Word order of relative clauses (Surgut Khanty)

RelN: The relative clause always or usually precedes the noun head.

NRel: The relative clause always or usually follows the noun head.


(1) ʌow mōq-ʌ-aʌ päwəʌtə-tə nīŋ pūpi

baby bear_cub-pl-3sg bath-prs.ptc woman bear

‘the mother bear which is bathing her cubs’ (Csepregi 2012b)


(2) āťe-m pūʌt-əm awʌ-ət

father-1sg harness-pst.ptc sledge-pl

‘the sledges prepared for the ride by my father’ (Csepregi 2012b)


(3) pūɣəʌ, qot säm-a pīt-əm, ənəʌ ʌɔ̄r qɔ̄nəŋ-nə ɔ̄məs-ʌ.

village where I eye-lat fall-pst.1sg big lake shore-loc sit-prs.3sg

‘The village, where I was born, is on the shore of a large lake.’ (Csepregi 2012b)


(4) awʌ-ət, āťe-m-nə pūʌt-əm, qɔ̄t poŋəʌ-nə ʎɔ̄ʎ-ʎ-ət.

sledge-pl father-1sg-loc harness-pst.ptc house side-loc stand-prs-3pl

‘The sledges, which my father prepared for the ride, are next to the house.’ (Csepregi 2012b)


Traditionally, relative clauses are expressed by the participle + noun construction, which means that the head noun follows the relative clause. Sometimes the relative clause is initiated by a conjunction that has grammaticalized from an interrogative pronoun (3). There are some rare sentences in which the head noun is put after the relative clause without a conjunction, like an adjunct (4) (Csepregi 2012b: 61–94.).

Author: 

Márta Csepregi