Case syncretism of adjectives (Surgut Khanty)

NoAdjCase: Nouns are marked for case, but adnominal adjectives are not.


(1a) ənəʌ qɔ̄t

big house

‘big house’


(1b) ənəʌ qɔ̄t-nə

big house-loc

‘in the big house’


(1c) ənəʌ qɔ̄t-ət-nə

big house-pl-loc

‘in the big houses’


(1d) ənəʌ qɔ̄t-ʌ-am-nə

big house-pl-1sg-loc

‘in my big houses’


In Surgut Khanty, there is no agreement between the adjunct and its head noun, which means that adnominal adjectives cannot get suffixes in the adjunct position.

Author: 

Márta Csepregi