Morphological causatives (Surgut Khanty)

SuffCC: Causation is expressed using a suffix on the action verb.


(1a) ńēwrem ńaɣ-əʌ.

child laugh-prs.3sg

‘The child is laughing.’ (L. N. K.)


(1b) āŋki ńēwrem-əʌ ńaɣəʌ-tə-ʌ.

mother child-3sg laugh-caus-prs.3sg

‘The mother is making her child laugh.’ (L. N. K.)


(2a) ńēwrem ɔ̄məstə pəsan-a ӯməʌ-ʌ.

child sit-ptc.prs table-lat sit_down-prs.3sg

‘The child is sitting down on the chair.’ (L. N. K.)


(2b) āŋki ńēwrem-əʌ ɔ̄məstə pəsan-a ӯmʌə-ptə-ʌ.

mother child-3sg sit-ptc.prs table-lat sit_down-caus-prs.3sg

‘The mother makes her child sit down on the chair.’ (L. N. K.)


(2c) ńēwrem āŋki-nə ɔ̄məstə pəsan-a ӯmʌə-ptə-ʌ-i.

child mother-loc sit-ptc.prs table-lat sit_down-caus-prs-pass.3sg

‘The mother makes her child sit down on the chair.’ (L. N. K.)


In Surgut Khanty, morphological causation is very rare, it appeares mostly in the case of intransitive > transitive derivation. Transitivity (and causation as subpart of it) is expressed by the -­tә suffix, which can be attached to the stem alone (1b) or it can be put after another derivational suffix (2b). If the causer (subject) and the causee (object) are expressed by nominal arguments, they are in their base forms, which is the nominative for both the subject and the object (2b). In order to differentiate between the different semantic roles, the passive construction can be used where the causer is marked with the locative case ending (2c).

Author: 

Márta Csepregi