Suffixaufnahme
Encyclopedia
Suffixaufnahme is a linguistic
phenomenon used in forming a genitive construction
, whereby prototypically a genitive
noun agrees
with its head
noun. It was first recognized in Old Georgian
and some other Caucasian and ancient Middle East
ern languages as well as many Australian languages, and almost invariably coincides with agglutinativity.
A subject
, for instance, would be marked with a subjective affix
as well as a genitive affix. So, for example, in Old Georgian perx-ni k'ac-isa-ni (foot-NOM.PL man-GEN-NOM.Pl), the genitival noun phrase agrees in case (nominative) and number (plural) with the head noun.
However, while a possessive construction such as this is most frequently found in Suffixaufnahme, other nominal constructions may also show similar behavior. In Old Georgian, a postpositional phrase modifying a noun could take on that noun's case and number features: "Ra turpa prinvelia!" c'amoidzaxa ert-ma bavshv-ta-gan-ma [one-NARR child-GEN.PL-from-NARR], ("'What a wonderful bird!' exclaimed one of the children") where the narrative case -ma on ertma is copied onto the modifying postpositional phrase headed by -gan.
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
phenomenon used in forming a genitive construction
Genitive construction
In grammar, a genitive construction or genitival construction is a type of grammatical construction used to express a relation between two nouns such as the possession of one by another , or some other type of connection...
, whereby prototypically a genitive
Genitive case
In grammar, genitive is the grammatical case that marks a noun as modifying another noun...
noun agrees
Agreement
Agreement may refer to:* Agreement or concord, cross-reference between parts of a phrase* Gentlemen's agreement, not enforceable by law* Contract, enforceable in a court of law...
with its head
Head (linguistics)
In linguistics, the head is the word that determines the syntactic type of the phrase of which it is a member, or analogously the stem that determines the semantic category of a compound of which it is a component. The other elements modify the head....
noun. It was first recognized in Old Georgian
Old Georgian language
Old Georgian was the language of the ancient kingdom of Georgia in the Caucasus.Old Georgian was the literary language for all ethnographic groups of Georgian people beginning in the 5th Century BC, until the modern Georgian language arose in the 17th Century....
and some other Caucasian and ancient Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
ern languages as well as many Australian languages, and almost invariably coincides with agglutinativity.
A subject
Subject (grammar)
The subject is one of the two main constituents of a clause, according to a tradition that can be tracked back to Aristotle and that is associated with phrase structure grammars; the other constituent is the predicate. According to another tradition, i.e...
, for instance, would be marked with a subjective affix
Affix
An affix is a morpheme that is attached to a word stem to form a new word. Affixes may be derivational, like English -ness and pre-, or inflectional, like English plural -s and past tense -ed. They are bound morphemes by definition; prefixes and suffixes may be separable affixes...
as well as a genitive affix. So, for example, in Old Georgian perx-ni k'ac-isa-ni (foot-NOM.PL man-GEN-NOM.Pl), the genitival noun phrase agrees in case (nominative) and number (plural) with the head noun.
However, while a possessive construction such as this is most frequently found in Suffixaufnahme, other nominal constructions may also show similar behavior. In Old Georgian, a postpositional phrase modifying a noun could take on that noun's case and number features: "Ra turpa prinvelia!" c'amoidzaxa ert-ma bavshv-ta-gan-ma [one-NARR child-GEN.PL-from-NARR], ("'What a wonderful bird!' exclaimed one of the children") where the narrative case -ma on ertma is copied onto the modifying postpositional phrase headed by -gan.
Living languages
- TsakhurTsakhur languageTsakhur is a language spoken by the Tsakhurs, an ethnic group, which populates northern Azerbaijan and southwestern Dagestan . It is spoken by about 13,000 people in Azerbaijan and by about 9,770 people in Dagestan...
- BatsBats languageBats is the language of the Bats people, a Caucasian minority group, and is part of the Nakh family of Caucasian languages. It had 2,500 to 3,000 speakers in 1975....
- Kayardild
- Awngi (Central CushiticCushitic languagesThe Cushitic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family spoken in the Horn of Africa, Tanzania, Kenya, Sudan and Egypt. They are named after the Biblical character Cush, who was identified as an ancestor of the speakers of these specific languages as early as AD 947...
, Afro-AsiaticAfro-Asiatic languagesThe Afroasiatic languages , also known as Hamito-Semitic, constitute one of the world's largest language families, with about 375 living languages...
) - YidinyYidiny languageYidiny is a nearly extinct Australian Aboriginal language, spoken by the Yidindji tribe of northern Queensland.-Vowels:-Consonants:-Grammar:...
(Pama-Nyungan, Australian) - ChukchiChukchi languageThe Chukchi language is a Palaeosiberian language spoken by Chukchi people in the easternmost extremity of Siberia, mainly in Chukotka Autonomous Okrug...
(Chukchi–Kamchatkan) - Gugu-Yalanji (spoken in Queensland, Australia)
- Thalanyji
- some dialects of Romany
- Kanyara
- Mantharta
- BasqueBasque languageBasque is the ancestral language of the Basque people, who inhabit the Basque Country, a region spanning an area in northeastern Spain and southwestern France. It is spoken by 25.7% of Basques in all territories...
- DyirbalDyirbal languageDyirbal is an Australian Aboriginal language spoken in northeast Queensland by about 5 speakers of the Dyirbal tribe. It is a member of the small Dyirbalic branch of the Pama–Nyungan family...
Ancient languages
- Old Georgian
- ElamiteElamite languageElamite is an extinct language spoken by the ancient Elamites. Elamite was the primary language in present day Iran from 2800–550 BCE. The last written records in Elamite appear about the time of the conquest of the Persian Empire by Alexander the Great....
- Hurrian
- Urartian
- LycianLycian languageLycian language refers to the inscriptional language of ancient Lycia, populated by Lycians, as well as its presumed spoken counterpart.-The speakers:...
- EtruscanEtruscan languageThe Etruscan language was spoken and written by the Etruscan civilization, in what is present-day Italy, in the ancient region of Etruria and in parts of Lombardy, Veneto, and Emilia-Romagna...
- LemnianLemnian languageThe Lemnian language is a language of the 6th century BC spoken on the island of Lemnos. It is mainly attested by an inscription found on a funerary stele, termed the Lemnos stele, discovered in 1885 near Kaminia. However, fragments of inscriptions on local pottery show that it was spoken there by...
External links
- Paper on suffixaufnahme (in PDFPortable Document FormatPortable Document Format is an open standard for document exchange. This file format, created by Adobe Systems in 1993, is used for representing documents in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems....
format) - Abstract to "Double Case: Agreement by Suffixaufnahme"