Evenki grammar

This article outlines the grammar of the Evenki language in both Cyrillic and Latin scripts.

Morphology notes

Vowel harmony

Like other Tungusic languages, Evenki employs vowel harmony. There are two rows ("first and second row") with two effectively neutral vowels, и (i) and у (u).[1]

First row Second row Neutral
а
a		 э
ə		 и
i
е
e		 у
u
о
o
  1. Syllables containing first row vowels can only be followed by another syllables that contain first row vowels: анактад’аран (anaktad’aran), эмэктэд’эрэн (əməktəd’ərən), and соӈоктод’орон (soŋoktod’oron).

Nouns

Pluralization

There are some rules of forming Evenki plurals:[2]

  • The plural suffixes -л (-l) after vowels or -ил (-il) after consonants are usually used.
бур (bur) : бурил (buril) "islands"
дю̄ (ʒū) : дю̄л (ʒul) "yurts"
  • However, after -н (-n), -р (-r) is used instead and the final consonant before the suffix is removed.
орон (oron) : орор (oror) "deers"
  • Some nouns use -сал (-sal) in addition to the previous two suffixes. Notice that this suffix also removes -н (-n) from the stem.
киран (kiran) : кирасал (kirasal) "eagles"
  • There are also some irregular plurals of kinship terms:
амын (amin) : амтыл (amtil) "fathers"
эмын (emin) : эмтыл (emtil) "mothers"
акин (akin) : акнил (aknil) "older brothers"
экин (ekin) : экнил (eknil) "older sisters"
нэкун (nəkun) : нэкнил (nəknil) "younger brothers, younger sisters"
аса (asa) : асил (asil) "women"
хунаг (hunag) : хунил (hunil) "girls"

Cases

Evenki nouns are inflected for 13 cases: nominative, accusative, accusative indefinite, dative, illative, locative, prosecutive (longitudinal), directional locative, directional prosecutive, deferred, initial, instrumental, and joint cases.[3]

Case Suffix Notes
Nominative -∅ (no marker)
-∅
Accusative[4] -ва/-вэ/-во/-ма/-мэ/-мо
-va/-və/-vo/-ma/-mə/-mo		 Nouns in -н (-n) may use forms in -м- and remove the last consonant before the suffix (орон (oron) → оромо (oromo) "deer")
Accusative indefinite[5] -я/-е/-ё/-а/-э/-о
-ja/-jə/-jo/-a/-ə/-o		 Nouns in -н (-n) may use one of the last three forms (орон (oron) → ороно (orono) "deer")
Dative[6] -ду/-ту
-du/-tu		 Nouns ending in voiceless consonants may use the form -ту (-tu) (а̄мут → а̄мутту "for (the) lake")
Illative[7] -тыки/-тки
-tiki/-tki		 Nouns ending in vowels may use the form -тки (-tki) (беру → берутки "to (the) sheep")

Possession

Evenki nouns can also be inflected for possession, where a possessive suffix is attached to the noun based on features of the noun which possesses it.[8][9][10]

Final element in the stem → Singular Plural
Person ↓ Vowel Most consonants Nasal -n -l -r
Singular 1st person -в
-v		 -ив
-iv		 -мӣ
-mī		 -вӣ
-vī
2nd person -с
-s		 -ис
-is		 -нӣ
-nī		 -лӣ
-lī		 -рӣ
-rī
3rd person -н
-n		 -ин
-in
Plural 1st person exclusive -вун
-vun		 -мун
-mun		 -вун
-vun
inclusive -т
-t		 -ит
-it		 -ты
-ty
2nd person -сун
-sun		 -нун
-nun		 -лун
-lun		 -рун
-run
3rd person -тын
-tyn

References
  1. "Гармония гласных". Эвенгус. Retrieved 20 February 2022.
  2. "Единственное и множественное число имён существительных". Эвенгус. Retrieved 19 February 2022.
  3. "Падежи имён существительных". Эвенгус. Retrieved 20 February 2022.
  4. "Винительный падеж". Эвенгус. Retrieved 19 February 2022.
  5. "Винительный неопределённый падеж". Эвенгус. Retrieved 21 February 2022.
  6. "Дательный падеж". Эвенгус. Retrieved 21 February 2022.
  7. "Направительный падеж". Эвенгус. Retrieved 1 March 2022.
  8. "Лично-притяжательные суффиксы". Эвенгус. Retrieved 23 March 2022.
  9. Bulatova, Nadezhda; Grenoble, Lenore (1999). Evenki Grammar. München: Lincom Europa. p. 13.
  10. Nedjalkov, Igor (1997). Evenki. London: Routledge. p. 143-4.
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