open access

https://doi.org/10.14943/2115.99339

https://hdl.handle.net/2115/99339

Order of Attributive “Adjectives” and Nouns in Uilta (Orok) : Applying a Corpus-Based Quantitative Approach to Structural Patterns

日本語

語順

2026-03-20

日本北方言語学会

Northern Language Studies

16

101-120

This study investigates the word order of attributive “adjectives” and nouns in Uilta (Orok), a Tungusic language spoken on Sakhalin Island, using a corpus-based quantitative approach. Building on Comrie (2025), who challenged WALS’s classification of Uilta as predominantly noun–adjective (NA) and demonstrated adjective–noun (AN) as the dominant order, this research applies the same methodology to different text materials and integrates the results with Comrie’s (2025) findings. The analysis adopts Dryer’s (2013) semantic definition of “adjective” and focuses on four structural patterns: AN*, NA*, NA-ni*, and NA-niN* (following Comrie (2025)). Data were extracted from published oral texts and classified into core and peripheral semantic categories. The combined result (Comrie’s and this study’s) comprises 228 tokens/ 148 types. The result confirms AN* as the dominant pattern (77.6% of tokens/ 83.8% of types), while NA patterns collectively account for 22.4% of tokens/ 16.2% of types. AN* is productive across dialects and includes peripheral semantic adjectives, whereas NA variants are rare and often restricted to fixed expressions or specific dialectal contexts. NA* is rare and sometimes involves cases of “floating” plus case “agreement” (terms are based on Kazama (1994)); NA‑ni* exhibits nominalized A and can be sometimes ambiguous between attributive and predicative readings; NA‑niN* is attested only in the southern dialect, revealing a clear dialectal asymmetry and often interpreted as “the A (best) N among Ns.” These results corroborate Comrie’s claim that AN is statistically dominant in Uilta, while also clarifying when NA orders are licensed—notably under nominalization and discourse‑driven floating. We exclude from the count’s constructions with quantificational words (e.g., bara ‘many’) and possessive suffix ‑lu, though preliminary observations suggest both interact with floating plus case agreement in ways relevant to NA ordering

紀要論文

Version of Record

2185-7121

AA12516968