Mongolian affixes in Sakha

Summary

Affix function number of borrowed affixes

Description

Information and examples are from Pakendorf (2010). Pakendorf (2010) analyzes data from Kałużyński (1962), Korkina et al. (1982) and from her own corpus and elicited data. She concludes that there are 14 affixes borrowed from Mongolic languages that are “currently still relatively productive” and used on native Turkic stems. A few other borrowed affixes are attested, but these are “previously productive, or marginally productive”. The following 14 are the ones that Pakendorf (2010) characterizes as “currently still relatively productive” (see also Pakendorf (2012). (Note, however, that Pakendorf counts more borrowed affixes because she accepts Korkina et al.’s (1982) claim that other affixes are productive, while these are not attested as hybrid formations).

5 deverbal nominalizers

  • -AːččI (also functions as habitual marker), e.g. tut-aːččï ‘(he) build (it)’
  • -AːhIn, e.g. ottoː-hun ‘the hay-making’
  • -BIl, e.g. öröbül ‘Sunday’ (from öröː- ‘to rest a day’)
  • -lAŋ, e.g. kisteleŋ ‘secret’ (from kisteː- ‘hide’)
  • -ltA, e.g. terilte ‘organization’ (from terij- ‘equip, organize’)

4 deverbal adjectivizers

  • -GAj, e.g. bïtarχaj ‘small’ (from bïtarïj- ‘crumble, smash, pulverize’)
  • -ɣAr/-gIr, e.g. laspaɣar ‘broad’ (from laspaj- ‘be/seem too broad and fleshy’)
  • -(I)mtAɣaj, no attestations in Pakendorf’s corpus, but ‘productive’ according to (Kałużyński 1962:92; Korkina et al. 1982:165)
  • -mtIA, no attestations in Pakendorf’s corpus, but nevertheless “mainly found with Turkic stems” (Pakendorf 2010), and “relatively productive” according to Korkina et al. (1982:165)

5 non-interrelated suffixes

  • -rɣAː ‘verbalizer’, e.g. küːhürgeː ‘consider oneself strong’ (from küːs ‘strength’)
  • -TA ‘multiplicative derivative of numerals’, e.g. biːr-diː-te ‘once’
  • -(I)ččI ‘deverbal adverbializer’ (source form is a Mongolic imperfective converb), e.g. ergičči ‘roundabout’ (from ergij- ‘return, turn around’)
  • -t(tAr) ‘plural’, e.g. ïaraχa-ttar ‘the heavy ones’
  • -Aːt: ‘immediate precedence converb’, e.g. orgut-aːt ‘as soon as it boiled’