(Komi-Permyak)

PurpVDrkDiffSbj

PurpVDrkDiffSbj: The verb of a purpose construction always appears in a special form; however, the specific special form in which it appears (or can appear) depends on whether the subject of the purpose construction is coreferential with that of the main clause.

(1)von-ys-kötpantaś-ömponda /mogiśmiša
brother3sgcommeetptcp.pstforwiththepurpose_ofMisha
mun-i-skar-ö.
gopst3sgcityill
’Misha went to the city to meet his brother.’ (L. P.)

(2)mišamun-i-skar-ö,(medby)pantaś-ny
Mishagopst3sgcityillso_thatmeetinf
von-ys-köt.
brother3sgcom
’Misha went to the city to meet his brother.’ (L. P.)

(3)mišamun-i-skar-ö(syponda),medby
Mishagopst3sgcityillforitsothat
pantaś-nyvon-ys-köt.
meetinfbrother3sgcom
’Misha went to the city to meet his brother.’ (L. P.)

(4)mišamun-i-skar-ösyponda,medby
Mishagopst3sgcityillforitsothat
koľaśet-i-ssylöńebög.
Kolyagivepst3sghim.datbook
’Misha went to the city so that Kolya would give him a book.’ (L. P.)

(5)mišamun-ökar-ösyponda,medby
Mishagoprs.3sgcityillforitsothat
koľaśet-i-ssylöńebög.
Kolyagivepst3sghim.datbook
’Misha is going to the city so that Kolya can give him a book.’ (V. E.)

Komi-Permyak has several strategies to form subordinate clauses of purpose. In case the main clause and the subordinate clause have the same subject, subordination can be expressed by combining a deverbal noun with either the postposition ponda ’for’ or the lexeme mogiś ’with the purpose of’ (1). Apart from this, the most common way to form a purpose clause is using an infinitival construction (2). It is possible for the main clause to contain an element introducing the purpose clause (3), with a conjunction present in the embedded clause (2)–(3) even when the subjects are coreferent. When the subjects are different, both the main clause and the embedded clause have a finite verb form (4)-(5), in this sense it can be said the verb of the purpose construction appears in its base form. However, irrespective of the tense of the verb in the main clause, the embedded verb has to be in the past tense (L. P., V. E.).

Author: Nikolett F. Gulyás


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