Verb form in purpose constructions (Synya Khanty)

PurpVDrk: The verb of a purpose construction always appears in a single special form, regardless of both the features of the verb and whether the subject of the purpose construction is coreferential with that of the main clause.


(1) biľet lūt-ti-ja miša wɔ̄š-a man-s.

ticket buy-inf-lat Misha town-lat go-pst.3sg

‘Misha went to the town in order to buy tickets.’ (S. O.)


(2) biľet lūt-ti-ja ūrŋa miša wɔ̄š-a man-s.

ticket buy-inf-lat due_to Misha town-lat go-pst.3sg

‘Misha went to the town in order to buy tickets.’ (S. O.)


(3) jāj-l pila ūjtan-ti-ja ūrŋa miša wɔ̄š-a man-s.

brother-3sg with meet-inf-lat due_to Misha town-lat go-pst.3sg

‘Misha went to the town to meet his brother.’ (S. O.)


(4) ?miša, jāj-l-n     luwel-a matti ot ma-ti-ja ūrŋa, wɔ̄š-a

Misha brother-3sg-loc (s)he-lat something thing give-inf-lat due_to town-lat

man-s.

go-pst.3sg

?‘Misha went to the town in order for his brother to give him something there.’


In Synya Khanty, purpose relation is expressed by participle constructions, irrespective of whether the subjects of the main and the subordinate clauses are the same or not. The lative case marked form of the infinitive (1)–(4) is used primarily to express purpose relations. It is often accompanied by the ūrŋa (sometimes ūrǝŋen) ‘due to’ word, which appears at the end of the clause specifying the purpose event (2)-(3) (S. O., F. L.). The topic requires further research.

Author: 

Nikolett F. Gulyás