Epistemic Modality and Related Categories in Nivkh

Epistemic modality deals with the speaker’s evaluation of the truthfulness of the proposition expressed by an utterance. This category is known to be closely connected with other qualificational categories, such as evidentiality and mirativity. The paper explores the semantic and morphosyntactic properties of various modal, evidential, and mirative grammatical markers (particles, clitics, and suffixes) in the Amur and East Sakhalin dialects of Nivkh (Paleosiberian). It also discusses different patterns of semantic and grammatical changes underlying the development of verbal mood in Nivkh and the effect of these changes on the structure of the Nivkh clause.Эпистемическая модальность характеризует оценку говорящим истинности про по зиции, выраженной в высказывании. Эта категория тесно связана с другими квали фикационными категориями, такими как эвиденциальность и миративность. В статье исследуются семантические и морфосинтаксические свойства различных модальных, эвиденциальных и миративных маркеров (частиц, клитик и суффиксов) в амурском и восточно-сахалинском диалекте нивхского языка. В ней также обсуждаются различ ные модели семантических и грамматических изменений, которые лежат в основе развития категории наклонения в нивхском языке, а также влияние этих изменений на реструктуризацию нивхского предложения

Possessive and caritive in Nivkh

Peer reviewe

Demonstratives in Nivkh : A semantic and pragmatic analysis

This paper offers a comprehensive analysis of the morphosyntactic, semantic and pragmatic features of Nivkh demonstratives, which represent a typologically interesting example of an exceptionally elaborated speaker-anchored deictic system. The deictic properties of the demonstratives can be described either in terms of a binary system with the opposition between ‘proximal’ and ‘non-proximal’ areas as viewed from the deictic centre, or in terms of a multiple system that is organised hierarchically and may be divided into primary and secondary systems, which together define fifteen spatial zones around the deictic centre. Beyond spatial proximity, the demonstratives may also encode a number of non-deictic features such as quality, quantity, dimension, preciseness of location, and visibility. This paper distinguishes between six morphosyntactic classes of demonstratives and shows how the different deictic and non-deictic features correlate with their pragmatic uses.Peer reviewe

Notes on Nivkh ethnology

Peer reviewe

Russian influence on Nivkh clause structure

Non peer reviewe

Nganasan - a fresh focus on a little known Arctic language

Book review. Reviewed work: A Grammar of Nganasan. (Grammars and Language Sketches of the World’s Languages: Indigenous Languages of Russia.) / Beáta Wagner-Nagy. - Leiden: Brill, 2018. xviii, 583 pp. ISBN 978-90-04-38275-6 (hardback), 978-90-04-38276-3 (e-book).Peer reviewe

A unique linguistic text in Nivkh by A. A. Yushkina

Peer reviewe

Nivkh toponyms in the Amur-Sakhalin region of the Russian Far East

This paper offers a survey of the indigenous toponymy of a limited geographical region covering the lower course of the river Amur and the island of Sakhalin in the Russian Far East. Place names of this region come from both indigenous and colonial languages and reveal several historical layers. The paper focuses on the toponyms which originate from the genetically isolated Nivkh (Ghilyak) language and examines the structural and semantic patterns of their derivation. The analysis of the material confirms that toponymy encodes important information about the ways in which indigenous peoples conceptualize the world and perceive their immediate ecological environment.Peer reviewe

Towards a typology of demonstrative verbs

Demonstratives have traditionally been recognized as a semantic category in which different members are classified as belonging to certain lexical or syntactic categories. Current research suggests there are at least 7 different distinct lexical categories: determiners, pronouns, adverbs, non-verbal predicators, verbs, adpositions, and articles. This study looks at one of the aforementioned category of demonstratives, demonstrative verbs, based on a sample of 101 languages with demonstrative verbs out of a total of 1182 languages examined. We present a typological classification of demonstrative verbs based on semantics, an exploration on the morphosyntactic properties of demonstrative verbs and their use in different pragmatic functions, and vast illustrative data in support of our analysis