Синтаксис и семантика глагольного реципрока на -ш в терском диалекте кумыкского языка
Syntax and semantics of the -š verbal reciprocals in Terek Kumyk

Summary/Abstract: This paper addresses syntax and semantics of the reciprocal marker -š in the Terek dialect of Kumyk, a Turkic language of the Kipchak group. The study is based on data collected by the author during the expedition to the village Predgornoje in the Republic of North Ossetia — Alania in August 2022, 2023. In the grammar [Gadžiahmedov et al. 2014] describing Standard Kumyk, which is based on Dagestan dialects, the suffix -š is regarded as a marker of the so called ‘‘mutual-collective voice’’. In this paper, I look into possible meanings of the suffix -š using several base verbs, and I propose a different classification in line with modern typological terminology conventions. In the idiom in question, unlike in many other Turkic languages, this affix is currently unproductive. During elicitation, only few lexicalized derivates turned out to be possible, some of them have lost their base verbs and are not used without the suffix. Most -šderivates (but not all of them) have reciprocal semantics, sociative interpretations are possible in a very limited number of derivates in Terek Kumyk. I also came across depatientive and assistive interpretations, as well as derivates whose semantics does not seem to be compositional at all. Syntactically, -š-derivates combine with a plural subject, which can be realized either via plural NP, combination of a nominative argument with a comitative argument, or NP coordination with help of da ‘and’. This study addresses the syntactic position of the comitative argument in such clauses. As my tests show, two configurations are possible: the comitative NP can be contained in either the nominative NP or the VP. However, the “comitative NP + nominative NP” word order only allows for the comitative argument to be included in the VP.

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