Votian/Imperative

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Votian Imperative

Morphemes

Person	Singular	Plural
1.	Analytic only	-kama
2.	-k	-ka'a
3.	-ko'on	-ko'ot

• The first person of singular has only analytic imperative both in Ingria and Estonia.
• The first person of plural uses usually present tense instead of imperative both in Ingria and Estonia.
  • Analytic expressions are also possible.
  • The morpheme -kama ocurres in Alutaguse runic songs and is often written as -kamme or -gamme e.g. laulagamme ('Let us sing!') , but the orthography of those texts is not reliable. So we can not be sure, how it was pronounced by native speakers.
    • The vowel a alternates with ä in Lüganuse (and Kodavere) according to vowel harmony rules e.g. jättäGä ('Leave (it)!').
• See the previous lesson for the second person imperatives.
• Morpheme -ko'ot of the third person of plural:
  • Pronunciation of Jõgõperä dialect
    • depends in consonant gradation of suffixes
      • -gōD after unstressed syllables of vowel stems e.g. tširjotte̮gōD ('Let them write!').
      • otherwise it is pronounced -kōD e.g. e̮лkōD ('Let them be!').
    • The vowel of this suffix remains always the same regardless to vowel harmony rules e.g. jättägōD ('Let them leave (it)!').
  • In all the other dialects it is not distinguishable from the singular suffix -ko'on.
• Morpheme -ko'on of the third person of singular:
  • Pronunciation of Ingria
    • depends in consonant gradation of suffixes
      • -gō after unstressed syllables of vowel stems e.g. tširjottagō ('Let him write!').
      • otherwise it is pronounced -kō e.g. e̮лkō ('Let him be!').
    • The vowel of this suffix remains always the same regardless to vowel harmony rules e.g. jättägō ('Let him leave (it)!').
  • Lüganuse dialect of Alutaguse
    • All the long vowels without primary stress have been shortened (influenced by Mid Estonian dialect) e.g. tehko ('Let him do!').
    • The counterpart of g is semi-voiced G e.g. anDaGo ('Let him give!').
    • G has finally replaced even k in voiced environment (influenced by Mid Estonian dialect) e.g. süöGo ('Let him eat!') .

Morphophonology

In all dialects both in Ingria and Estonia:

• Singular of the second person imperative never follows any consonant stem e.g. e̮лe̮G ~ e̮лe̮ ('Be!').
• All the other imperative suffixes take a consonant stem if possible e.g. e̮лkōD ('Let them be!' in Jõgõperä dialect).

• Singular of the second person imperative is always in a grade opposite to any other suffixal imperative form caused by consonant gradation in stems e.g. jättägō ('Let him leave (it)!') vs. jätä ('Leave (it)!').

Phonological history

• Singular of the 3. person's imperative -ko'on (< -*kohen < ? -*kaihen) is probably composed of imperative component -k + 3. person's singular hen .

1. Vowels of the subsequent syllables have been assimilated -kohon.
2. h was lost.
3. o of subsequent syllables melt into ō.
4. The final n melt into ō.
5. Long vowels disappeared in the dialects of Estonia.

• The final t of the third person of plural -ko'ot ( < ? -*kaihet) comes from plural nominative and has been preserved in some other Finnic dialects too e.g. in neighbouring Kudruküla dialect of Vaivara kuolekot ('Let them die!') .
• Plural of the 1. person's imperative is probably composed of imperative component -k + plural 1. person's ma like it's counterpart of the second person.

Other Finnic dialects

The third person of singular

• Standard Finnish : luke-koon ('Let him read!')
• Vesjegonski Karelian dialects : luge-kkah ('Let him read!')
• Vepsian dialects : luge-gaha ('Let him read!')
• Ingrian dialects : luGe-Gā(n) ('Let him read!')
• Standard Estonian : luge-gu ('Let him read!')
• Livonian dialects : las lu ̉ggə̑-G ('Let him read!')

The third person of plural

• Standard Finnish : luke-koot (~ luke-kaat in some dialects) ('Let them read!')
• Vesjegonski Karelian dialects : luge-kkah ('Let them read!')
• Vepsian dialects : luge-gaha ('Let them read!')
• Ingrian dialects : luGe-Gasse(G)) ('Let them read!')
• Standard Estonian : luge-gu ('Let them read!')
• Livonian dialects : lu ̉ggə̑-gə̑D ('Let them read!')

The first person of plural

• Standard Finnish : luke-kaamme ('Let us read!')
• Vesjegonski Karelian dialects : paŋ-gama ('Let us put (something somewhere)!')
• Vepsian dialects : luge-gam ('Let us read!')
• Standard Estonian : luge-gem ('Let us read!')
• Livonian dialects : las lu ̉ggə̑-gə̑D ('Let us read!')

See also

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

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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