Votian/Present Tense

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Present tense

Morphemes

Person	Singular	Plural
1.	-n	-mmak
2.	-t	-ttak
3.	-p	-vat

• The very same morphemes of the first and second person are used in all moods and tenses.

Pronunciation

1. Final -n is omitted everywhere in Eastern Votic dialect including the first person of singular. It causes lengthening of the preceding vowel pronounced and sometimes gemination of a short consonant preceding the vowel e.g. tuл̆лē̮ ('I come' < *tule-n), luğgē̮ ('I read' < *luge-n).
   1. All the other dialects both in Ingria and Estonia pronounce it n e.g. elän ('I live.').
2. The morpheme -mmak of the first person of plural is pronounced as -mmaG or -mmäG in Eastern Votic dialect depending in vowel harmony e.g. sāmmaG ('We get (it).') vs. mǖmmäG ('We sell.').
   1. All the other dialects both in Ingria and Estonia pronounce it -mma or -mmä depending in vowel harmony e.g. sāmma ('We get (it).') vs. mǖmmä ('We sell.').
   2. In Jõgõperä dialect it may be sometimes pronounced as -mme̮ or -mme depending in prosody e.g. nüttä sǖmme i jūmme̮ ('Now we('ll) eat and drink.').
   3. In Western Votic dialects it may sometimes drop it's final vowel and sound simply -m̄ depending in prosody e.g. kē̮s ̮tue̮m̄ tağgāz? ('When we('ll) come back.' in Mati dialect).
   4. In Alutaguse dialects the geminated mm has weakened after an unstressed syllable.
      1. In Lüganuse dialect it is pronounced m̆m then e.g. eläm̆mä ('We live.').
      2. In Jõhvi, Iisaku and Western Vaivara dialect it is degeminated to m in every position, if the preceding syllable does not carry a secondary stress e.g. luGesimma ('We read (in past).') vs. annama ('We give (something).' in [[Iisaku dialect]).
   5. In old Lüganuse dialect the morpheme -mmak of the first person of plural was pronounced maije or mäije after a secondary stress e.g. ve̮ttamaije ('We take (something).').
      1. This ending may be composed of -mma and the first person's pronoun of plural meije e.g. ve̮ttamaije < *ve̮ttama meije (even though usually a subject does not follow a verb) or it may be influenced by maije infinitive.
3. The morpheme -t of the second person of singular is pronounced as -D both in Ingria and Estonia e.g. eläD ('You live.').
   1. It may be sometimes pronounced -t or -d caused by sandhi e.g. ve̮ttaizid ̮enellēz ('You might take it (for yourself).') or e̮sit ̮kaunī tšiutō ('You bought a beautiful shirt.'). (Unfortunately the examples above are not in present tense of indicative.)
4. The morpheme -ttak of the second person of plural is pronounced as -ttaG or -ttäG in Eastern Votic dialect depending in vowel harmony e.g. sāttaG ('You get (it).') vs. mǖttäG ('You sell.').
   1. All the other dialects both in Ingria and Estonia pronounce it -tta or -ttä depending in vowel harmony e.g. sātta ('You get (it).') vs. mǖttä ('You sell.').
   2. In Jõgõperä dialect it may be sometimes pronounced as -tte̮ or -tte depending in prosody e.g. nüttä sǖtte i jūtte̮ ('Now you('ll) eat and drink.').
   3. In Western Votic dialects it may sometimes drop it's final vowel and sound simply -t̄ depending in prosody e.g. minē peräs̄ sūttuzit̄ ke̮vassi ('Why did you get (very) angry?'). (Unfortunately the example above is not in present tense of indicative.)
   4. In Alutaguse dialects the geminated tt has weakened after an unstressed syllable. It is pronounced t̆t then e.g. lähät̆tä ('You go.').
5. The morpheme -p of the third person of singular is pronounced as -B both in Ingria and Estonia e.g. eläB ('He lives.').
   1. In Alutaguse dialects it may sound -p or -p̆ also e.g. se̮isap̆ ('It stands.').
6. The morpheme -vat of the third person of plural is pronounced as -vaD or -väD depending in vowel harmony e.g. sāvaD ('They get (it).') vs. eläväD ('They live.').
   1. In Alutaguse dialects even the third person of plural is falsely in the same grade as all the other persons (influenced by Mid Estonian dialect) e.g. piäväD instead of pitäväD ('They must.'), even though this morpheme can never close the preceding syllable.
   2. In Alutaguse dialects the morpheme may be pronounced -väD even with back vowel stems e.g. e̮liväD ('They were.').
   3. In Lüganuse dialect the first v of this suffix may be degeminated after a secondary stress e.g. kelisevvad ('(The bells) ring.').
   4. This morpheme is recently substituted by indefinite voice both in Ingria and in Alutaguse dialects e.g. nämä tuллassa ('They come.') (probably influenced by Russian language, where the 3. person of plural serves similar role to Finnic indefinite voice e.g. говорят ('They speak.' or 'Someone speaks.').) .

Morphophonology

• In all dialects both in Ingria and Estonia personal endings never follow any consonant stem e.g. imperative plural pes-kā ('Wash!') vs. the second person of singular peze-B ('(Someone) washes.') or imperative plural page̮t-kā ('Escape!') vs. the first person of plural pake̮ne̮-mma ('We run away.').
• Thus these forms are always in the same grade as the singular of the second person imperative and in a grade opposite to any other suffixal imperative form caused by consonant gradation in stems e.g. jättägō ('Let him leave (it)!') vs. jätäD ('You leave (it).') or page̮t-kā ('Escape!') vs. pake̮n-e̮-D ('You escape.').
  • The only exception is the third person of plural, which according to consonant gradation principles may occur only in the strong grade e.g. tetševäD ('They do (it).') and pake̮ne̮-vaD ('They run away.'), because this morpheme can never close the preceding syllable.
    • In Alutaguse dialects even the third person of plural is falsely in the same grade as all the other persons (influenced by Mid Estonian dialect) e.g. piäväD instead of pitäväD ('They must.'), even though this morpheme can never close the preceding syllable.

Phonological history

• The morpheme of the first person of singular has underwent a sound change *-m > -n in Proto-Finnic stage.
  • Thus it is the first component of the morpheme -mmak of the first person of plural.
• Analogically the morpheme -t of the second person of singular is the first component of the morpheme -ttak of the second person of plural.
• The very same original components of the first and second person are found in possessive suffixes and personal pronouns.
  • The plural -mmak < *-ma? and -ttak < *-ta? were geminated by a present tense marker -k, which has probably preceded them. Later it has supposedly melt into the following m and t e.g. sāmma ('We get (it).') < *sā+k+ma?. In some Finnish and Karelian dialects these personal endings are not geminated in the past tense, where the marker -k was absent. Though in most of Finnic dialects (including the Votian ones) they are geminated in all moods and tenses.
  • The vowel of -mmak and -ttak is e in Standard Finnish, Standard Estonian and their western dialects. In Southern Vepsian dialects it's counterpart is ai and in South Estonian dialects it is i, but that is probably a late feature, because it has not went through the obligatory Finnic Sound changes, caused by similar plural and past tense marker.
  • The final k of -mmak and -ttak does not occur in Hevaha Ingrian and those Eastern Finnish dialects, where the final k usually has been preserved and Eastern Votic dialect, where it may be found, has sometimes added k to words, where it was originally absent e.g. sūre̮piG ('bigger' comparative), sūre̮ssiG ('to (become) big' translative). The final consonant of those morphemes is n in Hevaha Ingrian and some Finnish dialects. E. Itkonen has proposed based on Saami data, that these various vowels and final consonants may originally come both from dual (> -men, -ten) and plural (> -mak, -tak) sets, which may have been mixed up in the Finnic branch.
• The morpheme of the third person of singular has underwent following sound changes *-pa > *-pi > -p like the comparative marker and was originally a suffix of present participle.
  • The morpheme of the third person of plural is derived from the same suffix of present participle with a plural nominative marker t.

Other Finnic dialects

The first person of singular

• Standard Finnish : lue-n ('I read.')
• Vesjegonski Karelian dialects : luve-n ('I read.')
• Vepsian dialects : luge-n ('I read.')
• Ingrian dialects : lue-n ('I read.')
• Standard Estonian : loe-n ('I read.')
• South Estonian dialects : loè- ('I read.')
• Livonian dialects : lugù-B ('I read.')

The first person of plural

• Standard Finnish : lue-mme ('We read.')
  • Finnish dialects : -mmen, -mmon, -mma
• Vesjegonski Karelian dialects : luve-mma ('We read.')
• Vepsian dialects : luge-mai ('We read.')
• Ingrian dialects : lue-(m)man ('We read.')
• Standard Estonian : loe-me ('We read.')
• South Estonian dialects : an̆na-miʔ ('We give.')
• Livonian dialects : lu ̉ggə̑-m ('We read.')

The second person of singular

• Standard Finnish : lue-t ('You read.')
• Vesjegonski Karelian dialects : luve-t ('You read.')
• Vepsian dialects : luge-d ('You read.')
• Ingrian dialects : lue-D ('You read.')
• Standard Estonian : loe-d ('You read.')
• South Estonian dialects : loe-t̀ ('You read.')
• Livonian dialects : lugù-D ('You read.')

The second person of plural

• Standard Finnish : lue-tte ('You read.')
  • Finnish dialects : -tten, -tton, -tta
• Vesjegonski Karelian dialects : luve-tta ('You read.')
• Vepsian dialects : luge-tai ('You read.')
• Ingrian dialects : lue-tta ('You read.')
• Standard Estonian : loe-te ('You read.')
• South Estonian dialects : anna-tti ('You give.')
• Livonian dialects : lu ̉ggə̑-t̀ ('You read.')

The third person of singular

• Standard Finnish : luke-e ('She reads.')
• Vesjegonski Karelian dialects : lugo-u ('She reads.')
• Vepsian dialects : lugo-b ('She reads.')
• Ingrian dialects : lukk-ō ('She reads.')
• Standard Estonian : loe-b ('She reads.')
• South Estonian dialects : luGè̮- ('She reads.')
• Livonian dialects : lugù-B ('She reads.')

The third person of plural

• Standard Finnish : luke-vat ('They read.')
• Karelian dialects use indefinite voice instead : lugie-tah ('They read.').
• Vepsian dialects : lugo-ba(d) ('They read.')
• Ingrian dialects : lukk-ōD ('They read.') due to the consonant gradation in suffixes
• Standard Estonian : loe-vad ('They read.')
• South Estonian dialects : luge̮-vaʔ ('They read.')
• Livonian dialects : lu ̉ggə̑-bə̑D ('They read.')

See also

• Grammar of Votian dialects (syllabus)
• Imperfect tense
• Imperative

Educational level: this is a non-formal education resource.

Type classification: this is a lesson resource.

Completion status: Deliberately incomplete for educational purposes.

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