(Meadow Mari)

AdpNNonPM & AdpN(PM)

AdpNNonPM: Person marking cannot be expressed on nominal adpositions.

AdpN(PM): Person marking is optional for adpositions when they appear with nouns.

(1)pakča-tpokšelnekukšopušeŋgešog-a.
garden2SGmiddledrytreestand3SG
’There is a withered tree standing in the middle of your garden.’ (A. S.)

(2)pakčapokšeln-etkukšopušeŋgešog-a.
gardenmiddle2SGdrytreestand3SG
’There is a withered tree standing in the middle of your garden.’ (A. S.)

(3)üdər-emvoktenpərəs-namal-a.
girl1sgbesidecat1plsleep3sg
’It is our cat that sleeps next to my daughter.’ (A. S.)

In Meadow Mari some of the postpositions can have person marking. Following a noun, these postpositions bear no person marking in most of the cases. However, when the noun is a possessee, the possessive person marking can appear on the postposition as well, contingent on the given noun (1)–(2) (cf. Riese et al. 2022: 162). In the environment of an animate possessee, however, person marking cannot appear on the postposition (3).

Author: Bogáta Timár


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