No 1 (2024)

The paper deals with morphological causatives in the Tatyshly subdialect of the Udmurt language (Republic of Bashkortostan). Surrounded by the Turkic languages (Tatar and Bashkir), Tatyshly Udmurt developed a more complex system of causative markers than Standard Udmurt. It consists of two suffixes: -t, of Uralic origins, and a Turkic borrowing -ttə̑r absent in Standard Udmurt. In this article, the properties of the suffixes are reviewed regarding the morphosyntax and semantics of verbal forms. It is demonstrated that the two suffixes apply different restrictions on deriving stems. The main one is that -t but not -ttə̑r can serve as a verbalizer and be attached to nominal stems. Another crucial difference is that -ttə̑r can be interpreted as either a single or double causative, and -t does not. Meanwhile, the patterns of causee marking are the same for both Tatyshly and Standard Udmurt: the causee gets accusative regardless of the verb's argument structure, contrary to Comrie's hierarchy. The suffixes can express all range of typologically attested semantics (factitive, mediated, rogative) except for permissive. In addition to that, in some idiolects, -ttə̑r introduces the interpretation of intensification or deliberance, which is typical of double causatives. Given its morphosyntactic properties and evidence from other languages, I argue that it was a configuration of two causative morphemes in the early stages of borrowing, but it functions as a single morpheme on the synchronic level. Thus, the suffixes -t and -ttə̑r exhibit differences not only between each other but also in comparison to their counterparts in Standard Udmurt and Turkic.

The article deals with the subset of indefinite pronouns which are often denoted in the literature as negative pronouns in six Finnic languages (Estonian, Finnish, North and Livvi Karelian, Seto and Veps). The data for the study comes from the translations of the Gospel texts into those languages. Negative pronouns are understood as such indefinite pronouns which are used primarily in the scope of negation and in some related contexts (downward-entailing or non-veridical). The distribution of negative pronouns in the text is described. It is shown that different types of negative pronouns are used in these languages. Finnish and North Karelian have a series of negative pronouns formed with the additive operator -kaan (-kana in North Karelian), which is used primarily in negative contexts. It is argued that these pronouns should be analyzed as strong Negative Polarity Items because they could occur in the contexts where an overt marker of negation is not present, such as the scope of adversative predicates, embedded clause of the negated matrix predicate or polar questions. Livvi Karelian and Veps employ pronouns with the prefix ni- borrowed from Russian. These pronouns behave like Negative Concord Items because they occur only in the presence of the clausemate sentential negation marker. Some differences in the distribution of these items are attested. Finally, Seto and Estonian do not have any special series of negative pronouns. Instead, the -gi pronouns, which have a very broad distribution, are used in these contexts. In Estonian, these can be modified by the marker of constituent negation mitte.

This article analyzes the Komi-Permyak ideas about the souls of the dead and their implementation in oral narratives, the use of Russian borrowings in the Komi-Permyak language. We have used the method of contextual analysis, which aims to describe linguistic features that reflect the links between the language and the culture of the Komi-Permyaks. The Komi adhere to the idea that man has two sous – lov and ort. The first is the inner soul, the soul breath that leaves the body at the time of death, the second is the outer soul, the shadow, the doppelganger of a person that can become visible before death. Modern Komi-Permyaks do not distinguish between two forms of the soul, although there are still stories about various harbingers of death, including doppelgangers. In addition to the original word ort, the word urös has also survived in various dialects: Among the Komi-Izhma, this word refers to a figure close to the ort; among the Kochevo Komi-Permyaks, it is used in texts about harbingers of death; among the Russified Onkovites, it is a spirit that appears before death. The soul of the deceased remains in the house until day 40 (six weeks). It manifests itself in various sounds, and the Komi-Permyak language has a developed system of onomatopoeic words. In addition, there are also Russian loan verbs meaning 'to imagine, to wonder' blaznite, verzhitchyny, versishchyny, vӧrzhitchyny, prikashaytchyny, as well as the original verb kazmö́tchyny 'to remember, to make oneself known'. The main reason for borrowing this group of verbs from the Komi-Permyak language is obviously their abstract character, the abstraction from concrete manifestations (mostly sound), which describe the appearance of the souls of the dead in the Komi-Permyak language.

The article is devoted to the publication of materials from the Samuska III settlement, discovered in 2016 on the territory of the Samus archeological microdistrict (Tomsk Ob region), and is a continuation of the previously published results of the study of the stone industry of the site based on the results of the 2018 works. The basis for writing the article was the materials of the 2018–2019 field studies, obtained from 7 test pits with a total area of 14 m². The finds include fragments of ceramic vessels, fragments of technical ceramics, stone objects, and their fission products, fragments of mineral pigments, a fragment of petrified wood, slag, and calcined bones. The artifacts of the Shelomok culture from the Early Iron Age and the Samus culture from the Early and Middle Bronze Age as well as individual vessel fragments from the Late Neolithic and Eneolithic form the basis of the ceramic complex. The analysis of the site's lithic industry is complemented by findings from the 2019 collection and is consistent with previously published data. Tools with traces of crushing and grinding of dyes and mineral pigments with traces of processing reflect the phases of paint production by the Samus culture population. The stratigraphy in the test pits with occupation layers corresponds to the stratigraphic situation in the areas with natural soil formation. In the 2018 pit, however, two stratigraphic layers were distinguished, corresponding to the Early and Middle Bronze Age and the Early Iron Age. In addition, an assemblage of tools, intermediates, and objects with nonutilitarian functions was found in this pit, which is located near a site with dark gray, dense, sandy clay immersed in an archeologically sterile layer. This work made it possible to place the previously published data from the site in a cultural and historical context and to attribute the stone industry to the Samus culture. The radiocarbon data obtained, together with the collected finds, give reason to attribute the Early and Middle Bronze Age complex to the late phase of the Samus culture. Given the stratigraphic and planigraphic position, the collection of artifacts from the 2018 pit can be interpreted as a set that was kept or carried in a case, or as grave goods.

Folklore texts and ethnographic descriptions are the most important basis for modeling worldview, especially among non-literate and early literate peoples. An interdisciplinary situational approach is proposed as one of the modeling strategies, combining the methods and resources of different disciplines, e.g., linguistics, cultural anthropology, and folklore. The essence of the interdisciplinary situational approach is that folklore and ethnographic texts are analyzed for the presence of ethnolinguistic situations, the components of which are identified and interpreted using the methodological apparatus of different disciplines. Language contributes to the detailed interpretation of the meaning of the situation and helps to define boundaries. It is no coincidence that communication is one of the features of ethnolinguistic situations because language events and language situations are indeed part of them. The “ethno-” component is associated with the description of a particular ethnic group, but does not prevent typological comparisons. Every ethnolinguistic situation presupposes participants and is based on their activity, i.e. on a certain meaningful action. In folklore, the ethnolinguistic situation correlates with a motif, which is understood as a segmental event, a relatively independent, complete, and relatively elementary segment of the narrative. The motif functions as an organizing moment of the plot movement and brings its meaning to the content of the plot and is also a characteristic feature or dominant idea of a literary composition (Kim, 2015: 28). When we combine data from different disciplines to understand the ethnolinguistic situation, we obtain a special interdisciplinary unit that allows us to interpret folklore or ethnographic data as much as possible and model a picture of the world based on them. The study aims to test an interdisciplinary situational approach to the interpretation of a fragment of the worldview of the peoples of Siberia using the example of several conflict situations in the folklore of the Selkups and Khants. A folklore work is rarely complete without conflict situations. The situation is a unit of the folklore text. The ethnocultural analysis of the components of the situation makes it possible to identify details that are important for further typological research into the folklore of the Siberian region.

The study of folklore is gradually moving beyond the traditional boundaries of its existence. It is known that folklore in general and regional folklore in particular was determined by its presence, its spread in the countryside, in the regions of republics, or regions. Traditional folk art, traditional culture as a whole was born, developed, preserved, and passed on from mouth to mouth, from generation to generation in the village. However, the subculture created in the villages – the culture of the Bashkir people – is transferred by its bearers to the urban environment, especially in the period of active urban movement. The introduction of the study consists in the fact that an attempt was made to identify and study urban Bashkir folklore in its particular post-folkloric manifestation and locus refraction, when yesterday's villagers, who have lived in the city for more than 40–50 years, have preserved in their memory the very folkloric traditions that they have imbibed with their mother's milk in their small homeland – in the villages of the republic's regions. To this end, the working group of the Bashkir State Pedagogical University named after M. Akmulla conducted a folklore expedition through the city of Ufa in the summer of 2022. The relevance of the study is increased by the prospects of the project when it becomes necessary to include the folklore of other large cities of the region in this analysis. The aim of the study is to identify the original Bashkir folklore that has been preserved in the urban environment. To achieve this goal, tasks such as studying and analyzing the materials collected during the expedition were solved, taking into account the degree of their preservation in the memory of the informants, their distinctive features, and originality based on authentic examples. Analytical, textological, and descriptive studies were used as methods. As a result, the samples recorded during the expeditionary journey around Ufa were considered, and the peculiarities and features of the presence of folk songs, takmaks, were revealed. Conclusions. Thus, summing up, the article concludes that locus samples of oral folk art are constantly preserved in the memory of people who have experienced the process of urbanization. In their cultural memory, they draw on the lingering folk songs, takmaks, and legends associated with the traditions of their small homeland.