Davvisámegiela distributiiva cealkagat
Pekka Sammallahti (Giellagas-instituhtta, Oulu universitehta)
Viečča artihkkala dás (pdf).
On distributive clauses in North Sami
Distributive clauses contain one or more distributive phrases, i.e. phrases quantified with distributive pronouns such as goabbat ‘each (of two)’, goabbáge id., guhtet ‘each (of more than two)’ and guhtege id. The quantified phrases may bind possessive suffixes as in the sentence Sii válde guhtet vuoján-is ‘Each of them took his/her driving reindeer’ the phrase sii…guhtet ‘each of them’ binds the possessive suffix -is ‘his/her’. The studied idiolects fall into at least three categories with respect to their use of distributive possessive suffixes: (A) The oldest generation uses for all persons distributive suffixes which are formally identical with the third person suffixes: Dii válddiidet guhtet vuoján-is ‘Each of you took her/his (-is PxSg3) driving reindeer’, Moai válddiime goabbat vuoján-is ‘Each of us two took his/her driving reindeer’, Sii válde guhtet vuoján-is ‘Each of them took her/his driving reindeer’; (B) The majority of idiolects in all age classes uses distributive suffixes for the third person only: Moai válddiime goabbat vuoján-eame ‘Each of us two took his/her (-is PxDu2) driving reindeer’, Sii válde guhtet vuoján-is ‘Each of them took her/his (-is PxSg3) driving reindeer’; (C) A few idiolects use no distributive suffixes: Sii válde guhtet vuoján-easet ‘Each of them took his/her (-easet PxPl3) driving reindeer’. The nature and description of binding and agreement relations is discussed together with the concepts of subject and object in the light of North Sami data. It is suggested that the nominative argument of passive verbs is syntactically rather an object than a subject; furthermore in some active sentence types the subject may be marked with the accusative ending, making it look like an object. There is no subject-object contrast in sentences of either type and hence their subjects can be marked morphologically and their objects left unmarked without loss of clarity.