Votian/Terminative

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Terminative

Postposition

	Singular	Plural
Terminative marker	-'n saak'	-i'n saak'

Phonological history and morphophonology

• This kind of Votian, Ingrian, Livvi Karelian and Vepsian terminative marker has been developed from a postposition , which is still used by other Baltic Finnic dialects with illative or allative e.g. Finnish tä-hän saakka (" until this ~ here" ), raja-lle saakka (" until the border " )
• In Votian dialects it still contains an illative marker
  • in singular mahāssā (" ground ")
  • in plural ( laulomisīssā = " singing "), it usually follows a short plural genitive .
• In rare cases it smay contain an allative marker
  • e.g. singular bābuškaллē̮ssā (" to the grandmother ")

Thus any terminative is in the same grade as genitive .

Many linguists of the 19. and 20. century marked this kind of terminative as a postposition rather than a case.

• Because this morpheme followed even doubled illative e.g. kotōse ssā (" till home "), wäsümǟse ssā (" till fatigue ")

Pronunciation

• The terminative suffix is pronounced -ssā . It does not vary according to vowel harmony e.g. лe̮una-'n saak' > лe̮unāssā ("lunchtime" singular terminative ), mätše-'n saak' > mätšēssā ('hill' singular terminative ), me̮лe̮pe̮-i'n saak' > me̮лe̮pīssā ('both' plural terminative )

Agreement

• Unlike in most of the other cases in terminative there is no agreement between adjectives and nouns in case, but a noun follows an adjective in genitive , illative or allative e.g. puisìje̮ rattīssā (' wooden barn ' plural terminative).

Usage

Terminative may express

1. timeline - e.g. e̮limma pe̮ллoллa лe̮unāssā   (' We were on the field until noon .'), puлmia mändžittī ōmnikkōssā   (' The weddings were held until morning .'), e̮limma eittsezä vaлge̮tikkōssā   (' We were herding till sunrise .'), tämä e̮li e̮nne̮va vanāssā i surmāssā   (' He was happy till his old age and death .')
2. limit and destination - e.g. vad́d́aлaisī tšüliä on   л a u k ā s s ā (' There are Votic villages up to Lauga river .'), kanava menep ̮ k a t t i л a л л ē̮ s s ā (' The canal continues till Kattila village .'), anna miллe̮   babuškaллē̮ssā tšävvä (' Let me go to my grandmother! '), jōhsi kotōssā ("She ran until home.")
3. limit and degree - e.g. on täünnǟ pōлē̮ssā ("It's half filled."), tšävi ke̮лmē̮   ke̮rtāssā ("She went three times."), sȫ ke̮ikke̮a e̮ttsāssā ("Eat it all!")

Dialectal alternatives

• Votic of Ingria
  • Eastern Votic dialect
    • The final -k is pronounced as -G in Eastern Votic dialect. All the other dialects both in Ingria and Estonia have lost the phoneme *k in the end of words e.g. siлtāssāG ("until a bridge"), mettsǟssāG ("until a forest"), kreipostīssāk̄   ("until a fortress") Itšäpäivä dialect.

Other Finnic dialects

• Finnish dialects : maa-han saakka (" to the ground ")
• Livvi Karelian dialects : lag-essah (" to the ceiling ")
• Vepsian dialects : ma-hasse̮i (" to the ground ")
• Ingrian dialects : mā-hāssa (" to the ground ")
• Standard Estonian : ma-ha saati (" to the ground ")

See also

• Grammar of Votian dialects (syllabus)
• External locative cases
• Internal locative cases
• Plural
• Genitive
• Comitatives

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