Predicative adjectives (Northern Mansi)

AdjPredNonV: Predicative adjectives are non-verbal.


(1) tān luwǝŋ simri-χūl puw-eγ-ǝt.
they bony perch-fish fish-prs-3pl
‘They catch bony perches.’ (S. D.)


(2) simri-χūl luwǝŋ.
perch-fish bony
‘The perch is bony.’ (S. D.)


(3) simri-χūl-ǝt luwǝŋ-ǝt.
perch-fish-pl    bony-pl
‘The perches are bony.’ (S. D.)


(4) simri-χūl-ǝt luwǝŋ-ǝt ōl-s-ǝt.
perch-fish-pl   bony-pl cop-pst-3pl
‘The perches were bony.’ (S. D.)


In Northern Mansi, the verbs agree with the subject in person and number (1), while adjectives in the predicative position do not take the same suffixes as verbs (2) and only agree with the subject in number (3) (Kálmán 1976, Riese 2001). In the past tense, the adjectival predicate is accompanied by a copula (4).

Author: 

Szilvia Németh