Case syncretism of nouns (Synja Khanty)

SyncCoreCase: Nouns show case marking, and syncretism occurs only in core cases.


(1) ńāwrem ńāń lē-l.

child bread eat-prs.3sg   

‘The child is eating bread.’ (S. O.)


(2) lij manem śijǝlǝ-s-ǝt.

they I.acc notice-pst-3pl   

‘They noticed me.’ (Onina 2011: 53)


(3) iki manem ńāń ma-l.

man I.dat bread give-prs.3sg

‘The man is giving me bread.’ (S. O.)


(4) iki-ja ńāń ma-l-ǝm.

I man-lat bread give-prs-1sg

‘I’m giving bread to the man.’ (S. O.)


In Synja Khanty, nouns have three cases (nominative, lative, locative), while pronouns have four (nominative, accusative-dative, lative, locative). There is case syncretism between the nominative and the accusative-dative forms. Nouns in the object position (1) take the nominative case, while pronouns (2) are in their accusative-dative forms (Honti 1984: 60‒65, Onina 2009: 23‒26,30, Sz. Kispál ‒ F. Mészáros 1980: 27‒28, 32‒33). (Nouns as recipients (beneficiaries) are marked with the lative case (4), while pronouns in the same function are in their accusative-dative forms (3).)

Author: 

Nikolett F. Gulyás