Last time, we sweated and sauntered through the soporifically sweltering rainforests of Guatemala.
Now, we will fight off frostbite as we linger under the Northern Lights in the ice fields of Northern Siberia.
Tundra Nenets belongs to the Samoyedic branch of the Uralic family.
Across this series of newsletters, we will read one of their myths and dissect some of the grammar as we go along.
This is the story of Tab Ed Xewko.
1. Yah xǣwøxəna yəxah tarka səl’a tən’a.
Near the sea there is a river cape in the form of a form.
2. Yəxa s’id’a yawøna xǣwi.
The river is split into two.
3. Yəxa t’uqøn’a bəlagaŋkoc’a.
In the upper stretch of the river there was a wooden hut.
4. T’ikaxəna n’e yil’e.
In this place lived a woman.
5. N’umta Təb Yed Xǣwøko.
Her name was Tab Ed Xewko.
6. Wen’akoc’ada tən’awes’ s’eyanta n’ana.
There was a little dog who lived on the women’s side of the hut.
7. Yaq1ønt’ih s’id’ampoxøh.
There were just the two of them.
8. S’aqni ŋǣbøta ŋodøq wen’akoc’ada t’ore’eyøq.
Once the dog started barking.
9. Wen’akoc’ada piyah ŋilømna sirøŋa, mənetada yəŋku.
The woman looked in the direction in which the dog’s nose was pointing but she didn’t see anything.
10. Wen’akoc’amta xaxøyuta poŋkəd n’əqməda wen’akoc’anta xaxøh pomøna siliəq.
Then she grabbed the dog by its ears and looked between them.
To be continued…
What did this woman see?
Tune in next time to find out.
Now, we will dissect sentence 2:
Yəxa s’id’a yawøna xǣwi. = The river is split into two.
yawøna is built from these components:
1. ya = a Noun which means place.
2. -wøna = the Prolative Suffix.
In some contexts, this suffix translates into English as words like through, across, along, or between. For example:
1. Yəxawøna buksir m’iŋa. = Along the river a tugboat is moving.
Once again, yəxa mean river.
2. Xər p’awøna yixəmyøq. = The knife slipped along the tree.
p’a means tree.
3. N’oh s’īwøn’a puxac’a weqləmyøq. The old woman looked out of the door.
n’oh means of the door or the door’s, while s’ī means hole.
Thus, the phrase n’oh s’īwøn’a means something like through the doorway or the more literal through the door’s hole.
For when the door is open, does it not leave behind a hole in the wall.
In addition, it can indicate manner, cause, means or correlation, for example:
S’aqmønanta n’axøtəta səwa. = She is the most beautiful among her friends, judging by her face.
The relevant word is s’aqmønanta, which is built from:
1. s’aq = a Noun which means face.
2. -møna = the Prolative Suffix.
3. -nta = the 3rd Person Singular Genitive Suffix.
In this context, s’aqmønanta means judging by her face, built from these components:
1. s’aq = face.
2. -møna = judging by.
3. -nta = her.
The Prolative Case Suffix is –møna after a consonant and –wøna after a vowel.
There is also some difference between how the Eastern and Western dialects allow the Prolative to be used, but that would distract.
The Prolative Suffix, is quite rare across languages.
It mainly occurs in the global far North, e.g. Siberia, Kamchatka and the Arctic North America, and the global far South, e.g. Australia.
Why this should be the case is a question leagues and bounds outside the scope of this single newsletter.
Other names for this case include, the Perlative and Vialis, though the subtleties vary depending on the language.
In addition, where I have typed the symbol /ø/, Nikolaeva’s grammar originally used a Superscript /o/. Substack did not allow for superscript letters, so I have had to improvise.
Source: Nikolaeva, Irina, A Grammar of Tundra Nenets (De Gruyter: Berlin 2014)