(Udmurt)

Com=Instr

Com=Instr: The comitative and instrumental functions are expressed the same way.

(1)monkarandaš-engožja-śk-o.
IpencilINSCOMwritePRS1SG
’I write with a pencil.’ (Keľmakov – Hännikäinen 2008: 168)

(2)kar-eeš-en-ymmyn-iśk-o.
townILLfriendINSCOM1SGgoPRS1SG
’I go to the town with my friend.’ (Keľmakov – Hännikäinen 2008: 168)

(3)kar-eeš-en-ymčošmyn-iśk-o.
townILLfriend INSCOM1SGtogethergoPRS1SG
’I go to the town (together) with my friend.’ (Keľmakov – Hännikäinen 2008: 168)

The Udmurt case suffix -en/-yn is standardly regarded as the marker of instrumental case (cf. e. g. Csúcs 1990: 35, Kozmács 2002a: 58, Keľmakov – Hännikäinen 2008: 166), resulting in claims of there being no comitative case in the language (see Anderson 2004: 47). However, in Udmurt there actually is no comitative-instrumental opposition: the case form traditionally labeled as instrumental can express both instrumental (1) and comitative (2) functions. In the latter case the instrumental/comitative marked nominal can optionally co-occur with the adverbial/postposition čoš ’together’ or valč́e ’together’ (3) (Keľmakov – Hännikäinen 2008: 168).

Author: Laura Horváth


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