About the Database | Typological Database of the Ugric Languages

How to use the database

There are several ways to search in the database.

Under the menu point “Search”, you can search for keywords, parameter labels and languages.
Under the menu point “Browsing”, you can access all parameter descriptions.
Under the menu point “Sources”, you can select the list of linguistic literature items for any target language.

Structure of the parameters

The parameter descriptions contain three kinds of information:

Presenting the language phenomenon under analysis.
Types of realization of the parameter in the world’s languages, i.e. the possible parameter values.
Methodological tips: how to specify that a given language belongs to a certain type with regard to the dedicated feature.

If several parameter values apply for a given language, the dedicated codes can be linked together using the following signs between them:

+ (plus), if the values are simultaneously valid in every given case,

& (ampersand), if one or another value applies with a nearly equal chance of occurrence,

/ (slash) if the value displayed before the sign is structurally dominant, i.e. appears in more grammatical numbers, tenses, etc. than the other.

( ) (parentheses) indicate optionality.

Sources of the parameters

When selecting the parameters, we drew overwhelmingly, but not exclusively, on two existing typological databases as well as other linguistic works. Thus, our most important sources were the World Atlas of Language Structures Online (Dryer and Haspelmath 2013) and Matthew Dryer's Typological Database, along with LDSQ (Comrie, Bernard, and Norval Smith 1977. Lingua descriptive studies: questionnaire. Lingua 42: 1–72.) and a set of handbooks of linguistic typology listed below. The role of WALS should be specially emphasized. In the majority of cases, we have adopted the feature as specified in WALS, labeling its parameter values with our codes. In other cases, we have doubled or multiplied the dedicated parameter (e.g. because we wanted to display a realization split concerning different parts of speech in some languages). It goes without saying that with each given parameter, the author and bibliographical data of the feature description in WALS are indicated specifically. Thirdly, we naturally have our own specific parameters, mostly without any antecedents in literature, the significance of which is substantiated by typological properties of the languages under consideration. Consequently, as far as parameter descriptions are concerned, the leader of the project contributed mostly as an editor, while in some cases he acted as a co-author. In the latter case, the parameter description appears without an indication of sources.

Language material in the database

Several sources were used in order to obtain language material for the database:

Relevant linguistic literature. A set of parameter values for a given language has been specified with the help of general descriptions, descriptive grammars, dictionaries, and, in some cases, linguistic publications. (For information on sources, go to the menu point “Sources”.) Concerning the Ob-Ugric languages, previous linguistic work are considered primary sources, whereas citations for Hungarian are intended to facilitate further inquiry into the issue.

Consultation, fieldwork. In order to specify quite a few parameter values for the Ob-Ugric languages, additional research was necessary. In the 1990s, Márta Csepregi did a great deal of fieldwork in Surgut and its surrounding areas. Data collection for the other two language areas was carried out during the project period in a three-stage process. Firstly, data were elicited from, and subsequently commented on, by our native specialists (Sofia Onina for Synja Khanty, Lyudmila Kayukova for Surgut Khanty and Svetlana Dinislamova for Northern Mansi). Secondly, in order to collect additional data, Szilvia Németh and Nikolett F. Gulyás carried out fieldwork among specialists and other native informants using unified survey forms and performing interviews. Thirdly, as a final stage of the research process, the collected data were rechecked using new questionnaires, relying once again on the knowledge and courtesy of the above-mentioned native specialists.

Writing systems used for linguistic data in the database

The examples from Hungarian are displayed according to the standard Hungarian orthographical requirements. For the Ob-Ugric languages with a Cyrillic script, i.e. Northern Mansi, Surgut and Synja Khanty, a unified linguistic transcription is used.

Of the three languages last mentioned, Northern Mansi and Surgut Khanty have a standardized Cyrillic script system, while the creation of such a system for Synja Khanty is still in progress. In all of these three languages, however, smaller or larger systemic differences emerge with almost every piece of publication. This makes it difficult to find a simple method of transliteration for any of them. Due to the nature of the database, we considered it appropriate to use the least possible special characters in our transcription. Despite the fact that there are several alternative transcription systems for each of these languages, none of them is equally applicable to all three. Thus, theoretical, practical and technical considerations have led us to elaborate a transcription system of our own, outlined as follows:

In the Ob-Ugric languages, long vowels are marked (with a macron) rather than short ones.
Palatalization is marked with an apostrophe (see the tables for each of the languages).

System and marking of phonemes in Hungarian:

explosives

fricatives

affricates

tremulants

approximants

oral

nasal

medial

lateral

medial

lateral

voiced

voiceless

voiced

voiceless

voiced

voiceless

voiced

voiceless

voiced

voiceless

voiced

bilabial

labiodental

alveolar

postalveolar

dzs

palatal

velar

uvular

laryngal

palatal

medial

velar

illabial

labial

illabial

labial

illabial

labial

short

long

short

long

short

long

short

long

short

long

short

long

upper

medial

lower

lowest

System and marking of phonemes in Northern Mansi:

explosives

fricatives

affricates

tremulants

approximants

oral

nasal

medial

lateral

medial

lateral

voiced

voiceless

voiced

voiceless

voiced

voiceless

voiced

voiceless

voiced

voiceless

voiced

bilabial

labiodental

alveolar

postalveolar

palatal

velar

uvular

laryngal

palatal

medial

velar

illabial

labial

illabial

labial

illabial

labial

short

long

short

long

short

long

short

long

short

long

short

long

upper

medial

lower

lowest

System and marking of phonemes in Surgut Khanty:

explosives

fricatives

affricates

termulants

approximants

oral

nasal

medial

lateral

medial

lateral

voiced

voiceless

voiced

voiceless

voiced

voiceless

voiced

voiceless

voiced

voiceless

voiced

bilabial

labiodental

alveolar

postalveolar

palatal

velar

uvular

laryngal

palatal

medial

velar

illabial

labial

illabial

labial

illabial

labial

short

long

short

long

short

long

short

long

short

long

short

long

upper

medial

lower

ɔ̄

lowest

System and marking of phonemes in Synja Khanty:

Notice: Marking of cacuminal sound formation is omitted in our transcription system.

explosives

fricatives

affricates

tremulants

approximants

oral

nasal

medial

lateral

medial

lateral

voiced

voiceless

voiced

voiceless

voiced

voiceless

voiced

voiceless

voiced

voiceless

voiced

bilabial

labiodental

alveolar

postalveolar

palatal

velar

uvular

laryngal

palatal

medial

velar

illabial

labial

illabial

labial

illabial

labial

short

long

short

long

short

long

short

long

short

long

short

long

upper

medial

lower

ɔ̄

lowest

Glosses

When glossing example sentences, we mostly follow the Leipzig Glossing Rules. Please note, however, the specifications below as well as the list of abbreviations.

We do not gloss the following morphologically unmarked forms:

1. Nominative and unmarked accusative in nominal declension (as opposed to other case forms):

(1) ńāwrem pisma xanš-l. (Synja Khanty)

child letter write-PRS.3SG

‘The child is writing a letter.’

2. Singular in nominal declension (as opposed to dual and plural):

(1) ūs-n (Northern Mansi)

town-LAT

'to the town'

(2) ūs-ǝt-n (Northern Mansi)

town-PL-LAT

'to the towns'

3. Singular possessee in possessive declension (as opposed to dual and plural possessees). If no plural marker can be separated, the grammatical number of the possessee is marked closer to the word stem, whereas the number of the possessor appears as the final element in parentheses:

(1) āťa-m ťēnt-e (Northern Mansi)

father-1SG cap-3SG

'my father's cap'

(2) āťa-m ťēnt-ane (Northern Mansi)

father-1SG cap-PL.3SG

'my father's caps'

(3) šɔ̄war pal-lal (Synja Khanty)

rabbit ear-DU.3SG

'the two ears of the rabbit'

4. Subjective/indeterminate conjugation (as opposed to objective/determinate conjugation marked as OBJ):

(1) toti (Northern Mansi)

bring.PRS.3SG

'(s)he brings'

(2) toti-te (Northern Mansi)

bring-PRS.OBJ.3SG

'(s)he brings that'

5. Singular direct object in the determinate conjugation of the Ob-Ugric languages (as opposed to dual and plural direct objects):

(1) toti (Northern Mansi)

bring.PRS.3SG

'(s)he brings'

(2) toti-ten (Northern Mansi)

bring-PRS.DU.OBJ.3SG

'(s)he brings that two'

6. In Hungarian, the third person direct object (as opposed to second person direct object):

(1) lát-ok (Hungarian)

see-PRS.1SG

'I see'

(2) lát-om (Hungarian)

see-PRS.OBJ.1SG

'I see that'

(3) lát-lak (Hungarian)

see-PRS.2.OBJ.1SG

'I see you'

7. Indicative (as opposed to other verbal moods):

(1) toti-ew (Northern Mansi)

hoz-PRS.1PL

'we bring'

(2) toti-nuw-uw (Northern Mansi)

hoz-COND-PRS.1PL

'we would bring'

(3) jāst-aln! (Synja Khanty)

say-IMP.PL.OBJ.2SG

'say (those)!'

8. Active voice (as opposed to passive voice):

(1) tot-ew (Northern Mansi)

bring-PRS.1PL

'we bring'

(2) tot-aw-uw (Northern Mansi)

hoz-PASS-PRS.1PL

'we are brought’

(3) pan-ʌ-i (Surgut Khanty)

put-PRS-PASS.3SG

'it is put'

9. In the Ob-Ugric languages, if the element indicating direct-object-oriented agreement is an inseparable morpheme, the order of the gloss is as follows: 1. verb stem, 2. tense marker, 3. number of direct object (if not singular), 4. obj, 5. person and number of the subject:

(1) toti (Northern Mansi)

bring.PRS.3SG

'(s)he brings'

(2) toti-ten (Northern Mansi)

bring-PRS.DU.OBJ.3SG

'(s)he brings that two'

10. In Hungarian, if the element indicating direct-object-oriented agreement is an inseparable morpheme, the order of the gloss is as follows: 1. verb stem, 2. tense marker, 3. person of direct object (only if 2nd), 4. obj, 5. person and number of the subject:

(1) lát-om (Hungarian)

see-PRS.OBJ.1SG

'I see that'

(2) lát-lak (Hungarian)

see-PRS.2.OBJ.1SG

'I see you'

11. Multifunctional cases are always glossed for the function they fulfill in the given example:

(1) saša-n lāwi (Northern Mansi)

Sasha-DAT say.PRS.3SG

'(s)he says to Sasha'

(2) saša kol-n mini. (Northern Mansi)

Sasha house-LAT go.PRS.3SG

'Sasha is going home.'

12. We do not specify syntactic (thematic) functions in glosses. Thus, for example, agent markers are glossed as locative or lative, depending on the language under consideration:

(1) ńāwrem uli kaš-l. (Synja Khanty)

child reindeer search-PRS.3SG

'The child is searching for the reindeer.'

(2) ńāwrem-ǝn uli kaš-l-a. (Synja Khanty)

child-LOC reindeer search-PRS-PASS.3SG

'The child is searching for the reindeer.'

Explanation of grammatical abbreviations and marks in glosses:

1 first person

2 second person

3 third person

a agent

abe abessive

abl ablative

acc accusative

adj adjectival suffix

adj.neg privative suffix

adv adverb

appr approximative

apl associative plural marker

art article

attr attribute

attr.poss possessive attribute

caus causative

cmpr comparative postposition

cnj conjunction

cvb converb

com comitative

comp comparative

cond conditional

cop copula

dat dative

det determiner

dim diminutive

dist distributive

du dual

fin final (case)

freq frequentative, iterative

gen genitive

imp imperative

inch inchoative

ine inessive

inf infinitive

int interrogative pronoun

ins instrumental

lat lative

loc locative

mom momentanity suffix

n nominal

neg negation

neg.pred predicative negation

obj objective / determinate conjugation

ord suffix of ordinal numeral

ref reflexive

p patient

pass passive

pcl particle

pl plural

pot potential

prob attemptive suffix

pron pronoun

prs present

pst past

ptc participle

ptc.neg participle of negation

ptc.prs present / continuous participle

ptc.pst past participle

px possessive suffix

r recipient

s subject

sg singular

sup superessive

superl superlative (particle)

tra translative

v verb

vn verbal noun

Terms of use

All content of the database is published under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

How to cite

All content of the database is to be cited as follows:

For the whole database, please use the following citation:

Havas et al. 2015. = Havas, Ferenc & Csepregi, Márta & F. Gulyás, Nikolett & Németh, Szilvia 2015. Typological Database of the Ugric Languages. Budapest: ELTE Finnugor Tanszék. (utdb.elte.hu) (Accessed on yyyy-mm-dd).

For parameter descriptions, please use the following citation:

Havas, Ferenc (ed.) 2015. Case exponence. In Havas, Ferenc & Csepregi, Márta & F. Gulyás, Nikolett & Németh, Szilvia, Typological Database of the Ugric Languages. Budapest: ELTE Finnugor Tanszék. (http://en.utdb.nullpoint.info/content/case-exponence) (Accessed on yyyy-mm-dd).

For parameter values, please use the following citation:

Csepregi, Márta 2015. Coding of evidentials. Surgut Khanty. In Havas, Ferenc & Csepregi, Márta & F. Gulyás, Nikolett & Németh, Szilvia, Typological Database of the Ugric Languages. Budapest: ELTE Finnugor Tanszék. (http://en.utdb.nullpoint.info/node/1010) (Accessed on yyyy-mm-dd).

For language descriptions, please use the following citation:

F. Gulyás, Nikolett 2015. The Synja Khanty language. In Havas, Ferenc & Csepregi, Márta & F. Gulyás, Nikolett & Németh, Szilvia, Typological Database of the Ugric Languages. Budapest: ELTE Finnugor Tanszék. (http://en.utdb.nullpoint.info/content/synja-khanty) (Accessed on yyyy-mm-dd).