Semantics and functions of the pronouns mӑta, mӑtta/mәta in Khanty fairy-tale texts

Fedorkiw Lyubov Alekseevna
Ob-Ugric Institute of Applied Researches and Development, Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia
E-mail: fedorkivhmao@yandex.ru
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3572-9582
RSCI: https://elibrary.ru/author_profile.asp?id=1001977

Abstract. In the article, the author examines the functional and semantic characteristics of the pronouns mӑta, mӑtta /mәta in the fairy-tale texts of the Kazym and Surgut dialects of the Khanty language. The Kazym and Surgut dialects belong to different dialect groups: western (northern) and eastern. Despite belonging to different dialects, these dialects are geographically contiguous and neighboring. To date, no comparative studies have been conducted on the pronouns of the Kazym and Surgut dialects. The author presents the first analysis of quantifier pronouns in the Khanty language. The meaning of these pronouns depends on the position of the speaker and listener, as well as their referential and non-referential use. In the Kazym dialect, the basic initial meaning for the interrogative pronoun mӑta is ‘which of several, of two’; the pronoun can be used as a relative or attributive pronoun. The meaning of the indefinite pronoun mӑtta ‘some, some’ in the Kazym dialect depends on the position of the speaker and listener. The basic meaning of the pronoun mәta in the Surgut dialect is also ‘which of several, of two’, but its functions are broader: it is used as a relative, indefinite, definitive, and negative pronoun.

The research material was a selection of examples from folklore texts and the author’s fieldwork. The results of this study can be used in the writing of scientific grammars, dialectal dictionaries of the Khanty language, and in comparative studies of related and structurally different languages.

Keywords: pronoun; quantifier; semantics; functions; Khanty language; Kazym dialect; Surgut dialect