open access

https://hdl.handle.net/2115/55120

Personal Pronoun Genitives in The Secret History of the Mongols in Relation to Alienability in Khamnigan Mongolian

日本語

2014

Graduate School of Letters, Hokkaido University

Northern Language Studies

4

65-84

This article observes the distribution of the three types of possessive NP structures used with personal pronouns in The Secret History of the Mongols written in Middle Mongolian (Mongolic, spoken in the 13th - early 15th century), and examines the functions of the three types in terms of alienability. The three types of possessive NP structures are as follows: a. preposed-pronoun genitive type [Personal pronoun-GEN #Head noun]; b. postposed-pronoun genitive type [Head noun#Personal pronoun -GEN]; and c. double-genitive type [Possessor-GEN#Head noun#Personal pronoun -GEN]. We observe the following tendencies: 1) The postposed pronoun genitive type (including the double-genitive type) is more frequently used than the preposed type. 2) The postposed and preposed types are not complementary in terms of alienability. 3) When the possessor is the first or second person, the postposed type tends to be used for more inalienable NPs. However, the preposed type can also be employed for some inalienable NPs (e.g., those denoting body parts). 4) When the possessor is neither the first nor the second person, the double-marking type (specifically, [Possessor-GEN#Head noun#3rd person-GEN]) is used only for more inalienable NPs. Yamakoshi (2012) mentions that it is only in Khamnigan Mongolian among modern Mongolic languages, that personal possessive particles, which are grammaticalized forms of Middle Mongolian postposed-pronoun genitives, function as ‘inalienable’ markers. Given the results of this paper shown above, however, it can be argued that Khamnigan Mongolian possessive particles gained the status of inalienable markers after the Middle Mongolian period due to the influence of Evenki, one of the Tungusic languages.

紀要論文

Version of Record

2185-7121

AA12516968