Comitative and instrumental cases (Synja Khanty)

ComNotInstr: The comitative and instrumental functions are expressed differently.


(1)   uli          tinśaŋ-ǝn kātǝl-l-a.

       reindeer tether-loc catch-prs-pass.3sg

       ’Reindeers are hold with tethers.’ (Onina 2009: 60)         


(2)    luw jāj-em           piln    man-s.

       (s)he brother-1sg com    go-pst.3sg

       ’(S)he left with my brother.’ (Onina 2009: 61)     


The instrumental case is expressed with the locative suffix in Synja Khanty (Onina 2009: 24). The comitative is expressed by a postposition, which grammaticalized the noun pil meaning ’fellow’ and the locative suffix -n (Honti 1984: 80–81).

Author: 

Nikolett F. Gulyás