Personal pronouns as subjects (Northern Mansi)

PPDrop: The presence of an independent pronoun in subject position is not required to replace a nominal agent.


(1) wās-ǝl χāp-e taγle pāχwt-ǝs-te.
duck-ins boat-3sg full throw-pst-obj.3sg
’He filled up his boat with ducks.’ (Popova 2001: 62)


(2) taw wās-ǝl χāp-e taγle pāχwt-ǝs-te.
he duck-ins boat-3sg full throw-pst-obj.3sg
’He filled up his boat with ducks.’ (S. D.)


The verb is marked for the number and the person of the subject in Northern Mansi, thus the personal pronoun is typically omitted as the subject (1) (Riese 2001: 61). If a personal pronoun subject appears in the sentence, it indicates contrastive focus (2).

Author: 

Szilvia Németh