Tundra Nenets 2

In part 1, our Protagonist Tab Ed Xewko heard a ruckus from her tent, and looked between the ears of her dog in order to see what was occurring.

This is Part 2:

1. Ŋəsodənə m’akøh mən’iyewi.

She saw that two tents were being set up.

2. Təb Yed Xǣwkor wen’akoc’amta m’at^øh s’arəda.

Tab Ed Xewko tied the dog to the tent.

3. N’eri mən’iyewida ŋəsodənə m’adoq yetøh xuh wəntalaptəda, təh wəntalaptəda.

She went towards the tents which she saw being set up before.

4. S’anədøh t’edah m’impəta ŋodøq ŋesodənə m’adot’ih xubtampoy ŋǣwi.

She walked for a while, but the tents that had been set up were far away from each other.

5. N’ab’i m’aq tuda yəŋkodarøxa.

It seemed like there was no fire in one of the tents.

6. Təmna ŋesoqmaxødənt’i tumtawədawey ŋǣdarøxa.

It seemed they hadn’t made a fire yet after having set up the tent.

7. N’ab’i m’akøna pəlønako so.

Talking could be heard in one of the tents.

8. Tə m’adəxøh pont^øh Təb Yed Xǣwko tǣwiq, s’an^øpoy mixømyøq.

Tab Ed Xewko reached the two tents and went a little further.

9. Təntayah m’iwi xurumeŋe xarmidey^øq.

Then suddenly she turned into a cargo sledge.

10. Təb Yed Xǣwko təh ŋət’enə.

Then Tab Ed Xewko waited.

What a twist!

None of you were expecting that.

Tune in next time to find out what happens.

In this newsletter, I would like to give you a small taste as to the peculiarity of Tundra Nenets. For this, we will analyse Sentence 6:

Təmna ŋesoqmaxødənt’i tumtawədawey ŋǣdarøxa. = It seemed they hadn’t made a fire yet after having set up the tent.

ŋesoqmaxødənt’i is built from three components:

1.       ŋeso                 = a Verb which means set up a tent.

2.       -qma               = the Perfective Action Nominal Suffix.

3.       -xødənti          = the 3^rd Person Dual Ablative Suffix.          

tumtawədawey is built from two components:

1.       tumta              = a Verb which means make a fire.

2.       -wədawey       = the Negative Participle Suffix.

ŋǣdarøxa is built from two components:

1.       ŋǣ                   = a Verb which means be.

2.       -darøxa           = the Imperfective Approximative Suffix.

Before we delve into the grammar, here is a more idiomatic translation for each word:

However, rather than explain each one of the above-mentioned long words, I shall merely analyse the Approximate more generally.

Tundra Nenets has a number of Suffixes which indicate the speaker’s degree of certainty in their statement. The Approximative indicates a medium level of certainty, meaning something like it seems or it looks like.

There are three forms of the Approximative: the Imperfective; the Perfective; and the Future. We will quickly look at a few in turn.

The base form for each suffix is -rəxa or –røxa.

The Imperfective:

Forms: -narəxa; -tarəxa; -darəxa

Yidøh xəyøləda m’ūdøtənarəxa. = His tears are pouring one after another.

The Noun Phrase yidøh xəyøləda is built like this:

1.       yidøh               = of the water

2.       xəyøləda         = his tears

m’ūdøtənarəxa is built from two components:

1.       m’ūdøtə          = a Verb which means carry sled.

2.       -narəxa                       = the Imperfective Approximative.

Thus, the sentence has a metaphorical meaning akin to the water of his tears are like the sleds in a caravan.

The Perfective:

Forms: -warəxa; -marəxa

Pida məncørawerəxa. = As if he was working. / He pretends that he was working.

pida is the 3^rd Person Singular Pronoun, thus it means he or she, depending on context. (It refers almost exclusively to humans, though can rarely by extended to animals.)

məncørawerəxa is built from two components:

1.       məncøra         = a Verb which means work.

2.       -werəxa           = the Perfective Approximative.

The Future:

Forms: -wəntarəxa; -məntarəxa

Towəntarøxa. = He is likely to come.

This is built from two components:

1.       to                     = a Verb which means come.

2.       -wəntarøxa     = the Future Approximative.

In addition, one can add the Past Tense Suffix –s’ø, giving us:

Towəntarøxas’ø. = It seems he should have come.

This combined form is called the Future-in-the-Past Approximative.

As mentioned earlier, this is part of a group of suffixes which indicate how certain the speaker is about the situation. The others are: Probabilitive, Dubitive, Reputative and Debitive.

It is likely that we will return to one of the others later in this series, in particular the Dubitive, which has an interesting function.

Source: Nikolaeva, Irina, A Grammar of Tundra Nenets (De Gruyter: Berlin 2014)