Morphosyntactic alignment of pronouns (P) (Synja Khanty)

Nom: Two categories are distinguished from a morphosyntactic perspective: 1. [Sa, Snona, Aa and Anona]; 2. [P]. This type is known as nominative or nominative–accusative.


(1) pox ńax-l.

boy laugh-prs.3sg

‘The boy is laughing.’ (S. O.)


(2) pox xūxǝl-ǝl.

boy run-prs.3sg

‘The boy is running.’ (S. O.)


(3) pox manem sijǝlǝ-l-li.

boy I.acc notice-prs-obj.3sg

‘The boy notices me.’ (S. O.)


(4) pox manem kaš-l-li.

boy I.acc look_for-prs-obj.3sg

‘The boy is looking for me.’ (S. O.)


In Synja Khanty, the typical sentence configuration is the nominative-accusative pattern. The non-volitional (1) and the volitional (2) nominal subjects of intransitive verbs are unmarked, just like the non-volitional subjects (3) and volitional (4) agents of transitive constructions. When the object is expressed by a personal pronoun, it is in the accusative (which is the same as the dative form of the personal pronoun), and it is typically located between the subject and the verb in active sentences (3)–(4).

Author: 

Nikolett F. Gulyás