Article

Name: Comparative in Tungusic languages

Authors: V. Ju. Gusev, N. B. Aralova

Institute of Linguistics, Moscow, Russia; Christian-Albrechts-Universität, Kiel, Germany

In the section Морфология

Abstract:

The morphological marking of adjectival comparatives, although prevalent in European languages, is a cross-linguistically uncommon feature. Grammaticalization processes in comparative markers represent a typologically underexplored field of study. Similar to other linguistic areas, the majority of Siberian languages lack morphological comparative markers. However, the Northern Tungusic languages display a distinctive characteristic: a prevalent use of morphologically marked adjectives within comparative constructions is observed in multiple Evenki and Even dialects and in Upper Negidal. This study investigates the provenance of comparative markers and their distribution across a range of dialects. Textual data forms the principal basis of this research. Examples of comparative constructions were drawn from published electronic corpora and field-collected texts. The analysis has revealed the grammaticalization of comparative morphological markers in Evenki, Even, and Upper Negidal dialects. Across all investigated continental Northern Tungusic varieties, the suffix with selective meaning is found to develop a comparative function. A shared suffix is frequently noted in descriptions of Nanaic and Oroch-Udihe grammar, yet it is absent from the corpus of available texts. The Bystraia Even dialect of the Kamchatka Peninsula utilizes the attenuative suffix to express comparison, disregarding its typical attenuative significance. Typologically, both selective and attenuative semantics is related to comparative constructions, sometimes sharing identical forms (e.g., in Indo-European and Uralic languages).

Keywords: comparative, selective, attenuative, grammaticalization, Tungusic languages

Bibliography:

Alonso de la Fuente J. A. Northern Tungusic */V°-tmAr/~*/C°-d(i)mAr/. Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae. 2011, no. 64:2, pp. 183–200.

Avrorin V. A. Grammatika nanayskogo yazyka [A grammar of the Nanai language]. Moscow, Leningrad, AN SSSR, 1959, vol. 1, 282 p. (In Russian)

Avrorin V. A., Lebedeva E. P. Orochskie teksty i slovar’ [Oroch texts and dictionary]. Leningrad, Nauka, 1978, 264 p. (In Russian)

Avrorin V. A. Materialy po nanayskomu yazyku i fol’kloru [Data on the Nanai language and folklore]. Leningrad, Nauka, 1986, 256 p. (In Russian)

Bergsland K. Sydsamisk grammatikk. Oslo, Universitetsforlaget, 1982, 138 p.

Brykina M., Gusev V., Szeverényi S., Wagner-Nagy B. Nganasan Spoken Language Corpus (NSLC). Archived in Hamburger Zentrum für Sprachkorpora. Version 0.2. Publication date 2018-06-12. URL: http://hdl.handle.net/11022/0000-0007-C6F2-8.

Bulatova N. Ya. Novye materialy po solonskomu yazyku [New data on the Solon language]. Trudy Instituta lingvisticheskikh issledovaniy [Acta linguistica Petropolitana]. 2013, vol. IX, pt. 3, pp. 147–165. (In Russian)

Cheremisinova M. O. Komparativno-attenuativnaya polisemiya v finno-ugorskikh yazykakh [Comparative-attenuative polysemy in Finno-Ugric languages]. Uralo-altayskie issledovaniya Ural-Altaic Studies]. 2022, no. 3 (iss. 46), pp. 75–95. (In Russian)

Cowgill W. Italic and Celtic superlatives and the dialects of Indo-European. In Indo-European and the Indo-Europeans. Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1970, pp. 113−153.

Cuzzolin P., Lehmann Chr. Comparison and Gradation. In Morphologie. Ein internationales Handbuch zur Flexion und Wortbildung. 2. Halbband. Berlin, De Gruyter, 2004, pp. 1212–1220.

Däbritz Chr. L., Gusev V., Stoynova N. INEL Evenki Corpus. Version 2.0. Publication date 2024-12-31. Archived at Universität Hamburg. URL: https://hdl.handle.net/11022/0000-0007-FE38-D

In The INEL corpora of indigenous Northern Eurasian languages. URL: https://hdl.handle.net/11022/0000-0007-F45A-1

Dixon R. M. W. Comparative constructions: a cross-linguistic typology. Studies in Language. 2008, vol. 32 (4), pp. 787–817.

Gorbunova V. A. Sposoby vyrazheniya sravneniya v ul’chskom yazyke [Ways of expressing comparison in the Ulch language]. Sibirskii Filologicheskii Zhurnal [Siberian Journal of Philology]. 2023, no. 2, pp. 286–299. (In Russian)

Gorbunova V. A. Sposoby vyrazheniya sravnitel’nykh otnosheniy neravenstva v ul’chskom i drugikh tunguso-man’chzhurskikh yazykakh [Ways of expressing comparative inequality in the Ulch and other Tungusic languages]. Yazyki i Fol’klor Korennykh Narodov Sibiri [Languages and Folklore of Indigenous Peoples of Siberia]. 2024, no. 4 (iss. 52), pp. 62‒73. (In Russian)

Istoricheskiy fol’klor evenkov [Historical folklore of Evenkis]. Moscow, Leningrad, Nauka, 1966, 400 p. (In Russian)

Ito S. Typology of comparatives. In 22nd Pacific Asia Conference on Language, Information and Computation. Manila, De La Salle University, 2008, pp. 197–206.

Ivanovskiy A. O. Mandjurica. I: Obraztsy solonskogo i dagurskogo yazykov [Mandjurica. I: Specimens of the Solon and Dagur languages]. St. Petersburg, 1894, 79 p. (reprinted: Ivanovskiy A. O. Mandjurica. I: Specimens of the Solon and Dagur languages. Budapest: Akadémiai kiadó, 1982). (In Russian)

Kazakevich O. A., Klyachko E. L. Sozdanie mul’timediynogo annotirovannogo korpusa tekstov kak issledovatel’skaya protsedura [Creation of multimedia annotated corpus of texts as a research precedure]. In Korpusnaya lingvistika – 2013: Trudy mezhdunarodnoy konferentsii [Corpus linguistics – 2013: Proceedings of an international conference]. St. Petersburg, SPbSU, 2013, pp. 292–300. (In Russian)

Khasanova M. M., Pevnov A. M. Mify i skazki negidal’tsev [Myths and tales of the Negidals]. Osaka, 2003, 297 p. (In Russian and Negidal)

Khasanova M. M. Povelitel’noe naklonenie v evenkiyskom yazyke [Imperative in Evenki]. Leningrad, Nauka, 1986, 104 p. (In Russian)

Kormushin I. V. Udykheyskiy yazyk [Udihe language]. Moscow, Nauka, 1998, 320 p. (In Russian)

Nikolaeva I. A grammar of Tundra Nenets. Berlin, Boston, De Gruyter, 2014, 528 p.

Nikolaeva I., Tolskaya M. A grammar of Udihe. Berlin, New York, Mouton de Gruyter, 2001, 1002 p.

Oskol’skaya S. A., Shreyber A. S., Yakuboy A. I. Korpus nanayskogo yazyka [Corpus of Nanai]. Moscow, Mezhdunarodnaya laboratoriya yazykovoy konvergentsii, NRU HSE, 2024. (accessed 22.04.2025). (In Russian)

Ozolinya L. V. Grammatika orokskogo yazyka [A grammar of Orok (Uilta)]. Novosibirsk, Geo, 2013, 373 p. (In Russian)

Ozolinya L. V. Sravnenie v tunguso-man’chzhurskikh yazykakh (na materiale orokskogo yazyka) [Comparison in the Tungusic languages (case of Orok)]. Teoreticheskaya i prikladnaya lingvistika [Theoretical and applied linguistics]. 2025, iss. 11, no. 1, pp. 92–101. (In Russian)

Pakendorf B., Aralova N. Documentation of Negidal, a nearly extinct Northern Tungusic language of the Lower Amur. Endangered Languages Archive. 2017. URL: http://hdl.handle.net/2196/00-0000-0000-000F-E387-1.

Petrova T. I. Ul’chskiy dialekt nanayskogo yazyka [Ulchi dialect of Nanai]. Moscow, Leningrad, Uchpedgiz, 1936, 156 p. (In Russian)

Petrova T. I. Yazyk orokov (ul’ta) [Language of the Oroks (Uilta)]. Leningrad, Nauka, 1967, 156 p. (In Russian)

Pinault G.-J. A Star is Born: A “New” PIE *-ter- Suffix. In Verba docenti. Studies in historical and Indo-European linguistics presented to Jay H. Jasanoff by students, colleagues, and friends. Ann Arbor, Beech Stave, 2007, pp. 271–279.

Plungyan V. A. Vvedenie v grammaticheskuyu semantiku: grammaticheskie znacheniya i grammaticheskie sistemy yazykov mira [Introduction into grammatical semantics: Grammatical meanings and grammatical systems of the world’s languages]. Moscow, RSUH, 2011, 672 p. (In Russian)

Popova M. D. Stepeni sravneniya prilagatel’nykh v evenskom yazyke [Degrees of comparison of adjectives in the Even language]. Filologicheskie nauki. Voprosy teorii i praktiki [Philological Sciences. Issues of Theory and Practice]. 2015, no. 1 (iss. 43), pt. 2, pp. 169–171.

Poppe N. N. Materialy po solonskomu yazyku [Data on Solon]. Leningrad, AN SSSR, 1931, 144 p. (In Russian)

Robbek V. A. Fol’klor evenov Berezovki. Obraztsy shedevrov [Folklore of the Evens of Berezovka: Specimens of masterpieces]. Yakutsk, Institut malochislennykh narodov Severa SO RAN, 2005, 370 p. (In Russian)

Robbek V. A. Yazyk evenov Berezovki [Language of the Evens of Berezovka]. Leningrad, Nauka, 1989, 206 p. (In Russian)

Sbornik materialov po evenkiyskomu (tungusskomu) fol’kloru [Collection of materials on the Evenki (Tungus) folklore]. Leningrad, Institut narodov Severa, 1936, 290 p. (In Russian)

Shneyder E. R. Materialy po yazyku anyuyskikh ude [Materials on the language of the Udihes of Anyuy]. Moscow, Leningrad, Gos. uch. ped. izd., 1937, 134 p. (In Russian)

Stassen L. Comparative Constructions. In WALS Online (v2020.4). 2013.

Sunik O. P. Kur-urmiyskiy dialekt: issledovaniya i materialy po nanayskomu yazyku [Kur-Urmi dialect: Studies and data on Nanai]. Leningrad, Uchpedgiz, Leningr. otd., 1958, 208 p. (In Russian)

Tsintsius V. I. Negidal’skiy yazyk [Negidal language]. Leningrad, Nauka, 1982, 312 p. (In Russian)

Tsumagari T. A sketch of Solon grammar. In 北方人文研究 [Journal of the Center for Northern Humanities]. 2009, no. 2, pp. 1–21.

Volodin A. P. Itel’menskiy yazyk [Itelmen language]. Leningrad, 1976, 426 p. (In Russian)

Ylikoski J. The so-called relation form of nouns in South Saami. Finno-ugrische Forschungen. 2018, no. 2, pp. 6–71.

Zhao Ke. Ewenkeyu cankao yufa [Reference grammar of Evenki]. Beijing, 2009, 366 p. (In Chinese)

Zhao Ke. Ewenkeyu yanjiu [Studies on Evenki]. Beijing, 1995, 252 p. (In Chinese)