A Short Grammar of East Circassian (Kabardian)

This grammar should be used with some caution, not only because it was written by a linguist who is far from being a fluent speaker of Kabardian. It is largely compilatory in nature, and many examples were drawn from the existing works on Kabardian by M. L. Abitov, Mukhadin Kumakhov, and others. However, I have also excerpted and analyzed many sentences from the literature, especially from the Nart corpus (Nārtxar, 1951, Nārtxar, 2001), and some examples were elicited from native speakers. Although I have relied heavily on the published scholarly works on Kabardian, my interpretations of the data are sometimes very different from those in the available literature. I have tried to approach the Kabardian language from a typological point of view, comparing its linguistic features, that may appear strange to speakers of Indo-European languages, to similar features found in other languages of the world. ZAGREB 2010......Page 1 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS......Page 2 INTRODUCTION......Page 5 PHONOLOGY......Page 9 1. a - ə: this apophony pattern is used for the opposition between transitive and intransitive verbs, e. g. dan "to sew (intrans.)" - dən "to sew (trans.)", txan "to write (intrans.)" - txən "to write (trans.)", xan "mow (intrans.)" - xən "mow (trans..........Page 12 NOMINAL INFLECTION......Page 17 си хьэщIэщ укъисшащ......Page 21 Nāna, sət mə p'-ś'ə-r zə-š'ə-s-ər āt'a yədžyə?......Page 22 As the preceding examples illustrate, postpositions govern the ergative case of nouns. Some of them govern the possessive pronouns, rather than personal pronouns, e.g. syə wəź "after me", wyə dayž "to you", (wa) wyəp'ač'a "instead of you", etc. Others.........Page 32 Śha wə-naśχay, žayryə ya-wəpś-ā-ś Bādənawq'wa......Page 33 VERBS......Page 35 сyпыр (къэ)вaщ......Page 46 Q'arašəwyay yə haś'a-m-ra yə šə-m-ra yə-ġa-šx-ā-ś......Page 48 Wazərmadž dyə mə-ġwəsa-ma, q'ə-t-xwa-hə-n-q'əm......Page 61 Sawsrəq'wa źagwə-m da-s-t. Satanyay wəna-m q'ə-ś'əh-ā-ś......Page 65 иIaт пхъу бaлигъи, зогуaкIуэ.......Page 66 byəy-m xābza-r yə-q'wəta-ryə: "Nārtəźəpq' t-q'wəta-n-ś,......Page 67 PLUPERFECT......Page 70 Wazərmadž ġwəsa də-v-ġa-ś'......Page 72 Zd-yaź-ā-r yə nəbźaġwə dyaź-t-yə,......Page 81 Sa s-ś'-ā-q'əm ār q'a-k'wa-wa......Page 82 time-NOM go-impf. W-and hunt-ger. wood-ERG dir.-live-impf.......Page 85 APPENDIX: VERBAL CLASSES AND PARADIGMS......Page 87 Nālšəč Q'abardyay-Bałq'arə-m yə q'ālā-śha-ś......Page 99 Māza-r yəz-ś......Page 101 Sa q'a-z-ġazažə-xw, məbdyay śə-t......Page 103 S'......Page 105 Sawsrəq'wa zəryə ž-yə-mə-?a-wə mā-k'wa......Page 110 Yamənaź yā-f'-yə-h-ā-ś......Page 111 TOPICALIZATION/FOCALIZATION......Page 114 Тxэ, сымыщIэ Txa, səməś'a "by god, I don't know".......Page 116 Thak'wəmač'əh-əm yə šər-xa-r ša-č'a......Page 120 Wyəyy, Wyəyy, pšənāłaś - žyə......Page 123 6. Žabagy Kazanoko playing alchiki......Page 126 REFERENCES......Page 127 TABLE OF CONTENTS......Page 137