PR–T: The patient of a monotransitive verb and the recipient of a ditransitive verb are marked the same way; the theme of a ditransitive verb is marked differently.
PT–R: The objects of monotransitive and ditransitive verbs are marked the same way; the recipient is marked differently.
VAgrPTnoR: The verb codes agreement with P and T the same way; agreement with R is not coded.
VAgrPRnoT: The verb codes agreement with P and R the same way; agreement with T is not coded.
(1a) ʌüw lɔ̄pka-nə ńāń wə-ʌ. ʌüw mān-t ťūt-at mə-ʌ.
(s)he shop-loc bread buy-prs.3sg (s)he I-acc it-ins give-prs.3sg
‘He/she is buying bread in the shop. He/she is giving it to me.’ (L. N. K.)
(1b) ʌüw lɔ̄pka-nə ńāń wə-ʌ. ʌüw ʌüw-at ťūt-at mə-ʌ.
(s)he shop-loc bread buy-prs.3sg (s)he (s)he-acc it-ins give-prs.3sg
‘He/she is buying bread in the shop. He/she is giving it to him/her.’ (L. N. K.)
(2a) ʌüw lɔ̄pka-nə ńāń wə-ʌ. ʌüw mān-tem ťūt mə-ʌ.
(s)he shop-loc bread buy-prs.3sg (s)he I-dat it give-prs.3sg
‘He/she is buying bread in the shop. He/she is giving it to me.’ (L. N. K.)
(2b) ʌüw lɔ̄pka-nə ńāń wə-ʌ. ʌüw ťūt mān-tem mə-ʌ.
(s)he shop-loc bread buy-prs.3sg (s)he it I-dat give-prs.3sg
‘He/she is buying bread in the shop. He/she is giving it to me.’ (L. N. K.)
(3) ʌüw lɔ̄pka-nə ńāń wə-ʌ. ʌüw-nə mā ťūt-at mə-ʌ-oj-əm.
(s)he shop-loc bread buy-prs.3sg (s)he-loc I it-ins give-prs-pass-1sg
‘He/she is buying bread in the shop. He/she is giving it to me.’ (L. N. K.)
In Surgut Khanty, ditransitive verbs have two argument structures. In the typical construction, the recipient takes the accusative case, while the object is marked with the -at instructive-finalis suffix (1a). With nouns, there is no difference between nominative and accusative forms, but pronouns do differentiate them. Moreover, the nominal direct object (patient) of monotransitive sentences is also in the accusative, which is morphologically identical to the nominative. In the other construction (which is less frequent), the theme takes the accusative case, while the recipient takes some directional suffix. With nominal recipients, it is the -a lative or the -nam approximant marker, whereas personal pronominal recipients get the dative suffix (2a). In order to differentiate between the three arguments of ditransitive verbs, the passive construction is frequently used in Surgut Khanty. In passive sentences, the agent is marked with the -nə locative suffix, the recipient is in the nominative, while the theme takes the instructive-finalis case ending (3). The topic requires further research.