Reconstructing the Proto-Uralic Case System With Regard to Proto-Indo-European

master's thesis

• Title (croatian): Rekonstrukcija prauralskog padežnog sustava u odnosu na praindoeuropski
• Author: Ivan Silobrčić
• Mentor: Ranko Matasović (mentor)
• Committee member: Jurica Polančec (predsjednik povjerenstva)
• Committee member: Daniela Katunar (član povjerenstva)
• Granter: University of Zagreb; Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences; (Department of Linguistics); Zagreb
• Defense date and country: 2023-06-28, Croatia
• Scientific / art field, discipline and subdiscipline: HUMANISTIC SCIENCES; Philology; Comparative and Historical Linguistics
• Scientific / art field, discipline and subdiscipline: HUMANISTIC SCIENCES; Philology; Ugro-Finnish Studies

Abstract

The case system of the Uralic protolanguage and its origins are an unresolved problem in historical linguistics According to Aikio (2022), Proto-Uralic probably had six reconstructable case morphemes: the grammatical cases, the nominative *-ø, the accusative *-m and the genitive *-n; the adverbial cases, the locative *-nA, the separative *-tA and a complex ‘lative paradigm’. This is generally in accordance with the earliest serious attempt at reconstructing the PU case inventory (Collinder 1960), Proto-Uralic had the following five case morphemes: nominative *-ø, genitive *-n, accusative *-m, locative *-na ⁓ *-nä and separative *-ta ⁓ *-tä. Depending on the analysis, one can say that Proto-Uralic has six cases (the three grammatical cases mentioned above, and the three directional cases below), eight (if we add two additional adverbial cases), some indefinite number beyond eight (almost ten lative cases have been offered, or just two, that is to say the only non-nominative grammatical cases. Their relatedness to Proto-Indo-European cases is only possible as regards the grammatical cases, and those are highly problematic for phonetic reasons (for the accusative and the genitive) and for reasons pertaining to ergativity (for the nominative); the adverbial cases show a minimum correspondence. Thus the Indo-Uralic hypothesis rests on factors significantly different from nominal case morphology.

Abstract (croatian)

Padežni sustav uralskog prajezika kao i izvori tih morfema su nerješeni problem u historijskoj lingvistici. Prema Aikio (2022), prauralski jezik je vjerojatno imao šest padežnih nastavaka: tri gramatička padeža, to jest nominativ *-ø, akuzativ *-m te genitiv *-n; i priložni padeži, to jest lokativ *-nA, separativ *-tA te kompleks padeža koji se naziva ‘lativna paradigma’. Ovaj model je uvelike u suglasnosti s najranijim ozbiljnim pokušajem rekonstrukcije prauralskog padežnog inventara (Collinder 1960), u kojem je prauralski imao pet padežnih nastavaka: nominativ *-ø, genitiv *-n, akuzativ *-m, lokativ *-na ⁓ *-nä te separativ *-ta ⁓ *-tä. Ovisno o analizi, argumentira se u literaturi da je prauralski imao šest padeža (spomenuta tri gramatička padeža, te tri priložna padeža), osam (ako se broje i još dva priložna padeža, kao što to nudi Aikio), neki nedifinirani broj više od osam (gotovo deset mogućih lativnih padeža se mogu rekonstruirati), ili samo dva, to jest jedina dva nenominativna gramatička padeža. Genetički odnos s praindoeuropskim padežima je jedino moguć za gramatičke padeže, a i oni predstavljaju probleme u rekonstrukciji, što zbog fonetskih razloga (u slučaju akuzativa i genitiva), što zbog rekonstrukcije ergativnosti (u slučaju nominativa); priložni padeži predstavljaju znatno manje podudarnosti. Zaključuje se da je indouralska hipoteza osnovana više na drugim faktorima, nego li na imensku morfologiju padeža.

• Keywords: Proto-Uralic; nominal morphology; cases; linguistic reconstruction; Uralic languages; Proto-Indo-European
• Keywords (croatian): prauralski; imenska morfologija; padeži; jezična rekonstrukcija; uralski jezici; praindoeuropski
• Language: english
• URN:NBN: urn:nbn:hr:131:668918
• Study programme: Title: Linguistics (double major); specializations in: General Linguistics, Comparative Linguistics, Computational Linguistics, Aplied Linguistics and Cognitive Linguistics, Cognitive; Course: Comparative Linguistics; Study programme type: university; Study level: graduate; Academic / professional title: magistar/magistra lingvistike (magistar/magistra lingvistike)
• Type of resource: Text
• File origin: Born digital
• Access conditions: Open access
• Created on: 2023-07-02 20:58:47