apart

from situating the action of the verb in time (tense), these also confer other (aspectual)

connotations, some of which are still insufficiently understood. It is useful to make a dis-

tinction between the morphological structure (form) and the morphosyntactic status

(function) of the suffixes and suffix complexes concerned (Table 13.6).

The functional terminology used here is meant to reflect the actual synchronic use of

the forms in Shira Yughur. The periphrastic forms are mainly based on various partici-

ples and converbs, followed by an auxiliary. The auxiliaries used are bai ‘to be’ in the

present tense sphere, and suu- ‘to be’ (< ‘to sit’) in the past tense sphere (as well as in

some non-indicative forms). The auxiliary bai occurs in several alternative shapes (be,

bi, baan, baam, bamnaa), all of which also have postvocalic sandhi variants beginning

278 THE MONGOLIC LANGUAGES

TABLE 13.6 SHIRA YUGHUR FINITE TENSE-ASPECT MARKERS

marker form function

-nAi dur. present non-progressive

-jla wai, -dla wai conv. imperf. +la+bai present progressive

/G-AA wai conv. perf. +bai present continuous

-dAG bai part. hab. +bai present habitual

-wA term. past non-progressive (1)

-j’ wai conv. imperf. +bai past non-progressive (2)

-jla suu-, -dla suu- conv. imperf. +la+suu- past progressive

/G-AA suu- conv. perf. +suu- past continuous

-(G)sAn bai part. perf. +bai perfect

-(G)sAn bi ginii part. perf. +bi+ginii narrative

-G’ wai part. fut. +bai future

-lAA wai conf. +bai impending future

with w (wai etc.). There are no personal endings; the subject person is marked syntacti-

cally by the relevant personal pronoun.

(1) The present non-progressive form in -nAi is historically connected with the

Common Mongolic durative in *-nAm. It usually has the contracted shape -nii, but less

frequently it also occurs as -nA, -nAn, or -nAmnA. Before the question particle uu all these

shapes are replaced by yet another variant, -nAm. This form is typically used of verbs that

are inherently not limited to one point in time, or whose grammatical

subject is not the conscious actor. This includes most verbs describing involuntary mental

and physical processes, such as tani- ‘to know [a person]’, mede- ‘to know

[a thing]’, shda- ‘to be able’, ayi- ‘to be afraid of’, tur- ‘to be hungry’, wed- ‘to be ill, to

hurt’, e.g. mini aja tere küüni tani-nii ‘my father knows that person’; bi qutad lar largi

shda-nii ‘I can speak Chinese’; tere küüdeen emele-nii ‘he is protective of his son’; ta mula

küse-nem uu ‘do you [pl.] want children’; ene keeni wi, bu li mede-nii ‘whose this one is,

I don’t know’; bu tere rgami yangzi, budughdiini biyarla-nii ‘I like the shape and colour

of that box’; muni baruun xaa wed-nii ‘my right arm hurts’; ci daara-nam uu ‘are you

cold?’; pegge, telee-nii ‘ouch, it burns!’.

(2) The periphrastic present progressive form in -jla wai ~ -dla wai (after obstruent

stems -cla wai ~ -tla wai) expresses specific concrete actions which are being

consciously performed in the present, e.g. bu picig xalda-jla we, ci yima gi-jla wi

‘I am reading a book, what are you doing?’; moori shükür-tla wai ‘the horse is

running’. The origin of the element -dla (-tla) is not quite clear, but it may be

a phonetic simplification of -jla (-cla) < *-ji+la (*-ci+la).

(

3) The periphrastic present continuous form in /G-AA wai expresses present situations

which have started in the past and have been going on for some time, e.g. tere namiin

alaya gij’bodo/gh-oo wai ‘he is planning to kill me’; ci xana suu/gh-aa wi ‘where do you

live?’; mini awa wed-ee wai ‘my father is sick’; tere wiyidi nege kün namiin saaghi/

gh-aa wai ‘someone over there is waiting for me’. Unlike the progressive form, the

continuous form can refer to specific actions that are not controlled or consciously

performed by the grammatical subject.

(4) The periphrastic present habitual form in -dAG bai expresses habitual, repeated

actions, characteristics, and abilities, rather than a specific single action, e.g. bu niin da

saa-dagh be ‘I (can) also milk cows’; muni neredi tuya gi-deg be ‘my name is Tuya’; tere

igüjigi ende ere-deg be ‘he comes here often’; xurgha keed’ sara hkeen hkö-deg bi ‘how

many months does a lamb suckle its mother?’; ödriin bu jirghuun cegti pos-dogh be

‘every day I get up at six o’clock’. There is some functional overlapping with regard to

the present non-progressive form, as the latter can also refer to repeated or habitual

actions, e.g. buda ödögshi bolghon shouyinjidi ciqin tal-nii ‘we listen to the radio every

night’. The functional opposition is, however, illustrated by the following two sentences:

muu kün sein künse ayi-dagh bai ‘the bad person fears the good person’ vs. ci oroo moori

hunighisa li ayi-nam uu ‘aren’t you afraid of riding wild horses?’. The first sentence

expresses a proverbial truth, while the second describes a general feature that is part of

someone’s character.

(5) The past non-progressive is peculiar in that it has two forms: the simple form in

-wA (after plosives -bA), which derives from the Common Mongolic terminative in *-bA,

and the periphrastic form in -j’wai (after obstruents -c’wai), which is based on the imper-

fective converb in -ji (-ci) followed by the auxiliary bai. The simple form normally refers

to the first person, e.g. bi cini töleendi ere-we ‘I came for you’; öndör bu amira-wa

‘today I rested’; bu tuuliin jiljighan li eje-we ‘I did not see the young of the hare’; bu

SHIRA YUGHUR 279