(Meadow Mari)

CauseVBal & CauseVDrk

CauseVBal: The verb of a reason clause appears in base form.

CauseVDrk: The verb of a reason clause appears in a special form, regardless of its grammatical features.

(1)šukomalə-medečvuj-emkoršt-a.
muchsleepPTCP.PASSfromhead1SGhurt3SG
’My head hurts from all the sleeping.’ (Riese et al. 2022: 172)

(2)čerlanə-mə-lankörakoncert-əšəš-nakaje.
fall_illPTCP.PASSDATdue_toconcertILLNEG.PST11PLgo.CNG
’We didn’t go to the concert because we fell ill.’ (Riese et al. 2022: 176)

(3)ahtarijkočakelš-eno-g-əlmolan_manaš_gəntudopeš
AhtariyuncleagreeCVB.CNGNEG3SGbebecausethatvery
šergelij-ən.
expensivewill_bePST2.3SG
’Uncle Ahtariy did not agree because it was very expensive.’ (Arkhangelskiy 2019)

(4)lajk,jeslykanəškečə-lanjal-əšketol-ən-at,potomu_što
likeifrestdayDATvillageILLcomePST22SGbecause
ola-muž-m-eto-kšu.
cityACCseePTCP.PASS2SGNEG3SGarrive.CNG
’Like if you came to spend the weekend in the village because you cannot bear the sight of the city.’ (Arkhangelskiy 2019)

Reason clauses in Meadow Mari are usually expressed using molan manaš gən ’because’ (3), or, occasionally, the Russian borrowing potomu što ’because’ (4). In these cases the verb appears in its base form. Certain postpositions can also have a reason meaning, requiring the passive participle form of the verb and (with certain postpositions) a particular case form (mainly dative) (1)–(2).

Author: Bogáta Timár


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